316 



THE GENESEE FARMER 



October 8, 1831 • 



COMMUNICATIONS. 



FOE TIIE GENESEE FARMER. 



Your correspondent, W. 0., is merry at Mr. 

 Fessenden for recommending the Mandrake; and 

 says it would figure in a flower pot as well as coke 

 weed.or skunk cabbage. 1 have lately seen a cat- 

 alogue of flower seeds for sale by the principal flo- 

 rists in Dublin, in which, coke weed takes a con- 

 spicuous place, under the name of " Phytolocca 

 decandra, or American plant." A friend of mine, 

 who emigrated from the interior of Ireland, to this 

 vicinity, not knowing how we might be supplied, 

 brought out a box of garden seeds, and some twen- 

 ty kinds of choice flower seeds to decorate the par- 

 terres of Ohio; among which, was a goodly quan- 

 tity of Coke or Poke. 



But to the Mandrake. I have never seen it in 

 New England. It is common here — the flower is 

 pretty, the fruit is curious and beautiful, and the 

 flavor is by some much admired. I therefore think 

 your correspondent's ridicule is rather gratuitous. 

 Many of our most delightful flowers and plants 

 •may be as common in some localities, as the Man- 

 drake at Rochester. The Bostonians may be ex- 

 cused for cultivating it, and the Irish for admiring 



the coke. 



D. T. complains that Mr. Floy in his cata- 

 logue of trees and shrubs worthy of cultivation, 

 has omitted the Acer nigrum, or Black Maple. — 

 This is not strictly correct. Mr. Floy spoke of 

 the Acer or Sugar Maple, as very handsome. In 

 fact, there are two Acers which produce Sugar. — 

 Acer saccharinum is more common in New Eng- 

 land. Acer nigrum is found in the West. The 

 botanical differences between them are not very 

 striking. Both are .called Sugar trees by the com- 

 mon people. 



The Blue Ash, Fruxinus quadrangularis, is 

 probably not found in the Eastern States; and I 

 cannot learn that it exists upon the Connecticut 

 reserve. It is abundant in the Miami country; 

 where I have often seen it 60 or 70 feet to a limb, 

 with a grape vine almost as long by its side ; and 

 also, without branches to the same height, the vine 

 being supported by the lofty branches of the ash. 

 The question is often asked, how could the vine 

 attain such an elevation without support? lam 

 credibly informed there is a beautiful grove of the 

 blue ash in the Indian reservation, on Sandusky 

 river, a few miles south of Lake Erie. 



It is not surprising that the snow ball and high 

 cranberry take on each other by inoc.culation. — 

 They are as nearly related as the peach and the 

 almond; being each a species of the Viburnum. 



E. Y. 



Cleveland, Ohio. 



To the Editor of the Genesee Farmer : 



Sir, — Old Genesee requires a winter market 

 for its produce. This is emphatically the wheat 

 growing section of the Stute of New York, and 

 the city of New York wants its custom in the win- 

 ter; and it is for the interest of the hitter, that the 

 former should have it. The object of this para- 

 graph is to set tlie people of the Genesee a think- 

 ing upon the above subject ; and I would therefore 

 propose the inquiry of the feasibility of a Rail 

 Road commencing at Rochester, passing up the 

 Genesee, the Cauascraga, by Dansville, to the 

 head waters of the Conhocton, down the same to 

 Pirated Post, (here intercepting one contcmpla 



ted from the coal bed, at Peter's Camp,) thence 

 down the Chemung to the Slate line, — passing 

 north of that line to the Susquehanna, up that riv- 

 er to the vicinity of Great Bend, and then the 

 most practicable route to the Hudson, a few miles 

 above Nyack, a point from which that river is 

 navigable generally through the winter. 



The above route is very feasible until leaving 

 the Susquehanna, near Great Bend ; and as to 

 the residue, from that Eastward, we shall shortly 

 learn, as Col. Clinton is now exploring, and will 

 soon survey the same. 



This will take produce from Rochester to mar- 

 ket on the diagonal line, instead of two sides of a 

 paralellogram ; it will make the distance from that 

 village to New- York more than a hundred miles 

 nearer; it will satisfy the claims of the Southern 

 Section, and afford, with the aid of the Ithaca and 

 Owego Rail Road, a sure winter market for all 

 of the Old Genesee. In addition to this, the coal 

 from Peter's Camp, and the immense forests of 

 pine in the county of Steuben, can be easily trans- 

 ported to the valley of the Genesee, and to such 

 other places as occasion may require. It is wor- 

 thy of remark, that a branch of the Cauascraga 

 and one of the Conhocton head in the same source, 

 atTording a gradual and convenient slope both 

 ways; and if an inclined plane should be required 

 from Dansville to the summit level, the greatest 

 inclination of the route from Great Bend to Roch 

 ester, a water power could be constructed with tri 

 fling expense to surmount that obstacle. 



