THE GENESEE FARMER. 



28J 



ses not seem to suffer for fruit. The soldiers call 

 lat part of Mississippi the ' wooden country.' 

 here is nothing but woods for twenty miles 

 round. He says there is an abundance of peaches, 

 ad he thinks they grow wild there. He rides bis 

 orse under a tree, and helps himself to all be can 

 it," 



" Peaches here this season will be a good average 

 rop — better than for several years past. Apples 

 re also good. I hear that parties in this city are 

 taking arrangements to ship large quantities to 

 Ingland. I have no doubt it will pay." 



" ' Pay ? ' Of course it will pay ; as P ,says, 



the exchange alone will pay if you get nothing for 

 he apples /? " 



" There will also be a good crop of pears. By 

 he by, I was at Mr. Sheldon's, of Geneva, N. Y., 

 he other day, and he has some of the finest old 

 rirgaliea pear trees I have ever seen. They are 

 ver 50 feet high, and the trunks are four feet in 

 ircumference. They are loaded with fruit. His 

 oil is a calcareous loam, and the orchard is shel- 

 ered from the prevailing winds. His pears suc- 

 eed admirably. Blight does not trouble him. His 

 firgalieus do not crack. They are as fair as could 

 >e desired. It is a pleasure to look at them. I 

 tave no doubt that a naturally underdrained soil, 

 ike his, abounding in lime, and lying on a high 

 idehill, well sheltered from the severe winds, with 

 i good exposure to the sun, is just what we want 

 or pears." 



"He has some pears growing in grass, but they 

 tre no healthier than those growing in his cultiva- 

 .ed garden, and the fruit is not as large or the 

 jrowth of the trees so good. He is satisfied that 

 he ground in the pear orchard should be culti- 

 rated." 



" It is not an easy thing to determine when pears 

 ire ripe. It is not difficult to tell when they are 

 at to eat ; but that is not the point. It is now 

 universally admitted that nearly all varieties should 

 be picked from the trtes before they are fit to eat, 

 and ripened in the house. They should be picked 

 as soon as they are fully matured — not ripe. The 

 ripening process is entirely distinct and quite differ- 

 ent from that of growth. As soon as the fruit has 

 ceased to derive nourishment from the tree, it 

 should be gathered, and the ripening process allowed 

 to proceed in a cool, dark room. The difficult point 

 is to determine when the fruit has attained its full 

 growth. Something can be learned from observing 

 the change of color. Perhaps the best general test 



is to pick as soon as the fruit- stalk will separate 

 readily from the branch." 



"It has been rare weather for celery. Here is some 

 of the new French self-blanching kind. It grows 

 splendidly, but does not as yet, though it is two 

 and a half feet high, show any signs of blanching. 

 A few of the plants have run up to seed, but this is 

 probably owing to its being so early." 



" The French ' Tree Tomato ' does not seem to 

 do much, this year, in the open air. It needs to be 

 tested more generally before it can be recom- 

 mended." 



THE SOUTHERN GUM TEEE. 



The Sweet Gum Liquidamber {Liquidamber Sty- 

 raciflua) is one of the most common trees of the 

 Middle and Southern States. On large trees at the 

 South gum is found in considerable quantities, 



LIQUIDAMBER STYRACIFLCA. 



appearing between the bark and the wood and 

 exuding from the cracks in the former. When 

 first issuing from the tree it is perfectly fluid and 

 clear and has a most agreeable fragrance. It is 

 regarded as a styptic. 



In regard to the latter quality, Solon Robinson, 

 of the New York Tribune, relates that when once 

 traveling in the Southwest he was attacked with 

 violent diarrhoea, and was so weak that he bad to 

 be carried from his buggy into the house, but was 

 perfectly restored in a few hours by a decoction of 

 the bark of the gum tree. He thinks our soldiers 

 in the Southern States, where this tree abounds, 

 have always at hand the means of arresting sum- 

 mer complaints. 



