THE GENESEE PARMER 



AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL. 



Devoted to Agriculture, Horticulture, Domestic Econo 



my, &c. &c. 



N. GOODSELL, EDITOR. 



Published on Saturdays, at $2 50 per annum. 



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



lime of subscribing, by Luther Tdcker, at 



the office of the Rochester Daily Advertiser. 



COMMUNICATIONS. 



FOR THE GENESEE FARMER. 



A diminution of temperature in the soil, is 

 sither caused by the contact of colder bodies 

 which absorb a portion ol its heat ; or by radi- 

 ating its heat, when colder bodies do not come 

 in oontact. With the first cause, every person 

 is familiar, and it has been known from time 

 immemorial; but the second cause is classed 

 with the discoveries of modern chemistry. 



A cool afternoon in spring or in autumn, 

 portends a frost if the sky be clear and calm ; 

 but the fears of the gardener subside if he dis- 

 covers clouds rising in the west, although no 

 increase of heat is expected from that quarter, 

 —because neither frost nor dew is formed in 

 a cloudy atmosphere. 



With a clear aercne sky, however, so great 

 is the radiation of heat that frost may happen 

 at the ground whan the air is several degrees 

 above the freezing point* 



To many, this will seem a wonder. The 

 principle of radiation is indeed a wonder which 

 has not beerj explained. Its operation, how- 

 ever, i3 easily shown. Take a closed vessel 

 with a polished metallic surface — fill it with 

 boiling water— and note the time that it lakes 

 to cool. Pour out that water— give the vessel 

 on the outside a coating of thin ^lue — and a- 

 gain fill n with boiling water. As the hot wa- 

 ter is now shielded from tho cool air of the a 

 partment, it might be expected to cool mere 

 slowly; but so singular is the principle of ra 

 diation, that it will cool more than six times 

 as fast. Again empty the vessel — remove the 

 o-lue— apply a coating of lampblack — fill the 

 vessel with boiling water as before, and the 

 heat will pass off more than eight times as fast 

 as it did from the clean polished surface. t 



Professor Prevost|| of Geneva, (Switzerland) 

 first suggested that " a mutual exchange ol 

 caloric takes place between all bodies, of what- 

 ever temperature, and this theory appears to 

 be generally adoptod." It cannot therefore b 

 expected that boiling waier would cool in an 

 apartment of the same temperature because 

 there could be no loss of heat by such ex- 

 change. Neither is the loss of heat from the 

 soil so great as to produce frost in a clear calm 

 night in summer, when that soil and every 

 projecting object have a temperature far above 

 the freezing point. 



Winds are not favorable to the production of 

 frost, — for though the "radiation may not be di- 

 minished, the air which is warmer than the 

 surface of the ground, by constantly changing 

 its position, commingling and sweeping that 

 surface, imparts a portion ot heat. 



The radiati n of heat from the ground is in- 

 tercepted by thick clouds, or rather the heat 

 is radiated back , but from a clear sky at night 

 there is no return. It is observed that at such 

 times, any covering, however partial, lessens 

 the quantity of while frost, — even the naked 

 branches of leafless trees. It was also remark- 

 ed before the cause was understood, that when 

 the temperature is ^qual, there is less frost in 

 • rooky weather lhan in clear calm nights, when 

 tho stars are unusually brilliant. 



* Scheele discovered that " radiant heat passes 

 through the air without heating it." — Libr. Useful 

 Knowledge. 



■f Brande's Chemistry. 



|| Conversations on Chemistry. 



In the old volume on gardening by Law- 

 ronce, (printed in 1717,) I found a curious par- 

 agraph which evidently refers to this phenom- 

 enon. His skill as a gardener was successful, 

 but hifr philosophy fell short of the mark. 



" Most of our frosts and blasts.bolh in spring 

 and autumn,/a" perpendicularly ; — and there- 

 fore the more any thing lies open and exposed 

 to this perpendicular descent of vapors, the 

 more will it be subject to bo frozen or blasted. 

 When a fruit tree has been [trained] against 

 a slope wall, for tho convenience of receiving 

 more of the sun's rays, we always find that 

 that is the first and most blasted, both in spring 

 and autumn This therefore being the true 

 state of the case with respect to most of our 

 destructive blasts, horizontal shelters are the 

 best guard and defence against perpendicular 

 frosts. Tiles or thin bits of board fastened in 

 the wall [so as to project an inch and a half 

 were] found to answer to a wonder, and to se' 

 cure the fruit wherever they were placed." 



Here it is proper to notice, that bodies radi- 

 ate beat from evety point of tbeir surfaces 

 that nearly half the radiated heat from a vine 

 nailed up, would therefore be intercepted by 

 tho wall ; and that a bud (or bunch) immedi- 

 ately below one of these projections (or " hori- 

 zontal shelters,") could scarcely radiate to any 

 part of the neavens. 



With these explanatory remarks, I wibIi to 

 ntroduce a passage from Loudon's Encyclopa 

 dia of Agriculture, which must be interesting 

 to every intelligent gardener, and for a copy 

 of which I am indebted to the New York Far- 

 mer. 