Your, &c. Agrigola. 



SELECTIONS. 



(From the Monthly American Journal of Geology 



and natural Science.) 

 INFLUENCE OF CLIMATE ON THE FRUITFUL- 



NESS OF PLANTS. 



The cultivated plants yield the greatest 

 products near the northernmost limit in 

 which they will grow. 



1 have been forcibly impressed with this 

 tact, from observing the productions of the 

 various plants, which are cultivated for food 

 and clothing in the United States. The 

 following instances will go far to establish 

 the principle, viz. 



The cotton, which is a tropical plant, 

 yields the best staple, and surest product m 

 the temperate latitudes. The southern 

 parts of the United States have taken the 

 cotton market from the Kast and West In- 

 dies, both as regards quantity and quality. 

 This is partly owing to the prevalence of 

 insects within the tropics, but principally to 

 the forcing nature of a vertical sun. Such 

 a degree of heat developes the plant too 

 rapidly — runs it into wood and foliage 

 which becomes injuriously luxuriant ; the 

 consequence is, there are but few seed pods, 

 and these covered with a thin harsh coat of 

 wool. The cotton wool, like the fur of an- 

 imals, is, perhaps designed for protection ; 

 and will be thick and line m proportion as 

 the climate is warm or cold. Another rea- 

 son is to be found in the providence of the 

 Deity, who aims to preserve races rather 

 than individuals, and multiplies the seeds 

 and eyes of plants, exactly as there is dan- 

 ger of their being destroyed by the severity 



of the climate, or other causes. When, 

 therefore, the cares and labors of man coun- 

 teract the destructive tendency of the cli- 

 mate, and guaranty their preservation, they 

 are, of course, more available and abundant. 

 The lint plants, flax, hemp, &c. are cul- 

 tivated through a great extent of latitude : 

 but their bark, in tie southern climates, is 

 harsh and brittle. A warm climate forces 

 these plants so rapidly into maturity, that 

 the lint does not acquire either consistency 

 or tenacity. We must go farther north in 

 Europe, even to the Baltic, to find these 

 plants in perfection, and their products very 

 merchantable. Ireland is rather an excep- 

 tion as to latitude; but the influence of the 

 sun is so effectually counteracted there by 

 moisture and exposure to the sea air, that it 

 is always cool : hence the flax and potato 

 arrive at such perfection in that region. 



It holds equally true in the farinaceous 

 plants. Rice is a tropical plant : yet Car- 

 olina and Georgia grow the finest in the 

 ' world, heavier grained, better tilled, and 

 I more merchantable, than any imported into 

 I Europe from the Indies. The inhabitants 

 | of the East Indies derive their subsistence 

 almost exclusively from rice ; they must be 

 supposed, therefore, to cultivate it with all 

 the skill and care, and the best contrivance 

 for irrigation. Such is, however, the for- 

 cing nature of their climate, that the plant 

 grows too rapidly, and dries awav before 

 the grain be properly filled. Indian corn, 

 or maize, if not a tropical plant, was origin- 

 ally found near the tropics ; and although 

 it now occupies a wide range, it produces 

 the heaviest crops near the northern limit of 

 its range. In the West Inches it rises near- 

 ly thirty feet in height ; but with all that 

 gigantic size, it produces only a few grains 

 on the bottom of a spongy cob, and is coun- 

 ted only as rough provender. In the south- 

 ern part of the United States, it reaches a 

 height of fifteen feet, and will produce thir- 

 ty bushels to the acre ; in the rich lands of 

 Kentucky and the middle states, it produ- 

 ces 50 or 60 bushels to the acre, but in N. 

 York and N. England, agricultural socie- 

 ties have actually awarded premiums for 

 150 to the acre, collected from stalks only 

 seven feet high. The heats of a southern 

 sun develope the juices of this plant too 

 quickly. They run into clum and blade, 

 to the neglect of the seed, and dry awa) 

 before fruicification becomes complete. 



Wheat is a more certain crop in New- 

 York, the northern part of Pennsylvania 

 and Ohio, and in the Baltic regions of Eu- 

 rope, than in the south either of Europe or 

 America. In the north, snows accumulate, 

 jand not only protect it from the winter 

 colds, but from the weevil, Hessian fly, and 

 other insects that invade it, and in the 

 spring it is not forced too rapidly into head 

 without time to mature fully, and concoct 

 its farina. 



A cold climate also aids the manufactur- 

 ing of Hour, preserving it from acidity, and 

 and enables us to keep it long, eith»er for a 

 good market, or to meet scarcities and 



