290 



THE GENESEE FARMER 



September 17, 1831. 



oral other kinds, amongst which the Fox grape o*" 

 several varieties, and chicken grapes are named. 

 We shall give our readers an account of them 

 when they shall have arrived at perfection. 



Fro«n the New-Eogland Famer. 



Proceedings of the Massachusetts Horticul- 

 tural Society, at a meeting, held at the 

 Hall of the Institution, on Saturday the 

 27th of Aug. 1831. 



The President, H. A. S. Dearborn, made 

 the following report. 



The annexed letters have been received 

 from Doct. J. B. Van Mons of Louvain, in 

 Belgium, the most successful and distinguish- 

 ed cultivator of new varieties of fruits, and 

 especially Pears, in modern times. A large 

 portion of his life has been devoted to this 

 highly interesting and useful pursuit, and 

 the gardens of Europe and this country are 

 embellished with the magnificent products of 

 his industry and science. He has not only 

 announced a novel theory for obtaining ame- 

 liorated fruits, but has so skilfully applied it 

 in his own celebrated gardens that his name 

 has become illustrious, among the horticul- 

 turists of all nations. His liberality towards 

 this society merits our gratitude, while his as- 

 surances of continued favors, cannot fail of 

 being eminently beneficial to its members, 

 individually, as well as to the whole country. 

 Lovain.Feb. 28, 1831. 

 Sir— At the time (20th of Feb. . I trans- 

 mitted to you a bundle of scions, I was ex- 

 cluded from my large garden, in conse- 

 quence of its being inundated. I therefore 

 could include in the package only such va- 

 rieties as were to be found in my two other 

 gardens ; but as my principal garden is now 

 almost free from water, I have made up a 

 second bundle, composed, as was the first, 

 of such varieties as I possess, of the greatest 

 merit and of very recent production. I add 

 a variety of 1830, which, after having been 

 pronounced exquisite, by amateurs, I have 

 designated by your name. The trees. in my 

 garden have run a great risk of being cut 

 down, to be used in the construction of bar- 

 ricades. I should have been consoled by 

 the motive which induced such a noble em- 

 ployment of them. The hands of the ladies 

 were armed with the axes for effecting their 

 destruction, the men were called into battle. 

 But why should I have murmured at an 

 event, produced under such peculiar cir- 

 cumstances. My labor of thirty-eight years 

 might have been lost, but it would have con- 

 tributed to enable me to die a Free Citi- 

 zen. Still I should have experiencedjegret 

 in not having it in my power to offer you 

 scions, which would have been destroyed. 



The packages may not reach you for some 

 time, but let that not induce you to doubt of 

 success in using the grafts which it contains. 

 I should remind you that some scions, which 

 were sent me from New-York, by my eleve 

 Gerard, were two years and a half on the way, 

 -till I grafted them by copulation, upon a- 

 dult trees one on each branch, and not any 

 of them failed. It was in the middle of Sep- 

 tember. A scion is never too old, or rather 

 too dry, not to succeed, provided it has been 

 cut from a living tree, or from one that has 

 not perished by a natural death. Artificial 

 death, such as that occasioned by deplanta- 

 tion, does not injure, in the least, the excel 

 lencc of the scion. 



The suppression of the faculty of physical 

 sciences and mathematics, in our university, 

 has put an end to my lectures on Chemistry ' 



and Horticulture. I have been transferred 

 to the faculty of medicine. 



1 send you a few engravings of my Porno- 

 graphic Belgiqne Moderne. This work ap- 

 pears in the Revue des Revues, but as it is 

 published in distinct parts, you shall be fur- 

 nished with a complete copy, when it is more 

 advanced. 



I pray you, sir, to be assured of my very 

 high esteem. J. B. Van Mons. 



Henrt A. S. Dearborn, 



Prea. ofthH Muss Hort.Soc. 



Catalogue of the Pear Scions sent to the Mass- 

 Hort. Society, by Doct. Van Mons, — same as 

 those sent to the Messrs. Prince, for a list of which 

 see page 278, of the Genesee Farmer. 



The engravings of the pears which were 

 presented by Doct. Van Mons, represent the 

 following varieties. 



Vicompte-De-Spoelberch 



Henri -Van Mons. 



Innominee. 



Bezy Vact. 



Serrurier D Automne. 



Beurre Spense. 



Delices D'Hardenpont. 



Brandes (Saint Germain^ 



Fiederie-De-Wurtemburg, 



Fondante-Des-Bois. 



Beurre Curtet. 



Beurre D'Aremberg, formerly called Col- 

 mar Des-Champs Beurre Des Orphe^ins and 

 Beurre D'Hardenpont. 



Colmar Bonnet. 



Leon Leclerc. 



The engravings have been put into a port- 

 folio and placed in the Library of the Soci- 

 ety. 



From tliR New I n::l md Farmer. 



SINGULAR FACT WITH REGARD 

 TO FIGS. 



