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VOLUME I. 



ROCHESTER, JULY 2, 1831. 



NUMBKk 26. 



PUBLISHED BY L. TUCKER & COt 



At the OfficH of the Daily Advertiser. 

 Ttrms— 92. 50 per annum, or 



$2,00 if paid in advance. 



N. GOODSEt.L. EDITOR. 



MELONS. 



There are but few people but what are 

 t'ond of good Vielons, and yet many neglect 

 to raise them. The finer sorts of Musk- 

 melons, such as the Minorca, Citron, Pine 

 Apple, and Green Nutmeg, are wholly un- 

 known to most of our farmers, and even 

 many of our gardeners say that they cannot 

 be raised in this latitude in perfection, with- 

 out the aid of artificial heat. Now this is 

 altogether a mistake. We have seen them 

 as fine in size and flavor, raised in this neigh- 

 borhood, as in any part of the world. There 

 are many reasons why people have the im- 

 pression, that good melons cannot be raised 

 in this section. First — very few have taken 

 the trouble to obtain good seed, and when 

 they have, a smaller number are acquainted 

 with the best method of training them, and 

 the consequence has been, that the melons 

 did not ripen until late in the season, when 

 the weather had become cool, and there was 

 not that relish for them, that would have 

 been, had they ripened during the warmer 

 part of the season ; for we can readily con- 

 ceive that a Warter-melon at Christmas, 

 would be very much out of place. To r 

 pen melons, early in the season as possible, 

 is desirable. For this purpose, those who 

 have it in their power, can hasten their ma- 

 turation one month, by planting them in 

 hot bed ; but as this is not always conven- 

 ient for farmers, we will speak of their treat- 

 ment in open ground. In the first place- be 

 careful in the selection of seed. Those with 

 green flesh, are of the finest flavor, but do 

 not ripen as soon by a couple of weeks, as 

 some of the coarser kinds, with yellow flesh. 

 The Green Nutmeg and Citron, perhaps, 

 are in as great repute for flavor as any, tho' 

 they are very small, but their exquisite fla- 

 vor compensates for their want ol size. — 

 Most of our vines, as the Pumpkin, Cucum- 

 ber and Melon, thrive best in new strong 

 soils, but the Water-melon, on coarse sand, 

 made rich, as heat is indispensably necessary 

 to their perfection, and such soils become 

 much hotter than those that contain large 

 portions of vegetable matter. By the term 

 new, we mean grounds that have lain in 

 grass, and not that from which the timber 

 has been lately removed. All have noticed 

 how much better Pumpkins thrive in corn- 

 fields, the first year after breaking up the 

 sward ; therefore, in planting melons in gar- 

 dens, if a wheel-barrow load of such soil is 

 placed for each hill, mixed with a suitable 

 quantity of manure from the hog pen, it 

 well repays the expense, as in that case, they 



are not liable to be destroyed by insects in 

 the roots. The ripening of the fruit may 

 be advanced nearly two weeks, by nipping 

 in the leading vines. Musk-melons produce 

 their fruit, at the axiles of the first leaf of 

 the lateral branches. These branches, if 

 the leading branches are allowed to grow, do 

 not shoot out, until the leaders have made 

 growths of considerable length. The lead- 

 ers are the center shoots, and one or two of 

 the first branches above the seed leaves ; 

 these it will be found upon examination, do 

 not show fruit at the first leaf. All these 

 eaders, should be pinched off at the points, 

 as soon as they have produced about three 

 leaves, which will cause the lateral or bear- 

 ing branches, to put forth at least one week 

 sooner than they otherwise would. When 

 the bearing branches have put out two 

 leaves beyond the fruit, they should also be 

 nipped off. When the fruit is in flower, 

 they should be examined, as by this method, 

 there will sometimes be a scarcity of male 

 blossoms, and the fruit will drop for want of 

 pollen. 



