308 



THE GENESEE FARMER 



October 1, 1831. 



COMMUNICATION*:. 



EN, ) 



31. J 



Linnsan Botanic Garden 

 Flushing, Sept. 14th, 1831 

 Mr. Goodsell: 



We noticed your remarks on the subject of the 

 Pomological Manual. The first part of that work, 

 complete in itself, as far as it goes, was issued 

 from the press a day or two since and may be 

 obtained through any of the principal booksel 

 lers. We have requested thirty copies to be sent 

 to Rossiter and Knox of your town, who are our 

 present agents, and the second part will also be 

 soon furnished them. Mr. Knox has recently vis 

 ited our establishment, and will be able to inform 

 you and others of the high order in which it is 

 kept, the great regularity in its management, and 

 the superior condition of its trees, and other pro- 

 ductions contained in it. To persons residing at 

 a remote distance, the name of nursery carries 

 with it the same meaning, and fixes on the mind 

 no distinguishing impression ; but when we state 

 to you that our establishment covers near fifty a- 

 cres, compactly and regularly filled, that we em- 

 ploy from thirty to forty hands, and have had for- 

 ty-eight, and that the lowest rate of its annual ex- 

 penses is more than twelve thousand dollars, and 

 that during the three years of 1826, 7 and 8, when 

 we made such immense additions by importations, 

 &c. it averaged $18,000 a year, you will, perhaps 

 be led to form a correct estimate of its extent. 



The collection of fruits is not one gathered 

 from the four corners of the earth, without dis- 

 crimination, but it is a concentration of what is 

 deemed most valuable in every region where 

 these fruits are cultivated, and where our unweari 

 ed exertions, could succeed in obtaining them, and 

 it is unrivalled by any at present existin 

 this country or in any other, and only exceeded in 

 the number of varieties by that of the London 

 Horticultural Society, which it is well known is a 

 <*eneral assemblage, and includes each fruit un- 

 der all its synonomous titles. 



We do nut content ourselves with cultivating 

 each variety by the name by which we receive 

 it without examination ; but of eveiy variety the 

 original tree is planted in our Horticultural or- 

 chard, and its fruit critically observed, in order to 

 test its accuracy. The errors which we have de- 

 tected in this way would fill a volume, and the 

 numerous disappointments we have experienced 

 would move the temper of a stoic. Thus have we 

 toiled on from father to son, each endeavoring to 

 contribute his share to advance what formed our 

 patrimonial inheritance. That we have been anx- 

 ious the public should not be injured by errors or 

 deceptions, is plainly proved by the fact, that we ; 

 have always readily imparted every information 

 possible and have at all times shed as much light 

 on the subject as was within our power. We ex- 

 press what is well known to our friends, when wc 

 state, that, all powerful as is the influence of gain 

 our exertions are much more to be attributed to our 

 pleasure and pride in the advancement of Horti- 

 culture. Few arc aware that many trees and 

 plants, (even plum trees and roses) have cost us 

 a guinea each, before they left Europe, which are 

 now prcied on our catalogues from fifty cents to 

 one dollar each, and that many of the green house 

 plants cost us five guineas each in Europe, thut we 

 now offer at low rates. But extensive propaga- 

 tion aDd great patronage have enabled us, thus to 



present to our fellow-citizens, many articles for 

 one tenth the price that we paid for them our- 

 selves. 



There is one most important result arising from 

 our great disbursements in the increase and prop- 

 agation of the trees and plants which affects both 

 the public and ourselves. It has extended our 

 stock to so great a degree that those who apply 

 need not fear disappointments. No articles are 

 named on our catalogues, but what we have ready 

 in our garden to supply when desired, and it is 

 only incase of an extraordinary demand for an 

 article but recently introduced, that all the appli- 

 cants can not be supplied. 



There is another important point which few 

 consider sufficiently. It is this : that where trees 

 are of the same kind, there is a very great differ- 

 ence in the actual quality of the trees, in respect 

 to size, vigor of growth, &c. The same remark 

 will apply with equal force to the ornamental trees, 

 flowering shrubs, roses, &c. ; a strong, well grown 

 shrub, being of-far greater value, in itself more ca- 

 pable of supporting your climate than a new lay- 

 er or a young scion. All these points should re- 

 ceive the attention of those who wish to form 

 plantations and they should scrupulously compare 

 such as are furnished from the different nurseries 

 and award their preference where it is justly 

 due. Very respectfully, Wm. Prince & Sons. 



FOR THE GENESEE FARMER. 



