NEW EN GLAND FARMER. 



Publishftl by John B. Hi ssEli. nt tli 



VOL. V. 



orner of Coxv^ross an.lLiaaull;SUc^t,s.—Tiu>.>M.,MiJ-;K....x, ,,,■.■ fvutr,,- 



BOSTON, FKIDAY, ^^EPffOMlH'^R 22;i82(r " 



No. 9. 



OlliGINAL PAPEUS. 



PINE AND ELM TREES. 

 Ir Fkssk.nde.n, — One of your subscribers ob- 

 c-i llmt he lias sought in vain for tlio seeds of 

 Piiie ami Ehii, ami wishes to bo informed how 

 w l.Lii they may be jatliercd. 

 rii'? cones of the White, or Weymouth Pine, 

 luis Sliohus,) must be gathered only in autumn, 

 iic scales open about the first of October, when 

 seeds arc released, which being furnished with 

 embraiieous wing, are speedily scattered by the 

 ^^ 10 a great distance, 

 he cones, when collected, should be laid in 

 e dry place, where the scales will open and 

 ds can then be easily shaken out. In the 

 ith of April they may be sown, in the manner 

 ribcd in the New England Farmer of the 15th 



fio flowers of the White, or Weeping Ameri- 

 Ehii, (Ulinus Amirlccina,) " appear before the 

 ci, and are very small, of a pur]ilo colour, sup- 

 ;ed by short slender footstalks, and are united 

 uncbes at the extremity of the branches. The 

 :is arc contained in a flat, oviil, fringed capsule, 

 ;hed at the base. The season of their maturity 

 'om the 1.5th of May to the 1st of June."* 

 Ihe seeds generally disappear in one day, par- 

 larly if there is a brisk wind at the period they 

 ripe, and are scattered some hundred yards 

 1 the tree. In the vicinity of Boston, the seeds 

 the last of Jlay or in the fore part of June 



thawing of the ground, during the winter, and it j li;, tin Edihr.-Tlxo ce.'ar apples abo^e alluded 

 ^'^H'lJ^'^^'?,'', '"': •'"^'". °"^ "S'^i"' ^^f-"^ ! '0 l.y Gen. Dka.u.ok.v may be scon at ,L officrof 



the New England Farmer. Wc think that Gen- 

 I)i;.\nBoiiN-'s communication decided the qucstioii 

 respecting the sort of substance which is intended 

 by ce,!:ir apples or kjiots. It still remains to as- 

 certain the quantity requisite foi* a dose, the man- 

 ner of making tiie infusion, trie best mode of ad- 

 ministering, the cases in which relief may bo an- 

 ticipated, &c. Likewise it might be well to as- 

 cert lin whether the berries ftf the red cedar, or a 

 decoction of tlie leaves or bark might not answer 

 the same or a similar pur])Ose with those excres- 

 cences. Oak galls, oak bark, and oak leaves, we 

 know are similar in their properties, as respects 

 medicine and the arts ; and it is probable tliat the 

 same may be the case with regard to the cedar ap- 

 ple or knots, and the berries, leaves and bark of 

 the same tree. We believe that the substances 

 called galls, on whatever tree or shrnb they are 

 foujid, contain but little more than the concentrat- 

 ed or inspissated juices of the plant to which they 

 adhere. We are under great obligations to Gen. 

 Dearborn for the foregoing articles, and hope liis 

 example may incite others, who have the means, 

 to add to that stock of information, which will ben- 

 efit the public. 



many were killed by having their tender roots loft 

 long exj.-osed to the inclemency of Uie weather. 



I have for several years cultivated' the elm, and 

 find that it grows rapidly. I have trees that are 

 only nine years old, which are from si.^ to oigiit 

 inches in diameter and from Q5 to 30 feet high? 



The Button Wood, or American Plane, IHatanus 

 Occiiltnlnlis, is easily raised from the seed. I 

 have trees ten feet high and from 4 to li inches in 

 circumference, that are but four years old. Oth- 

 ers sown the spring before last, are from'3 to 5 

 feet high. 



The Rock, or Sugar Maple, Acer Succharimtm, 

 and the White Ash, Fraxinus Americana, I have 

 raised from the seed, without difficulty. 



The seeds of these three last named trees 

 should be gathered in autumn, and inav be sowi 

 then, or in the spring. 



Very respectfully, 



you'r obed't sorv't, 

 H. A. S. DEARBORN. 



Brink;/ Place, Sept. 18, 1820. 



CEDAR APPLES. 