"I had often, observes Dr. Wells, in th 

 pride of half knowledge, smiled at the means 

 frequently employed by sardeners, to protect 

 tender plants from cold, as it appeared to 

 me impossible, that a thin mat, or any such 

 flimsy substance, could prevent them from 

 attaining the temperature of the atmosphere, 

 by which alone I thought them liable to be 

 injured. But when I had learned that bodies 

 on the surface of the earth become during a 

 still and serene night, colder than the atmos- 

 phere, by radiating their heat to the heavens, 

 I perceived immediately a just reason for the 

 practice which I had before deemed useless. — 

 Reinc desirous however, of acquiring some 

 precise information on this subject, I fixed 

 perpendicularly in the earth of a grass plot, 

 four small sticks ; and over their upper ex- 

 tremities, which were six inches above the 

 r/rass, and formed tho corners of a square the 

 sides of which were tiro feet long, drew tightly 

 a very thin cambric handkerchief In this dis- 

 position of things therefore, nothing existed to 

 prevent the free passage of air from the expo- 

 sed grass to that which was sheltered, except 

 the four small sticks; and there was no sub- 

 stance to radiate beat downwards to the latter 

 grass, except the cambric handkerchief. The 

 temperature of the grass which was thus shiel- 

 ded from the sky, was upon many nights after 

 wards examined by me, and was always found 

 higher than that of the neighboring grass 

 which was uncovered, if this was colder than 

 the air. Whon the difference in temperature 

 between the air several feet above the ground 

 and the unsheltered grass did not exceed five 

 degrees,tho sheltered grass was about as warm 

 •is the air. If that difference, however, ex- 

 ceeded five degrees, the air was found to be 

 somewhat warmer than the sheltered grass 

 Thus upon one night, when fully exposed grass 

 was eleven degrees colder than the air, the lat- 

 ter was three degrees warmer lhan the shelter 

 ed grass ; and the same difference existed oi 

 another night when the air was fourteen de 

 trrc.es warmer than the exposed grass One 

 reason for this difference no doubt was, that 

 the air which passed from the exposed grass, 

 by which it had been very much cooled, to that 

 under the handkerchief, had deprived the latter 



of a part of its boat; another, that the hand- 

 kerchief, from being made colder than the at- 

 mosphere by the radiation of its upper surface 

 to the heavens, would remit somewhat less 

 heat to the grass beneath, than what it receiv- 

 ed from that substance But still, as the shel- 

 tered grass, notwithstanding ihese drawbacks, 

 was upon one night (as may be collected from 

 the preceding relation) eight degrees, and up- 

 on another eleven degrees warmer thar grass 

 fully exposed to the sky, a sufficient reason 

 was now obtained for the utility of a very slight 

 shelter to plants in averting or lessening inju- 

 ry from cold, on a still and serene night. 



;i The covering has more ejfett when placed 

 at a little distance above the plants or objects 

 to be sheltered. A difference in temperature 

 of some magnitude was always observed on 

 still and serene nights, between bodies shelter- 

 ed from the sky by substances touching them, 

 and similar bodies which were sheltered by a 

 substance a little above them. I found for ex- 

 ample, upon one night,that the warmth of grass 

 sheltered by a cambric handkerchief raised a 

 few inches in the air. was three degrees great- 

 er than that of a neighboring piece of grass 

 which was sheltered by a similar handkerchief 

 actually in contact with it On another night, 

 the difference between the temperatures of two 

 portions of grass shielded in the same manner 

 as the two above mentioned from the sky, was 

 four degrees Possibly, continues Dr. Wells, 

 experience has long ago taught gardeners the 

 superior advantage of defending tender vege- 

 tables from the cold of clear and calm nights, 

 by means of substances not directly touching 

 them; though I do not recollect ever having 

 seen any contrivance for keeping mats, or such 

 like bodies, at a distance from the plants which 

 they were meant to protect." D T. 



FOR THE GENESEK FARMER. 



Mr. Gooosell — It is often said, and in mas 

 ny cases very justly, no doubt, that men fond 

 of experiments, as well from mere curiosity or 

 inquisitiveness, without any definite object, 

 as when seeking knowledge for useful purpo- 

 ses, that the experimenter is in too much has:e 

 to announce the remits. That I am always 

 free from this error, I will not pretend to say, 

 as that point will be left to the ultimate deci- 

 sion of others. 1 have been always fond of 

 experiments, to which a large portion of rny 

 time and means have been dexoted, even from 

 infancy, in which I am very sure that some- 

 thing has been learnt, by experience. That 

 the experience of one man is not that of an- 

 other, is ono of those things learnt ; as also, 

 that, in most knowledge- acquired by experi- 

 ment, tho benefit is generally seized by oth- 

 ers. This remark, however, has no relation 

 to such cases as the one I am aboui to state 

 to you, bin has boih a prospective and retroa- 

 peclive bearing, as will be seen by-and-by. 



But to tho point — the experiment — which I 

 feel bound to communicate, in reply to some 

 remarks in your number 14, on the "Grub, 

 or Peach Borer." Twoye.rs ago last Au- 

 gust—almost three years, remember— I disco- 

 vered that some favorite fruit trees, in my gar- 

 den, were sadly affected by the attacks of the 

 borer, his chips and excrement, hmg in heaps 

 like saw-dust, around t lie stem of each, on 

 the ground. On examination, I found thai the 

 wood of the tree, of an eariy and uncommon- 

 ly fine sweet apple, was nearly eaten off, and 

 its weakness could be perceived by the hands, 

 jiiving the tree a waving motion. The tre* , I 

 considered past recovery, and now for an ex- 

 periment on the borers. 



The sun shown very ho', at mid-day. I cut 

 open the holes through the bark, and ran in 

 a sharp pointed pocket-knife blade of two in- 

 ches in length, and couM turn ii, horizontally, 

 quite round. Above, the wood seemed to he 

 very rough and full of holes. The tree had 



