164 



NEW E N.G L A N D FARMER, 



DEC. a, i»:tS.- 



[Lelter from M. H. linsgles, deferred from our last.) 

 PiniiUPS' PEAR. 



To thn Comniiitoe on Fruits, of the Mass;ichusetts Hor- 

 tieiiitural Society : — 



Fall River, Xov. 10, 1833. 



Gi'titlfiinen: — Since 1 last wrote to you aiiH sent 

 H s|i(cinien of the " Durfee Poaf," I have i-eesiverl 

 ■iiother specimen of supposed native pears, of an 

 ■^tienied variety, that grew upon the south end 

 <if Rhode Is'and, near Newport, on tlie Phillips' 

 firm. I have been unable to ascertain whether it 

 hf a known variety or not. From all the informa- 

 tinn 1 was al)le to gather, it originated upon the 

 r:inu where it now flourishes; though it may, 

 •..'p.in examination, prove otherwise. I send you 

 n 9|iecimen of it, and hope it may be examined by 

 the appropriate committee with reference to its 

 origin ; it tnay be an exotic — if so, it is unknown 

 to the owner of the trees. If it be not traced 

 elsewhere, as a fruit of foreign origin, suffer me 

 rri siijjgcst that it be registered in our nomencla- 

 ture as the Phillips' pear. 



I have never seen the trees from which these 

 pears were taken, but I have been informed that 

 there are several of them on the same farm, and 

 that the oldest in appearance is supposed to be 

 (juite aged. The others have more the appear- 

 ance of sprouts, than of separate engraftings, 

 which favors the idea of its being a native of that 

 place, as sprouts or suckers would bear the varie- 

 ty of fruit proper to their original root. 



Those who have long known this variety, ob- 

 serve, that the fruit is often, and generally, very 

 frregidar in size and shape, and in some instances 

 quite different in its flavor and qualities from the 

 same tree. 



The difference of quality upon the same tree, 

 I have before noticed iu other varieties of fruit as 

 vfell as of the pear, and for a time J supposed that 

 this difference might be referred to the position 

 the fruit occupied upon the tree it grew upon, and I 

 BOW suppose that it does, in a considerable measure 

 ID regard to the sun, and in being more or less ex 

 l»oscd to light and air ; but I have not, in all in- 

 stances, been able to trace the ap()arent difference 

 in quality from the same tree to this cause, if 

 the observable difterence does not wholly depend 

 uijjon the sun, light, and air, may we not, by se- 

 lecting our grafts from favorite branches, improve 

 even our best varieties ? On what the flavor, and 

 many other qualities of fruit depend, 1 am un- 

 able to say ; but it is very apparent that it has 

 relation to the structure of t!ie branches upon 

 which it grows, for by engrafting them on dift'er- 

 ent stocks they work up (if I may be allowed the 

 expression) the sap into a different quality of fruit ; 

 and this |)rocess of working np, probably dev;cnds 

 upon the organization of the branch and not upon 

 the root, though it must be ujion a congenial 

 atock to work upon ; then why may not a slight 

 difference in the organization of different limbs or 

 branches of the same tree, make the differf'nce 

 observable in the fruits of various qualities from 

 the same tree ? 



The greatest difference that I have ever ob- 

 ssrved was in fruits of good quality from native 

 trees, ftlay we not conjecture that the difference 

 ifi quality noticeable where the grafts that bore 

 «he fruit, have been taken from the same tree, was 

 ia a measure owing to the difference of branches 

 from whence they were taken ? as much or more 

 than to the quality of the stocks on which they 



were inserted ? And hence the wide difference, 

 that frequent aiul repeated grafting produces in 

 what is called the same variety; and, iu fact, 

 however difterent we sometimes find the fruit of 

 such variety, we can generally trace its origin to 

 the same common parent stock, though it ntay be 

 so various as to deserve a different name, being, 

 in fact, a difi'ureut kind of fruit of the sairie vari- 

 ety. Could we but discover what makes' these 

 ditlVrences in the different branches, and other 

 circumstances bearing upon the quality, which 

 we now ascribe to accident, we could then go on 

 and improve our varieties; and perhaps produce 

 better fruits than we ever yet have seen. I may 

 be deemed enthusiastic when I frankly say, that 

 the time is not far distant when the vegetable 

 physiologist will, in my opinion, be able to im- 

 prove our fruits by selecting the best brandies, 

 and then perhaps putting a ligature here, and tap- 

 ping a sap vessel there, almost control the quality 

 at pleasure, or, at least, so far command the result 

 as to be very essential to the husbandman. 



I am aware, gentlemen, tliat J have digressed 

 from my first intention, vWiich was merely to in- 

 troiluce to your notice this particular variety, and 

 tliat I have wandered from what you would ex- 

 pect in a letter that ought perhaps to be confined 

 to the fruit before you, rather than u])on sugges- 

 tions how fruits in general may be improved. But 

 as the difference in quality upon the same tree 

 here remarked upon, had been particularly no- 

 ticed in the fruit of this variety, I have ventured 

 these few remarks. And although lliey may be 

 deemed rather irrelevant on this occasion, I will 

 rely upon your kind feelings to pardon whatever 

 I may have said amiss ; and conclude this long, 

 very long letter, without further apology, and sub- 

 scribe myself, gentlemen, with great respect. 



