THE GENESEE FARMER. 



33 



figs. (Members tasted them and generally thought them 

 quite superior to raisins or figs.) In the Western States I 

 have often known hogs to be fattened on the rich peaches 

 covering the ground. Gentlemen iind tlie preserved 

 jeai'hes agreeable. The juice which drains from them 

 while they are being preserved, is much better than any 

 honey or any syrup I ever tasted. It has the delicious fla- 

 vor of tlie ripe peach, which is lost chietiy in tlie common 

 modes of cooking to preserve them. This market would 

 ]i;;y twice as much for such peaches as these, than they 

 niiw do for raisins ; but remember, Mr. Chairman, that t 

 lat-an, all tiiis time, rich, ripe peaclies, preserved witli the 

 liL'st su<5-ar and by honest liands ! I do not mean the trash 

 for which the community jiays until disgusted with the 

 whole concern. Sir, few families would be without the 

 true peaches truh' preserved. For tlie purpose of pre- 

 serving peaches in this style, a stove-houso heated by steam 

 to about two hundred and twelve degrees of Farenheit 

 thermometer — that is, to the boiling point of water — should 

 be erected. The peaches should be selected of the best 

 sorts, and in a perfectly sound state. When the syrup 

 flowing from the peaches, in the process, is found to be too 

 much diluted, let it undergo evaporation until the syrup 

 i- surticieutlj dense ; about one-sixth jxirt of sugar is re- 

 quired. 



As to blackberries — one of our most wholesome small 

 fiuits — our country abounds with them — we eat a few in 

 t!ie few days of their ripeness, and all the rest, an incalcu- 

 laMe amount, go to de^ruction. Why, Sir, standing on 

 tiiji of a stage to get a view, in Indiana, on the river Wa- 

 1k. sh, I had within view more blackberries than would fill 

 this room, (S5 by 25 feet and 13 high) rich, ripe, long, de- 

 lii-iiius berries. All over that country. Sir, wherever the 

 fcirest is d<;adeiied down, or a road or a clearing, there these 

 rich blackberries crowd in. If farmers would take pains 

 to preserve these blackberries and supply the market, they 

 would make more money than by raising corn — Indian 

 I'orn — at ten cents a bushel, which I have often paid for 

 It — or six-pence, for which it has often been sold. Henkt 

 L. Ellsworth, formerly Commissioner of the Patent Of- 

 fice, has hired men to cultivate three thousand acres of 

 bis land in Indiana, and contracted to give the men 

 three dollars an acre per annum. They raised sixty bush- 

 ■h an acre — thus a bushel of Indian corn costs Mr. Ells- 

 iVORTH Jive cents. 



The subject for our next meeting, December 6th, is the 

 Frauds in Packing and want of honesty and knowledge in 

 Cutting up Fruits, in connection with the continuation of 

 lie Best Methods of Keeping Fruits and Vegetables, both 

 .(TV highly interesting questions. 



Nlr. Randtil, from Maryland, said that fine peaches 

 i' I landed there, and it was of great importance that we 

 !;iiuld be able to save those immense masses of peaches 

 o>t for want of suitable means of preservation. 



Mr. Robinson. — If you can do more than to make sy- 

 up of them, you will do nobly. It is better, I repeat it, 

 iian any honey, and when properly dried, the figs and rai- 

 ins will have to make way for them on every table. 



Mr. Fleet. — There is a great want of principle in the 

 •onimerce in fruits. Poor, miserable peaches, poorly dried 

 — iirt, insects and all — come to market, only to disgust dis- 

 •reet families, none of whom would ever be without a 

 nil 111 article. Those who trade in them, seem to have no 

 iirt of care for reputation, and in consequence, their ulti- 

 nate profit is wretchedly small. Some few have estab- 

 i-^hed reputations for good articles, honestly done up. 

 These always find a high market in the shortest time, 

 iow long the good reputation of Goshen butter has lasted, 

 scquired by a few makers of excellent butter, many years 

 igo. 



