1848. 



GENESEE FARMER. 



139 



Cherries. 



The culture of the cherry on the Cerasus ma- 

 haleb stock, is just beginning to attract the atten- 

 tion of cultivators in this country. We men- 

 tioned it in our leading article last month. So 

 far it has succeeded admirably with us, and we 

 shall be much disappointed if it be not found well 

 adapted to the Western States, where standard 

 trees on free stocks are short lived. 



The Belle of Orleans, Louis PJullipe, Reine 

 Hortense, and Merveille de Sepiembre, mentioned 

 below, will bear with us this season. The follow- 

 ing notes are from the catalogue of Thos. Rivers, 

 of Sawbridgevvorth, England, who has done more 

 than any other man to introduce to England the 

 continental mode of growing fruit trees in gardens: 



The culture of the cherry on the Cerasus Mahaleb has 

 been so successful here the past season, that 1 am induced 

 further to recommend it. With nets over my small bushes, 

 I kept most of the finer varieties till August ; the wasps 

 then committed such ravages that 1 was obliged to gather 

 nearly all ; but. for the sake of experiment, I covered some 

 trees of the Morello and Late Duke Cherries with cheap 

 muslin. This preserved the fruit in perfection till the end 

 of September. Cherries may now be made part of our des- 

 serts from May, commencing with the Cerise Indulle, till 

 late in October. There are some new early cherries of 

 gi-eat merit, particularly one called Belle d'Orteans, ripen- 

 ing early in June, large, sweet and excellent ; of this I have 

 not yet propagated any plants, as it bore fruit last summer 

 for the first time. I may here mention that in rich soils 

 Dwarf Cherries on the Cerasus Mahaleb grow with extreme 

 vigor for three or four years ; in such cases they should be 

 annually root pruned, tliey will then soon become compact, 

 fertile bushes. I will now notice a few sorts that fruited 

 here ihe past summer, and of which I tasted and noted their 

 qualities. 



Rigarreau dc Hildersheim. I ate the fruit of this variety, 

 preserved under muslin, September 10 ; its flesh was firm, 

 good and sweet, and would have (as I have written in my 

 note book) "remained good till the end of tlie month.'' 



Cerise Indulle, or Early May, is a small sub-acid cherry, 

 agreeable and valuable for its extreme earliness, as it ripens 

 in some seasons towards the end of May ; it succeeds admi- 

 rably on the Mahaleb stock, and is very valuable for forcing 

 in pots, forming a small compact bush. 



Downer's Late Red. This is an American variety, sweet 

 and good, and ripens from eight to ten days after the May 

 Duke. 



Louise riiilippe. A cherry much like the Kentish, but 

 sweet and very refreshing. A great bearer, and forms a 

 pretty fertile bush. 



The Madison Bigarreau is an American variety; flesh soft, 

 rich and juicy. It is an excellent bearer on the Mahaleb, 

 and in season just before the Bigarreau. 



Reine Hortense, Monstreuse de Bavay. Belle de Bavay, 

 16 a la Livre, Belle de Petit Brie— for, "like most valuable 

 varieties of fruits, it has numerous synonyms — is a first rate 

 variety; very large, and apparently a hybrid between the 

 May Duke and Kentish ; flesh soft, very juicy, sweet and 

 refreshing ; ripening about a fortnight after the May Duke, 

 and may be kept on the tree under a muslin cover till late 

 in August. 



Tardive de Mons, or Merveille de Septembre, is one of 

 the latest cherries known ; frnit rather small, flesh very 

 firm, rather dry, and very sweet. I gathered the fruit from 

 my specimen tree the SSth of this present month (October ;) 

 they were perfectly sound. 



A GOOD Idea.— Mr. Walter Goodale of South Orrington, 

 m a communication published in the Bangor ^Vhig, on the 

 subject of raising fruit, says : — '• I never knew a boy lo 

 steal fruit, whose father raised it himself, and I would say 

 to all persons who own land and boys, if you wish to make 

 them honest, set out trees, and let them see that it costs 

 something to raise fruit." 



