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THE GENESEE FARMER 



September 3, 183i. 



COMMUNICATIONS. 



FOR THE GENESEE FARMER. 



A writer in the New-York Farmer of August 

 18, has come out against me; and as many rea- 

 ders of the Genesee Farmer may not see that 

 journal, I will give a brief analysis of his paper. 

 He only refers to my article in your 30th num- 

 ber. 



This he says, " will (it is to be hoped) set all 

 ' ' your horticultural societies right ; a thing greatly 

 " to be desired. His criticisms on the improper 

 "spelling of botanical names are very good, and 

 " should be attended to very carefully." 



" The Monroe society is spared ; perhaps [he] 

 " knows all about that society, and wishes char- 

 " ity to begin at home. I agree however with the 

 " gentleman that every conductor of a horticultu- 

 " ral paper at least should have a catalogue at 

 " hand to correct the errors of the press. Toplead 

 " carelessness in this respect is to treat the judg- 

 " ment of the public with contempt. Here we 

 " are agreed " 



All this may pass very well ; but Q.'s presump- 

 tion in criticising the Reports of the N. Y. Hor- 

 ticultural Society, &c., though he has extorted 

 some praise, must be punished ; and the follow- 

 ing extract will show in what manner: "Now if 

 the recording secretary of said society, in order 

 to show forth his (book) learning, should turn to 

 his " Horticultural compencls," " Floras" and 

 " Catalogues," and minute for the printer as fol 

 lows : A. B. presented before the society some fine 

 Frnctus of the Pragaria vesca (var. Hortensis) 

 also of Ribes grossularia, and Ribes rubrum {var. 

 album) also fine Radices of Rapkanus sativus 

 {var. macrorhizus,) &c. &c. This would appear 

 very absurd, if not ridiculous" — So I think ; and 

 if my critic, who has succeeded in showing his 

 learning, would now take the trouble to read my 

 first article in your 27th number, he will find that 

 his remarks might have been spared. He has 

 been fighting his own shadow. 



His chief intention appears to be, to divert the 

 attention of his readers from the prime object of 

 my remarks ; and under the pretence of exposing 

 my errors, to hide his own. For this purpose a- 

 ny thing that can be picked at will answer. 



Pyrus japonica is commonly called Ike Japanl 

 Quince. " If so, says my critic, why did he not 

 correct it by naming it Cydonia japonica ?" — 

 Because it is more proper to consider the Quinces 

 a species of Pyrus. 



Blue and white valerian, — " The word Greek 

 says the critic, probably left out by mistake. Ev- 

 ery gardener knows thejGreek Valerian ;" — and 

 may know the common Valerian which is not 

 Greek. 



I admit that my note on Polcmonium was en- 

 tirely irrelevant ; but it has furnished a little more 

 shelter for my critic, who says it is a mistake, and 

 then gives the names of what he calls ten 

 species. My authority was professor Lindlev 

 in 1829, and there is none higher in Europe. 



In regard to the Antirrhinum he says, " Any 

 common gardener would have guessed it in a mi- 

 nute." "Double [scarlet] Lychnis no doubt was 

 meant." " Fox glove — no doubt the common 

 white and purple fox glove." In this way my 

 critic shows that I had no right to object against 

 iiuch indefinite notices. 

 " The wonderful double pheasant eye Pink" lie 



" supposes to be a carnation." " The 1500 flow- 

 ers he supposes had two cyphers put in a wrong 

 place ;" and he further supposes the fragrant dou'o- 

 le pink Paonia to be a description plain enough. 

 In the Genesee Farmer, the Rensselaer pink 

 was stated to be 7* inches in ciroumference. In 

 the New- York Farmer it was stated to be lifeet 

 in circumference. Good ! 



He says, "Queen of the meadows or mead- 

 ow sweet must have been the Spima ulmaria." 

 But in his haste to find a fault in me he blun- 

 ders over his subject. He seems to forget that 

 two shrubby species of Spiraea are called mead- 

 ow sweet in Eaton's Manual ; and that in Tor- 

 rey's Flora mcadirw sweet is given as the English 

 Generic Name. He also forgets that the report 

 mentions " double red queen of the meadows" as 

 well as" white;" and that Spiraea ulmaria has 

 hot been found with red flowers. This enigma 

 therefore remains unsolved by our critic. 



My critic further says on this subject, which 

 he was not qualified to elucidate, " it is what eve- 

 ry cabbage gardener could inform him in a min- 

 ute." But printed Reports travel further than 

 cabbage gardeners, who also may have more con- 

 fidence than knowledge. 



In regard to the " Japanese three day lily" he 

 says, " I suppose it was written three kinds of Ja- 

 panese day lilies." He is welcome to the supposi- 

 tion. 



He guesses that the Rose Potentilla was Pc- 



tenlilla formosa. I am willing he shank) guess. 



Of the " blue spiked Veronica" he thinks " it 



might have been nothing but the Veronica spi- 



cata." Perhaps so. 



