356 



Dairies, 



Vol. XII. 



grows old, it increases in fruitfulness, which 

 is indeed the case with many other trees. In 

 corroboration of these views, Mr. Loudon 

 states that, "In Nottinghamshire, at Old 

 Baseford, there is a pear tree, of the kind 

 known as the brown dominion, which, in 

 1826, was upwards of a century old. It is 

 forty feet high, with a head fifty-four feet in 

 diameter, and a trunk two feet three inches 

 in diameter. From 180(3 to 1826, the pro- 

 duce of this tree, on an average, was fifty 

 pecks of pears a year. In the year 1823, it 

 bore one hundred and seven pecks, each peck 

 containing four hundred and twenty pears; 

 and in 1826, it produced one hundred pecks 

 of two hundred and seventy-nine pears each; 

 which, when gathered, weighed twenty lbs. 

 each peck; making a total of a ton weight 

 of pears in one year. As the tree grows 

 older, the fruit becomes larger and finer; so 

 that it requires more than one hundred pears 

 less to fill the peck now, than it did twenty- 

 six years ago. The increase in the size of 

 the fruit, is doubtless owing to the field in 

 which the tree stands being frequently top- 

 dressed with manure." 



In Duncumb's "General View of the Ag- 

 riculture of the County of Hereford," pub- 

 lished in 1805, there is recorded a very ex- 

 traordinary tree, growing on the glebe land 

 of the parish of Hom-Lacey, that more -Lin 

 once filled fifteen hogsheads with perry in 

 the same year. When the branches of this 

 tree, in its original state, became long and 

 heavy, their extreme ends successively fell 

 to the ground, and, taking fresh root at the 

 several parts where they touched it, each 

 branch became a naw tree, and in its turn, 

 produced others in the same way, covering 

 at that time nearly half of an acre of land. 

 "Baing anxious to know the present state of 

 this celebrated tree," observes Mr. Loudon, 

 " we wrote to a highly valued friend, residing 

 at Hereford, respecting it, and we have been 

 favoured with the following reply: — I have 

 been this morning to see the far-famed pear 

 tree. It once covered an acre of land, and 

 would have extended much further, had na- 

 ture been loft to her own operations. It is 

 now not a quarter the size it once boasted ; 

 but it looks healthy and vigorous, and when 

 I saw it, it was covered with luxriant blos- 

 soms. The original trunk is still remaining; 

 and there are young shoots which are only 

 yet approaching the ground, but which seem 

 nearly ready to take root in it. The tree 

 would completely have covered the vicarage 

 garden, if it had been allowed to remain. It 

 is said to have been in its greatest perfection 

 about 1776 or 1777. There is another tree 

 of the same kind in the neighbourhood. 

 Hereford, May 18, 1836." 



In Scotland, at Restalrig, near Edinburgh, 

 in a garden adjacent to what was the house 

 of Albert Logan, who was attainted in the 

 reign of James VI., (of Scotland, and First 

 of England,) there is a pear tree, which was 

 probably planted before his forfeiture. It is 

 of the kind called "Golden Knap," which, 

 in that part of the country, is generally con- 

 sidered as the best variety to plant for tim- 

 ber. At two and a half feet from the ground, 

 in 1836, it was four yards in circumference. 

 Dr. Neill has mentioned a number of very 

 old pear trees, standing in the neighbourhood 

 of Jedburgh Abbey, and in fields known to 

 have been formerly the gardens of religious 

 houses in Scotland, which were destroyed at 

 the time of the " Reformation." Such trees 

 are, for the most part, in good health, and 

 are abundant bearers; and as some of them 

 must have been planted when the abbeys 

 were built, they are probably from five to 

 six hundred years old. 



The introduction of this fruit tree into the 

 North American colonies, probably dates 

 back to the early periods of their settle- 

 ments. There are at present existing in 

 this country many aged trees, celebrated for 

 the improved excellence of their fruit, among 

 which may be mentioned a venerable old 

 tree, standing at the corner of the Third 

 avenue and Thirteenth street, in the city of 

 New York. It is said to have been planted 

 in about the year 1646, by Peter Stuyvesant, 

 then governor of New Netherlands, and has 

 been a living witness of all the changes and 

 political struggles through which this city 

 has passed, for a period of nearly two hun- 

 dred years. Although its trunk and larger 

 branches are signally marked by the effects 

 of time, it annually bears an abundance of 

 delicious fruit, and at the present date, — 

 April 17, 1845, — it is covered with a profu- 

 sion of flowers. It is about forty feet in 

 height, with a trunk one hundred inches in 

 girth, at a yard above the ground. — Browii's 

 Trees of America. 



Dairies. 



One of the largest dairies in our country 

 is that of Col. Meacham, of Pulaski, N. Y. 

 His farm consists of 1000 acres, 300 of which 

 are devoted to grass, and he keeps one hun- 

 dred head of cattle and ninety-seven cows. 

 In one year he made 30,000 pounds of cheese, 

 20,000 pounds of which he sold at one time 

 at New York, for from six and a half to 

 seven cents per pound. He feeds his cows 

 mostly on hay and carrots. Of the latter he 

 raises 2000 bushels, and gives each cow half 

 a bushel per day; and besides the benefit de- 

 rived from his grass for his stock, he gathered 