 Mr Fessendk.x — The appl(*3 or knots recom- 

 mended as a cure for worms in children, are nei- 

 ther the cones of the White, nor the ba-rics of the 

 Red Cedar, but excrescences growing upon the 

 small branches of the latter, which appear to have 

 been occasioned by some insect in the manner the 

 he surest way to obtain plants, is to dig ovcv' ""*'°''".^ '"''^ produced on the quercus Infcctoria 



rake smooth, about the middle of May, a circle 

 or two hundred feet in diameter, round some 

 e elm, which abounds in seed. This should be 

 ascertained, for the Elm docs not produce 

 i every year. After the seeds have fallen, they 

 t be raked in, and within ten or fifteen days 

 young plants will appear. It would bo best to 

 lure the ground or cover it with rich loam pre- 

 :s to the falling of the seed, which would insure 

 ibuiulancc of plants. They will grow several 

 les high before the autumnal frosts kill the 

 ■es, and then, or in the following spring, they 

 ■ bo transplanted into the nursery, 

 f this plan cannot be conveniently adopted, 

 ets, or old sails, may be spread under the tree. 

 le days before the seeds are ripe, and when 

 y fall, any quantity may be thus obtained unless 

 i-e should happen to be a high wind at the time, 

 ground under the tree may also be dug over, 

 ed and rolled smooth, and the seeds, after hav- 

 faUon, can be swept into piles and tlicn col- 

 ed in baskets. 



.ast year on the 30th of May, I had picked up, 

 the walks and borders of my garden, which 

 re overhung by a lofty elm, nearly a pint of 

 They were sown in drills, on the first of 

 le ; on the 10th they were up and grew, from 

 to ten inches in height, that season. A part 

 :hem were transplanted last autumn, and 2000 

 s spring, which are now from 2^ to 4 feet high. 

 e spring is the best season to "transplant, as I 

 nd all those set out last autumn, were thrown 

 5n the surface by the alternate freeying and 



' Micliaui's .Yorth American Sylva. 



and various other trees. I send you several col- 

 lected this day, from trees growing in Roxbury ; 

 some of them are the produce of this, and others 

 of preceding years. 



The Cedars of New England, according to Mi- 

 chaux, are the White, or Arbor Vita;, ( Thuya Oc- 

 cidentalis,) and the Red, or Savin [Juniper Virgin- 

 iana.) 



The tree called the White Cedar, {Cupressus 

 Thyoidcs,) in the southern part of New York, New 

 Jersey, and Pennsylvania, is the Juniper of Virgin- 

 ia, the Carolinas and Georgia. The Cypress [Cu- 

 pressus Dislicha,) is indigenous only in the states 

 south of Delaware, but is notvherc called a Cedar. 



Michaux observes, in his North American Sylva, 

 that the celebrated Cedar of Lebanon, (Larix Ce- 

 drus,) was considered peculiar to those mountains 

 in Asia Minor, until Pallas discovered it in the 

 north of Russia in 1770. The first plants were 

 carried to England in the year 1080, which "have 

 " yielded seed abundantly, for more than half a 

 " century, and have given birth to the fine stocks, 

 " that adorn the parks and gardens of the conti- 

 " ncnt of Europe." It does not resemble either of 

 the cedars of this country. " The branches are 

 « long and verticillate, with a slight inclination 

 " towards the earth." and " the cones are about 

 "three inches long and two broad." You there- 

 fore perceive the impropriety of applying the name 

 Cedar of Lebanon to the Cedars, of either the 

 northern or southern states. 



With great respect. 



Your most oh't serv't, 



H. A. S. DEARBORN. 



Brinley Place, Sept. 18, 1826. 



THE SEASON — PEAR TREES. 



Mr E^ESSK.Nnr-N — The present s.-ason, verv ex- 

 traordinary in all respects, but especially fo'r its 

 alternations of extreme drought with overwhelm- 

 ing rains, in our immediate vicinity has produced, 

 as one uc;!* expect, some very novel effects in 

 vegetation. The very early drought accompanied 

 with unexampled heat produced an early ripening 

 of all productions, and in all the trees, whether o^ 

 the forest, or the orchard, the buds of the ne.xt 

 j'ear's growth were precernaturally prepared, and 

 ripened. The excessive rr.ins of August following 

 this drought, occasioned a general early fall of 

 leaves and fruit. The quantity of early fallen ap- 

 ples without the agency of wind is beyond all or- 

 dinary e,xample. The leaves of potatoes perished 

 by tliu rains so long continued. Upon certain va- 

 riei.es of the pear tree, the effect has been very 

 e.\i Inordinary. The Chaumontclle, Beurre, Span- 

 ish Good Christian, and in some cases the St. 

 .Miciiael's, lost all their leaves, while the fruit still 

 cciilinued, and to this day still remains on the 

 naked branches. In some places, this effect is 

 seen on all pear trees indiscriminately. I should 

 not however have called the attention of the pub- 

 lic to this anomalous fact, if it had not been the 

 cause of some erroneous opinions. 



I have been informed that some persons have 

 supposed, that this premature perishing of the 

 leaf was the effect of the disease, of which so 

 much has been s:nd, I fern without much practical 

 good effect hitherto, lliefre blight. 



I have been informed from authority so respect- 

 able thot tlie fact cannot be questioned, that some 

 persons have mistaker. t'ds casual destruction of 

 the leaves by drought and rain, for the Jire blight, 

 and have seriously asked, whether they were to 

 amputate the limb^. Not an hour should be lost 

 in correcting this erroneous opinion. No — this is 

 not disease — it is only a premature ripening of 



\ 



