VOLUME I. 



ROCHESTER, FEBRUARY 6, 1831. 



KCMBEi 5. 



THE GENESEE FARMER 



AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL. 

 Devoted to Agriculture, Horticulture, Domestic Econo 

 my, &c. &c 

 Published on Saturday", at $2 50 per annum, 

 payable in six months, or at $3 00, il paid at lite 

 lime of subscribing, by Tucker & Stevens, 

 at the office of the Rochester Daily Advertiser. 



ORIGIN AX.. 



HORTICULTURE. 



The following letter Irnm Jkssk Buel. Esq. 

 of Albany, to the President of the Monroe 

 Horticultural Society, was received in answer 

 to one, announcing his election as honorary 

 mamber of that Society ; with a copy of whiob 

 we have been politely furnished for publica- 

 tion. 



To the President of the Monroe Horticultural Society : 

 Sir — In return for the flattering compliment 

 conferred upon me by the Monroe Horticultur- 

 al Socieiy,I beg leave to offer to the considera- 

 tion of its members a few remarks upon some 

 of the modern improvements in horticulture, 

 in the hope, that although the amateur may 

 find in them nothing new or valuable, yet thai 

 I hey may afford some interest to the noviciate 

 in the delightful business which you have asso- 

 ciated to promote. 



The production of new and valuable varie- 

 lies of fruit, by artificial means, may be class 

 ed among the great horticultural improvement 

 of the day. The analogy between anim ils 

 and vegetables, in perpetuating their species, 

 by sexual organs, has been long known. De 

 fects and disea»es.as well as habit, are often iie- 

 reditary in both, and the opinion seems to have 

 become pretty general, thai the variety in the 

 vegetable, and the breed in the animal, if kept 

 long distinct and unmixed, will gradually de- 

 teriorate and finally run out. Mr. Jefferson was 

 of opinion, that the royal blood of Europe had 

 degenerated into imbecility, by exclusive in 

 termarriage among its members. Mr. Knighi, 

 the enlightened president of the Horticultural 

 Society of London, and other eminent porno 

 logists, embraced the opinion, that vegetable* 

 have the same tendency io degenerate, with- 

 out the admixture, in the process of fecunda- 

 tion, of different species and vaiieties. The 

 disappearance of old varieties of the apple, anil 

 the diseased state, and increasing barrenness 

 of other varieties, yet under cultivation, seem- 

 ed to confirm ibis opinion, while the potatoe 

 and other productions of the farm and garden 

 offer to our observation a farther proof of its 

 correctness. So strongly did Mr. Knight be 

 come fixed in this opinion, by a series of expe- 

 riments, conducted for years, with great care 

 that he seriously advises orchardings, never to 

 plant an inoculated or grafted apple tree, un 

 less the parent tree is. known to exist in a 

 healthy state. 



During the last five and thirty years, many 

 distinguished horticulturists of Europe have 

 devoted particular attention to this branch o: 

 physiology; and they have been successful, 

 not only in making up for the extinct varieties, 

 but in greatly multiplying the number and vari- 

 eties of our line table fruits. Two metho dc 

 have been pursued, aDd both successfully - - 

 The one by crossins (to use a breeder's term) 

 two distinct and approved varieties. The o 

 the.r may be called the Bakewell plan, of 

 breeding exclusively 'ram Ihe best individual*. 

 T. A. Knight took ihe lead in the first; and 

 Br. Van Mons, of the university of Louvain 

 was the pioneer in the latter. 



Mr. Knight began liis experiments near the 

 close of the last eentury, upon the garden pe 

 He found to his great delight, that the progeny 

 partook of the character of the two parents. 

