Vol. 1.— No. 35. 



AND GARDENERS JOURNAL. 



271 



marks. I understand they have had these ma- 

 chines in use, and can satisfy all those that desire 

 information. Farmers or others wishing to see 

 them here, may apply to Silas Hawley, at the 

 Plough Factory of Allcott, Watts & Langwor- 

 thy or to the patentee on State street, near Lunt's 

 Tavern. A CONSTANT READER. 



Isaac Lacev, Town of Chili, ) jyi onroe co . 



Col. Coleby, " Ogden, $ 



Andrew and 



Daniel Dibblee, Byron, 



Judge Hawkins, Henderson, Jefferson 

 Rochester, August 25th, 1831. 



Genesee. 



FOR THE GENESEE FARMER. 



Your correspondent B. is well entitled to our 

 thanks ; but I believe he was in error when he 

 said, — " Respecting fish — at Trenton Falls in 

 a petrified state, there are none." A few years 

 ago Dr. Clarke of Buffalo had a petrifaction in 

 his cabinet, about one foot in length, which no 

 common observer would hesitate to call a petrifi- 

 ed fish, and I understood at the time that it came 

 from Trenton Falls. It was not connected with 

 any rock, and appeared to have been detached by 

 the action of the atmosphere. 



I presume it will not be denied that some wa- 

 ters even in these times, possess a petrify- 

 ing quality ; but it is very questionable wheth 

 er there are any modern infiltrations of siliceous 

 matter in quantity sufficient to make a good hone 

 I have now lying before me, a strip of what ap- 

 pears to be petrified bark of the white wood (tu- 

 lip tree) taken from the bottom of a brook ; and al- 

 so the semblance of a piece of oak wood found 

 several feet under ground in the flats of a creek 

 which is as heavy as stone ; but neither of these 

 petrifactions have grit enough for a hone, and ex- 

 hibit a violent effervescence with the stronger 

 acids. If we admit therefore, that wood may be 

 converted to stone in Lough Neagh, it may still be 

 doubted whether that stone would be useful in 

 sharpening a razor. 



Some persons have been easily led to believe 

 that the " striped hone" is petrified wood, by its 

 difference of color, which resembles the heart 

 wood and sap wood of some kinds of timber.- 

 Three years ago, I bought a hone of this kind 

 from a foreigner, who said " the hone is found in 

 aarrow veins, and when quarried it is sawed in 

 two, leaving attached to each piece, a part of the 

 dark colored rock which enclosed it, to give it 

 strength." On closely examining the hone how 

 ever, it was evident that the white part was first 

 dressed, and afterwards cemented to the dark col 

 ored argillite. In another hone these minerals 

 were firmly and naturally united, the novaculite 

 having been discolored near its junction by a 

 mixture of the argillite, when in its muddy state ; 

 but this hone was considered too slender, and an- 

 other piece of argillite was artificially applied as 

 :n the first case. F. 



was interested often to examine the young plants ; 

 and though I observed the number daily to lessen, 

 and observed snails among them, some days e- 

 lapsed before I suspected and discovered that 

 these animals were the cause of my losses. I 

 have since seen them in the act of devouring the 

 plants. 



The grub worm or cut worm is entitled to no 

 lenity from the hands of a gardener; but I am 

 now satisfied that he has been wrongly charged 

 with many tilings that were perpetrated by the 

 snail, such as entirely devouring small plants, and 

 eating holes in the leaves of many of a larger 

 growth. I found snails on the Orchis several 

 inches from the ground, and the leaves of both 

 O. spectabilis and O. fimbriata have been despoi- 

 led of their beauty. 



In our meadows and woods the snail may feed 

 without sensibly interfering with our interests, 

 but in gardens he ought to be treated as an un- 

 welcome visitor. Since the chickens have fre- 

 quented the beds of seedlings, however, I have 

 not discovered a snail. D. T. 



SELECTIONS. 



FOR THE GENESEE FARMER. 



The snail of the English gardens is a trouble 

 some creature, and very destructive to wall fruit;' 

 but until a few weeks ago, I was not aware that 

 our common black snail without a, shell was a 

 depredator, except on strawberries in rainy weath- 

 er. Having sown many rare seeds this spring, I 



^i':h«!son 



From Loudun 8 Encyclopedia of Gardeuiug. 



STRAWBERRIES. 



CoDtiuucd from patre 268 



Sorts grown by Keen. — The pine Keen 

 grows in a light loam, " though no other 

 kind of strawberry will bear a strong loam 

 better than this. It is likewise to be no- 

 ticed, that this is of all others the most diffi- 

 cult strawberry from which to procure a good 

 crop. Particular care must be taken that 

 they are planted in open ground ; for in small 

 gardens tiiey gr iw very strong, but seldom 

 bear fruit, in consequence of being so much 

 shaded by standard trees ; and I have observ- 

 ed the shade of the walnut-tree to be much 

 more injurious to these than to others : foi 

 under it they seldom bear at all, but run en- 

 tirely to leaf. In planting the beds of pines, 

 1 keep the rows two feet apart, and put the 

 plants eighteen inches from each other in 

 the row, leaving alleys of three feet wide 

 between each bed : these large distances I 

 find necessary, for the trusses of fruit in my 

 garden-ground are frequently a foot long. — 

 The duration of this strawberry, with rne, is 

 three years : the first year it bears the best, 

 the second year the crop is very good, and 

 the third year it is less." 



