T 



FARMER 



Vol. II 



I'lFBUSIIKl) liV WILLIAM MCllOI.S. HoCKRS' UUIMJINGS, CONGIJ KSS S'l'llKKT, (KOUIITII DOOIl KROM''siT'lT:^n7KFI\7 



No. 2}';.' 



BOSTON, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 7. 1824. 



liiids of it for insertion in the last season, but I 

 propose senilinof a hiidded stock to yon. 



i tliank yoii for tlio ear of Indian Sweet Corn 

 uhicli you wore so kind as to send me. The 

 facts you state are very interesting ; but they do 

 not present to my mind anyliiing- anomnlons. — 

 The color of the seed conl.i in the blue and yel- 

 low grains is not changed. It is the matter 

 ivhich composes the cotyledons only, which 

 acquires a tinge from the ojieralion of the 

 pollen. 



An English gentleman, by (he name of Goss, 

 has pointed out, in the Horticultural Transac- 

 tions of the present year, a similar change in 

 the color of the Prussian blue pea; a yariety 

 cultiyated in our gardens, of which the color of 

 the cotyledons is a dull blue, which is seen 

 through a white skin. Mr. Goss conceiyed er- 

 roneously, that he had changed the color of the 

 seed coat ; but I hare, in a subsequent commu- 

 nication shown that he has drawn an erroneous 

 inference; and that the seed coat of the pea, 

 nr of Indian Sweet Corn retains the same color, 

 which it would have presented if its natural 

 pollen, that of the plant itself, which aft'orded 

 the seed, bad alone been present. I planted a few 

 of the white shrivelled seeds, taken from the 

 ear you sent me. soon after it arrived, and 1 have 

 kept each plant wholly separate from any other; 

 and all the seeds (which have been sometime 

 perfectly ripe) are white and shrivelled. You 

 will probably think that I have been very expe 

 ; kernels of that corn, it is well known, are white ( ^jtjous ;„ obtaining ripe seeds. But we do al- 

 shrivelled; but on the ears which 1 sent, there were j most every thing here by machinery; and 1 

 ■ral kernels of plump, yellow corn. This r^plana- : have a couple of'dry stoves, which are always 



,i._...i„.i, J... J, ., J ., r,. jjgpj j,{ jj ^,gj,y high temperature; and into 



those I introduced several plants in succession, 

 as their periods of shewing blossoms approach 

 ed, suffering one only to bear its male (lowers 

 at a time. I have of the plants, growing under 

 glass, in a lower temperature : But those have 

 not yet ripened their seeds. The sweet Corn, 

 in its immature state, must be, 1 conceive, a 

 most admirable vegetable. I beg (o assure 

 you that I did not make the foregoing expe- 

 riments under any donbts of your accuracy. 

 On the contrary, I have given you full credit 

 for perfect accuracy ; and I think the habit ol 

 hearing from many correspondents, some ol 

 them certainly not accurate has given me a fa- 

 cility of distinguishing Truth from Falsehood in 

 the statements and opinions of such correspon- 

 dents. I have, in the present year, seen » 

 great number of new seedling nectarines, ob- 

 tained from experiments, purposely and scien- 

 titically made ; and I have got one or two vari- 

 eties of, I believe, unprecedented excellence. — 

 But your climate is, 1 believe, too hot for the 

 melting varieties of the nectarine. 



1 remain, my dear Sir, sincerely yours, 



T. A. KNIGHT. 



Boston, .Ian. ','9, niW-l. 

 " tke Editor of the -Vcw England Farintr. 



I Sir, — 1 am induced to request the publication of the 

 lowinj letter from T. A. Knight, Esq., President of 

 London Horticultural Society, as a just tribute to 

 ni for this repeated proof of his regard for this country, 

 d his desire to communicate to ns, some of the finest 

 lits, recently introduced into Europe. — I had barely 

 ted to him, that I was apprehensive that some of 

 which he sent to us last spring: would fail, and 

 will be s(^en that he has promptly offered to send out 

 piicates of them all the ensuing spring. The least 

 can do, in such a case, is to make known his libe- 

 1 have distributed, in the course of the Inst 

 tnmer, more than two hundred buds of those which 

 sent ; and I have promised many scions the ensuing 

 !~hould the new parcel arrive safely, I hope to 

 able to give them a circulation as wide as the libe- 

 ty of the, donor could desire. 



That part ofhis letter which speaks of an ear of sweet 

 n sent by me to him, has reference to a question 

 ely discussed in Horticultural Transactions, relative 

 the effect of the farina or pollen, of one variety ol 

 nts upon another of the same species ; some of the 

 ters contending, that a change is elfected in the fruit 

 he same year by the interchange of the farina, while 

 crs maintain that the effect is only visible in the fruit 

 ed from the seed in subsequent years. Mr. Knight 

 invariably maintained the latter opinion, in which 

 lly coincide. 1 sent him, however, an ear of our 

 et corn, which I thought might be an exception. 



