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VOLUME I. 



ROCHESTER, JANUARY 29, 1831. 



MMBE6 4. 



THE GENESEE F A R M E R 



AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL. 

 Devoted to Agriculture, Horticulture, Domestic Econo 

 my, &c. &c 

 Published on Saturdays, at $2 50 per annum, 

 payable in six months, or at $2 00, if paid at the 

 time of subscribing, by Tuckfr & Stevens, 

 at the office of the Rochester Daily Advertiser. 

 ET The proprietors have undertaken the 

 publication with the determination of making 

 it permanent : they would therefore suggest 

 to all those who would wish to see the Farmer 

 become a durable and useful paper, the propri- 

 ety of not only interesting themselves in its 

 circulation, but also of contributing to its col- 

 umns. 



U° Those gentlemen to whom we have ta- 

 ken the liberty to forward this number, if 

 they shall think favorably of the undertaking, 

 and of the merits of the work, will oblige us 

 by forwarding us their names, and thoso of a 

 ny friends to whom «uch a paper as this would 

 be desirable. As it is of its kind unique in this 

 state, and intended for general circulation, we 

 expect to look abroad for a great part of our 

 patronage. 



COMMUNICATIONS. 



FOR THE GENESEE FARMER. 



SPONTANEOUS VEGETATION. 



Messrs. Editors — Your correspondent, A. 

 B- in the first number of the Farmer, asks 

 whether ihe plants which seem mysteriously 

 to soring up in newly cleared lands, are spon- 

 taneous productions, or whether they are the 

 offspring of former plants. 



I believe it is now a universally received o- 

 pinion, among physiologists, that neither plants 

 nor animals are of spontaneous production, but 

 thatjthey owe their being, in all cases.to parents 

 of their kind. Toaccount then for the eem- 

 ing phenomena detailed by A. B. it is nccessa- 

 ry to show, that seeds may have been deposi- 

 ted at a recent or remote period ; that their vi- 

 tality may have remained long dormant with- 

 out having become extinct ; and that the ef- 

 fects of fire, or the operations of tillage, may 

 be sufficient to vivify and call into action the 

 living principle. 



Seeds may have been deposited by waters, 

 beyond the reach of agents indispensable to 

 germination ; or they may hare have been 

 brought by winds, or scattered by the beasts 

 of the forest, or the fowls of the air. Rice 

 has been taken from the crops of pigeons, 

 which must have been brought some hundreds 

 of miles. Nor is the vitality of many seeds, 

 particularly those covered with a hard shell, 

 like those of most small fruits, impaired by this 

 method of conveyance. On the contrary it is 

 common in some oountries, to have haws and 

 other hard seeds pass through the stomachs of 

 turkeys, and even of cows, to facilitate the 

 germinating process. " 



But how comes it that those seeds lay so 

 long dormant, and neither grow nor rot? Be- 

 cause seeds germinate only under certain con- 

 ditions, which may never all have co-operated. 

 Dntil the forest was felled, or until the fire, 

 the plough, or the spade, had facilitated their 

 joint and simultaneous operation. Those con 

 ditions of germination are, the absence of 

 light, and the presence of heat, moisture, and 

 atmospheric air. Seeds have been known to 

 KtaJn their vitality for a century, when kept 

 dry, and often instances are narrated, of other 

 seeds having lain, dormant and sound, forty 

 years and more, in the earth, and yet to have 

 grown when brought by the plough, w'ithin the 

 influence of the sun and atmosphere : For 

 heat, moisture and oxygen, are as indipensable 

 to the process of decomposition as they are to 

 the process of germination. J. BUEJ. 



Albany, Jan. LT, 1831. 



FOR THE GENESEE FARMER. 



U THE LADY'S RECREATION." 



I have lately been amused with an old book 

 on gardening, called The Lady's Recreation, 

 written by Charles Evelyn, Esq. and printed 

 nearly 120 years ago. In many places, the or- 

 thography differs from that now in use ; and 

 here is also a quaintness of expression, which 

 often reminds us that we have fallen on other 

 times. 



I have suspected that the doctrine of the in- 

 fluence of the moon on the growth of plants, 

 on manures, <S:c. was introduced by artful per- 

 sons to stimulate their laborers ; but it may bo 

 a remnant of Astrology. Our author appears 

 to have been embued with those notions, 

 which/long after, were countenanced b\ some 

 men of education, but which are now chiefly 

 confined to the ignorant. I offer a few ex 

 tracts on this subject; some other extracts for 

 their singularity ; and some that maybe useful 

 to the practical gardener. 



" About the latter end of February, graff ap- 

 ples, pears, &c. in the clift, and so continue 

 till the end of March, when the sap rises brisk 

 ly ; the new moon is the best time."! 



"Gather herbs in the full of the moon ! dry 

 them in the shade, shewing them to the sun a 

 little only to keep them from being mustv.' 



I 



Sow winter horbs in the new of the moon. 



" Gather olitory seeds, clipping the horbs 

 within one handful of the ground before the 

 full of the moon"! 



[In spring] " cover tender flowers and ever- 

 greens with mats or canvass from the farwel 

 frosts and easterly winds." 



" Sick trees, such as oiauge trees, &c- im- 

 paired by removing, and other accidents, are 

 many times recovered by a milk-diet as Mr. 

 [John] Evelyn calls it ; that is diluting with a 

 portion of water discreetly administered ; 

 sometimes also by plunging them in the hot- 

 beds, or by letting the tree down into a pit 

 of 4 or 5 feet in depth, covering the head & 

 the rest of the tree."! 



