92 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



From the iVlassachusetts Agricultural Repository lor 

 June ]ai3. 



Some notice of Thomas Andrew Knight, Esq. 

 Presiihnt of the Horticultural Societii of L>ii- 

 don. His experiments and present to this So- 

 ciety. 



EV THE CORRESPONDING SECRETARY. 



If any apology could be necessary for (he 

 brief and imperfect notice which we are about to 

 take of one of the most distinguished cultivators 

 of the age, of a man ivho has done as much to 

 enlarge the boundaries of theoretical agricul- 

 culture, and horticulture, as any man living, 

 while he has at the same time done more than 

 any man with whom we are acquainted to ad- 

 vance that science practically, it will be found 

 in the kind expressions of his regard for our 

 country, and his generous exertions to make us 

 partakers of the improvements he has actually 

 effected in his oten. To those who may be dis- 

 posed to consider liorticulture as loss interest- 

 ing and less within the province of this society, 

 wa would observe (at the hazard of repeating 

 and reinforcing the remarks we made in our tirst 

 article) that it is precisely the branch of agri- 

 cultural industry wliich in our country needs the 

 most attention. It is the one in which we are 

 most deplorably deficient. So long as we were 

 surrounded with Indian neigiihors, and our crops 

 were so precarious that our only anxiety was to 

 procure bread corn sufficient for subsistence, it 

 was natural that we should be inditTerent to the 

 rich profusions of vegetables and fruit=, which 

 nature has provided for our luxurious enjoy- 

 ment. In this particular, we can without blush- 

 ing, compare ourselves with the European na- 

 tions at a period not far distant ; and when we 

 learn that the water-cress was the only salad 

 for the royal table in the reign of Queen Eliz- 

 abeth we miiy ""♦ ''= surpri.ied at tlie scanty 

 supply of our own tables, fifty years sihce. Bui 

 we are past that age, and we see no reason, 

 why we should not have the finest melons ol 

 Persia which we can grow in the open air, 

 while a Russian Prince -joill enjoy them in spile 

 of nature, by expensive hot-houses heated by 

 steam. We feel only a sentiment of hum;lia- 

 tion, when we reflect, that countries which the 

 sun never heats, produce the most luxurious 

 fruits, while our %\m wastes it powers in m.my 

 parts of our coimlry on a rich and productive 

 soil, which is applied, in most cases, to the rais- 

 ing of the coarse vegetables, which our Indian 

 predecessors bequeathed to us. lu this remark 

 we refer only to vegetables for the table, not 

 to our iBvaluahle staple aiticles. 



Much has undoubtedly been done in the vi- 

 cinity of our great towns, and horticulture lias 

 within our memory made a progress equal to 

 our gro^vth and improvement, but much re- 

 mains to be done even here, and the inhabitants 

 of the country at large m:iy be considered as to 

 horticulture, in a state of nature, excepting 

 always some liberal, and spirited individuals 

 who have made horticulture their study. After 

 the provision for the support of life, come our 

 comforts and rational luxuries, and if these can 

 be obtained, without neglecting the more sub- 

 stantial and important articles, it is our interest 

 to procure them. This is our apology for in- 

 troducing the character, discoveries, and exer- 

 tions of Mr. Knight. He has devoted his life 

 to the investigation of the physiology of plants. 



and it has been his rare merit, to submit his| 

 theories to the best <es(, that of experience. He | 

 no sooner settled a principle than he undertook! 

 to shew its truth by actual experiment, and to 

 prove its importance, by applying it to the 

 [iractical amelioration of horticulture. He ear- 

 ly announced, that individual varieties of plants 

 have their limited age ; that although by cul- 

 ture, and in favorable circumstances, they may 

 survive that age, they generally after that pe- 

 riod decline ami become weak, and of course 

 unprofitable. With respect to the potatoe, he 

 ascertained with as much precision as the na- 

 ture of the subject will admit, that the specific 

 varieties do not last in perfection more than 

 fourteen years. No observing man in any 

 country could doubt, as to the temporary dura- 

 tion of the varieties of this vegetable, howev- 

 er he might question the accuracy of the pre- 

 cise limits assigned btj Mr. Knight. There is not 

 a single variety of the potatoe now cultivated 

 with us with which we were familiar thirty 

 years since ; and within twenty years, we have 

 known several sorts which were invaluable, 

 gradually run out ; and this too, not from any 

 want of attention, but from the impossibility of 

 raising them. We will mention two sorts, as 

 examples, the round cranberry potatoe, better 

 than any now in market, a great bearer, excel- 

 lent in the spring after other potatoes become 

 flaccid and watery. We continued to raise them 

 till they would not produce double the amount 

 of the seed put in. They are now extinct. An- 

 other was a blue potatoe, with white spots — a 

 delicious variety, lirought from England direct, 

 and also from Connecticut. For the last lour 

 years, it has become extinct. Some persons 

 are deceived by appearances. We have always 

 ■a;hitc potatoes, and they think them the same, 

 !)ut the varieties arc intinite, and are const.mtly 

 changing. The long reds, called the Kiver 

 Plate potatoes, have essentially changed their 

 character, and ten years hence we shall no lon- 

 ger see that very valuable variety. So far our 

 experience fully supports the theory of Mr. 

