284 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



left hand side of the principal walk from the en- 

 trance gate (A), the Rhododendrons and other 

 American plants in the beds (Nos, 13 and 19), while 

 the Herbaceous, Bedding, and other similar plants, 

 will be arranged in the flower beds at Nos. 12 and 

 14. The wall of the conservatory being about three 

 feet in height, a border (No. 21) 18 inches wide is 

 to be made at the foot of this, in which climbing 

 plants are to be placed. As there was a slight fall 

 from the conservatory to the ground in front of it, 

 a small terrace bank (No. 22) is formed, which has 

 the effect of raising the walk six inches above the 

 flower garden. It should be observed that there is 

 a fountain in the line of the entrance gate, which 

 forms an appropriate termination to the principal 

 walk. (There was not room to show this in the 

 plan.) The branches of the two Wistaria Sinensis 

 (No. 17) will eventually form a kind of arch over 

 this walk, near the gateway. 



GAS-TAK FOE TRELLISES, &c. 



A gardener having occasion to newly paint the 

 wood work in the interior of his green-house, de- 

 termined to make a trial of the theory of the ab- 

 sorption of heat by black color, with the view of 

 promoting the maturity of his plants and shrubs by 

 means of a greater quantity of caloric. In the 

 preparation of the black paint lie used coal tar, that 

 is to say, tar produced by the distillation of coal in 

 the manufacture of gas. This coal tar, beside the 

 advantage of its color, offers considerable economy 

 in painting, being about one-eighth of the price of 

 the material generally used in mixing black paint. 

 The painting here in question was executed before the 

 setting in of winter. On the return of spring tlie 

 gardener observed with no less surprise than satis- 

 faction that the spiders and other insects which had 

 infested his green-house had totally disappeared. 

 He, moreover, remarked that a vine, trained on an 

 espalier whicli, for the space of two years, had 

 been sensibly decaying, and which he had purposed 

 to uproot for the purpo.se of planting another in its 

 place, had acquired such renewed liealth and vigor 

 as to be capable of producing excellent table grapes. 

 Having applied his new paint to the i)rops, trellises, 

 and espaliers of all his sickly trees and shrubs, as 

 well as those which, though in full bloom, were 

 being devoured by insects, success again crowned 

 his experiment. Caterpillars and snails disappeared 

 as rapidly as the insects had vani.-hed from the 

 green-house. The fruits produced by tlie trees thus 

 treated have elicited the J^pruval and eulogy of 

 purchasers. Similar exj)eriiiients tried on the vine- 

 yards of the Gironde liave, it is said, l)een attended 

 by the same excellent results. — The Bulletin. 



German Stocks.— The Illustrirte Garten Zei- 

 tung says that tlie Gt-rman seedsmen produce tlie 

 fine double varieties i^o well known, by growing 

 the phmtjj in the ricbest soil, watching ilieiii, even 

 from infancy, to see tliat tiiey receive no check to 

 tlieir luxuriance, either through want of water or 

 from auy other cause, until the seed is fully matured. 



LETTER FEOM MASSACHUSETTS— FRUIT CULTURE. 



Editors Genesee Farmer: — Massachusett'^ has a 

 reputation in this department of "man's progress," 

 of which she may be allowed the weakness to show, 

 a little pride. Nevertheless, from what I leara: 

 from the Genesee Farmer, Western New York ig, 

 becoming the paradise of fruit culture. Perhaps 

 there is nothing more worthy of her enterprise; 

 and it is to be hoped that her population will en- 

 courage all efforts to make her domains more beau- 

 tiful, and her people more prosperous and happy. 

 Her horticulturists and farmers can have no supe- 

 riors in the country — whose faces, fields, and gar- i 

 dens, I much desire and hope soon to see. 



My letter being predestinated to gossip, I will 

 observe that the severity, or the peculiarity, of the " 

 past winter has been fatal to some fruits in Massa- 

 chusetts, and perhaps throughout New England, 

 A very great quantity of peach trees have been 

 killed outright, and I have failed to discover a sin- 

 gle peach blossom the past season. About once i; 





four years we have a heavy crop of this fruit, an 

 I suppose we shall continue to. A very large pro- 

 portion of old and young Isabella grape vines have 

 been destroyed, but with no great los.s, as in ordi- 

 nary situations they rarely ripened their fruit per- 

 fectly, and there is now little or no demand for 

 them. At present, the call is for the Diana, the 

 Rebecca, the Union Village, and the Delaicare. 



Apples set well, but most of them fell. Of pear? 

 there will be a good supply. The New York api^les, 

 the Tompl-ins County King, and the Melon, are 

 being much disseminated. The only two foreign 

 varieties extensively cultivated here, are the Grav- 

 enstein and the Red Astraclian. The latter is a 

 most beautiful early apple, large, and ripe in the 

 middle of August; a very luxuriant grower and 

 heavy bearer; tender, juicy, rather acid — but with 

 this objection, they will not keep long. On the 

 whole, it is the most desirable apple known. Two 

 large dishes of this fruit were on the tables of the 

 Massachusetts Horticultural Society, on the 13th 

 of August, being the size of well-grown Greenings^ 

 of beautiful vermilion, and a blue bloom, lilce a 

 red bloom. 



I would like to inquire of some of the corres- 

 pondents of the Genesee Farmer, whether the Fa- 

 mense apple does well in Westei'n New York. 1 

 have heard that it would not llourish south of the 

 lakes, though it has been well disseminated in Mas- 

 sachusetts. Only in one instance have T seen any 

 fair ones raised in this region, and these were exhi- 

 bited before they had attained their growth oi 

 color. I was happily disappointed, however, last 

 winter, to hear Mr. Wilder recommend it. Verj 

 fine ones come from Canada, occasionally, and last 

 December a fruit dealer in Boston was selling thera 

 at 50 cents per dozen ! 



The Lawton blackberry does not have much rep- 

 utation here — the Dorchester being preferred both 

 for size and flavor. Several b<'xes of tlie latter 

 have just been exhibited at the Massachusetts Hor- 

 ticultural Society one inch and a (juarter, and snuu 

 over, in length I The Uigh Bush, or Dorchester, lioj 

 disa|i|)()iiited many from the fact that its fruit \\as 

 not been of good size, and hence they have hceo 

 torn u|) as wortliless. But it requires several years 

 to get well established, beside good culture. 



