150 



THE GENESEE FARMER 



May 14, 1831 



young, but later and more accurate observa- 

 tions have short n that they protect and even 

 act as nurses to them, in order that by their 

 operations, they shall cause the production 

 of the sweet exudation of which they are so 

 fond. 



Great quantities of flies are also observed 

 about plants and trees infested by the Aphis, 

 and on the same errand; which induces us 

 to think that the Aphis, by its peculiar ope- 

 rations, causes a disease in the leaf whereby 

 an ichor or serum is thrown out, which con- 

 stitute not only theirs, but the food of many 

 other insects. 



Almost every vegetable has its own par- 

 ticular species of insect, of various descrip- 

 tion, colors and sizes, on most of which their 

 colors are green — on the cabbage they are 

 white or grey, on the cherry jet black, on 

 tanzy red, &c. kc. They multiply with as- 

 tonishing rapidity. The males are winged, 

 and the females without wings. The female 

 possesses the property of producing her young 

 alive in a perfect state during summer, and 

 and in the autumn of laying eggs for the pur- 

 pose of continuing the species through the 

 winter ; they may be observed at the joints 

 of brandies, and on the small limbs, of the 

 size and color of particles of black sand from 

 the sand box. The male in autumn attach- 

 es itself to those leaves which are downy on 

 the under side, where it passes the winter in 

 perfect shape ; while the female contracts 

 into a small black globule full of a soft gran- 

 ulated matter, the final issue and destination 

 of which has not as yet been determined. 



In green-houses they are destroyed by to- 

 bacco smoke, and it has even been applied 

 to out-standing trees and shrubs, by means 

 of tents or coverings of cloth ; but from the 

 expense and trouble, cannot in common ca- 

 ses he applied. A decoction of tobacco, in- 

 jected by a syringe, or even a boy's common 

 s fju irt-trun with a small aperture, or lime- 

 water, or soap suds, are effectual remedies. 

 Tobacco juice is the most efficient — destroy- 

 in" every living thing but man, when prop- 

 erty applied, and doing no injury either to 

 the leaf, root, or body of any vegetable sub- 

 stance. Caterpillars, worms, grubs, nor flies, 

 are proof against it. One sixpenny paper 

 of coarse tobacco will make liquor enough 

 to depopulate a whole territory ef these nox- 

 ious and destructive creatures. 



From the Hartford [Conn.] Mirror. 



THE PEACH TREE. 



From a desire to encourage the culture of 

 the Peach Tree, we offer the following as 

 Ihe result of experiment and observation. 



It is generally known that worms near the 

 surface of the earth, destroy them by eating 

 the bark ; the object is therefore to find a 

 preventive in order that the trees may be- 

 come aged in a healthy state. 



It ts evident that these worms pass through 

 the common change, and assume the forms 

 of millers, early in the summer, and depos- 

 itc their eggs in the bark as low as they can 



find access to it, and that the worms proceed- 

 ing from them begin to operate in the latter 

 part of the summer when they have beer 

 found the size of a common pin. If suffer- 

 ed to remain, they grow to the thickness of 

 a rye straw, each of them girdles the tree 

 about an inch, and the wood from the wounds 

 to the heart dies. Hence it is, that a single 

 wound impairs the vigor of the tree, and a 

 number of thein kill it. The point to be 

 gained, is to protect the tree from the mil- 

 lers, and by a simple method, we have suc- 

 ceeded for several years, which is recom- 

 mended with full confidence. 



About the first of May remove the earth 

 from the body of the tree, and shift it to the 

 height of fifteen or sixteen inches, in such 

 manner as to exclude the millers, burying 

 the lower part of it in the earth : we have 

 used straw cut to the length and about half 

 an inch in thickness, bound on with twine. 

 This should be removed about the first of 

 September, as we have sometimes found the 

 young worms in the upper part of the straw, 

 being then readily discovered on the surface 

 of the bark, covered by a little gum. The 

 process should be commenced when the tree 

 is young — they have been found in a rapid 

 growth the first fall after it sprouted. Thus 

 a few minutes in a year devoted to a tree, 

 will protect it against this cause of decay — 

 a very trifling expense compared with the 

 value of this healthy and delicious fruit. 

 Jonathan Brace, 

 John I. Wells, 

 Wm. II. Imlay. 

 Hartford, Conn. Sept. 8, 1030. 

