wmm mmmmmm wm&mmm* 



VOLUME I. 



ROCHESTER, APRIL 23, 1831. 



NUMBER 16 



THE GENESEE FARMER 



AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL. 



Devoted to Agriculture. Horticulture, Domestic Econo- 

 my, &c. &c. 

 N. GOODSELL, EDITOR. 

 Published on Saturdays, fit $2 50 per annum, 

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

 time of subscribing, by Luther Tucker, at 

 ?he office of the Rochester Daily Advertiser. 



COIC1UUNXCATXON& 



NURSERTMEN. 



FOR THE GENESEE FARMER. 



Mr. Editor — Although I do not wish to 

 palliate the vices of nurserymen, I hope I shall 

 be pardoned fo' showing, that some of the e- 

 vils which your correspondent, in the Farmer 

 of the 19th, enumerates is among the tricks of 

 the trade, are really unavoidable, and do not 

 merit the censure which he seems disposed to 

 bestow upon them. 



It is a common and justifiable practice to 

 Insert in a Catalogue, all the plants which a 

 nurseryman has for sale, though the number of 

 some varieties, fit for sale may not exceed ten. 

 or even two. The first order may, and often 

 does, exhaust one or more of these varieties ; 

 and it is a common occurrence, that before a 

 new catalogue is printed, one quarter, one 

 third, and even the half of an assorment ad 

 vertised, is exhausted Disappointment is the 

 inevitable consequence. Of gonv varieties 

 not ten plant? are sold in «o many years, while 

 of others hundred? and thousands are required 

 in one year ; and it is impossible for any man 

 to anticipate the public taste, in regard to 

 jruits and plants. 1 have had thousands of a 

 variety of the apple on hand for years, without 

 the prospect of selling them; yet in a single 

 season the whole have been taken off, and yet 

 the demand remained unsatisfied. Again, I 

 obtained in 1825 a number of esteemed foreign 

 pears, and propagated them to the extent of 

 thf expected demand. They were but seldom 

 ask d for, until public attention was awaken- 

 ad to their value, when the demand became 

 ao busk as soon to exhaust tde stock, and to 

 render it necessary to wait to have them grow 

 from the graft or the hut! before other custo 

 mers could be served, Lass year our plavrs 

 ot one of tho highest priced roses exceeded 

 300. Now we have not one in a saleable con- 

 dition. Last autuntii a gentleman from Now 

 Jersey bought 100 Vsrgaleu pears; and we 

 have cow his order for '500 more, all for hi- 

 own ground. I might multiply facts to show, 

 {•hat the nurseryman is not always in fault if 

 he <■ .iino! furnish the plant? he has advertised. 

 lint he substitutes, says } our correspondent, 

 and ofien, those which we do not want. This 

 is certainly an evil, where the purchaser is an 

 amateur, and has already a collection; but to 

 the beginner, who wants a number of plants 

 to place in his grounds, it is often a bene- 

 fit ; for the trade are. generally the best judg- 

 es of fruit ; and if they are honest they will 

 never substitute inferioi kinds. It is not, how- 

 ever, a general, and I think not a common prac- 

 tice, to substitute, where this latitude is not 

 given. 



Until we have a standard nomenclature of 

 out fruits, and far more experienced nursery 

 men, 1 am afraid the evil of selling the same 

 varieties under different mimes will continue 

 to prevail. There is probably not a nursery- 

 man in the United Fiates. tvho has, in a bear- 

 ing state, one half of the varieties which he 

 sells, or who indeed has ever seen the fruits 

 of one half of them. They introduce and 

 propagate them from their high public repute, 

 or on the recommendation of friends or am- 

 ateurs, often the same kind under different 

 names, and years often elapse before they de- 

 tect tbe synonymes. In 1822 I procured three 



plants of the Hagloe Crab from a nursery 

 of repute, and propagated, planted and sold 

 thein for eight years before I discovered that 

 they were nothing more nor less than Hugh's 

 Crab. In a list of cions received from the 

 garden of London Horticultural Society, in 

 1825, I find different names given to what is 

 described in the Pomological Magazine as the 

 same fruit. That Society has been engaged 13 

 years in cultivating and comparing fruils, and 

 yet they admit, in their printed catalogues. that 

 they have made but comparatively little prog- 

 ress in settling their nomenclature. How can 

 a humble individual, then, expect to arrive at 

 perfection in this intricate branch of Horti- 

 culture. A Nurseryman. 



for the genisee farmer. 

 Instead of welcoming M. Floy as a new 

 correspondent, to the columns of The Genesee 

 Farmer, which as a reader interested in the 

 paper, 1 should feel much disposed to do, I re- 

 gret that it has devolved on me to point out 

 some mistakes into which he appears to have 

 fallen. In performing this duty I hope he will 

 he satisfied, however, that I have no other ob 

 jeci than to have these matters set right. 



That he ha? mistaken me for the Editor of 

 the Genesee Farmer, is of little consequence, 

 neither is the error of supposing that we can 

 gel vegetable earth from " the mountains" of 

 ihe Genesee Country of much greater mo 

 ment. We can readily procure it in almost a- 

 ny part of our extensive plains ; and his ad 

 vice is excellent as contrasted with the com 

 inon practice. Some horticulturists of this 

 district, indeed, when preparing to plant theii 

 fruit gardens, have directed the holes to be dug 

 6 feet across and 2 feet deep, throwing back 

 the subsoil, and filling in straw, corn sialks, po- 

 taio tops, &c. in alternate layers, with sods or 

 the rich vegetable soil ; and also cart " muck" 

 into their gardens from adjacent woods, pre 

 ferringit to the manure fiom the barn yard. But 

 no person will doubt M. Floy's skill as a gar- 

 dener. 



