310 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



April 16, 1830. 



conclusion ; il is, tlint a new Bpecies of seed, 

 has but a tietern.lniite i.erio.l of existep.ce as an 

 animal,— two or three (-eiiturieo, for example, and 

 that hke it, they pass through the stages of ado- 

 lescence, maturity, and old age, to death. 



After this opinion, it is erroneous to believe, 

 that a tree cuii bo renovated by engrafting one of 

 its scions on a young stock ; for this scion, not- 

 withstanding its appearance, may be already in a 

 state of decrepitude, and should perish at the 

 same time with the maternal trunk. 



This is not the place to examine to the bottom, 

 this discussion ; it is sufficient for us to say, that 

 nothing yet can cause forty of the [lears enumer- 

 ated by Loctier, to yield the place of superiority, 

 which they have maintained for two centuries. 

 But the best among them, Hcurre Oris, and the 

 Crnsanne, (it is between these two fruits, which 

 1 think it is proper to choose, to find the best 

 pear) appear to deterioralo according to the season 

 or the exposition ; because they are found in oth- 

 er seasons and iu other situations in all their per- 

 fection. 



Whatever it be, able cultivator* having adopted 

 this opinion, which takes it origin from the com- 

 mencement of this century, they have sought to 

 make up for the years of irreparable injury : they 

 have re.sorted to planting seeds, and have returned 

 to what was taught by Davy three centuries 

 since, — that it was necessary to leave, ungrafted, 

 in the nurseries, those plants which presented 

 something peculiar. 



It is in Relgiuni, more especially, that this has 

 been done, and particularly by Mr Van Mons, 

 who has given the example of experiments, on this 

 subject. The names of the most esteemed culti- 

 vators and amateurs, have been given to the pro- 

 ducts of this novel branch of observation : the 

 Boscs, the Vilmorins, the Noisettes, &c, have seen 

 their names employed to distinguish these new 

 products; but it is nevertheless believed, that they 

 should be associated with other varieties ; thus 

 there is the Bosc-Cohnar, the Fondantc-Van 

 Mons, &c. 



The time, which tlic pear tree ordinarily re- 

 quired to produce fruit was a great inconvenience, 

 in these researches, and retarded much, a know- 

 ledge of their results ; but Mr Van Mons has indi- 

 cated the means of abridging it, nearly one half ; 

 it is by what he calls GrefTe d'Accablement. 



Mr Alfroy has pursued very near the same 

 course, but for a different object : having reisark- 

 ed that the plants, from the pear seeds of table 

 fruit, produced fruit sooner than those from wild 

 jKsars, or the kind used for making perry, ho has 

 triade numerous seminaries of them which he has 

 immediately grafted, when they presented nolliing 

 remarkable : he has produced the effect which he 

 desired, viz : that these kinds have sooner yielded 

 their fruit than those grafted upon wild stocks ; 

 but he states, that they do not last so long. lie 

 names, among others, a perry-pear tree, of the 

 species called Gros-Carisi, which from its size in- 

 dicates a great antiquity, and which has produced 

 Bi;ven hogsheads of perry. 



Among thousands of plants obtained froni the 

 seeds of table-pears, he remarked 300 individuals, 

 principally distinguislieil by the large size of their 

 leaves ; he left theai to take their course, until the 

 period of fructification ; but only one produced a 

 fruit worthy of attention ; it ia that which he has 

 i)rcHented to the society. A proprietor of numer- 

 ous nurseries, which from father to son have been 

 ■ vated by the family, no person has had, at 



his disposition, more objects of comparison, to en- 

 able him to judge to what point this fruit could 

 be distinguished from others. It is more especially 

 with the pears, whose period of maturity agrees 

 with that which he has recently obtained, that he 

 has compared il. Thus he enumerates 18 which 

 ripen from the first to the end of October, and 

 15 from the first of November to the first of De- 

 cember. These 33 pears are all named in the 

 first Catalogue of Lectier. 



As president of the Committee on Nurseries, 

 and the culture of Fruit Trees, I am specially 

 charged, to collect the opinions of my colleagues, 

 and already that of one of them has been given ; 

 it is M. Poitcaii's who, after having acquired 

 great practical knowledge, has elevated himself to 

 the first theoretical rank. His authority then is 

 imposing : he thinks that Mr Alfroy's pear resem- 

 bles much the Tarquin, and next to that the 

 Treson D\?mour. 



Here is already, then, some indecision, because 

 it resembles two pears. One of them belongs to 

 the Catalogue of Lectier, Le Treson, or Amour, for 

 these two names are synonymes, in all the other 

 subsequent Catalogues. The other, the Tarquin, 

 began to appear in Duhamel, No. 17, and is found 

 in the Catalogue of the Luxembourg nursery. 

 These two fruits are then well known ; and it does 

 not appear impossible to produce them, to make 

 the comparison. 



Mr Alfroy persists in regarding his pear as new ; 

 but he thinks it more analogous to the Bon-Chretien 

 D'Hiver than to any other. 



