252 



NEW ENGLAND FARxMER 



FEB. 8, IS43. 



NOTES ON ENGLAND AND FRANCE. 

 JVoles on Evgland and France, during two several 

 visits to those Countries, in the years 1840, 1841 

 and 1842 ; with some remarks on their Buildings 

 and Horticulture, and on Rural Jlffairs, i{c. I3y 

 William Kenrick, Nonantuin Hill, Newton. 



(Concluded.) 

 In a former communication \ have slated that 

 the friiit-bearing specimen trees in the garden of 

 the London Horticultural Society, were generally 

 planted in close order, or but six or eight feet asun- 

 der in the row, and encouraged to branch low. A 

 portion of the pear trees having been trained in the 

 qnenouille or pryaiuidal form, by bending down- 

 wards the young shoots at midsummer, and thus 

 confined for a season, they retain their position for- 

 ever after unchanged. In some instances, their low- 

 er limbs, being loaded with fruit, were found ly- 

 ing on the ground. Such was the case, as partic- 

 ularly witnessed with those new kinds, the Dun- 

 more and Rouselench, of Mr Knight, both of 

 ' which have so lately proved in that garden, to be 

 among the number of the most productive and valu- 

 able of all fruits. 



At the Garden of Plants, at Paris, the trees of 

 the pear being preserved in perfect quenouille or 

 pyramidal form, by the most scientific operations of 

 spur-pruning during mid-summer, are thus render- 

 ed abundantly productive, to the ground. The 

 same system is perfectly understood and practiced 

 by some of the most distinguished cultivators ot 

 Vitry. 



In several parts of England, and particularly at 

 Vitry and other parts of France, the business of 

 the nurseryman descends from father to son, and 

 from generation to generation : and, by careful and 

 long-continued observation, the intelligent nursery- 

 fuan is enabled to know and to identify with accu- 

 focy his fruit trees of many species, in most of 

 their liinds and varieties. By sight, and by inspec- 

 tion of the tree and its leaf, or even in many cases 

 ly the tree alone and its wood during winter. By 

 certain featiires and indications they are known, 

 and by eigns even more invariable and infallible 

 than by tlie mere inspection and examination of 

 the fruit, liable BS .is the fruit to vary in quality 

 and appearance, in .different expositions and soils. 

 Or, as the pastor, or good shepherd knows, and is 

 fully able to recognize, by their varied features, 

 fiacfe and every individual of his own flock. 1st, 

 they are distinguished by the general form of the 

 tree, some growing tali and handsome, the shoots 

 rising vertically or upright; in others, horizontal 

 or straggling, or pendulous, ^d, by the growth of 

 the young wooii, which in some is very strong or 

 stout, in others slender and feeble ; — by the form 

 and position of the eyes ; by the color of the young 

 wood, which varies from dark brown or black, to 

 yellow or deep red ; by the color of the blossoms, 

 which vary from dark red to white ; or by the color 

 of the leaf, and also by its peculiar character and 

 form. 



Of the fruits thf most approved, and of the more 

 recent introduction, the following kinds appear, 

 from the best information I was enabled to obtain, 

 to stand pre-eminent : 



Of Grapes, the Cation- Hall Muscat, J\'ew Sweet 

 fVater, IfilmoCs AViii Early Muscat, ff'ilmol's JVcui 

 Blnrk Hamburg ; this last being remarkably dis- 

 tinct in its appearance, and larger than the Black 

 Hamburg, more singular and beautiful, yot not 

 indeed deemed superior in regard to flavor to that 



celebrated variety. From Mr Ronald, who from like the larch. The trunk grows tall and upright, 

 his position and opportunities, ought certainly to j the branches horizontal or pendulous. At Liver- 

 know, I have understood distinctly, that this kind pool I first saw the tree, in December 1841, and 



is identical with the new and celebrated " f'ictoria." 

 Black Champion is another kind, recommended by 

 Mr Gray the younger, who so very lately deceased, 

 as new and much superior to Black Hamburg, be- 

 ing both a larger berry and of higher flavor, and 

 an excellent bearer. 



Of Pears, very lately proved b'y Mr Thompson at 

 the Garden of the London Horticultural Society, 

 the Van Mons Leon Clerc, as he stated to me very 

 recently, is believed to be the best pear in the world, 

 uncommon size, beauty, flavor, and all things con- 

 sidered. The Beurre Bosc and the Louise Bonne 

 de Jersey, as there lately proved, have more than 

 rivalled the Marie Louise, as most valuable and 

 productive and profitable kinds. The last named, 

 particularly, has proved with us a prodigious bear- 

 er, and is in very high repute at Paris ; it is there 

 called the Louise Bonne d' Avranches, as it is sta- 

 ted by them to have originated either at Avran- 

 ches or at Cherbourg. 