I cannot say that the black larch may not be 

 found in our swamps, and a more particular ex- 

 amination is recommended to our botanists ; but 

 I cultivate the red larch from such localities, and 

 from the dry grounds adjoining. It bear 

 roundish cones of a fine red color. Before the 

 woods are thinned by the ax, this tree isconfi 

 ned to the swamps. When an opening is made 

 which is not disturbed by the plough, young 

 trees spring up or. the dry lands adjacent. Ii 

 might be inferred from M. Fioy's remarks that 

 the black larch would not glow on dry ground ; 

 yet in Loudon's Encyclopedia of plants, sandy 

 loam is noted as the proper soil for both these 

 species. 



I doubt not that the weeping willow may 

 be successfully transplanted; but I failed in 

 several attempts, even in good ground. Yet 

 my notice was not intended to denounce the 

 practice, but to show that .nether and cheaper 

 method had been more successful. In the vi- 

 cinity of New York such a nonce would be un 

 necessary, because its adaptation to that cii 

 mate is well known; but the weeping willow 

 is less cultivated here than some olher exotm 

 shade trees. 



M. Floy's great mistake is, however, in as 

 serting that " it is not the winter that kills av- 

 tumnplavtrd shrubs ; it is the spring that kill* 

 them" He appears not to be aware of the 

 great difference between his climate and ours. 

 His explanation of ihe manner in which trees 

 sometimes perish, I am not disposed to contro- 

 vert ; but that has not been the manner in which 

 my shrubs were damaged. I will state the 

 facts. Round Halesia tctraptera, Alnus ghiti 

 nosa, Gordonia pvhcsctns, Bignonia grandiflora 

 Hydrangea quercifolia, A'c. late in autumn 1 

 raised cones of light earth, about 15 inches 

 high. The frost never started one of these 



roots (lor it is doubtful if it ever penetrates our 

 calcareous soil half as deep as it does in the 

 neighborhood of New York); yet th« top of 

 every shrub was killed down to the surface of 

 the cone. In spring, I only removed or spread 

 those piles; and vigorous shoots sprung from 

 those pa rts which were, sheltered by the light earth, 



proving that the lower part of the plants had 

 sustained no injury whatever. I will more par- 

 ticularly notice the English Alder. The length 

 of its new branches, when added, was more 

 tian 12 feet; and all these endured the last win- 

 ter without shelter of any kind, and without 

 dama *, 



A remark of my friend S. C. of Linden Hill, 

 (Genesee Farmer, number 8,) will apply to the 

 loint in controversy. "It is not unfrequent- 

 y the case, thai plants become feeble for want of 

 experience in their managers, and consequently 

 perish by a slight frost, which they would have 

 resisted had their vital action been healthy." It 

 can make but little difference whether the 

 plants suffer constitutionally from improper 

 treatment, or suffer from amputated roots and 

 branches. It is while they are in this feeble 

 and crippled state, consequent to a recent remo- 

 val that many trees and shrubs denominated 

 hardy, perish in winter. 



Tbe proprietors of pleasure grounds should 

 understand this subject. When tbe objects of 

 our culture are damaged, and we mistake the 

 cause (as when the physician mistakes the di- 

 athesis,) no remedt can reasonably be expec- 

 ted. D. T. 



FOR THE GENESEE FARMER. 



The Primrose is sometimes found among its 

 broad leaves as soon as the snow melts; and 

 the Violet tricolor appears al any time when 

 s few days of mild weather occur ; hut the 

 earliest flower that protrudes through the soil is 

 the snow drop (Galanthus nivalis). As in the 

 daysof Thomson, so now 



" Spring 



Throws out the snow drop and the Crocus first." 

 The former with its white pendant flower.-, 

 contrast finely with the erect corols of the lat- 

 ter ; bnt several varieties of the. Crocus also 

 present a great contrast with each other in color. 

 The clathof gold, densely striped on the back 

 of its outer petals with brownish purple, and 

 the white flamed^ taller and more delicately stri- 

 ped on the outside, .are the earliest. Then 

 appears the large yellow ; and later the pure 

 while, and the tall white and purple striped, vy- 

 ing with the splendours of the tulip. Last of 

 all comes the blue-purple aud the dark blue-pur- 

 ple. 



I can only take notice of a few, but the 

 species and % arieties of the Crocus are very 

 numeroi.s. Bulbocodium varvum of a roseate 

 purple, will bloom along side with the fragrant 

 and beauiiful Persian Iris, and the deep blue 

 pendant flowers of the Siberian Squill. 



All tt.ese plants whose blossoms are some- 

 times covered t'p with snow, or nipped witli 

 'evere frosts, are well adapted to a covered 

 border ; and will there bloom uninjured while 

 the ground remains frozen without. Fine va- 

 rieties of the polyanthus, of tbe delicate tlay- 

 tonia, or of the varying Hepatica, from Ihe 

 woods, might be added ; and the florist, with- 

 out the expense and the care of the green 

 house, may enjoy a portion of ihe fragance am! 

 the beauty of spring in advance. T. 



OIL FROM PUMPKINS. 



The seeds of pumpkins are most commonly 

 thrown away; but abundance of an excellent 

 oil may be extracted from them. When peel- 

 ed, they yield much more oil than an equal 

 quantity of flax. This oil burns well, gives a 

 lively light, and lasts longer than other oils, 

 and emits very littlo smoke. 



