90 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



A METHOD OF UTILIZING SUBTERRANEAN FIRES. 



M. Naudin, of the Revue Eorticole, who has written a 

 pamphlet ou geothermal culture, mentions in one of the 

 late numbers of that periodical, several instances of the 

 successful use of natural subterranean fires. A correspon- 

 dent from Wisserling says that this method of culture 

 has been followed for many years in a village of Prus- 

 sian Silesia, where the inhabitants take advantage of 

 the spontaneous combustion of a coal mine to grow in 

 the open air pineapples, remarkable for their perfection, 

 and which are sent to the Vienna, Paris and London 

 markets. 



The establishment of Dr. E. A. Geitner, a well-known 

 chemist, at Planitz, near Zwickan,in Saxony, from its ex- 

 tent and successful operation, deserves something more 

 than a passing notice. The land which now forms Dr. 

 Geitner's garden, was twenty years ago remarkable for 

 its apparent infertility, yet in winter ifcavas covered with 

 a rich green turf, which formed a striking contrast to the 

 surrounding fields white with snow. This phenomenon 

 was caused by warm vapors which went out from numer- 

 ous fissures in the earth, and which were caused by the 

 burning of a thick seam of coal, situated sixty-five yards 

 below the surface. This conflagration has endured from 

 time immemorial — it goes back- at least to the fifteenth 

 century. At present it occupies a spade four hundred 

 yards in length and one hundred and twenty yards in 

 width. 



No one had thought of making this heat useful until 

 Dr. Geitner conceived the idea a few years since. After 

 purchasing the land, he had a hot house erected, and un- 

 der the borders in which he planted pine-apples, he con- 

 veyed the heated vapors from the crevices of the earth by 

 means of conductors of mason work. Other plants were 

 put in pots and arranged in the ordinary way. The ex- 

 periment proved a complete success. A few years later 

 the establishment passed into the hands of a son of Dr. 

 Geitner, a passionate horticultural amateur. Now it is 

 composed of two conservatories and green-houses, be- 

 sides a multitude of aquariums, or glazed basins, heated, 

 and filled with aquatic plants. The Palm house is the 

 king of the whole collection. No garden in the world, 

 perhaps, has so many species of palms. And the various 

 hot-houses which derive heat from the depths of the earth 

 contain a collection very nearly complete, of every varie- 

 ty of exotic plant cultivated in Europe. This seems to 

 be a very excellent proof that geothermal culture may be 

 made very successful. Of course it would not be best to 

 set fire to a coal mine in order to provide means of heat- 

 ing green-houses, but the possessors of ground warmed 

 in that manner, may regard themselves as very fortunate 



The atmosphere which rests upon this heated earth 

 must necessarily be very much elevated in temperature, 

 but still be cooler than the earth itself, and this is the 

 new principle which is involved in the theory of geother- 

 mal culture, the heat being produced by means of proper 

 apparatus. 



A Laroe Pear. — A pear grown in California last sea 

 ■on, and sent to the Secretary of the Kentucky Horticul- 

 tural Society, weighed 2J lbs. 



THE APPLES OF NEW ENGLAND. 



The apples of New England ! 



How bang their Loaded boughs, 

 Over the grey stone fences 



In reach of the dappled cows; 

 Oli ! everj red cheeked Baldwin 



Hath a merry song to sing 

 Of some old moss roofed collage 



Where the farmer is a king. 



Yes, king of his bursting acres,' 



Whose grain takes a thousand hues 

 In the wonder-t'nted sunshine — 



Yes, king in his cobbled shoes; 

 King of the sturdy plow share; 



King of the sickle keen ; 

 King over God's full meadows, 



Budding in wi.ite and green. 



The Russets of New England ! 



What ruddy fires they se\ 

 Where the crack of the veiny walnut 



And the crack of the pine agree ; 

 Where the herbs hang high in the chimney, 



And the cat purrs on the hearth, 

 And the rollicking boys guess riddles, 



With many a shout of mirth. 



Oh! the Greenings of New England! 



Of the old Rhode Island stock- 

 Brought from the English gardens 



To grace the land of rock ; 

 As fair as Britain's daughters. 



As hardy as her men ; 

 But fairer lads and lasses 



Have plucked tlieir truit since then. 



Oh ! the Pearmain of New England! 



With its blended milk and ros6, 

 There's a smell of Albion's orchards 



Wherever the good tree grows; 

 A stout old Pilgrim* brought it. 



And to cradle its seed be broke 

 The sacred soil of Hartford, 



By the roots of the Charter Oak. 



Oh ! the Pippins of New England ! 



What lover's smiles they see. 

 When their yellow coats in letters * 



Tell tales at the app'e-bee; 

 What rosy cheeks at quiltinas! 



What kisses in husking time ! 

 That soon lead off to the parson, 



Or end in a wedding chime. 



Oh ! the apphs of New England ! 



They are famous in every land! 

 And they sleep in silver baskets, 



Or bjpsh in a jewelled hand ; 

 They swell in delicious dreaming 



On a beautiful, crimson lip, 

 And taste of the Declared blisses 



No lover has dared to sip. 



They go to the southern islands, 



They go to the western wild, 

 And they tell oj their glorious birth-plase, 



To every frolicking child ; 

 Of the home where men are noble, 



And woman as good as fair ; 

 Ob! the apples of New England, 



They are welcome everywhere! 



MRS. M. A. DENNISON. 



* Governor Gf.okge Wtllys, of the old " Wyllys place" in 

 Hartford, since made famous as the grounds where grew the 

 Charier Oak. Wyllys brought that Pearmain tree from England 

 in 168S — tico hurirlrert and ticenti-Uirce years ago, or nearly back 

 to the lime of Shakespeare— o'W the original free &Bt If ie yet 

 standing on the spot where th» old Pilgrim planted it, a little way 

 south of the house. The new streets, and oilier - improvements" 

 in those historic grounds, have spared the Wyllya Pearmain Tree, 

 which still flourishes at the green old age of nearly two and a half 

 centuries, and still bears its annual fruit. It is doubtless the old- 

 est known apple tree in America, and one of ihe three oldest fruit 

 trees — the Stuyvesant Pear Tree in New York, and another in 

 Salem. Mass., being about as old. New branches have sprung 

 from the failing old trunk, and these bear fruit. Probably no 

 other spot of ground in the world can boast of two such historic 

 trees as these which together grew green on each succeeding 

 spring, for more than two centuries. 



