wmm mmtmsmm &&mmMsx> 



VOLUME I. 



ROCHESTER, MARCH 12, 1831. 



NUMBER 10. 



coiannrNzoATiONa 



FOR THE C.ENESEl FARMER. 



EVERGREENS. 



We cultivate plants with a view to their ra 

 ity, as well as to their beauty. Through much 

 Df the Genesee Country, evergreens are rare ; 

 ind these, to the eye of Taste, are particular- 

 ly pleasing in winter; more pleasing when 

 Jistributed by the hand of man, round his 

 dwelling.than when seen in the forest — not that 

 cultivated plants are more beautiful, but fewer 

 and rarer. 



Evergreens, in the colour of their leaves, 

 vary exceedingly. Andromeda calyculata pre- 

 serves through winter, a fino green, in the 

 thick shelter of hemlock swamps; but it chan- 

 ges to a rustv brown in the open marsb. The 

 unsheltered leaves of the rid cedar, are also 

 "reatly discoloured ; and the hemlock, in open 

 situations, is a pale olive green. In unchan- 

 ging verdure and brightness, I have seen no 

 tree that excells the balsam fir. 



The "enus Pinus ra;ry be divided into three 

 sections. 1- The pines, — several leaves in a 

 sheath. 2. Theirs and spruces, — leaves sin- 

 gle, somewhat distichally or cylindrically ar- 

 ran"ed on the branches. 3. The larches, — 

 leaves deeiduous. 



1. The white pine, (Pinus strobus) preserves 

 its colour well through the winter, and the 

 length and silkiness of its leaves, places it first 

 on onr list. The Norway pine (improperly so 

 called, for it is not anative of Europe) is alio a 

 line tree ; and grows on the high lands, in the 

 southern parts of our district. It is tbe Pinus 

 inonticola of Muhlenberg. Pinus variabilis is 

 said to be a beautiful tree, with leaves four 

 or five inches long. Other species would add 

 to the varied appearance of the shrubbery. 



2. I recur to the balsam fir (Pinus balsamea) 

 It is surprising, that the late A. Paimcntier de- 

 clared that "this is the only large evergreen 

 which succeeds in this latitude." I cannot ac- 

 count for the mistake. Floy remarks, that 

 these trees, when taken from the mountain, 

 seldom succeed, unless placed in a nursery. — 

 This is true, when set out in »rass plats, and 

 left to themselves. In droughts, grass lands 

 become comparatively dry, while cultivated 

 soils remain moist. I planted several from a 

 swamp, in Hector, — rather -shallow," as mosi 

 evergreens ought to be planted, and laid round 

 plenty of old hay to keep the roots moist and 

 cool, and to destroy the grass. With this treat- 

 ment, nearly half the trees grew. 



The silver fir (Pinuspicea) of Europe, is ve- 

 ry elegant; and even clumps of our hemlock 

 {Pinus canadensis) should appear in extensive 

 shrubberies. Those from open grounds will 

 be the best ; having better roots — having bet- 

 ter tops, that is, having dense foliage, which 

 clothes them from the ground upward, and 

 which Tio knife should touch. In this case, taste 

 and success are inseparable. Hemlocks which 

 have grown in thick woods, generally die when 

 the other trees are cut away, having nothing 

 to shield their trunks from the heat. 



The black spruce, (Pinus nigra) is found a 

 few miles from Ithaca, and in some mountai- 

 nous districts of Pennsylvania. Last season, 

 I applied for it at three great nurseries, without 

 success. Its dark green foliage makes a tine 

 appearance in winter. 



Pinus abics, from Norway, of a bright green, 

 well merits a place besi 'e our red spruce, with 

 a denser foliage. The white spruce (Pinus al- 

 ba) abounds in several swamps, of the Gene- 

 see country. I took two small plants of this 

 tree from a morass two or three miles N. E. 

 of Geneva ; and wrapping bog moss round the 

 roots, (which had never touched bottom) plan- 

 red them in the garden. The moss supplied 



* I had this advice from my friend,!//. G. Spajjortl. 



them with moisture till their roots were a- 

 dapled to a harder soil; and I observed no di 

 minutton of vigor, notwithstanding the extra- 

 ordinary change of situation. I prefer small 

 soedlings to larger plants of stunted growth. 



3. These are not evergreens ; but the Euro- 

 pean larch (Pinus larix) I find to be vigorous 

 and hardy. 



The genus Thuya includes the white cedar 

 of our swamps, (Thuya occidentalis) and the 

 Chinese Arbor vita (Thuya orirntalis). The 

 latter preserves a better green in winter; but 

 our species appears tbe more vigorous. The 

 white cedar, like the white spruce, and the 

 red larch, in our district, grows naturally, in 

 swamps ; but spreads on the dryest hills, when 

 no longer imprisoned by other trees. It is ve- 

 rv ornamental. 



Our red cedar (Juniperus virginiana) de- 

 serves further notice. Though a native of the 

 precipitoas banks of our lakes, I have seen 

 one tree in a swamp of the outlet above Wa- 

 terloo. This shows that it is also indifferent to 

 soil. By the thick forest, this species was 

 long confinod to the banks of the Cayuga, near 

 this place : but it now spreads eastward, into 

 the open woods, in consequence of the scat- 

 tering of the seeds by birds. Some years ago.I 

 strewed more than a peck of those seeds in a 

 neglected field ; and many young troes have ari. 

 sen from that sowing. The old trees afford food 

 and shelter to the gluttonous cedar rurd.whicb 

 in consequence, visit our fruit trees in greater 

 numbers ; but this evil admits of a remedy. 