The imperial strawberry, " which was rais- 

 ed by myself from seed, may be treated in a 

 similar way, with respect to planting, dis- 

 tance, fee. as the pine; but I have to remark, 

 that it requires rather a lighter and richer 

 soil, as it is not so liable to run to leaf, when 

 planted under trees." 



The scarlet strawberry must be treated also 

 like the pine. " With respect to distance for 

 planting the beds of scarlets, I put each row 

 twenty-one inch s apart, and each plant 

 eighteen inches distant in the row and make 

 the alleys two feet six inches wide. The du 

 ration of this strawberry with me, seldom ex- 

 ceeds three years." 



The hautboy " I have always found to 

 thrive best in a light soil : and it must be 

 well supplied with dung, for excess of ma- 

 nure does not drive it into leaf like the pine 

 strawberry. In planting the beds, each row 

 must be two feet apart, and from plant to 

 plant, in the rows, must be eighteen inches, 

 leaving the alleys between the beds three 

 feet wide. There are many different sorts 



of hautboys : one has the male and female 

 organs in the same blossom, and bears very 

 freely ; but that which I most approve, is the 

 one which contains the male organs in one 

 blossom, and the female in another: this 

 bears fruit of the finest color, and of far su- 

 perior flavor. In selecting these plants, care 

 must be taken that there are not too many of 

 the male plants among them ; for as these bear 

 no fruit, they are apt to make more runners 

 than the females. I consider one male to ten 

 females the proper proportion for an abun- 

 dant crop. I learned the necessity of mix- 

 ing the male plants with the others, by ex- 

 perience, in 1809; 1 had, before that period, 

 selected female plants only for my beds, and 

 was entirely dissappointed in my hopes of a 

 crop. In that year, suspecting my error, 1 

 obtained some male blossoms, which I placed 

 on the bed of female' hautboys. In a few 

 days, I perceived the fruit near the bottle to 

 swell ; on this observation, I procured more 

 male blossoms, and in like manner placed 

 them in bottles, in different parts of the beds, 

 removing the bottles to fresh places every 

 morning, and by th s means obtained a mod- 

 erate crop where I had gathered no fruit the 

 preceding year. The duration of the haut- 

 boy, with me, seldom exceeds three years." 

 The wood straivberry is best raised front 

 seed, " which I obtain from fruit just gather- 

 ed, sowing it immediately in a bed of rich 

 earth. When the plants are of aproper size, 

 I transplant them into other beds, where I 

 let them continue till the March following. 

 They are then planted in rather a moist soil, 

 in beds, as the others, each row being two feet 

 apart, and the plants in each row eighteen 

 inches distant, the alley between each bed 

 being three feet wide : in this way I produce 

 abundant crops of very fine fruit. I have 

 propagated this strawberry from runners, but 

 never with such good success as from seeds, 

 particularly if the runners were taken from 

 old roots. The duration of this strawberry, 

 with me, seldom exceeds two years." 



The alpine strawberry must always be rais- 

 ed from seed, which should be sown in a bed 

 of rich earth, in the spring. "When the 

 plants are of a proper size, which will be in 

 July or August, I plant them in in rows at 

 the back of hedges or walls, in a rich, or in a 

 very moist soil : the rows should be two feet 

 apart, and the distance, from plant to plant, 

 in the rows, twelve inches. My alpines, this 

 year, thus managed, are bearing most abun- 

 dantly, so much so, that in gathering them 

 there is not room for the women to set their 

 feet without destroying many. The alpines 

 differ from all other strawberries in quickness 

 of bearing ; for no other sort, sown in the 

 spring of the year, will produce fruit, under 

 two years, whereas this vields a crop at the 

 end of one year. Its duration, with me, sel 

 dom exceeds two years, and frequently it 

 lasts only one year." (Hort. Trans, ii.) 

 Williams considers that the fruit of plants 

 raised from seed, comes in very well as a late 

 autumn crop, but is certainly inferior in fla- 

 vor to that produced from transplanted run 

 ners. (Hort. Trans, i. 217.) 



The Rev. T. Gamier, a successful cultiva 

 tor of strawberries, never suffers any of the 

 varieties to remain in the ground more than 

 one year. "Early in August, or as soon as 

 the gatherings are over, I destroy all my beds, 

 and proceed immediately to trench, form, an<! 

 manure them in the manner before direc- 

 ted, to receive the plants for the crop of the 

 ! ensuing year, taking care to select for that 



