THE GENESEE FARMER. 



Oct. 



5i3nrtiriillitrnl Dfjinrfmnit. 



EDITED BY P. BARRY. 



IMPORTANT DISCOVERIES. 



If indications be correct, some important discoveries 

 in horticulture are on the eve of being promuljiated. 

 The Curculio is a great and almost universal destrov- 

 er of plums, apricots, nectarines. Even cherries, and 

 apples do not wholly escape its ravages. Thousands 

 of remedies have been tried, and all heretofore, ex- 

 cepting catching and killing, have proved fruitless. 

 Recently, however, an annoucement has been made 

 through the Horticulturist, by Mr. Wm. Qua?s't, gar- 

 dener to W. C. Langley, Esq.;^ of Long Island, that 

 he has discovered a remedy that has proved com- 

 pletely successful. He says : 



Mr. L\NGLKV has an extensive and beautiful pliim orchiril. 

 and this year in particular, it was loaded with fruit, all the 

 trees bearing about equally. For an experiment, I com- 

 menced the application with a quill of a 7tino composition on 

 three trees. The result is worthy of being seen. There is 

 not a plum in the orchard, encept on these three trees, tiipy 

 having f.illen olT, destroyed by the insect. To one of the 

 three I shall bo obliged to apply props, otherwise it will 

 break down. I can only add that I am con\ incod that my 

 compnsiiiun is a radical exterminator. I shall keep its na- 

 ture private until practical men, and o:hers interested, are 

 satisfied. Mr. I.a.nglky's place will be open for the public 

 to examine for themselves, after which my receipt .'shall be 

 open to the world. The compound for 101) trees would not 

 cost over eight dollars. It is applied with a syringe. 



What gives us great doubts about this is, that it 

 has only, according to this statement, been successful 

 one year. We know many cases this year where plum 

 trees that have not borne for years are breaking 

 down under loads of fruit, and that too, when others 

 beside them have none whatever. We trust it may 

 prove efiectual, but we have small hopes. If Mr. 

 Quant's discovery be as he seems convinced it is, "a 

 radical exterminator," it should make him a fortune, 

 and earn for him an elevated position among the ben- 

 efactors of the age. The ri|)ening and preservation 

 of fruit, and especially pears, is another subject on 

 which there is a great lack of information, and it is 

 a suijject of vast importance to tiiis country. We 

 have the soil and the climate to grow enough for all 

 parts of the world : but the great questions how Ikey 

 are to be preserved and conveyed to market are yet to 

 be salisfactnrily solved. Mr. Damel T. Curtis it 

 appears has been giving the subject some attention, 

 and we believe liis experiinenls have been to some 

 extent successful. VVe saw last February, in the 

 Mass. Hort. Society's rooms, Seckel pears in a gooJ 

 state of preservation from him, and we heard in Lon- 

 don much said of the lousier Jieurre pears he had 

 sent lliom in April last. The fruit committee of the 



Mass. Hort. Society have taken up the subject. It 

 will be seen from the following report, copied from 

 the Transactions, that they consider Mr. Curtis' 

 discoveries important ; but ask time to submit it to 

 further tests. 



At a meeting of the Society, May 31, the following report 

 from the Fruit Commitlee was read by the chairman, accept- 

 ed, and ordered to be printed : 



The Fruit (.'ommittee, to whom was referred a communi- 

 cation from Danikl T. Curtis, in resjject to a method dis- 

 covered by him for ripening and preserving fruits, has been 

 referred, ask leave to report at this time, but in part, upon 

 the subject committed to them. Specimens of fruit, consist- 

 ing mainly of pears, have repeatedly during the past year, 

 been placed upon the tables of the society by Mr. Curtis, 

 that had been ))reserved by him for a long time after their 

 usual period of maturity, that were found on examination to 

 be perfectly .oound, and, in some instances, to have retained 

 unimpaired their juice and flavor. Among these pears wcro 

 specimens of the Seckel, Bonne Louise de Jersey, Duchess cV 

 Attsonlciiie, and Easier Bearre. The Seckeh, though n kind 

 peculi.irly i»ubject to early decay, were perfectly iound, and 

 retained in perfection the peculiar flavor ol that variety. — 

 Of the other varieties, the specimens exhibited were gener- 

 ally, though sound, insipid and tasteless, arising from the 

 circumstance, as Mr. Curtis staled, and as their appearance 

 indicated, that they were when packed, and subject to his 

 process, immature and imperfect. These pears were exhi- 

 bited by Mr. C. as late as January and February, months 

 after their usual season of ripening, thus proving, as no 

 siins of decay were visible, that their season could be almost 

 indefmitely prolonged. 



Mr. Curtis has sent pears, preserved and packed in his 

 peculiar method, to Havana, to London, and San Francisco, 

 thus subjecting his method to the moat severe trials. 'I'he 

 following extract from a letter from his correspondent at 

 Havana shows the result of the experiment, so fir as the 

 shipment to that city is concerned : " I'ears arrived in per- 

 fect order ; I never thouglit they could be eaten in so per- 

 fect a state, except in the country where they grow." 



The Gardi^ners' Chronicle of April 5th, states that at the 

 exhir.iiion of the London Horticultural Society, April Lst, a 

 box of fifteen Easter Benrre pears, received from Mr. Curtis. 

 of Boston, were exhibited; that cas^s containing seven of 

 these pears were opened, and of them four were found to be 

 decayed and three good ; and then states, '' These pears were 

 stat''d to have been ripened by a method peculiar to Mr. Cur- 

 tis : the nature of which v\as not explnjncd. They were for 

 the most part melting, sweet, and perfectly ripe, a coiuliiion 

 which this fruit with difficulty attains with us in England." 

 The society awarded Mr. Curtis its Knightian medal. 



The California Daily Courier of April 8th, acknowledges 

 the receipt, through Mr. I). H. IL\skkll, of Adams's Kx- 

 press, of a m.ignificent pear, as sound as when packed at 

 Hoston. Tlje Pacific News, Alta California, and other San 

 Francisco papers, make similar acknowledgments, and all 

 concur in stating that the pears were perfectly sound, and 

 that as they were sent for the purpose of testing the practi- 

 cability of sending fruit to California, across the Isthmus, 

 speak of the experiment as successful. These pe.irs were 

 shipped at I5oston, January 27, and after a detention of sev- 

 enty days, arrived in California in April. These papers 

 referred to, state that the pears, though sound were deficient 

 in flavor, a circumstance to be imputed, as with those exhi- 

 bited to the society, perhaps to the imnvriture and imperfect 

 state of the fruit when shipped, and not to the efl"ect of the 

 passage or a diflerence of climate. From the facts now de- 

 tailed, as well as from their own observation, your commit- 

 tee feel justified in expressing a confident opinion, that after 

 many unsuccessful trials of various processes and diflcrent 

 methods, Mr. Curtis has succcded in discovering a method of 

 preserving fruit for a very lo<ig, if not for any desired iieriod, 

 and that this method is capable of a practical applfcation. 



Although Mr. Curtis has, as he states, precerved other va- 

 rieties of fruit besides pears, yet so far as tlie personal knowl- 

 edge of the committee extends, the fruit subjected to his 

 process has thus far been mainly of the latter description, 

 and they feel, before arriving at a conclusive opinion respect- 

 ing the value of this discovery to the society, experiments 

 with other species of fruit, as peaches, plums. &c., &.c., 

 should be made, and opportunity be olfercd for their exain- 

 iuation. after being subjectid to the process. With a view 

 111 the gratification of the committee in this particular, Mr. 

 Curtis is about commencing, under their inspection, some 



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