Your friend, M. H. Rogoles. 



[From tlie Northampton Courier.] 

 CHINESE MUI.BERRY. 



The following extract is from a practical culti- 

 vator of the common white mulberry, and a man- 

 ufitcturer of silk, who is well acquainted with the 

 business. The process by which he has ceme to 

 the result of his experiments, a[ipears plausible, 

 and deserve high consideration. He must have 

 set his cuttings and roots of the Chinese mulberry 

 very compact, to give such a yield to the acre ; 

 probably only about two feet apart. But the nu- 

 tritious quality of the Chinese leaf over the com- 

 mon white mulberry, may, in some measure, 

 account for the quantity of silk calculated for the 

 acre ; as one jiound of Chinese leaf is supposed 

 to furnish nearly as much nutriment as two 

 pounds of white mulberry. 



Soine persons have said that forty pounds of 

 Silk may be considered the product of an acre of 

 land ; others, that an acre will yield sixty pounds 

 of silk ; these different results probably arise from 

 the size or difference of the number of trees on 

 an aero. The accounts given are generally the 

 result of feeding with the white nmlberry. But 

 the following extract is the result of feeding ex- 

 clusively an leaves of the Chinese mulberry (morns 

 mullicaulis ). it will be seen that the plants of 

 cuttings set out the last sjiring, have yielded over 

 half a pound of leaves to each tree, and the plants 

 set out the last s-iring, having some roots to start 

 the branches, gave one and a half pounds of leaves 

 to eacli. 



It is calculated by some, that if silk worms are 

 fed on white mulberry leaves, it requires one hun- 

 dred pounds of leaves to make one pound of silk, 

 but by the following extract, it appears, that frotre 

 seventy to eighty pounds of Chinese mulberry^ 

 leaves are sufficient to make one pound of silk ; tu 

 great saving in favor of the Chinese mulberry. 



Another fact in favor of feeding worms exclu- 

 sively on the morus multicaulis is, that by an ex- 

 periment recorded in the July number of the Silk 

 Culturist, ,500 worms being fed on the white mul- 

 berry, and 500 worms fed on the Phillippine mul- 

 berry (the Manilla rau'ticaulis), and each iiarcel 

 of worms fed the same length of time, and with 

 the same quantity of leaves each, resulted as fol- 

 lows : — It required 420 cocoons of those fed oa 

 the white mu'beiTy, to weigh one pound, but only 

 334 of those fed on Chinese mulberry. Another 

 fact : — !t is said that the fibre of the silk from 

 feeding on the Chinese, is stronger than that fed 

 on the white mulberry, and it is within the know- 

 ledge of the writer, that by coin|iarison of each 

 kind in his possession, cocoons fed exclusively on 

 leaves of the Chinese mulberry, have a more bril- 

 liant lustre than cocoons fed exclusively on white 

 mulberry leaves. These facts being admitted, 

 there is wanted but one more — to convince the 

 public that the morns multicaulis will successfully 

 resist our northern winters. In answer to wiiich, 

 it niiglit be said, " what has been may be again." 

 Although unfavorable impressions have been rung 

 from Maine to Geoi-gia, yet the opinion of good 

 and competent judges, in the valley of the Con- 

 necticut, and elsewhere, who have tested the 

 experiments, whose confidence is not to be par- 

 alysed by conjectures or surmises, have the audac- 

 ity to believe that it will succeed ; and from the 

 fact, that even the last severe winter proved no 

 more or even so deslructive to the Chinese mul- 

 berry, as to the white mulberry, of the same age 

 and exposure. 



It is the opinion of cultivators of the Chinese 

 mulberry, that even should it be necessary to lay 

 down and cover the plant every winter, or to re- 

 move the plants to the cellar, and reset every year, 

 or should they be killed to the root, no essential 

 damage would ensue ; it would sprout again with 

 additional number of stalks. Cultivators here 

 think, that should the tree or |:lant be every year 

 headed down, the amount of foliage would be in- 

 creased, and worms from the eggs of the mam- 

 moth kind, so called (some of which are in town), 

 producing (with the same care and feed) cocoons 

 of nearly double the w ight of the common kind,' 

 being fed on the morus multicaulis, favorable 

 results may be expected, and is there not 



Encouragement for Silk Growers '? 

 Extract of a letter to a gentlemen iu this town, 

 dated October 16, 1835. " One observation we 

 have made in regard to the product of leaves of 

 the plant (Chinese mulberry), which I think wor- 

 thy of notice. We set last Spring 1500 cuttings, 

 about 1000 started and grew well, but the dry 

 weather affected them much ; the ground on 

 which they stand, is by no means rich — it would 

 not yield 20 bushels to the acre. From 100 of 

 these young plants, which we considered below 

 an average, we gathered 55 pounds of leaves, giv- 

 ing, at the rate they were set, about 8000 to the 

 acre, sufficient to make at least 100 lbs. of silk. 

 From 100 trees (or roots) that were started the 

 year b 'fore, we gathered 150 lbs. of leaves, the 