 The above recommendation is from per- 

 sons of the first respectability, and is there- 

 fore entitled to full credit. It accords with 

 the suggestions made by us a few days since, 

 and is predicated on the same ground — to 

 fence out, or raise a defence against the at- 

 tacks of the insect laying the eggs. We 

 however think our recommendation of using 

 tan bark instead of earth, the preferable 

 'course : it is easy to procure, easy to remove 

 for examination, and no insect or vegetable 

 is ever found to live in it ; it acts on the sur- 

 face to keep the ground raoist and open, and 

 if kept around the tree by some kind of box, 

 it mav be used in gardens and borders, with- 

 out being blown or scattered about. It is of 

 the utmost importance that the collar of the 

 root should be laid bare a few days and a 

 thorough extermination of the grub made, 

 before using either earth or bark. 



niNTS TO FARMERS. 



Baron Humboldt says, that timber should 

 be left standing on the tops and sides of hills, 

 for three very good reasons : 



1st. Affording a shelter during high winds. 



2d. Affording better fuel than timber from 

 low lands. 



3d. Preserving the subterranean water 

 cuurses, which pursue the uneven tenor of 

 their way up the steep woodlands; but when 

 the sun is let in, the parched earth drinks 

 up. retards, and finally destroys them. 



Xac York Post Office.— From the first of 

 April to the first of May, forty-two thousand 

 ship letters have been received at the Post 

 Office, in that city. 



ALBANT HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



First exhibition of the Society for the pres 

 ent year, April 19, 1831. 



Judge Buel presented .-3 bunches pie plant. 

 Rheum tartarum, foliage 2 to 2 1-2 feet in 

 length. 



Spencer Stafford, 1 fine bunch asparagus, 



Georg-e Wilcox, 2 fine bunches radishes ; 

 2 heads celery. 



D. B. Slingerland, S heads celery, and a 

 splendid collection of flowers, consisting of 

 a variety of hyacinth, narcissus, jonquils, 

 double violets, Persian and dwarf violets. 



Thomas Churnsides, 2 fine bunches rad 

 ishes ; 1 fine bunch asparagus ; 2 bunches 

 celery. 



Stated premiums were awarded Spencer 

 Stafford, George Wilcox, D. B. Slingei- 

 Innd, and Thomas Churnsides. 



Honorary premium to Judge Buel foi 

 rheum taitnrnm. — Albany Argus. 

 Second exhibition of the Society, May 3, 1 S3 1 



6 fine large parsnips. 

 12 fine heads Silecian lettuce. 

 1 fine boquet exotic flowers, from the gar- 

 den of Stephen Van Rensselaer, sen. 



7 heads spinage. 

 7 heads lettuce. 

 6 parsnips. 



1 bunch 25 heads asparagus. 



2 dozen large rich flavored apples, Swar, 

 Newtown Pippins and Spitzenbergs, from 

 the garden of D. B. Slingerland. 



1 iarge boquet, consisting of a great varie 

 ty of splendid exotic and indigenous flowers, 

 from the garden of Jesse Buel. 



1 fine bunch, 25 heads asparagus, from 

 the garden of Spencer Stafford. 



1 fine bunch radishes, raised in the open 

 ground from the garden of James Wilson. 



Stated premiums were awarded to Ste- 

 phen Ven Rensselaer, sen., D. B. Slinger- 

 land, Jesse Buel, and Spencer Stafford. — ib. 



FOR THE GENESEE FARMER. 



Editor of the Genesee Farmer — Observing 

 that a portion of your useful paper is devo- 

 ted to the language of Botany, I take the 

 liberty to make a few remarks. 



The specif c character includes only sttclj 

 features of a plant as are sufficient to dis 

 tinguish it from every other species of the 

 same genus. The specific character there- 

 fore is not a description but a difference. — 

 Of a genus " where only one species exist-, 

 a differentia specif ca is an absurdity."* 



It will then appear that where there are 

 only two species of a genus, it is necessary 

 only to mark the points of difference be- 

 tweeen those two species; and their specif- 

 ic characters therefore cannot agree in any 

 point. So in the genus f'angtiiera, which 

 has only two species : 



„ C e dulis. Slem unarmed, leaves large, ovate. 9t*tlkc<i 

 ' \ itpinosa. Slew spiny, leaves small, ne.irly sestile- 



But where there are three or more species 

 in a genus, the specific character of two of 

 those species, may agree in several particu- 

 lars ; but these particulars must differ from 

 some other species. Thus in the genus 

 Burboniu, which has many species : 



(. trinervia. Leavos lanceolate, three nerretl. ciuire. 



\ Itinceulttto. Leaves lanceolate, many nerred, emir*. 

 Here by omitting those parts in which the 



* Smith's Grammar of Botany. Alton mi 

 mark, en passcnit, that no practical notice of (his 

 rule is found in Katon's Manual of Botany. The 

 only speries of a sonu?, tiicrc appear* to have a 

 specific character like other plants. See \r] 

 Cannabis, Dioncea, Dirca, Frasera, (ialax, Hnmu 

 his, Hydrastis, Mitchclla, he. Ike. (.-■■ 



