i^EW IGI^CJIiA 



1' 



FARMER, 



AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL. 



PUBLISHED BY GEORGE C. BARRETT, NO. S2, NORTH MARKET Sl'KCET, (Aghicultukai. Wakkhousk.) — T. G. FEHSENOEN, EDIl'OR. 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, Al;GlJST 19, 1835. 



NO. 6 



fFnr the New Engln.iii Farmer.! 

 SELiECTION OP SEEDS PREVENT THE DEGEN- 

 ERACY OP VEGETABLE PRODrCTlONS. 



Mr Editok — An opinion prevails to some ex- 

 tent anionp some of my acquaintance, that all 

 kinds of agricultural and horticultural seeds are 

 apt to degenerate if they continue to grow from 

 the same original stalk in any one ncighborhod ; 

 and that in order to secure good crops of corn, 

 potatoes, and other valuable products of the field 

 and garden, it is necessary to obtain seed which 

 grew at a great distance, from the place where the 

 seed is to be planted. Some of these persons, 

 suppose that if farmer A. living in C, ex- 

 changes his seeds with farmer B. living in D., 

 at the distance of one hundred miles from each 

 other, that the exchange will always be mutually 

 beneficial, and will ensure an increase of cro])s to 

 botli. 



I could relate to you a number of experiments 

 which demonstrate the fallacy of such a doctrine. 



A few years ago I planted Turnip seud, which 

 was obtained by selecting the best roots from a 

 very fine crop of turnips, and growing seed from 

 them. The seed from these selected turnips was 

 planted within a few rods of the place where the 

 seed, and the turnips which made the seed, had 

 grown, and tliis seed produced a fine crop. But not 

 having seed enough, I procured some turnip seed 

 ■'from abroad, and planted it in the same mariner 

 by the side of the other. When the crop was 

 matured, it was seen that the seed which was ob- 

 tained from a distance, produced a crop not more 

 than one fourth part as large as that wliicli was 

 grown near the spot where it was planted, and 

 while the latter was remarkably smooth, fair, 

 handsome, and excellent in quality, the crop pro- 

 duced from seed obtained at a distance was rough, 

 and poorer in quality, in about the same propor- 

 tion that it was smaller in quantity. 



About the same time, I made a similar e^iperi- 

 ment with carrot seeds, and the result was very 

 similar to the experiment with turnips which I 

 have just related. 



But as potatoes are thought by sotiie to be pe- 

 culiarly apt to degenerate, and as it is not easy for 

 every man to make experiments which require 

 more than thirty years for the'ir completion, I 

 send you the following, which you are' at liberty 

 to give to the public, through the medium of your 

 useful paper, if you think the narration worth 

 publishing. 



When I was a lad 16 years of age, my father 

 obtained a kind of round yellowish potatoes, 

 which was new in the neighborhood, and was 

 thought at that time to be a superior kind. He 

 planted them, and was much pleased with the re- 

 sult He had a larger crop than he had ever ob- 

 tained before, on the same quantity of ground 

 since my remembrance. He continued to culti- 

 vate the same kind of potatoes, for more than 20 

 years, on the same farm, and they still retained 

 their excellence. 



After I became the head of a family, and after 



my father had cultivated the kind of potatoes of 

 which I am writing, for about fourteen years, I ob- 

 tained seed from him, and have continufd tli(! cul- 

 tivation of them for sixteen years more ; from the 

 same original stock, which my fallur obtained, 

 when I was sixteen years old. 



Tiius it will be seen, that the 16 years which / 

 have cultivated them, added to the 14 years which 

 my father cultivated them, before I obtained the 

 seed from him, make a period of 30 years, which 

 uie have continued the- cultivation of the same 

 kind of potatoes, frotn the same original stock. 



I have ever been careful, to .select the best part 

 of my crop for seed, and so far from degenerating 

 or running 07(t as it is termed, some of my last 

 crops have been handsomer and better, than I have 

 ever seen of the kind before. 



Respectfully yours, Asa M. Holt. 



East Hoddam, Conn. August 7, 1835. 



By the Editor. — The above is from a very re- 

 spectable medical gentleman from whom fiitufe 

 favors of a similar nature are respectfully solicited. 

 We have frequently endeavored to impress on our 

 readers the importance of selecting the best seeds, 

 roots, &c., for the purpose of raising new crops 

 of the same sorts of vegetables ; and given the 

 opinion of practical as well as scientific cultivators 

 that it is, geiierally, better to propagate from the 

 bc.«t which a farmer has himself proved and im- 

 proved than to make hap-hazard exchanges witli 

 Ills brethren at a distance. The rule is, or should 

 be to raise the best you can, and propagate from 

 the best you raise. See New England Farmer, 

 vol. xiii. pp. 30, 62, 334. But examides are better 

 than precepts, and those of Dr Holt are very per- 

 tinent and iristructive. 