 & that it was more vigorous & prolifio,on being 



planted, than either of them. He next extended 

 his experiments to the strawberry &lhe apple, 

 and subsequently to the cherry, peach, and o- 

 ther fruits. Knight'" peas are well known & 

 sought for by our gardeners, as being abund 

 ant bearers, and excellent for the table. The 

 downton strawberry, which ha«. grown in my 

 garden to the size of four inches and three 

 qunrlers in circumference, is Ihe cross of two 

 American varieties. His Black Eagle, Elton, 

 and Waterloo cherries, are already in high es- 

 timation. His Downton pippin equals one of 

 us parents, the. old golden pippin, which was 

 long the pride and boast of an Englishman's 

 table; his red and yellow Ingestrie fall but lit- 

 tle below it in the scale of choice dessert fruit; 

 while his Foxley, Siberian Harvey, yellow Si 

 berian. Grange and Downton, escced in the 

 specific gravity of their must, or fresh express 

 ed juice (the best test of a good cidei apple) 

 the celebrated Slire. These fruits are all 

 growing in my grounds, and exhibit a healthi- 

 ness and vigor, unusual in old varieties. 



The process of Mr. Knight consists in de- 

 stroying the male organs (stamens)of so many 

 flowers as h» designs for experiment, before 

 the blossoms open; — in fecundating or inipreg 

 Dating the female organs, (pistils) when the 

 flowers are fully expanded, with the pollen of 

 the variety selected for the cross;— and 

 carefully excluding insects, which might intro- 

 duce the pollen of other varieties to the denu 

 ded pistils, and thus defeat the object of the 

 experiment. 



In making his experiments with the apple, 

 Mr. Knight, in several instances, availed him 

 self of the character of the Siberian crab for 

 hardiness, and as a great and annual bearer, 

 arid chose it as a subject for experiment. — 

 The trees which originated in this cross 

 bear a strong resemblance to their northern pa- 

 rent. 



Dr. Van Mons and his Flemish cotemporaries, 

 commenced their experiments simultaneously 



ritb 



•.f our tables, I subjoin, for the benefit of a- 

 mateurs, the names of a few. which ure descri- 

 bed and figured io colors, in the Pomological 

 Magazine. 



flames In eating 



Beurre Diel NovtoJitn 



Do d'\rernbargh Jan to March 



Do Ranee Dec to May 



Do de Capiaumont October 

 Duchess d'Angouleme November 



Character 

 First rank for table 

 Best cultivated 

 Best late 

 Delicious 

 Finest of autunm 

 Equal to best 

 Very good 

 An excellent peav 

 Great favorile 

 Fine quality 

 Highly esteemed 

 Superior 



with Mr. Knight. They preferred to begin 

 ihe seeds of wildings as being mosi hardy 

 and most exempt from hereditary disease. I 

 had been the practice, in selecting from seed- 

 lings of two or three years growth, with a 

 view of obtaining new varieties, such as had 

 few or no spines, large leaves and thick shoots. 

 But Dr. Van Mons found such plants, particu- 

 larly pear seedlings, to produce generally sum- 

 mer fruits of a small size and little flavor. He 

 therefore chose thorny plants in which the 

 spines were long, and furnished with buds to 

 their summit, and of whieh the general aspect 

 of the plant recalled to mind some good known 

 varieiy. When these plants bore fruit, he sow- 

 ed their seeds, and again the seeds so produced, 

 te ihe fourth, fifth and sixth generation, — al- 

 ways selecting from his seedlings, as in the 

 first generation, those which promised best to 

 realize his hopes. The peach and apricot 

 sown in this manner, did not produce excel- 

 lent fruil till the third generation, the apple not 

 till the fourth generation, and the pear not 

 till the fifth or sixth generation. A good kind 

 being obtained, it was increased by suckers 

 pieces .of the root or layers, any of which 

 modes M. Van Mons considered preferable to 

 grafting. He remarks, thai the best varieties 

 threw up the fewest suckers. In the course/ 

 of these experiments Dr. Van Mons raised 

 80,000 seedlings of the pear alone. In 1823, 

 hs published 3 catalogue of new fruits com- 

 prising about 400 varieties of ihe pear; most 

 ^? them of excellent quality, and affording a suc- 

 cession for the table during the circle of the year. 