Of this genus, is the common juniper, (Ju- 

 niperus communis) remarkable for its varied 

 forms; — sometimes upright, like a post, — ai.d 

 sometimes with horizontal branches near the 

 ground, rising in the shape of an ill-built hay- 

 stack The former figure is much aamired ; 

 and to obtain it, sometimes a cord is wound 

 spirally round the tree, which prevents the 

 branches from spreading. I have found it dif- 

 ficult to transplant this tree, successfully, in au- 

 tumn ; but a branch which had been loaded 

 with berries, and cut several feet from the 

 ground, grew freely on being planted in a moist 

 and mellow soil. 



The savin [Juniperus sabina,"] a native of both 

 Europe and America, is a low shrub ; but it 

 deserves a place with Juniperus, [prostata ?~\ 

 which forms thickets at the Falls of Niagara, 

 and other places. 



The shrubby horse-tail [Ephedra distachya.} 

 from the south of Europe, is also an ever- 

 green, though leafless; and its branches re- 

 semble some species of Equisetum. It is per- 

 fectly hardy, easily increased, singular.cunous, 

 and ornamental. 



Two evergreens, beautiful in summer by 

 their flowers, and in winter by their broad 

 leaves, (Kalmia lutifolia, and Rhododendron 

 maximum) have been found difficult to culti- 

 vate in some parts of our district. This diffi- 

 culty is ascribed to the soil. It is a curious 

 fact, that wherever the detritus of this cal 

 careous reiiion was deposited by the Deluge, 

 the Laurels do not occur. It is true there is a 

 locality of Kalmia, on the bill, north of Ithaca, 

 near Fall Creek, among gravel, some roots of 

 those planis penetrating the seams in the sili 

 ceous rocks ; but 1 observed no deposits of 

 calcareous matter. Those shrubs are too 

 beautiful to be relinquished without many ef- 

 forts. 



Several other evergreens may be noticed 

 hereafter. D. T. 



2d mo. 12, 1831. 



FOR THE GENESEE FARMER. 



EFFECTS OF FROST. 



Messrs. Editors — A few years age, I lived 

 in the neighborhood of a market town, and 

 one of my neighbors was in the habit of mar- 

 keting, more or less, early vegetables every 



summer; among which, hr was always able 

 to bring in green corn earl er in the seasm 

 than any one else living on the same k nd of 

 land, and with the same seed 



After some years, it was discovered that bis 

 secret was to plant his corn after the frost had 

 ornmenced in the fall, and the ground become 

 slightly frozen, or during some open thawing 

 weather in the winter; and the reason wa6 

 said to be, that corn planted at a time when 

 it could become soaked and saturated with wa- 

 ter, and then frozen with the earth, would ob- 

 tain the property of withstanding the frosts of 

 spring, and become a hardy vegetable. 



Not being a farmer, I have never tried it. 

 and therefore cannot vouch for its authentici- 

 ty. 



Are you or any of your readers acquainted 

 with this fact, or know any case analagous to 

 it? 



Would it have the same effect on any other 

 kind of seeds, and how wouldfit opetaU with 

 beans, cucumbers, &c. ? 



If true.it is probably a new feature in vege 

 table pathology, and well worth trying the ex 

 periment. N. G. W.* 



FOR THE GENESEE, FARMER. 



COFFEE. 



Mt. Tockeh, Sir — I agree with your corres- 

 pondent S. on the subject of filtering coffee — 

 it is decidedly more palatable, healthy and pro- 

 fitable than any other process. The peculiar 

 taste of leached coffee, which those used to 

 drinking the stewed kind, are apt to call raw, 

 grows out of an acquired and vitiated taste. 



S's remarks, as to roasting and grinding, are 

 perfectly .catholic, ns well as his process rela- 

 ting to its preparation. 



The philosophy of the why's are as " plain 

 as road to parish church," and to my concep- 

 tion the rationale is so palpable, that I admire 

 that the old boiling, stewing, and distilling 

 process should obtain at all. 



When I first began to keep house, my wife 

 used a simple flannel or cotton bag, with two 

 wood skewers put through the hemming, to 

 keep it from sinking into an earthern pitcher, 

 whioh was our coffee pot, and I had such coffee 

 as an Arab Scheick might delight tu honor with 

 his approbation; but now being blessed with 

 John Roger's portion of the poor mairs bles- 

 sing, we have resorted to the regular leach. 



The why, that it yields a greater abundance 

 of extract, I thus explain— that pure water kin- 

 charged with the essence of coffee, is a better 

 solvent or menstruum than the same water 

 which by boiling with the material has become 

 saturated, and its solvent power destroyed ; in 

 the one case, you pour on the water two or 

 three times, which then passes pure and unco- 

 lored, and the whole is dissolved. To render 

 it plain, a fluid is said to be saturated when it 

 cannot dissolve any more, as in the case of 

 brine or sweetened liquors, which every one 

 has observed, with salt or sugar laying undistur- 

 bed for any length of time, its appetite and ea- 

 pabilitvis palled and destroyed; and if diges- 

 ted a thousand years at the same temperature, 

 a would not take up another grain. It is self* 

 evident, that the grounds of coffee after using, 

 are still soaked and saturated with the liquid, 

 as strong as any part of the ,; coffee drink" ti- 

 led. 



To elucidate this assumption, allow me tc 

 elate the following story : 



A person of my acquaintance, who kept a 

 arge. public house, had got him a filtering cpf 

 fee pot, being convinced that he should not 

 only iniprove'that delightful beverage, but be 

 a gainer on the score of econotr.y. A poor 

 woman who lived in tUe neighborhood, who 

 used frequently to assist in the kitchen, was in 

 the habit of taking the grounds of his coffee 

 nots, from which, by a second boiling-, she wrs 



\ 



i boil! 



