118 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



May 



\ 



I 



Inrliraltiiral Dtiratlinciit. 



EDITED BY P. BARRT. 



A GOSSIP ABOUT WINTER, SPRING, &c. 



In our region the winter has been comparatively mil9, 

 nothing seems to have suffered from cold, and at the 

 present moment there is a fine prospect for a fruit 

 crop. Early in the winter, before the ground was 

 frozen, we had an extraordinary fall of snow — in 48 

 hours it fell to the depth of two or three feet, and in 

 many places accumulated in heavy drifts, doing seri- 

 ous injury to young trees — more indeed than we have 

 seen done in tlie ten previous years, all put together. 

 The ground being warm below, it thawed and settled 

 rapidly, carrying down brandies and whole trees 

 with it. Many beautiful garden trees of several 

 years careful nursing have been ruined. This is one 

 of the draw-backs upon cultivators ; but we are not 

 to be discouraged by it in the least. The like may 

 not occur again in ten years, nor perhaps in our life- 

 time. We must train up new branches and new 

 trees to take the place of tliose destroyed. 



The life of a cultivator is not, after all, so easy — 

 so free from cares and disappointments. If his mag- 

 azines are not laid in ashes by a sweeping conflagra- 

 tion, nor his ships buried beneath the angry waves 

 of the ocean, nor his wares depreciated by a fall of 

 stock, bankruptcies, or revolution.-, his hopes aro not 

 uiitrequentiy blasted by blight, by hail, by dmuth, 

 and by snow storms. He has en<.ti;;li in his own way 

 to prevent bim forgetting his weakness and his de- 

 pendence upon a higher power. These litt-le adver- 

 sities are good for us ; they not only humble us, 

 which is a great point, but they awiiken us to in- 

 creased energy — they stir up our invoutivo faculties, 

 and lead to discoveries tliat ultimately prove of great 

 value. The pear blight, for example, has directed 

 people's attention to the investigation of vegetable 

 physiology more effectually than if a thousand men 

 had been engaged to lecture upon the subject through 

 the country for years. The destruction ^f insects, 

 the efTects of dry and wet seasons, of frosts, snows, 

 inc., all elicit experiment and research, that in the 

 end promote the general good ; so that these disap- 

 pointments, sad and sickening though they sometimes 

 be, are perhaps always "blessings in disguise." 



Spring has opened with us unusually early. The 

 deep covering of enow excluded frost ; and as soon 

 as it disappeared, we were at once able to commence 

 ont-door operations. We commenced digging trees 

 the fir.st week in March, which is rather unusual in 

 Western New York, and we have not been inter- 

 rupted by rain or frost a whole day since. During 



the last week in March we had a few days of warm, 

 May weather, that started the buds, and bade fair to 

 give us a spring of remarkable earliness ; but a sud- 

 den change came about, and we have had dry, cool, 

 fine weather ever since, without any frost worth 

 naming, and vegetation has remained where it was. 

 Apricots on a south wall have been in blossom for 

 ten days past, but no blossoms have yet expanded in 

 the open ground. This shows the influence of a 

 south exposure, and illustrates the impropriety of 

 placing early blooming trees, like the apricot, in lo- 

 calitie-s subject to late spring frosts, unless a proper 

 protection be given. 



In the flower garden, crocuses are passing out of 

 bloom, spring colchicums, with their bright lilac 

 flowers close to the ground, are in perfection, and hy- 

 acinths are begining to open. Pansies and daisies 

 are quite gay ; and the early phloxes, such as elgans, 

 just opening — another day or two and they will be as 

 brilliant as possible. For a mass of bright, early, 

 spring flowers, this phlox elegans is really unsurpassed. 

 It seems astonishing how these little delicate looking 

 flowers can bear so well a temperature so steadily 

 cold — but a degree or two above the freezing point 

 continually, with frost at night. — In the woods, the 

 scarlet maples, the poplars, willows, and elms are in 

 full blossom, and present a strange contrast with the 

 naked and lifeless looking branches of their neighbors. 

 To some of our citizens who do not get abroad into 

 the woods and fields, the blossoms of the maples, 

 elms, and poplars, along the streets, are the first ap- 

 pearances of spring. 



The markets are yet tolerably supplied with old 

 vegetable?, such as parsnips, cabbage, and such com- 

 mon things. A few apologies for lettuce and rad- 

 dishes have appeared, but nothing that we have seen 

 fit for table. We think our markets ought now to 

 warrant gardeners in forcing good things ; we ought 

 now to have rhubarb, asparagus, and sea kale, with 

 abundance of radishes, lettuce, fcc. 



There appears to be no abatement of the tree plant- 

 ing spirit, but rather an increased activity in this as 

 in gardening matters in general. Eotli in city and 

 country tlie cultivation of fruit trees is becoming every 

 year more and mure attended to. Every conveyance 

 that leaves our city, cairries with it trees, and theim- 

 portiiiioiis of our nursery-men load train after train 

 of cars on the railroads. Almost every person one 

 meets is carrying trees, or is in some way busying 

 himself about them, and on all sides and in various 

 ways one can see indication of that general taste for 

 planting that so happily is possessing people now-a- 

 days. 



We cannot now treat of the care required by new 

 planted trees, but must refer to the May number of the 

 last volume, which ofiers some suggestions on this 

 point that are worthy of attention. 



*' The secret of Vegetation." — In our account 

 ot the proceedings of the State Ag. Society at Alba- 

 ny, it will be remembered that a committee, of which 

 A. J. Downing was a member, was appointed to in- 

 vestigate what purported to be the discovery of " the 

 secret of vegetation," by a philosopher in Dutchess 

 Co. Mr. Downing, in the April number of his journal, 

 makes a most humourous and sarcastic report on the 

 subject, in the form of a dug story — the best thing we 

 have read in a great while, and exactly the way to treat 

 such a nonsensical assumption. We trust the gentle- 

 man feels at ease now, over this wonderful discovery. 