" Continue to cleanse all parts of your gar- 

 den, and let not your hough be idle when the 

 weeds begin to peep." 



Auriculas or bears' -ears are the most beau 

 tiful ornaments of the spring ; and for their 

 size are the greatest rarities in Flora's cabinet. 

 I am informed that the double striped ciimson 



and while, and the large double purple and ycl- 

 (ow.have been sold from five to twenty pounds 

 each plant. These flowers delight in a rich 

 soil, well shaded, but by no means under trees." 



"The lilly is a flower esteem'd in the earliest 

 times : about the time of our Saviour it was in 

 great reputation, no flower being then more in 

 request, in the choicest gardens, except the 

 Rose ; and there is no flower of that transcen 

 dent whiteness as the lilly." 



" The Peony is a common flower, but yields 

 the fairest and most double blossom of any, 

 and is very becoming in your flower pole or 

 chimnies. It contains two sexes, male and 

 female; the male is single, and the flow 

 commonly of a purple red, and are but of one 

 sort ; but the females are many, some single 

 and great numbers double." 



" The larks-hed or larks-spur are very 



pretty flowers." 



" The sun-fiower grows very tall and there 

 fore is most fit, for pots. "I 



The Crown Imperial — a most stately aud 

 graceful plant, bearing a flower like unto the 

 lilly; and the double sort, particularly the or- 

 ange colour'd, and yellow, shew finely inter- 

 mixed, in the middle of a flowerpot." 



"The sensible [sensitive] plant has its name 

 from the impression the touching of it makes, 

 lor you no sooner touch the leaf, but it instant- 

 ly shrinks up together, and in a small space of 

 lime afterwards dilates itself again. The Aum- 

 bleplant ISilirngsn. pv.diui'] so aajled from pros-j 



trating itself on the ground so soon as touch- 

 ed, tho' in a short time it elevates itself a- 

 gain. And the Noli me tangere [Impatiens 

 balsamina] which being touched, and the pods, 

 when they are gross and not fully ripe, being 

 taken between your fingers, will give a sudden 

 snap, and fly in pieces, to the great surprize of 

 the person molesting it. "I 



" If you have at any time occasion to re- 

 move flowers to any distant place or country, 

 rub them over with honey, and wrap them up 

 in moss; it will effectually secure them being 

 packed up in papers free from the wet." 



"The Syringa Pipe-tree or Lilack, boars a 

 blossom not much unlike the Persian Jessa- 

 mine. It flowers in April and May, and yields 

 plenty of suckers ; but it is a nice plant, and 

 requires the skill of a curious artist, for its 

 management."! 



"The double blossom'd Pomegranute-trcc is 

 esteemed the most excellent of all flowering 

 trees ; it merits the best place in your garden, 

 and requires a warm south wall for its propa- 

 gation, being very tender whilst young, but af- 

 terwards becomes very hardy. [He recom- 

 mends to " enrich the seil with well-consu- 

 med hog's-dung.] They flower in August and 

 September; and the blossoms for fairness and 

 beauty.exceed all other that are born by tri es." 



" The Mezenon is a plant of the most 



hardy nature, and is valued for sending forth 

 its pleasant flowers in the severest season of 

 the year. [Not till spring in this country.]— 

 Tho' cold will not injure this shrub, yet it is 

 very nice in :he choice of its ground ; the soil 

 ought not to be neither light nor very moist ; 

 and for weather, heat only is pernicious to it.') 

 I lost a fine plant of this kind last summer by 

 leaving it exposed to the sun. It is a native 

 Britain; and like the daisy, and the Jatob's 

 ladder, also from that cool climate, requires to 

 he shaded. 



" Pcriploca is a wood-bind that tv»ists itself 

 about a pole like unto the hop. It annually 

 puts forth small blue blossoms." 



" There : s your Rosemary gilded with yel- 

 low, and a sort of it variegated with white, 

 very delightful to the eye, which are to be pre- 

 served under warm walls." 



" Eugh [yew] trees being dipt, and redu- 

 ced to regular forms(the most beautiful where- 

 of, are the round and square pyrauaid) make 

 the most ornamental trees you can have in 

 your garden." 



Many of these whims for distorting Nature 

 have happily passed away; yet we observe a 

 remnant in the practice of exposing to the 

 height of six or eight feet, the dead bark of or- 

 namental trees. Let their rough trunks be 

 clothed nearly to the ground with slender 

 branches and green leaves, for on these the 

 eye rests with most pleasure. D. T. 



FOR THE GENESEE FARMER. 



Mendon.Jan. 21, 1831. 

 Messrs, Editors — I have seen one number 

 of your paper, which you propose to devote to 

 agriculture, horticulture, and domestic econo- 

 my, &c. Now if you stick to your text, I 

 shall become one if your subscribers. You 

 must know, Messrs. Editors, that this matter 

 of domestic economy is of some importance 

 to me, and not only to me, but to our country. 

 It appears that the Old Genesee country, after 

 which you have named your paper, contains 

 about 400,000 inhabitants, and I think it safe 

 to say 200,000 of these are females, as people 

 seem disposed to sort off about half and half. 

 We may calculate that for some years past a» 

 bout one quarter of the females have been 

 wearing Leghorn bonnets, of an average price 

 of eight dollars, the average duration of which? 

 we will suppose to be eight years. Now this 

 comes within my arithmetic, and amounts to 

 jrtst §.'50,000 yearly. This sum has been sent 



