286 



THE GENESEE FARMER 



September 10, 1831. 



finish 5000 dozen the present year. This estab- 

 lishment owes its origin to the Tariff of 1828." 



D. L. 



SELECTIONS. 



From Ihe New-York Farmer. 



DECEPTION IN FLOWERS —TRAV- 

 ELLING FLORISTS. 



'The Flower market of Paris,' says the 

 conductor of the Gardener's Magazine, 'oc- 

 cupies an open area of about two acres, and 

 the stands of the different Florists are al- 

 most always kept by the wives and daugh- 

 ters of the growers. We mad'? several pur 

 chases here,' says he, 'and were amused at 

 the clumsy attempts made to impose upon us 

 by the fair dealers. We were fully prepar- 

 ed fortius; and, indeed I should have been 

 surprised had these lively and agreeable wo- 

 men acted otherwise.' 



Now, like Mr. Loudon, I have not the 

 least objections to a lively and agreeable 

 French woman getting the advantage of me 

 occasionally : but I confess my feelings are 

 different when I am cheated by one of my 

 own sex, of whatever nation. 



In the month of February or March last 

 you published an advertisement — and print- 

 ed Catalogues were issued and distributed, 

 purporting that the Siedr Fat et Comp'e, 

 Jardiniers, Flouristes et Pepinieristes from 

 Paris, and were exhibiting for sale in Fulton- 

 street, a choice collection of Ornamental 

 Shrubs &tc, and would remain but for a 

 short period, being, as they stated, on their 

 way to the Island of Cuba. 



I confess that the erroneous spelling of a 

 great many of rhe botanical names in a cata 

 logue issuing from a scientific establishment 

 in Paris, might have excited my suspicions 

 of imposture; but this is a fault from which 

 even the New York Farmer is not free. — 

 Then the numerous varieties continually in- 

 troduced by cultivation and discovery, made 

 me think it possible that Sieur F;.y and Co. 

 might possess the Viburnum ^Guilder Rose 

 or Snow Ball,! producing red. yellow, rose, 

 and vark gated flowers. 



But when I got among the Roses, I was 

 delighted. — Like my brother Florist in Bed- 

 ford-Street, ' I'm dreadful fond of Roses,' 

 and in iny simplicity would have purchased 

 a number of the new varieties, had I not been 

 dissuaded by a judicious friend who was pres- 

 ent. Besides the Grande Cuisse de Nymphe, 

 the color of which is not stated, we had green, 

 blue, brown andflaxenRose — white with black, 

 and white with yellow stripes — red with black 

 stripes — red with yellow edges — black and 

 brown with white borders, Sic. Isic. The 

 Sieur Fay, if that be his name, when I ex 

 pressed surprise at such curious varieties, as- 

 sured me that every one named was true and 

 genuine, for all were grown by himself. But 

 I was particularly attracted by a Violet Moss 

 Rose, an engraving of which colored from na- 

 ture was exhibited to me. You will say that 

 I ought to have known the wood of a Moss 

 Rose at sight, this is true, and my only ex- 

 cuse is, that several of my friends who pro- 

 fess more botanical knowledge than I pre- 

 tend to do, purchased a number of these Ro- 

 ses, NOT OKB OF WHICH HAS FLOWERED AC- 

 CORDING to its labkl. My hopes and 

 tears are also at an end. 



As when a hen in the straw sees with sur- 

 prise her first chick burst its calyx and wad- 

 dle forth a duckling — such was my disap- 

 pointment a few days ago when my first Vio- 



let Moss, emerged from its shell, a common n 

 Blush Rose. I blush when I look at it, and | 

 give this notice through your Paper that sim-\ 

 pletons like the wrtier may be warned against 

 trading with these travelling nurserymen in 

 future. 



After all, I wish to return good for evil : 

 and as your Journal will probably reach the 

 Sieur Fay in Havanna, would hint to him 

 not to return via New York, for some who 

 dealt with him when here might prove ugly 

 customers ; after this advice, the least he can 

 do, is to send me a bo* or two of ' Dos Ami- 

 go, cigars directed to your care, and 1 prom- 

 ise him that all our future dealings shall be 

 under the Rose. 



The above description of travelling Florists we 

 presume might be matched in this section, if we 

 could obtain the particulars respecting the travel- 

 ling horticulturists, who range through our coun- 

 try spring and fall, grafting and budding for all 

 who will employ them ; and are always ready to 

 accommodate any person with whatever kind of 

 fruit they wish, and we know an instance when 

 one of them put in a prune, as he said, which 

 has produced peach shoots ; but when the mon- 

 ey was pocketed, his purpose was answered, and 

 the farmer if not pleased, might employ the next 

 one to bud them over again. 