TuE Chairman remarked upon the constant frauds 

 iractised by placing good apples at each end of the bar- 

 el and poor ones in the middle. Honesty is the best policv 

 n life or death, and any honorable man can Boon establish 

 \ reputation for his fruit, or any thing else, which soon wiU 

 pve him command in the great markets. He must have 

 ome patience at the beginning ; he must endure some dif- 

 iculties at first, but soon reputation will be his, and un- 

 imited sales of his articles at the highest prices. All false- 

 lood in farming or gardening is blacker than in any other 



:>hing ; and th^t man who makes false statements of the 

 crops of his country, is a curse to it. 



Mr. Fleet proposed as a subject for the next meeting, 

 the Elevation of the Standard of Honesty in all Agricul- 

 tural and Horticultural Dealings. 



Judge Livin' noN moved to add the subject of the daj, 

 the Keeping Ci fruits and Ye<^(ita.h\es.—Ado2>ted. 



EI VERS' REMARKS OX PEAR TREES. 



The following remarks 'r-q find in Thos. Rivkr.?' 

 Catalogue of Fruits for 1853 and 18.54. Thoii2:h 

 directed mostly to the attention of Engli.sh horticul- 

 turists, -who place the utmost confidence in liis jndg- 

 nient upon these matters, it cannot fail to be of in- 

 terest to American amateurs and fruit growera In 

 regard to the biennial removal of trees, he says: 



It is the most simple of all methods of root-prunin"- ; it 

 consists in merelv digging a trench around the tree ^arly 

 in November, and lifting it out of the ground carefully with 

 all the earth possible attached to its roots, shortening with 

 the knife any that are straggling. If the soil be rich, so 

 that trees unremoved are inclined to grow too vigorously 

 no fresh comfort will be required, and it will merely be ne- 

 ce.ssary to shovel into the hole some of the earth from the 

 surface around it to two or three inches in depth; this wDl 

 prevent the tree settling down too deeply. If the soil be 

 poor, some rotten dung — at least six months old — and loam 

 or any light earth, equal parts, or moor earth, may be 

 placed at the bottom in the same manner, and some of the 

 same tvampost, say half a wheel-barrowful to each ti-ee, 

 may be thrown over its roots when replanting it. 



The following materials he has found of great ser- 

 vice in the culture of Pears, whether on the Pear or 

 Quince stock: 



In low situations near brooks and rivers, a black moor 

 earth is generally found. This, unprepared, is unfit for 

 horticultural purposes, but if dug out and laid in a ridge, 

 and one-eighth part of unslaked lime spread over it, turn- 

 ing it immediately and mixit^g the lirae with it, it will be- 

 come in the course of five or six weeks an excellent com- 

 post for Pear trees. I have in some instances added half 

 a bushel of burnt earth to a barrowful of this moor earth 

 with good eft'ect ; in planting, one wheel-barrowful will 

 be enough. !! 



The only method to cultivate successfully pyramidal 

 Pears on Pear stocks is by biennial removal ; in this way 

 they become nearly as prolific as those on the Quince 

 stocks ; and what is of great importance in light gravely 

 or chalkey soils, they will to a certainty succeed w here 

 Pears on Quince stocks will as certainly fail. 



Grape Mildew. — Mr. H. Morgan, gardener, in- 

 forms the public that his vinery of 80 feet by 18 was 

 visited by mildew before the vines were in .bloom the 

 past summer. They were immediately dusted all over 

 with sulphur by throwing handfuls in about the foli- 

 age. The mildew disappeared and he had an excellent 

 crop of well-colored grapes. Great care was taken 

 in thinning, not to shake the sulphur on the grapes. 

 Ho did sp-inge the vines, but kept the house very 

 damp until the grapes began to ripen. Seven pounds 

 of sulphur were used. 



The Massachusetts Ploughman says: "We are 

 using boiled carrots and meal for car fatting hogs, and 

 think they make good food. They are probably worth 

 more than potatoes for fattening, though actual trials 

 are wanted to determine the question." 