LADIES' DEPARTMENT 



Good Housewifery. 



The editor of the Farmefs Library and 

 Monthly Journal of Agriculture frequently treats 

 of matters coming within the Housewife's De- 

 partment. Giving in the .January number an 

 account from personal observation of the man- 

 agement of a Northern farm, in all its details, he 

 incidentally gives warning to the lady of the 

 house that all men are not to be deceived by 

 "outward appearances." He says: 



Mr. Hall, laying aside his milk-pail, insisted that we 

 should go into his house and take a seat, that being deemed 

 a sine qua jioii toward getting acquainted, and discharging, 

 on his own part, the duties of hospitality. In exterior his 

 dwelling was as unpretending as dwelling could be — like 

 Col. C.'s at Saratoga ; but like his, too, inside all cleanli- 

 ness and comfort. By the by, who can avoid — for the life 

 of us we never could — on entering a dwelling, the true pro- 

 vince and dominion of the good housewife, from slowly cast- 

 ing around to see how things looked in her department — 

 whether the windows are washed, paint scoured, hearth 

 cleanly swept up, cupboard neatly arranged, mantle and 

 chairs and chair-boards dusted, cobwebs not a speck to be 

 seen — all, all "set in order," and neat and clean "as a 

 band-box?" But. gentle ladies, even all that, let us warn 

 you, does not satisfy the judgnsent of men vyho, while they 

 may closely scrutinize your housewifery, entertain, as we 

 profess to do, the highest possible respect for the important, 

 the noble station which Providence has assigned you in the 

 eyes of all men of sense, and which honor and duty alike 

 enjoin upon you to fulfil with care and with pride, what- 

 ever, whether high or low, may be your rank or fortune ; 

 but, if possible, with more obligatory force and necessity in 

 the country than elsewhere. 



Too well are all men of observation aware, however, that 

 all is not gold that glitters — the fairest looking apple is some- 

 times rotten at the core. The hall, the parlor, the show- 

 rooms, and all apartments in common view, may indicate 

 minute attiention and good taste on the part of the mistress, 

 whose eye is best of all brushes ; and yet, as it sometimes 

 happens, the chambers of such a house may be the recepta- 

 cles of filth — the cellars the convenient repository of every 

 oftal — the kitchen the scene of waste, and lounge of every 

 idle loafer about the place — the dairy be poisoned with the 

 bad odors of superfluous moisture and half-scoured utensils. 

 We have seen such establishments with disgust ; but much 

 more doth it rejoice us to say that we have known estab- 

 lishments where "the lady of the house," like the truly 

 brave soldier who, when roused at midnight, springs at 

 once to his arms, ready to do battle — so can such a woman, 

 in proud defiance of the strictest scrutiny, take husband or 

 stranger by the light of the lamp or the light of the sun, by 

 day or by night, from the garret to the cellar — open every 

 closet and every drawer — and demand, " Where do you find 

 in my department, a pin or a feather out of place, a mickle 

 of waste, or a garment without a button ?" But, to achieve 

 all this, she should have all needful help. Such only is the 

 woman who deserves the name of a good housewife ; but 

 he who possesses her possesses a treasure of inestimable 

 value, and ftad indeed must be his own management if, 

 with her thrift and her example and encouragement, he fail 

 to thrive. " She looketh well to the ivays of her liousehold, 

 and eateth not the bread of idleness." 

 Ill housewifery moveth 

 With gossip to spend, 

 Good housewifery loveth 

 Her household to tend. 



Indelible Ink. — This may be made much cheaper than 

 purchased, as follows : — Two drachms of nitrate o( silver, 

 added to four drachms of a weak solutiou of tincture of 

 galls. Another : — Nitrate of silver, one drachm, mixed 

 with a solution of half an ounce of gum arable in half a pint 

 of pure rain water. Moisten the cloth previously with a 

 strong solutina of pearl, or salt of tartar, and iion it dry. 



