100 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



Oct. 15, 1830 



NAPOLEON AND PASSE COLMAR PEARS 



Thomas G. Fessenden, Esq. 



Dear Sir— In your paper of Sept. 24tli, the 

 Hon. John Lowell states that he shall not continue 

 the discussion which has existed 'w/u/cr any cir- 

 cumstances.' Believing tliat such was nally the 

 intent of Mr L., and being willing at all times to 

 ])ursue a conciliatory course, I had concluded to 

 suppress nearly four columns of matter jirepared 

 aliout two weeks since. It is therefore to be re- 

 gretted that the/rji ariw/e, in your very next jm- 

 per, should be a rcnawal of the attack by Mr 

 Lowell, under the anonymous title of 'Jlgricola.' 

 I forbear all comment, but the widely altered stylo 

 of this last communication might have concealed 

 from one unskilled as myself the real author of it, 

 were it not that I have no recollection of having 

 ever imparted to any one the circumstances to 

 which it alludes save B'lr L. himself. That cir- 

 cumstance (although I do not acknowledge the 

 justice of the call.) I will now explain, and, for 

 the sake of harmonj', it is perhaps to be regretted 

 that he has noticed a circumstance so conclusive 

 a<:^ainst liiinself. In the summer of 1829, 1 paid a 

 visit to Boston, and in one of my letters addressed 

 to Long Island, I stated that I should soon send 

 !i quantity of scions of the Huhbardston Nonsuch, 

 Red Baldwin, and other choice apples of that vi- 

 cinity. In the mean time, Mr Lowell, with that 

 liberality which so particidarly distinguishes him, 

 aud to which no one pays more homage than 

 myself, ])resentcd me with scions of several of 

 liis newest pears, the whole being carefully en- 

 veloped and numerically labelled. In the haste 

 of the moment I transmitted the scions to Flusliing 

 without remark, myself stopping at Rhode Island, 

 where I was spending the summer. 



we may vainly look for in our country) declares, 

 that ultliough he has twice obtained scions called 

 Napoleon, he has not yet a genuine tree ia his 

 possession. 



Where other trees are similarly sit\iated, the 

 owners can easily correct the error by the foliage, 

 wood, and growth, without waiting for either flow- 

 ers or fruit, and my first object is therefore an- 

 swered. 



In conclusion, I have to state, that in no part of 

 my communications, have I censured Mr Knight, 

 or even referred to liim, and I shall always en- 

 deavor to equal Mr Lowell iu discussing all dif- 

 ferences with good humor and free from prejudice 

 and ill-will. Very Respectfully, 



WM. ROBERT PRINCE. 



BEES. 



Mr Editor — A singidar circumstance has tak- 

 en place in two swarms of bees, which 1 think 

 will be interesting to those who Imve studied the 

 economy of this interesting and useful insect. 



You must know that I am quite a young bee 

 master, having commenced last spring with two 

 hives, from which I have had three middlijig and 

 two small swarms : all, excepting the first, I hived 

 myself without any difficulty. The two small 

 swarms which are the occasion of this communi- 

 cation, swarmed on the 5lh and 7tli of June. 

 The first lit upon a small peach tree iu the c ir- 

 ncr of my garden. After they were hived they 

 were ])laced about twelve feet from the ground 

 on the beams of my wood shed adjoining my 

 house, where the other three swarms had previous- 

 ly been placed. The bees remained in the hive 

 for three or four days, until I was fearful they 

 would starve. I examined all the books I had, to 

 The i)erson I iind a similar case without success. I thoutjlit at 



Everything appeared however to go on pros- 

 perously until last Friday, when, as the hive was in 

 a very exposed situation with but a slight and tem- 

 porary covering, I directed my man to remove the 

 hive iu the evening and place it on the beam in 

 the shed, where it had originally been placed. 

 Not thinking the bees would desert their winter 

 store, I gave myself no trouble about them. But 

 on Sunday evening, about sunset, he told me the 

 bees had left the hive and gone back to the old 

 |)lace. I immediately went there, and found 

 about a good quart of bees hanging under the bench 

 upon which the hive had stood. I examined 

 the hive and found only a part of the bees had left 

 it. 1 then placed the hive in which they had been 

 hived with the piece of comb in it as they had 

 left it on the bench where the other hive had stood, 

 and on Monday morning found they liad taken 

 possession of it and had commenced working. 

 The question now is, is this a new swarm at this 

 late season, 24 Sept., or is it the original swarm, 

 and have the two queens dwelt together in har- 

 mony in the same hive all summer. If they have, 

 is it not a very singular circumstance tliat this 

 queen's antipathy to the place should be so great 

 as to cause lier to forsake her winter store at this 

 season of the year? JACOB TIDD. 