As it is an object to ensure the first set 

 ting of the fruit, both on account of ripen 

 ng early, and its being near the roots of the 

 vine, it is well to go over them, and dust the 

 fruit blossoms artificially. In doing this, 

 always prefer a male blossom from the same 

 vine, if you wish to keep your varieties dis- 

 tinct. Having selected a male flower that 

 is in perfection, touch the Anther carefully 

 to the Stigma of the female flower, which is 

 on the end of the fruit, by which means the 

 Stigma will be covered with the pollen from 

 the male plant ; or it may be applied by 

 jarring the male flower directly over the ft- 

 male flower.by which a quantity of the pollen 

 will be detached and fall opon the Stigma, 

 by which the fecundation will be accomplish- 

 ed. Although these little manoeuvres may 

 seem tedious to those who have not made the 

 experiment, they are easier performed than 

 described, and are well worth the attention 

 of every lover of good melons. A vine should 

 not be allowed to ripen more than two or 

 three melons, as by increasing the number 

 the size and flavor of the fruit is materially 

 injured. Water-melons, and Cucumbers, 

 are not so regular in the setting of their 

 fruit, and of course trimming is not so im- 

 portant, but it is well in gardens where the 

 vines are exposed to the winds, to give a 

 proper direction to leading Cucumber vines, 

 and fasten them by sticking small hooks 

 over the branches, to confine them to their 

 places, and when the branches become too 

 thick, they should be cut off as for fruit 

 trees. — — — 



HOW TO PRESERVE! V.V LUKTIES OF 

 FKUIT. 



Mammoth Dandelion. — A dandelion, 

 weighing 4 3-4 lbs. was lately taken from a 

 Garden in Providence, R. Enough to make 

 greens for a mammoth dinner. 



It often happens, that gentlemen who 

 have a taste for choice fruits, are disappoint- 

 ed, after having sent their orders to a dis- 

 tance for trees, paid their bills, and planted 

 out their young trees with all the care pos- 

 sible, when after watching them from day to 

 day, and from week to week, they find thai 

 some favorite tree will not even show a leaf, 

 and they have the mortification to watch it, 

 until it becomes a dry sapless faggot, fit onb 

 for the fire. Now all this is extremely try 

 ing to the feelings of the lover of good fiuit, 

 not taking into consideration the expense 

 attending it. The kinds ordered from a dis 

 tance, are of course such as cannot be ob- 

 tained in the neighborhood, and the loss of 

 a variety consequently puts the horticultur- 

 ist back one year, if it does not wholly dis 

 courage him from repeating his order. Now 

 such losses and disappointments, are easily 

 prevented. When your tree arrives, let 

 some of the best shoots be taken off and set 

 in the ground for cions, and at a proper sea 

 son, let them be grafted into some thrifty 

 stocks, and you render your effort to obtain 

 the variety a certainty, for we hold there is 

 not a greater chance of failure in setting ci- 

 ons of apples, pears and plumbs, on good 

 stocks, than there is in transplanting trees 

 within the same garden when they are ta- 

 ken up, but as peaches and nectarines are 

 more difficult to graft, we will describe a 

 method, which we have practised this sea- 

 son, which seems well calculated to ensure 

 the object of the introduction of varieties 

 from a distance. My friend L. having pro- 

 cured some choice varieties of Peaches from 

 Long Island this spring, was lamenting the 

 loss of some valuable kinds, which did not 

 give any indications of life. He suggested 

 that we should make an experiment by ta- 

 king some of the buds from the drying 

 limbs, and putting them into growing trees, 

 by the process of scallop budding. I took 

 one or too buds and fitted them in, and cov- 

 ed them with a piece of muslin, which had 

 been dipped in grafting-wax, and have now 

 the satisfaction of seeing a fine shoot grow- 

 ing from one of them six inches in length. — 

 I have within the past week, put in buds 

 from one or two other trees, which are likely 

 to fail, not having leaved, which now have 

 the appearance of doing well. 



We therefore recommend it to our read- 

 ers, as well worth the experiment, that when 

 any choice variety is procured from a dis- 

 tance, to graft or bud from it, as it increases 

 the chances of preserving it, according to 

 the number of buds or cions set. 



Hitherto, the sending abroad for fruit, has 

 been attended with circumstances, calcula- 

 ted to discourage the farmers and gardeners 