PARMER'S I.IBRARY. 



We have on our table three volumes of the Far- 

 mer's Library. 

 Vol. I. The Xew American Gardener, 10th edi- 

 tion, by T. G. Fessenden. 

 Vol. II. The jVew American Orchardist, 2d eili- 



tion, by William Kenrick. 

 Vol. III. The Complete Farmer, 2d edition, by 

 T. G. Fessekden. 



It may appear superfluous for us to remark 

 upon the labors of our assiduous co-editor, on 

 which the demand for successive editions has al- 

 ready stamped the unequivocal impress of public 

 approbation. We had rather leave this subject 

 to the judicious Loudon, editor of the London 

 Gardener's Hagnzine, who leads us to believe that 

 he has condensed into his work the most valuable 

 portions of the experience and labor of the prac- 

 tised agriculturist and gardener in Europe and 

 America. Those who expect novelty in works of 

 pure fiction and imagination are often deceived, 

 and those who expect it on a subject which has 

 engaged the unwearied attention of a large por- 

 tion of mankind since our first parent Adam, ex- 

 pect not wi.sely. On this, whoever is able, unfet- 

 tered by the trammels of prejudice, to offi:r the 



fair results arrived at by those who have the 

 necessary experience, oflTers that which in most 

 conducive to utility — and we apprehend that every 

 farmer who is ambitious of cultivatin" hi.s land 

 on the most approved principles will not fail to 

 add these three volumes to his stock of books. '^ 



With respect to the second volume by Mr Ken- 

 rick, we may be expected to s|)eak without bias, 

 and nm- fir.st observation is to quarrel with ijim for 

 omitting the Tupelo tree in his list of ornamental 

 trees. It grows plentifully in this neighborhood i 

 near Cohasset there are some magnificent speci- 

 mens ; it is certainly one of the finest ornamentnl 

 trees of the American forest. 



We have bestowed son)e pains in comparing 

 his list and descriptions of orchard fruits with the 

 best authorities, and have no hesitation in pro- 

 nouncing them correct, so that this work may al- 

 ways be referred to by the farmer with perfect 

 confidence. The introduction, which contains 

 remarks on the routine of cultivation, pruning, 

 grafting, insects, &c. &c. is written in a remarka- 

 bly clear and plain style exactly fitted for the work. 

 We extract the section on modern or landscape 

 gardening. 



" In northern latitudes, the location of a gar- 

 den should be, if practicable, on the south side of 

 a hill. Or it may be screened on tlie cold quar- 

 ters, either by hills, or by dense and deep border.s 

 of evergreen and other forest trees, intermi.ved 

 with fruit trees and shrubs of ornament. An 

 undulating surface is by all means to be preferred, 

 and water sliould not be wanting. 



" 'Pile art pf Modern Gardening, is to form a 

 landscape the most beautiful. Nature having 

 drawn the outline, art must accomplish the rest. 

 Art itself being subservient, or so far concealed, 

 as that all may appear the work of nature alone. 

 Wall and boundary fences should be demolished, 

 or so far as possible concealed. The ha-ha is a 

 concealed wall, constructed in the bottom of a dry 

 ditch, and rising no higher than the surface of the. 

 earth. Straight lilies and right lined walks are to 

 be avoided ; and in their stead devious lines only 

 are adopted ; — the serpentine, or the gentle wav- 

 ing lines, which bring continual and agreeable 

 change. Striking and agreeable objects in the 

 landscape, whether near or remote, should be 

 brought frequently, and sometimes suddenly into 

 0))en view; while unpleasant objects, should from 

 all conspicuous points, be masked from the flight, 

 by shrubbery or by trees. To the hills an arti- 

 ficial elevation may be given by planting their 

 summits with the stateliest trees. And depth is 

 preserved to the valleys, by converting them to 

 lawns. Views of the water, it must not be forgot- 

 ten, are essential to the perfect landscape. 



"The first garden, of which we have any ac- 

 count on record, was jilanted by the Almighty, 

 " Eastward in Eden," and in it, every tree that 

 was pleasant to the eye, or useful for food. Oul 

 of Eden went a river, which watered the garden '. 

 and from thence it was parted into four liead.s, 

 1st. PisoDjOn the side of Ilavilah. 2il. Gihon,on 