Roxbury, Oct. 4. 



to whose hands they wore consigned, expecting to 

 jeceive only apple grufls, and having ro advice 

 from me to guide him, still thought (altliough the 

 scions had not a leaf on them)that their api>ear- 

 AXCE WAS THAT OK PEARS, and he consequently 

 took the precaution to inoculate talf of each 

 parcel on pears, and half on apples, thus proving 

 that the bark alone had even vvitli liim a most 

 powerful influence, and was the only means which 

 led lo a correct judgment. Last spring, in writing 

 to Mr Lowell, for a renewal of some scions, I 

 stated, as an apology for trespassing on him again, 

 the circumstance that part of the iirevious parcel 

 had been budded on apples, and not entering into 

 particular detail, he appears to have misunderstood 

 the facts. 



I could here quote a humorous case where Mr 

 L. himself, told a gentleman that lie could distin- 

 guish some ap|)le and pear grafts which Mr L. 

 had ])resented to liim, by the bark, but I omit it for 

 the present 



first they had lost their Queen, but I found if they 

 had they would be in confusion, and would prob- 

 ably return to the place where they first lit iu 

 search of her, instead of which they remained 

 quietly and peaceably in a clump in one corner of 

 the hive. I then thought they disliked the situa- 

 tion of the hive and had it removed near the place 

 where they had lit, and had the satisfaction to 

 find that they commenced w.orking immediately. 

 The other swarm was hived and the hive 

 placed on top of this other hive with a view to 

 unite the two swarms ; the two hives were con- 

 nected by a small hole in the top of the bottom 

 hive; they also had each of them an external 

 communication, so that the bees would go in and 

 out of their respective hives without interfering 

 with each other. I examined the upper hive 

 several times in the course of three or four days, 

 and found they had formed a piece of comb about 

 ■1 inches by 6 in a corner of their hive, and that 

 they appeared peaceably disposed towards each 



In mv first communication in relation to the other. I then closed the external entrance of the 



Napoleon ])car, no idea was entertained of cen- 

 suring Mr L., for I never doubted his intentions to 

 preserve the utmost accuracy, and to mistakes wo 

 are all liable. My object \\as simply to eK|>lain 

 the existence of an error, which may have been 

 more or less widely disseminated. Tlie existence 

 of that error has been fully proved by the presen- 

 tation to the Mass. Hort. Society, at their meet- 

 ing of the 25th Sept. of xhv fruit from a tree ob- 

 tained as the .Yapolcon which was pronounced by 

 all to be Passe Colmar — and the distinguished Po. 



top hive so as to compel all the bees in it to de- 

 scend through the bottom hive to get out. I 

 watched them to see if this would occasion fight- 

 ing or eommolion in the hive, but everything ap- 

 peared peaceable. After a day or two I examin- 

 ed the upper hivo to see if they continued to work 

 separately ]or had united, and found the comb in it 

 the same as it was before I had closed the entrance. 

 It was now a question whether the bees in the 

 upper hive had deserted both hives, or one of the 

 queens had been sacrificed, or if they had united 



niologist who presented it, (and whose superior ' and dv.elt together in harmony. 



TRANSPLANTING TREES. 



Mr Fessenden — Much difference of opinlor, 

 has existed as to the advantages of spring aud fall 

 planting of trees, &c. Spring being the season 

 when our feelings are the most awakened to 

 pleasurable sensations and when we take the most 

 satisfaction in making our rural improvements, it 

 has from that circumstance probably arisen that 

 it is generally selected as the season for trans- 

 planting trees. 



Experience however lias proved that planta- 

 tions formed in autumn, are far the most success- 

 ful, and iu all climates where the excessive cold 

 or the delicacy of the trees are not insurmount- 

 able objection, the fall planting is to be iireferred. 

 It allows a sufficient jieriod for the ground to be- 

 come settled and compact about the roots, and 

 the latter become prepared during the same space 

 of time, to throw out the small fibrous roots 

 whose vegetation commences at the first return of 

 spring, uninterrupted by any retardment which a 

 spring removal is calculated to jiroducc. Their 

 growth in such case seems unafl'ectcd by tin' 

 transition, and the settled state of the earth which 

 allows the young roots to extend themselves 

 promptly, forms a powerful protection against the 

 effects of drought, whereas when they are remov- 

 ed in the sjiring, the looseness of the earth for 

 a considerable period, retards the advance of 

 vegetation, and renders them liable to much in- 

 jury, thereby causing many trees to entirely fail 

 unless tjey are nourished by frequent waterings. 

 Cheriy irees, of which a large proportion perish 

 in the spring, are generally transplanted with suc- 

 cess in tiie Autumn, but notwithstanding my father 

 has for riore than thirty years stated these facts 

 in publij communications, still many omit to jiui • 

 sue the course advised, and great annual losses 

 result t( the public. 



With regard however to those fruits that have 

 been originally brought from warmer climates — 

 such as the peach, apricot, nectarine, and almond, 

 which a-e natives of Persia, Armenia, &c, — it is 

 riccessaiy for us to consult the operations of cli- 

 mate also, and from a consideration of the attend- 