There has not been sufficient time to discuss this 

 subject with all the other members of the Commit- 

 tee ; hut il cannot be properly terminated, hut by the 

 production and examination of the kinds with 

 which it should be composed. Until this can be 

 done, the question shoiihl be left undecided ; but 

 that docs not in any degree, diminish the merito- 

 rious labors of Mr Alfroy. I think the most im- 

 portant point in his memoir, is the enunciation of 

 the advantage, which he has gained by engrafting 

 upon the stocks, obtained from the seeds of table 

 fruit, over those which are used for perry, since 

 they sooner produce fruit. 



We cannot then, too much encourage a con- 

 tinued examination of the varieties produced from 

 the seed, and to presene, without grafting, such 

 as seem to ])roinise happy results. 



We know that our neighbors the Belgians have 

 been much more fortunate than Mr Alfroy in these 

 sort of experiments ; but this is nothing, it is said, 

 in comi)arison to the inhabitants of North America, 

 who obtain nu ncrous species from the seed. 



I will terminate by saying, that Mr Alfroy is so 

 zealous for the progress of his art, that he does 

 not confine himself to personal experiments, but 

 he has established a correspondence with the new 

 world to i)rocure all the new productions there 

 known, and to enable his fellow citizens to judge 

 of their real merit. 



well understood, the field or the market furnisl 

 a proportionably small part of the provisions na- 



a proporiionauiy sinaii pan ui mc pi^.ia.v^..^ ..-- 

 cessary for family consumption. A family, which ^j 



To!.V 



ia well supplied with garden vegetables will not be *' . 

 so liable to cat more flesh than health requires, aaj ^^' 

 one which is obliged to live almost altogether o 

 animal food for want of the vegetables which 

 garden affords. 





NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



BOSTON, FRIDAY, APRIL 16, 1830. 



SEASONABLE HINTS. 



.\ pnnd Gdrittn is almost as necessary an appen- 

 dage to a farm, and as useftil to a family, as a cellar 

 to a dwelling bouse, a fire place to a kitchen, or a 

 bucket to a well of water. Where a well man- 

 aged garden constitutes part of a rural establish- 

 ment, and the culinary uses of its productiona are 



BEST KI.1DS OF VEGETABLES. 



A cultivator who iias a proper regard to his on n 

 interest will always endeavor to procure and pro- 

 pagate from the best breeds of vegetables as well | 

 as animals. A good sort of jiotatoes, for instance, i-^ ' 

 scarcely less desirable than a good breed of cat- 

 tle ; and the best possible grasses are as much \>i 

 be sought after as .Merino, or South-down Sheep 



EARLY POTATOES. 



Plant near your hog-stye, an early sort of pota 

 toes on early ground, for feeding hogs before your 

 Indian corn becomes ripe. After your potatoeaj- 

 are planted, it is said, that strewing quick liHuL^ 

 over the hills in small quantities will preserve tbeiB( 

 against both the grub-worm and the wire-worm. 



Potatoes are better food for breeding ewes thai 

 turnips, which it is said are apt to injure the lambs. ( 

 Iu small quantities at a time, they are good foo«j 

 for horses and oxen, especially in spring. Thejj 

 will go farther if boiled or steamed, but when 

 given raw they are useful for physic as well at 

 food, being of'a cooling and laxative quality, and 

 calculated to counteract the astringent and heat 

 ing qualities of dry food. 



S0AP-8CD3 FOR ILSTBOVISG I.NSECTS. 



The Rev. Mr Falconer, one <f the correspon 

 dents of the Bath Agricul'ural Society, stronglj 

 recommends Soap-Suds both as a manure and at 

 antidote against insects. He observes, ' Thiii • 

 m;-ture of an oil and an alkali, has been mor- 

 generally known than adopted as a remedy againa p 

 the insects which infest wall fruit-trees. It wil ' 

 dislodge and destroy the insects which have al 

 ready formed their nests, and bred among tbi 

 leaves. When used in the early part of the year 

 it seeiBS to prevent the insects from settling npoi 

 them.' He prefers soap-suds to lime-water, be 

 cause lime soon ' lo^es its causticity, and with tha 

 its eflicacy, by exposure to air and must conse 

 quently be frequently applied ; and to the dredgini 

 of the leaves with liie fine dust of wood-ashes an. ?, 

 lime, because the same effect is produced by th. 

 mixture withotit the same labor, and is obtains 

 without any expense.' He directs to make use c 

 a common garden-)>ump for sprinkling trees wili 

 soap-suds, and says if the water of a washing can 

 not be had, a quantity of i)0tash, dissolved ii 

 water, may be substituted, and that the wasluni 

 of the trees with soap-suds tw ice a week, for thre< 

 or four weeks, in the spring will be sufficient l. 

 secure them from aphides, &:c. 



ELDER. 



The expressed juice of elder learea will kii 

 skippers in cheese, bacon, &c. ; and strong de 

 coctions of the leaves or roots are fatal t 

 insects, which depredate on plants in garden 

 &c. Dr Williih observes, that 'the leaves « 

 elder are eaten by sheep to which they are o 

 great service, when diseased with the rot ; for i 

 placed in a situation, where they can easily read 

 (he bark and young shoots, they will speedily cun 

 themselves.' Dr F.lliot observed in his Kfsnys M 

 Field Htislinmlry, that 'elder bushes arc stuhbon 

 and hard to sululuo, yet I know by experience, tha 

 mowing them Atb tiiuca a year will kill thtm.' 



