144 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



March 



the pear has been -worked on the thorn with suc- 

 cess ; I have also known tlie quince worked on the 

 thorn six or eight feet high, but this is no advan- 

 tage. 



The quince, it is well known, has a great many 

 small roots, and will live and flourish where not one 

 in ten of the thorns will live. Quince stocks come 

 cheap, and would prove cheaper in the end than 

 the thorns if they could be had free of expense. 

 My advice is, for dwarfs, try quince stocks instead 

 of thorn. j. f. c. n. 



Newton Centre, Feb. 1st, 1853. 



Remarks. — This advice is from a practical nurse- 

 ryman, who speaks what he knows. 



A MILD WINTER. 



Up to the 12th of February there had been no 

 eleighing in this vicinity Avith the exception of a 

 few days in Boston and its immediate neighborhood. 

 Pansics, or Heart's Ease, have been in blossom 

 throughout the winter, in our garden at Concord, 

 but without the delicate perfume which they give 

 out in the summer. 



Farmers have been enabled to perform various 

 kinds of labor which will considerably facilitate 

 their spring work, so that if the April weather is 

 favorable we may look for an unusual amount of 

 sowing and planting for the coming season. 



Plov.-ing was going on as we passed through 

 New Jersey last week on our return from Wash- 

 ington ; and the peach trees ivere in blossom on the 

 eleventh February at Baltimore. 



The air to-day, (the 12th) is as soft as the first 

 of May ; overcoats hang on their pegs, and win- 

 dows are open on the sunny sides of houses. 



As the sun is up earlier and remains longer, the 

 prospects of the ice-dealers grow fainter for a crop 

 of that pellucid article. 



The roads are heavy, and locomotion slow off" of 

 the rails, while the skaters and sleigh-riders do 

 not sing praises of such weather half as cheerily as 

 do those who find it a little difficult to get coppers 

 to purchase coals. 



The prognostications of the almanacks have not 

 all failed. The old Farmer''s Almanack has hit it 

 to a T. Of the days 9, 10, 11 and 12, it says— 

 " Quite mild for February.'''' Who can doubt its 

 inflxUibility hereafter^ Success to the Old Far- 

 mer's Almanack; and don't forget it in haying 

 time ! 



A Splendid Pear. — At the room of Col. Wil- 

 der, 1 Pearl Street, we saw the other day a spe- 

 cimen of the Belle Angevinc Pear, grown with 

 eleven others on the same tree at St. Germain, 

 France, which weiglied when green thirty-four 

 ounces ! Its height was eight inches, and circum- 

 ference fifteen. It was purchased and presented 

 Mr. Wilder by Geo. D. Parrish, Esq., of Phila- 

 delphia. It was preserved in alcohol, and in per- 

 fect condition. 



BLOODGOOD AND ROSTIEZSR PEARS. 



The Bloodgood is a very highly-flavored pear, 

 and deserves a place in every garden among the 

 early fruits. It was brought into notice about 

 the year 1835, by James Bloodgood, a nursery- 

 man, at Flushing, Long Island. The sort was 

 brought to that nursery as a new variety, without 

 a name, and Mr. B. was never able to trace its 

 history further. The tree is rather short jointed, 

 with deep reddi.-li brown wood, grows moderately 

 fast, and bears early and regularly. The fruit, 

 like that of all early pears, is better if ripened in 

 the house. 



It surpasses, says Downing, every European va- 

 riety of the same season, and together with the 

 Dearborn's Seedling, another native sort, will 

 supplant in all our gardens the Jargonelle, and all 

 inferior early pears. 



Fruit of medium size, turbinate to obovate. — 

 Skin yellow, sprinkled with russet dots, giving it a 

 russety look on one side. Calyx strong and open, 

 scarcely depressed. Flesh yellowish white, buttery 

 and melting, with a rich, sugary, highly aromatic 

 flavor. Ripe from the 25th of July to the 10th of 

 August. 



The RosTiEZER, which is the smaller outline, is 

 supposed to be a German pear, and is likely to 

 prove a capital variety. It bears abundantly. 



Fruit of medium size, oblong-pyriform. Skin a 

 dull yellowish green, with a reddish brown cheek, 

 and whitish dots, light russet. Stalk very l ng. 



