21G 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



Sept. 



13Drtirultttnil Df|iflrtinrat. 



EDITED BT P. BARRT. 



"There is no place like home." After traveling 

 over a great portion of the most fertile and best 

 cultivated districts of Europe, in the most favor- 

 able season of the year, I can now, on my return 

 home, sit down and write deliberately that, in a 

 horticultural sense, ''there is noplace like home." — 

 I verily believe that there is not in the world a spot 

 that, taken all in all, is more favorable to the suc- 

 cessful prosecution of agricultural and horticultural 

 pursuits, than our own Genesee Valley. There are 

 milder climates and more equable temperatures, 

 where a greater degree of personal health and com- 

 fort, as far as they depend upon climate, can be en- 

 joyed ; but nowhere that I have been, does the earth 

 yield such bountiful crops, under such simple treat- 

 ment. Nowhere have I seen such wheat and corn 

 field.-j, such natural forests, such apple, pear and 

 peach orchards, such fruitfulncss, and such luxuri- 

 ance of growth, as here. But this is not all ; where 

 else can we find such a prosperous population ? — 

 such an equal distribution of wealth and fortune, such 

 an absence of want and privation, such a general dif- 

 fusion of education, and such a universal enjoyment 

 of every right and privilege that men in a civilized 

 society can wish or ask for? 



If any one feels dissatisfied here with his lot, or 

 has any hankering after some distant Eldorado, let 

 him only travel a few months abroad and we are mis- 

 taken if he do not come home fully reconciled and 

 devoutly thankful. These are our feelings, at least. 



Our agriculturists here know nothing of the deep 

 and harrassing solicitude that pervades Great Britain 

 in regard to the safety of the harvest. The labor of 

 making hay and saving grain crops in our dry, warm 

 climate, clear sky, and bright sun, is comparatively 

 nothing. The labor of keeping down weeds, and 

 the ground loose and friable, is also a mere trifle, 

 compared to what it is in a country where rain falls 

 daily and the sun seldom shows himself. There are 

 a multitude of other advantages that every intelligent 

 farmer well understands. 



In regard to fruit culture, our advantages are still 

 greater. An orchard of fruit trees in this country, 

 even when well attended, does not require as much 

 care and labor in five years as it does in one in the 

 greater portion of Europe. A single peach tree in 

 England or France, receives more actual hard labor 

 in one season, than an orchard of one hundred trees j 

 in Western New York ; and the price of a single 

 fruit, or at any rate half a dozen, in the markets of 



London or Paris, will buy a bushel in New York or 

 Rochester. We complain of curculio destroying our 

 plums and apricots, and this is one of our greatest 

 drawbacks here, but, notwithstanding, I have seen 

 more plums and apricots on a single tree here since 

 I returned, than on any dozen I saw in England.^ 

 We have the aphis on our cherry trees here, but they 

 are easily destroyed. In both France and England 

 I saw both orchards and nurseries of cherry trees al- 

 most ruined by them, and they were said to be un- 

 conquerable. We have fire blight and leaf blight 

 here, and both are sad difficulties, but in France and 

 England they are not without both these maladies. 

 I saw apple trees very seriouslv affected, in England, 

 with what we designate fire blight — the ends of the 

 branches black and dead, and there, as here, the real 

 cause is quite unknown to the most skilful cultiva- 

 tcrs. In France, I saw as bad cases of our leaf 

 blight on the pear, as I have ever seen in America. 

 The ravages of birds in Europe are tremendous. It 

 is almost impossible to save a crop of cherries. Nets, 

 scarecrows, and a thousand expensive and trouble- 

 some devices are practiced, that in this country, 

 where labor is dear, would not be attempted, even 

 though the culture should be abandoned. 



Fruit stealing has been supposed to be peculiarly 

 an American vice, but it is not so by any means, 

 though, probably, quite as prevalent as elsewhere. 

 In other countries fruit gardens are better protected 

 than in ours, and this gives them a greater degree of 

 safety ; but in France I saw several nurseries at 

 some distance from houses, where the fruits were re- 

 moved as soon as they appeared, to save the trees 

 from being broken by the fruit stealers. If in Amer- 

 ica we were to apply ourselves to culture with the 

 same indefatigable perseverance, the same regard- 

 lessness of labor that I have seen in Europe, we 

 could produce results that we do not now dream of, 

 and we will come to this by and by — we are every 

 year approaching it nearer and nearer — our culture 

 is becoming more skilful, more thorough, and more 

 successful ; but we have only made a beginning. 



In Horticulture, as in Agriculture, the United 

 States of America has a great destiny to fulfil. Our 

 territory is not only immense, but so diversified ia 

 soil and climate, that all the most valuable grains 

 and fruits can be produced in such abundance as will 

 enable us to supply other countries less favored in 

 these respects. The intimate connection now estab- 

 lished between all parts of the world, has removed 

 the barriers which distance has heretofore created, 

 and we have now a clear course. Cultivators may 

 redouble their energies with a sure prospect of re- 

 ward, and if our government, in its wisdom, should 

 see fit to lend a helping hand, all the better. 



PROCEEDIXGS OF THE HORTICULTURAL CONVEXTIO.V 

 held at Burlington, Vt . Feb. 11. 1850, and organization of the 

 Champlain Valloy Horticultural Society, with an Appendix con- 

 taining a list of fruits reported by the Standing Fruit Committee. 



We are indebted to Jonatha.n Battv, Esq., of 

 Kceseville, for a copy of a pamphlet of 72 pages 

 bearing the above title, which explains its contents. 

 The discussions consequent upon the organization of 

 a Horticultural Society are highly interesting, evin- 

 cing not only a general desire to adopt the most 

 efficient means for the promotion of horticultural im- 

 provement, but a spirit of good will and kindly co- 

 operation am' ng those who have taken the subject in 

 hand, that niust and will be crowned with success. 