 Knight. 



Mr. Knight, if not the first to sug'gcst the 

 mode in which the sap circulates in vegetables, 

 was, we arc persuaded, the first who proved it 

 to the satisfaction not only of men of science, 

 but of the most incredulous and ignorant. Some 

 of his early experiments vverc made on plants 

 whose parts are transparent. He look, we be- 

 lieve, the Balsamine, or "Touch me not."' He 

 watered it with a colored Huid. He saw that 

 the fluid passed up in the central parts of the 

 pl.int, made its way into the leaves and having 

 colored them, it returned by the hark which 

 was the last afiected. l<"or the information of 

 those who have not attended to the structure of 

 [ilants, it may be remarked, that they consist ol 

 an external covering which is generally very 

 thin, called the Cortex ; of a softer substance, 

 which is usually confounded with the other, 

 called Liber; of a while portion, called by bot- 

 anists. Alburnum, and commonly known as " sap 

 wood ;" and the Heart-wood, which in more 

 durable trees is usually much the more dense 

 and solid. Mr. Knight maintained that the sap 

 ascended in the Alburnum and descended in 

 the bark, or between the bark and Alburnum, 

 where it made its deposit of new wood. This 

 theory was not without its practical value. It 

 exphuned the reasons of the fact of the destruc- 



tion of trees by decortication or a too great 

 movat of the bark, if accompanies! with 

 wounds in the Alburnum as to prevent the fori, 

 tion of new bark. It was known bforc that y 

 might cut off half the lop and hall the roots 

 a tree and it would still flourish, but if yt 

 should make a wound of one inch wide throuj_ 

 the bark, and into the Alburnum, the tree ine' 

 ilably perished. His theory led to various ei l>" 

 periments, founded upon its undoubted trutl I '" 

 Mr. Williams, of Great Britain, applied it to tl \ »" 

 early maturation or ripening of grapes, by tai I *' 

 ing ufT the bark to the extent of a quarter of i i *" 

 inch in width; it was found that the sap w i ''' 

 impeded in its descent, the parts above beca 

 larger, Ihe fruit swelled and ripened earlier at I ''' 

 was more large and fine. This experiment wi I "i 

 repealed in this country by the writer of tW I 

 article, and its success was so perfect, thi ) 

 nothing could be said against the theory by tho^K 

 who were eye witnesses of its most exlraordinfri '' 

 ry effects. Another consequence followed frotti 

 this discovery of Mr. Knight. If fruits can Dfi 

 hastened to maturity, and enlarged and improi 

 ed by partial and prudent and judicious decorl 

 cation, why, it was asked, may it not be a|ipj 

 ed to the bringing trees earlier into bcarid 

 than by the ordinary process of nature ? Tlij 

 it was said would necessarily be the eft'ect ( 

 iletaining the sap prelernaturally in the brancKil 

 es, and thus forcino- (he plant to produce blossomr 

 buds instead o( leaf or branch buds. It was be- 

 fore well known to gardeners, that any thing ^[ 

 which checked the growth of a fruit tree, haa " 

 tened the production of fruit. It was reserve! 

 for iMr. Knight to shew the causes, and to sui 

 mil the whole process to rules as certain as an 

 known in any otlier branch of natural scienc^k 

 In alt, vve are stopped at certain points, wb^t 

 ive rashly venture to penetrate the great i^ 

 crels of nature, but this is no reason why ive 

 t^hould not search as far as we can find intelligi- 

 ble explanations and facts. 



Perhaps it would be satisfactory to our read- 

 ers to have experiments «( home stated to them, 

 in support of Mr. Knight's theories, and we 

 trust that due credit will be given to our slate* 

 ment of actual experiments, especially as nolHi 

 ing would give us more pleasure than to afford' 

 any cultivator the most perfect satisfaction a? to 

 the accuracy of these statements, if he will do 

 us the honor to call and examine the subject! 

 of our experiments. 



On two orange-trees from St. Michael's, 

 which had never borne fruit, though we had 

 them many years, we practised decortication, 

 taking olT a ring of the bark of half an inch ill 

 width. In the following spring, this year, th# 

 gardener expressed to me his surprise, tliaf 

 those limbs were literally covered with blos. 

 soms. He had not been in the secret. We 

 pointed out to him the decortication or ringing, 

 or as we say, the " girdling," and it was found, 

 that while every other part of the tree was 

 witliout blossoms, those which were operated 

 upon v/erefar too greatly covered with then). 

 In this case we committed a mistake. The or- 

 ange-tree puts forth only once in a year ordina- 

 rily in our climate, or under favorable circum- 

 stances, twice. Flinging or girdling should only 

 be executed when the sap is in the greatest pos- 

 sible degree of action. These limbs are not 

 healthy, and we fear will not hold their fruit, 

 but the experiments shewed the principle in it! 