I have not discovered hi any part of Coxe's 

 " View of the cultivation of Fruit Trees," that 

 he had any knowledge of the Curculio, or any 

 suspicion of what caused our stone fruit prema- 

 turely to drop from the tree. He remarks that the 

 Green Gage " seldom succeeds either in grass or 

 open situations without shelter from buildings." — 

 It is probable that he took up this notion, as he did 

 several others, without much examination. In a 

 district three degrees further north, and several 

 hundred feet more elevated, I have seen nothing to 

 indicate it more tender than other plums. Last 

 year mine bore well in the open ground, far from 

 any building, after a hard winter, although we 

 had many severe vernal frosts after the fruit was 

 set on the branches. 



That this, like some other stone fruit, should be 

 more productive near buildings, is easily explained 

 by referring to the limited disposition of the cur- 

 culio, and to the domestic animals that daily pass 

 near most of the buildings on a farm. 



Of Apricots he says, " Linnxus comprehends 

 [it] in the same genus with the plum and cherry: 

 yet the two latter will not take on each other, nor 

 will the apricot take on the cherry: but peaches 

 succeed on apricots — and the apricot will take on 

 every kind of plum. I have found the apricot pro- 

 duced from the stone a more rigorous stock for the 

 peach, than any kind of plum stock." 



These remarks may be useful, ami 1 transcribe 

 them with approbation; but what follows is of a 

 very different cast and character: " This fruit 

 [the apricot] is extremely tender in our severe 

 winters, in open or exposed situations unprotected 

 by o wall" 



I have reason to believe that this notion is prc- 

 Talent through a my extensive district in which 

 Coxe resided; and it is more probable that 

 he adopted the popular opinion. It is not unlikely 

 that it was derived from their English ancestors 



who had always seen the apricot trained as 

 a wall fruit. But be this as it may, it is quitr 

 time that some attempt should be made to explode 

 it. The protection afforded by a building, is doubt 

 .less the same as the green gage receives, for nei- 

 tfier can need any more protection from the weathi r 

 than the peach needs. 



After cultivating the apricot for several years. 

 I am prepared to say that I have found it, in every 

 respect, full as hardy as the peach tree, neither is 

 the fruit more liable to be damaged by frost. In- 

 deed I know not how to account for the strange 

 neglect which this fine tree has received ; for the 

 stone or pit of the apricot grows still more freely 

 than the peach, and it takes well by budding or 

 grafting on plum stocks and peach stocks. 



Coxe's remarks on the Nectarine are very simi- 

 lar to the preceding. " It seldom succeeds in the 

 climate of this state [New Jersey] unprotected by 

 buildings — the tree grows as vigorously as the 

 peach,subject to the same disease* — and blossoms 

 and bears frnit in abundance, but they generally 

 fall before perfectly ripe." — " I could never raisi 

 them in an open situation more than one year — 

 my trees were then young and vigorous, they bore 

 abundantly, and a large portion of the fruit of 

 several kinds ripened in the fullest perfection ; after 

 several subsequent but vain attempts I have aban 

 doned the cultivation of them — I believethey will 

 thrive as weli as the peach in the sheltered gar 

 dens of our large towns." 



It is evident from the foregoing extract thai 

 Coxe had no suspicion of the real cause of his dis 

 appointment. He first ascribes it to the clima'e, 

 though he admits that the trees I ,r ■ in 



the fullest perfection," yet without any remark to 

 show that the character of that season was more 

 favorable than usual. The truth is, the summers of 

 the Genesee country, three degrees further north, 

 are warni enough to bring .this fruit to perfection 

 in the open ground ; and last year we had it in 

 plenty, far from any building. He next seems to 

 suggest that his success that year might be ow ing 

 to the vigor of his young trees. Mine however, 

 lost all their fruit for several years In lure the\ rf 

 pened a nectarine; but I have seen many cases of 

 other young trees bearing well for one yearbul 

 not longer, owing to the circumslancethat fewcur- 

 eulios found it the first year, but they had so much 

 increased as to destroy all the fruit in the second 

 year; and tins was without doubt the case with 

 Coxe's trees. His simple statemenl that the fruit 

 "gem rally fell before it waspe f ' points 



out the curculio at once to every well informed or 

 chardist 



The curculio appears to prefer sonic kinds of 

 plums to others. We know it is m ire partial \i> 

 the nectarine than to the apricot, or perhaps to any 

 other kind of stone fruit, — and hence Coxe's ulti 

 mate failure. D. T 



FOR THE GENESEE FIRMER. 



CIDER. 



Your remarks, pnge 2nd of the first number, on 

 making eider, deserve the attention of every far 

 nicr who has an orchard. Without denying the 

 ace of crab cider, or thut made from the 

 Harrison orCampficld apple, which are the most 

 famous for cider in the world, and ordinarily com- 

 mand from six to ten dollars a ban-el in the New- 

 York market, as they come from the press, 



