No. 3. Use of Camels on the Western prairies. — Blight on Trees. 93 



of securing- a degree of longevity for them, 

 so desirable, considering the care and ex- 

 pense inevitable in their cultivation. Several 

 of them are now about six inches in diame- 

 ter, a foot from the ground, and the produce 

 this year, is estimated at from 30 to 40 

 bushels. 



That peach trees are capable of attaining 

 to considerable longevity, can be attested by 

 many of your readers, who may remember 

 them struggling for years in the hedge-rows 

 of bushes, which were wont to adorn the 

 fences of old fashioned farmers. There is 

 now a tree in the garden of a lady in Arch 

 street, Philadelphia, planted 25 years ago, 

 which this season produced a good crop of 

 fruit. William Cobbett also, in his valuable 

 little treatise, "The American Gardener," 

 page 199, refers to a peach tree in France, 

 in full bearing, as 50 years old. 

 With great regard, 



I remain your friend, 



Morris Longstreth, 



Valley Green. 



From the New Genesee Farmer. 

 Use of Camels on the Western prairies. 



Mr. Editor, — The writer of this is a na- 

 tive of Russia, and has spent many years of 

 his life in that portion of the empire, which 

 borders on the Ural and Volga rivers, north 

 of the Caspian sea. 



I have, during the last two years, visited 

 many parts of the United States ; lately I 

 have been in Missouri, Iowa and Wisconsin, 

 and during my journeyings have had the 

 fact strongly impressed on my mind, that the 

 camel would prove a most valuable animal 

 for burden in those prairies, and especially 

 for traversing the country west even of the 

 states I mention, where water is sometimes 

 not found for days. 



Camels used only for travelling, possess 

 great speed, and in the unsettled country 

 would be found good to carry mails and con- 

 vey intelligence. Their speed is great, 120 

 miles being a common day's travel for speedy 

 animals. 



Some individuals have expressed to me 

 doubts of their being useful in this latitude. 

 I mention the place of my birth only to show 

 the most doubting, that in a more rigorous 

 clime they are extensively used. The breed- 

 ing of camels is not more expensive than 

 horses. 



You, no doubt, are informed with regard 

 to this subject, and I am convinced can give 

 to persons desirous of breeding the camel, 

 valuable information through the medium of 

 your journal. They (the camel,) can be ob- 



tained on the Black Sea, and if agricultural 

 societies would import a few pairs, they 

 would confer a great advantage on this 

 country. 



From 600 to 1000 pounds, with a rider, is 

 a common load for the camel ; and the com- 

 monest herbage, even weeds and twigs, will 

 suffice for their sustenance while enduring 

 the severest labours. 



I was advised by some gentlemen, to whom 

 I casually mentioned this subject, to write to 

 some editor of an agricultural paper of this 

 matter, and being about to go to the east 

 through Canada, have thought best to write 

 to you from this place. 



Yours, with respect, 



H. BOHLIN. 



Buffalo, July 6th, 1842. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 



Blight on Trees. 



The present very general prevalence of 

 blight on almost every species of tree, espe- 

 cially on our fruit trees, may, I conceive, be 

 attributed to the almost unprecedcntedly wet 

 summer which we have passed through; and 

 which, although tending to a most luxuriant 

 growth of wood, has not been friendly to the 

 ripening and hardening it; it may therefore, 

 be termed a crude, incipient growth, the 

 juices of which, not being sufficiently elabo- 

 rated and concocted, have become putrid ; 

 and the consequence is — according to a wri- 

 ter in the Cabinet, whose theory on this sub- 

 ject appears to me quite satisfactory — a gene- 

 ral blight ; the effect, and not the cause of 

 disease in the tree. And I have now before 

 me, what I consider evidence for the truth 

 of the doctrine inculcated by the writer 

 above mentioned, (when he proposes to raise 

 our cereal crops strong and healthy, without 

 the stimulating and immediate aid of ma- 

 nure; considering that what tends to in- 

 duce constitutional strength in the plant, is 

 the most likely to secure it from blight in 

 all its different shapes,) for, adjoining my 

 house, there is a drooping willow, hollow 

 and much decayed in the trunk, which is 

 covered with one mass of blight ; while an 

 adjoining willow, in perfect health and vigor, 

 and whose branches intertwine amongst those 

 of the infected tree, is very nearly exempt 

 from a particle of blight. And again, ad- 

 joining these is a mulberry tree, whose 

 bleeding trunk exhibits signs of the gnaw- 

 ing of the worms at several openings ; this 

 tree is also most sadly attacked by blight, 

 while others surrounding it, which show no 

 signs of decay, are comparatively free from 

 it. Several pear trees also, whose prema- 