 .\iany of these choice varieties were received 

 by me in 1825 and 1827. from the Horticultu- 

 ral Society of London, and the fruit of some 

 of them has been already exhibited at our hor- 

 ticultural shows. A" these new pears are des- 

 igned to contribute materially to the delieaoies 



F.aston Beurre Apl lo June 



Gilogit Mar to May 



Napoleon Oct ff Nov 



Passe Colmor Dec to Jan 



f rincess of Orange October 

 Maria Louisa Oct and Nov 



Bounude Malines Dec and Jan 



Persuaded that the Flemish pears will be an 

 important acquisition to our table fruit, I have 

 applied through various channels, for all the 

 good varieties which I have not already under 

 cultivation. Among other means, I have made 

 a request to Dr. Van Mons, through a friend at 

 Paris, and have received assurances that my 

 wishes shall be fulfilled. 



The establishment of Horticultural Socie- 

 ties has contributed wonderfully to dissemi- 

 nate pomological information, and to facilitalc 

 intercourse and interchanges among horticul- 

 tural men. I have many fruit trees growing, 

 which were grafted in France, in Germany, &. 

 in England, with varieties which originated not 

 only in those countries, but in Italy, Denmark, 

 Russia, and even Asia. And I observed, in a 

 nursery catalogue, lately received from the' Isl- 

 and of Jersey, the names of Sievens' Gene- 

 see pear, and the Jonathan apple, two fruits 

 which I first named three years ago, and cut- 

 tings of which I sent to Europe the year fol- 

 lowing. Cuttings of the pear were taken from 

 the original seedling tree, in Livingston, and 

 kindly presented to me by Mr. Edwards, of 

 Springfield. The fruit was subsequently for- 

 warded to me by Mr. Ruggles. It is a beauti- 

 ful and excellent autumn fruit. The apple 

 was sent to me (cuttings and fruii) by Jona- 

 than Hasbrouck, Esq, of Kingston. It is an 

 Ulster seedling, resembling in its high aromat- 

 ic flavor and color, the Esopus Spitzenburgh, 

 but with less aciaitv than that old favorite. 



While on this subject, I am desirous of ealj- 

 ng the attention of the fruil loving community 

 to the meritorious exertions of some of our 

 own citizens to increase the luxuries of our ta- 

 bles. 



Mr. Howland, an intelligent farmer of Still 

 water, cultivates most of the choice fruits of 

 our country, and has originated several new 

 varieties. He showed me, three years ago, 

 growing on seedling trees, six or seven excel- 

 lent varieties of the plum, all from the pits ct 

 a green gage, but all differing from this parent, 

 & other known varieties : the blossoms having 

 been fecundated by the aid of insects and 

 winds, with the pollen of the fine surrounding 

 varieties. Mr. Haruian. also, ol Schenectady, 

 has been successful in raising several fine new 

 varieties of the plum, worthy of propagation. 

 With sentiments of respect, I am, Sir, 



Your ob't serv't, J. BUEL. 



Albany. Dec. %, 1630. 



FOR THE GINESES FARMER. 



Messrs. Editors — The establishing of a 

 weeblv paper in the western section of ouo 

 thriving state,devoted to Agriculture and Horti 

 ticulture, is a circumstance, I ihink, that can- 

 not fail to meet with a cordial support from tire 

 friends of these pursuits. Already have oirv 

 western farmers, in many branches of the bu- 

 siness of agriculture, fur outstripped those ot 

 the older settlements of the east. The ra- 

 pidity with which the march of improvement 

 has spread through this section, has excited the 

 wonder and admiration of those, who, only 

 thirty years since, knew it as a wilderness. — 

 Wealth and competently abounds among us, 

 and every section bas its peculiarities, thai 