I should fail to give the readers of the Genesee 

 Farmer a full view of my critic, were I to omit 

 his signature, — " / Gicess." Without doubt, this 

 is in mockery of some of my expressions, which I 

 believed, and still believe were properly employed. 

 Such language, and such logic prove that an 

 impression has been made somewhere ; and in the 

 prospect that good may be done, I intend to con- 

 tinue my remarks on our horticultural Reports 

 as occasion may seem to require. Q. 



FOR THE GENESEE FARMER. 



PENNY'S DOMESTIC SPINNER. 

 The many improvements which are continual 

 ly making in machinery, tend more and more to 

 engage the attention and direct the minds of our 

 mechanics still to persevere in new objects and 

 new inventions, having for their view the em- 

 ployment of our population, as well as the sav 

 ing of labor, both to the human as also the brute 

 creation. Amongst the machines now in use tin 

 one at the head of this article claims our notice — 

 particularly those farmers who raise and manu- 

 facture their own wool; their attention to this cheap 

 and useful domestic spinner isparticularly recom- 

 mended. 



Mr. Edward Penny of this village, who is the 

 inventor and patentee, undertakes to warrant that 

 with the assistance of a little girl, to splice the 

 rolls, a person can spin a run of woollen yarn ev- 

 ery hour ; the rolls must be good. This work 

 on the common wheel would occupy four hours. 

 This would show a saving of three hours labor, 

 and without the assistance of the girl, in general 

 full two-thirds of the time would be gained. The 

 machine occupies very little room, not much more 

 than the common wheel: is easily kept in ordcr.and 



has the advantage of allowing the spinner the op 

 tion of standing or sitting, without any detriment 

 whatever to the work, which in warm weather af- 

 fords great relief. The cost of the machine is but 

 $20, and although it may seem a high price in 

 this western country when compared to the cost of 

 the common wheel, yet I feel confident in saying 

 that one hour's attention to the process of spin- 

 ning would convince any one of their great supe- 

 riority over any other method. I have taken some 

 pains to ascertain what a saving can be effected 

 on spinning 100 lbs. of wool, by which it appears 

 that more than the cost of the machine would be 

 gained, and that too in the short space of eight 

 weeks. Of course I expect the person to have 

 some knowledge of the machine, and likewise the 

 rolls to be good. The following statement, which 

 I have ascertained may be relied on as pretty 

 correct, will show a gain of $4 Spinners are 

 generally hired at the rate of six shillings a week, 

 and their board may be said to be six more, ma- 

 king one dollar and a half a week. They are ex- 

 pected to spin 12 runs of filling or 9 runs of warp 

 which is about equal ; the average would be 10J 

 runs, allowing 2J runs of yarn make a pound, 

 would be four pounds weekly; consequently 

 would take 24 weeks, (without going into frac- 

 tional parts) at an expense of $1 50 per week, 

 would come to the sum of $36. The machine 

 will spin 36 runs of filling or 27 runs of warp ; the 

 the average is 3H weekly, or about 12 lbs. ; and 

 would occupy but 8 weeks spinning at $1 50, 

 would lie $12; showing as I have said above, a 

 gain of $4 over and above the cost of the ma- 

 chine ; and an advantage is obtained by having 

 the yarn ready for the weaver 4 weeks earlier. — 

 The female branch of the family likewise obtain 

 credit for industry, and opportunities are afforded 

 towards the youth, of the great importance of ma- 

 chinery, by. which their time can be so profitably 

 employed, and their income increased. The 

 youth are very susceptible of improvement, and 

 their ideas enlarged by the observance of the great, 

 utility of machinery ; and no doubt remains on 

 my mind but the coming age will produce many 

 Arkwrights and Fultons. I like to see the chil 

 dren of our farmers manufacture their own wear- 

 ing apparel, and when it is in their power they 

 should not suffer their wool to be brought to a 

 factory to be spun for them, when they can do it 

 at home. Bring them up to industry and domes 

 tic improvements. I wish it to be understood thai 

 I have no interest whatever in the machine in 

 question, but a desire to call the attention of far 

 mers to study their own interests. As the Gen 

 esee Farmer is so generally circulated through 

 the western districts, and likely to be introduced 

 into Canada, I have thought the following 

 ment of work done by the daughter of Mr. Silas 

 Reed of the town of Richmond, Ontario county, 

 might be acceptable, is from good authority, and 

 will show the great value of these machines. She 

 spun in the short space of 14 hours, 19 runs and 

 25 knots yarn, of which <H runs was warp and 

 weighed 5 lbs. and our ounce, with the assistance 

 of a girl to splice the rolls. This quantity would 

 have taken 10 days to accomplish by the common 

 wheel. I had no intention of describing the ma 

 chme in the communication, but shall leave all 

 who wish any information to call on any of tin 

 genttemi n whose names are subjoined, who, 1 

 have no doubt will agree with me. in the above re 