From Loudon's Encyclopedia of Gardening 



STRAWBERRIES. 



Coniiaued from page 278. 

 Taking the Crop. — The fruit ripens from 

 June to August and September ; but the 

 main crop is usually over in July. Gathe 

 when the weather is dry, and the same day 

 that the fruit is to be sent to table, other 

 wise it will soon lose its flavor. Pinch off 

 the calyx and a quarter of an inch of the 

 peduncle, along with the berry. 



To have a regular succession of strawber- 

 ries througlwut the autumnal months. — This 

 is commonly done by means of the wood 

 and alpine species, and their varieties. — 

 Gamier thinks it may be accomplished by 

 late planting ; for example, of Wilmot's 

 late scarlet, or the common scarlet about 

 May. He has planted runners of the rose- 

 berry on the 1st of July, and gathered fruit 

 on the 7th of September. (Hort. Trans. 

 iv. 482.) Williams cultivates the alpine 

 for this purpose. '< Early in the month of 

 May, when they are in flower, he cuts a- 

 way all the blossoms, preserving the leaves 

 uninjured ; thi3 is again repeated at the 

 end of the month. Towards the middle or 

 end of June more blossoms appear, and 

 the plants afford flowers and fruit, all the 

 latter part of the summer, and till cut offby 

 the autumnal frosts. If the first blossoms 

 were not removed, the principal crop of 

 alpines would be ripe at the time the larger 

 strawberries are in season, and consequent- 

 ly of little worth ; but by this mode of cul- 

 ture, they come into bearing in the latter 

 part of the summer, just at the time the 

 other kinds are over." {Hort. Trans, v. 

 247.) 



Large Fig. — One day last week, a gen- 

 tleman of this city, presented us with a ripe 

 fig which grew in his garden, and which 

 weighed two ounces and eighten drains, and 



measured six inches in circumference. lie 

 informed us that there were several on the 

 same tree nearly as large. — Schenectady Cab. 



From the \ew-Euglund Farmer. 



UNDERDRAINING. 



Mr. Fessenden — I have become so 

 deeply impressed with the utility of under- 

 drawing, that I venture to trouble you with 

 a few remarks on the subject, in the hope 

 that they may be useful to some portion of 

 your readers. 



My farm is a sand loam, reposing gen- 

 erally upon day, with a gentle undulating 

 surface. 1 have se\ cral swales, where in 

 the process of time, the upper strata has 

 been washed away, and through which 

 there are running waters requiring open 

 drains. In the spring of the year, and in 

 wet summers, the surface water penetrates 

 the soil of the higher grounds to the clay 

 strata, and following the inclination of this 

 ; to the swales, breaks forth in numerous 

 places, saturates the grounds below, ren- 

 ders them wet, cold and poachy, and unfits 

 them as well for the finer nutritious grasses, 

 ;as tor the purposes of tillage. Thus those 

 parts of my farm which were intrinsically 

 the best soil, were in a manner useless. — 

 To remedy the evil, I resorted to under- 

 draining ; and the result has greatly ex- 

 ceeded my expectations. Being wholly 

 destitute of stone, the proper material for 

 underdraining, I have been obliged to use 

 saplings and brush as a substitute. The 

 first object is to mark out the line on the 

 slope of the swale, at which the water first 

 shows itself at the surface, which is best 

 done after the ground has been ploughed 

 and harrowed in the spring, then cut a 

 trench, with a sufficient inclination to carry 

 off the water, above the marked line, from 

 three to four feet deep. I collect green 

 saplings, from two to six inches in diame- 

 ter at the butt, with the tops and branches 

 entire, (I prefer and generally use ever- 

 greens) and cut them into lengths some- 

 what exceeding the depth of the trench. I 

 then begin at the head of the trench to lay 

 them in, butts down and sloping towards 

 the low grounds ; one man hands the brush, 

 and another fits and treads them down, un- 

 til the trench is li erally filled. The earth 

 is then thrown on, taking care to bring ;ill 

 the brush within the edges of the ditch, that 

 it may settle evenly. In a short time the 

 whole of the brush is found to have settled 

 below the reach of the plough. 1 estimate 

 the duration of this kind of drains at from 

 12 to 15 years, and there is no doubt of 

 their proving efficient when well construct- 

 ed, particularly when water is constantly 

 passing through them. I omitted to state 

 that the whole of the excavated earth is 

 thrown back upon the brush, forming a 

 ridge, which in a short time settles to near 

 the ordinary level, and which, in grass 

 grounds is sown in the autumn with seeds. 

 In the experiments I have made, the in- 

 creased value of the first, or at all events 

 that of the two first crops, has afforded am- 

 ple remuneration for the expense of under 