The Duchesse d' Orleans is another new kind, of 

 a beautiful golden russet color, which is very high- 

 ly spoken of in Normandy. Of the later trials, or 

 of 1841, as Mr Thompson informed me, the fol- 

 lowing other kinds have been there approved, as 

 being of very distinguished merit, and as highly 

 deserving of extensive circulation : — Thompson 

 Pear, a new Flemish fruit; Althorpe Crassanc, ot 

 Knight ; Hacon^s Incomparable , and the Dunmore, 

 also of Mr Knight. This last is large, and of mo.st 

 excellent quality, a prodigious bearer, and ripens 

 between those two main and most profitable and 

 established varieties, the Williams Bon Chretien 

 and Marie Louise; or it ripens a little before the 

 last named. From this cause, the genuine trees of 

 the Dunmore, as J am informed, are now sold by 

 some as high as half a guinea each. Rouselench is 

 another new kind, originated by Mr Knight, and 

 lately proved to be eminently valuable. All Mr 

 Knight's new kinds prove great bearers generally, 

 according to Mr Thompson. The Angora Pear 

 is described from undoubted testimony, lately re- 

 ceived from France, as new and splendid, and late- 

 ly sent to that country by the French ambassador 

 at Constantinople, brought thither from Angora. 

 It is of enormous size, some having weighed near 

 5 lbs; fine red next the sun, yellow in the shade. 

 A dessert fruit, as understood, which keeps till 

 May. Foliage distinct. New and not to be con- 

 founded with any other known. 



Of new ornamental or useful productions, I will 

 ere speak particularly only of two distinct species 

 of trees, namely, the Deodara and the Paulownia. 

 The Paulownia imperialis is yet exceeding rare. 

 It is of a growth so rapid, that, in a highly fertile 

 soil, it is stated to have grown to the height of 12 

 feet in a single season. The leaves are of unu- 

 sual size. The tree — the parent tree of all in 

 France — which bloomed for the first time in the 

 Garden of Plants at Paris, in open culture, in the 

 beginning of May last, is stated to have produced 

 blossoms of a blue color, and in clusters, each in- 

 dividual flower like the splendid Gloxinia cartilea. 

 The Dtodara, Cedrns Deodara, or Pinus Deo- 

 dara, or Holy Cedar of the Mountains, is a new 

 tree from the elevated mountains of India, other- 

 wise termed the God Tree, so called because cer- 

 tain nations of those countries worship beneath its 

 shade. 



The Deodara is an evergreen tree with leaves 



perfectly hardy in that cold but moist climate, 

 topping, it was there made to assume the form of 

 the weeping willow. Altogether, it is a most rare, 

 useful and splendid tree. In a late number of the 

 Gardener's Chronicle, a most valuable journal, 

 which is edited in London by Dr. Lindley, ho 

 there states that the Deodara " is as liardy and 

 fast growing as the larch, more valualile in its tim- 

 ber, and with the evergreen beauty of the cedar of 

 Lebanon. Of all the trees of British India, this is 

 incomparably the most important to England. It 

 has every good quality and no bad one.'' Thus 

 speaks Dr. Ijindley ; and from his pre-eminent bo- 

 tanical knowledge, and from the position which he 

 occupies, no one in that country ought to be a bet- 

 terjudge. 



(Jther new hardy and beautiful trees are the 

 Araliajaponica, the Sorhus hybridus, or silver-leaved 

 mountain Ash ; the Garrya elliplica, and some oth- 

 ers which I might name ; but none comparatively 

 appear to be so worthy of distinguished notice as 

 those which are above described. W. K. 



N'onanlum Hill, ..Vewlon, JVov. 1642. 



From the Maine Farmer. 



QUERJES RESPECTING ROOTS. 

 Mr Holmes — Having read your valuable paper 

 for 9 years past, and your having promised to trim 

 off the knots from any communication that may 

 come from any of your inferior subscribers, is the 

 condition on which I trouble you now. 



Having seen it recommended in your paper that 

 roots were good to feed out to cattle as a substi- 

 tute for hay, I should like to know the experience 

 of some of your knowing farmers in this business. 

 Suppose a man has got two cows and two tons of 

 hay, (which ehould be four,) and wants the value of 

 two tons of hay in roots; how many pounds or 

 bu-hels of potatoes, turnips or carrots must he get 

 to supply the deficiency .- 



1 think if this subject was properly investigated 

 and generally understood, people would do better 

 with their potatoes than to sell them for 12 or 16 

 cents per bushel when hay is worth $15 per ton, as 

 it is down east at this time — (I mean in Hancock 

 county, and further east.) 



I have asked a number of people what they knew 

 of feeding potatoes to stock, and they think that a 

 ton of potatoes is as good with a ton of hay, as 

 two tons of hay : this is nearly 50 cents per bush- 

 el, which 1 think is raising iaiers a little too fast — 

 but I can 't say 't ain't right. 



1 should like to know if raw potatoes fed to milch 

 cows the same as you would to cattle that are fat- 

 ting, (provided they have as much hay as they will 

 eat,) whether it will sap the flesh to disadvantage 

 as a dairy loan. 



I should like to know how much more nutriment 

 there is in a bushel of boiled vegetables than in a 

 bushel of raw ones. 



I have asked questions enough now, and must 

 stop: you see what I want. 



I should like lor some of your subscribers to tell 

 something more of the good efl'ects of muscle-bed 

 mud or a clayey loam for growing wheal and grass, 

 for perhaps I might help them some. 



A SCBSCRIBEB. 



Jan. 15, 1843. 