1 enable the reader to understand this pan of i; 

 ht's letter. It will be seen that he does not consi- 

 this an exception to the general rule, for the reasons 

 he states. 

 I am. Sir, respectfully, your humble servant, 



JOHiS LOWELL. 



Domnton, near Salop, Wales, Oct. 23, 1823. 

 Iy Dear Sir, — 1 am sorry to hear that the 

 t-trees 1 addressed to you, arrived in so ilia 

 e. The value of them to me was very tri- 

 g, and 1 shall have much pleasure in sending 

 er trees in the next spring, and till you are 

 lossession of the different varieties, which 1 

 satisfied you will find a great acquisition to 

 r gardens and orchards. I should have 

 tten sooner to express my wishes to send 

 another box in the spring, but 1 have wait- 



receive a letter, which you proposed to 

 i me, to say what varieties had succeeded, 



what had failed. I still hope to receive 



1 letter before the spring, that I may not 

 ] anything, which you already possess. We 



recently introduced a variety of apple 

 n the north of Italy into the Garden of the 

 •(icultural Society, of which the Belgic as 

 1 as Italian Gardeners speak in rapturous 

 ns : and .Gallesio, the author of a splendid 

 lication of delineations of the Italian Fruits 

 placed this apple first, at the head of the 

 of Italian fruits. And a Belgic Gardener 

 68 its flesh to be as rich and melting as that 

 he finest pear. I have only oblained a few 



KOB THE NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



REMARKS ON SEVERAL SUBJECTS RELATIXG 

 TO RURAL ECONOMY. 

 [Continued from page 196.] 

 6, Green Corn. Sentiments, feelings, and practi- 

 ces of particular application are often relinquish- 



ed rehictanlly and slowly after the occasil)n^ 

 which called them forth are passed away. I'eo- 

 |de do not discriminate betwoon the general laws 

 of coiulnct, and the application of them to par- 

 ticular circumstances. We have a striking il- 

 lustration of this in the subject of the present 

 communication. When our pious and good an- 

 cestors came into (his country, one of the great- 

 est of their concerns, and that which was at- 

 tended with the greatest difficulty was to pro- 

 vide for co^«\lortable subsistence in the winter. 

 Many tinu.;, as it is well known, they were not 

 able to do this, so as even to preserve the lives 

 of all. One of (be most comfortable and sub- 

 stantial articles was Indian Corn. This, from 

 its nature could be preserved, and furnished 

 them as it docs their descendants, with very 

 wholesome food, when the snow is scattered like 

 ashes on the earth, and the frost has sealed up 

 the waters. Under the circumstances in which 

 they were placed, the preservation of this arti- 

 cle was connected with the hope of life. There 

 was nothing else on which so much dejiendence 

 could be placed. While in summer, means of 

 subsistence were more easily provided, and ma- 

 ny things which at that season are good (or fond 

 would of course decay before winter, and must 

 therefore be used at the time, or lost. To raise 

 Indian corn was to provide for the preservation 

 ol life ; to use this in summer was to be un- 

 mindful ot the calls of winter, because if this 

 failed them there hope was gone. 



These circumstances made it, not only in the 

 estimation of (hose good men. but in reality a 

 sin to break down and use (hat article in its 

 green state ; for thereby life was endangered. 

 And these pioiis men felt as they ought to have 

 felt that it was their duly to forego present en- 

 joyment, when likely to result Tn such future 

 sufferings. But when the general truth that it 

 is the duty of all to preserve men's lives, was 

 adapted to the exigencies of the occasion, the 

 rule and the application were confounded, and 

 a feeling was excited averse to the use of corn 

 in a green state, which continued for many years 

 after the exigencies of the times had passed a- 

 way. I presume there are but i'ew of middle 

 age, who cannot recollect having been taught 

 ihat it was not only very uneconomical, but in 

 some way wicked to indulge in this luxury. 

 They have fel( a kind of misgiving, when on 

 -pccial occasions, they have ventured into the 

 field, and torn down the bleeding ear. And even 

 to this day there are not a few who experience 

 the same kind of feeling for the best of reasons, 

 ih('3 have the same sentiments. And (here is 

 something mteresting in this, for it shows what 

 a strong hold moral and religious culture has on 

 the mind. 



But though we ought to abstain from whatev- 

 er IS forbidden, we ought not to deprive our- 

 selves of what God, in his goodness, freely 

 gives us to enjoy. Though we are unspeaka- 

 bly indebted to God for this golden harvest, yet 

 such is the rich and boundless provision he gra- 

 ciously makes for us, that the preservation of 

 our lives is not dependent on this article almost 

 alone. It may accordingly be used freely io 