Mr. Fessenden. — The following unques- 

 tionable fact may be interesting to those, 

 who are fond of physiological inquiries, 

 though it will be of little practical use in 

 New England, where the fig is rarely known. 

 Having read in the American Farmer, a let- 

 ter from a gentleman in Florida, stating, 

 that the ripening of figs could be surprising 

 ly hastened, by the application of sweet oil 

 to the flat, or as it is called, the drop end of 

 the fruit, I resolved to try it on a tree, in my 

 hot house, then covered with unripe figs. — 

 The fig like the fruit of the vine, and peach, 

 attain a certain size, and then remain station- 

 ary for several weeks, until it begins to col- 

 or, when its volume, in three or four days, is 

 greatly increased, often doubled, and even 

 trebled. 



My figs were dark green, showing no ten- 

 dency to ripen. I took about a third of a 

 teaspoonful of sweet oil, and dipping ray fin- 

 gerin it, I rubbed it very slightly over every 

 alternate fig, leaving the others untouched, 

 as a test of the effects. At the end of 3 days, 

 the color of most of those touched with oil 

 began to change, and the size to increase, 

 and now on the fifth day they have nearly 

 the color of mature figs, and are twice and 

 three times as large, as those not touched 

 with oil, which still lemain of a dark green 

 color. 



It has long been familiar to Horticulturists, 

 that wounding the fruit ol the fig, by a sharp 

 instrument, accelerates its ripening, as other 

 fi nits are prematurely ripened by the depre- 

 dation of insects ; but the philosophy of it has 

 never been satisfactorily explained. The 

 fact new proved is as niflicutt of explanation. 



No doubt rash men will be found, who will 

 pretend, that the modus operandi is quite clear 

 to their favored minds, but for myself, I am 

 contented with clearly sealing the fact and 

 admiring the inscrutahleopeiations of nature. 

 It is possible, that this curious fact may lead 

 to some other practical uses as to other fruits.. 

 John Lowell. 

 Roxbury, Sept. 2, 1831 



Castor Oil for Lamps. — A discovery 

 which bids fair to become of considerable 

 importance to the agricultural community, 

 and especially to the western country, has 

 recently been made by Isaac Smith, of 

 Eastville, Northampton county, Virginia, bv 

 which he is able to render castor oil fully e- 

 qual to the best winter sperm for burning in 

 lamps. We have tried the prepared oil, with 

 a sample of which we were politely furnish- 

 ed by his son, Francis H. Smith of this 

 city, the inventor of the excellent instrument 

 of music called the harmonicon or musical 

 glasses. We trimmed a double wick lamp 

 with the oil, and it was left burning five 

 hours and a half without being touched, du- 

 ring which time it afforded a large and high- 

 ly luminous flame, perfectly free from smoke 

 or the least degiee of offensive smell. The 

 tubes and wick were entirely free from crust 

 till within the last hall hour. The wick 

 was raised considerably higher than we were 

 ever able to raise it in burning the best sperm, 

 thus affording a much larger flame ; and yet 

 the consumption of oil did not appear to be 

 greater than usual in burning sperm. The 

 preparation of the oil reduces the price about 

 nine per cent, so that allowing the price of 

 castoi oil to be 95 cents, the cost of the pre- 

 pared oil will he 86 cents per gallon. As 

 Mr. Smith intends to take a patent for his 

 improvement, we are not at liberty to give 

 the particulars of the discovery. We have 

 given the address ot Mr. Smith above, that 

 persons wishing further information may be 

 able to obtain it from him direct. — American 

 Farrner. 



We last week visited Mr. D'Homergue's 

 Filature, in Pine street, and witnessed the op- 

 eration of reeling silk from the cocoons 



The cocoons are placed in a large copper ket- 

 tle filled with water, under which is a fire to 

 keep it constantly hot. The heat soaks the 

 cocoons and loosens reel, and six or eight ol 

 which are placed thro'' a reel and the whole 

 are rapidly wound off. Six females are now 

 employed in reeling, but they able to reel 

 only twelve ounces a day. The filature is 

 calculated for nearly twice the number of 

 bands, but a scarcity of cocoons has material- 

 lv lessened the business. From the present 

 prospects there will be abundance for the 

 future. The silk when reeled is worth about 

 seven dollars a pound, sometimes eight. 



This country must bold itself deeply in- 

 debted to the labors of the patriotic gentle- 

 man above named, for the cease ess efforts 

 be has made duiing the last three years.to in- 

 troduce the silk manufacture into the United 

 States. Already we have abundant evidence 

 that it is destined to become one of the great 

 staples of the country, ami we shall proba- 

 bly live to see i; rival in importance the cot- 

 ton of the south, or the manufactures of the 

 east. — Sat. Bulletin. 



The New- York Polish committee have trans' 

 mittcd to Gen. Lafayette, 'JO.OOO francs, as the 

 first remittance from New-York 



