NEW ENGL-ANB fAilMER. 



I'liblished hy John B. Rcsseh, at JVo. 52 JVovth Market Street, (over the AgiicuUtiral JVarchouse). — Thomas G. Fessk.^di .\ Fdilor 



VOL. VI. 



BOSTOIN, FllIDAY, JULY 27, 1827. 



No. \ 



HOKTICULTUKE. 



BLIGHT IN PEAR TREES. 

 J);J^We publish the IbUovving with pleasure ; 

 and entertain a hope, accompanied with scarcely 

 :i. shadow of (ioubt, that our respected iiorrespond- 

 'int has ascertained the cause and pointed out a 

 remedy for one of the most serious evils which the 

 irchardist has to encounter. 



Mr Fessemien, — The cause of the blight ou 

 pear trees has frequently been a subject of inquiry ; 

 but as yet ! believe nothing has been satisfactori- 

 ly determined. This disease is quite common in 

 the neighbourhood of Boston, as I learn from gen- 

 tlemen residinrr in the vicinity, as well as from the 

 speculations which have appeared in the New 

 En-rland Farmer, by some of our most scientific 

 horticulturist?. This disease is well known to af- 

 fect the pc;ir orchards in the vicinity of New Yorl;, 

 Philadelphi.i. and also in the neighborhood of the 

 great cities in England. 



It most commonly attacks trees standing in well 

 cultivated and ricli soils. In this, I apprehend, lies 

 the first cause of the disease. I have found from 

 the observations I have made during the last four 

 years, that every tree which bore large quantities 

 of fruit was more or less blighted ; while ether 

 trees of the same kind of fruit, of the same age, 

 and standing in the same ground, but moderate 

 bearers, were not affected by this disease. Last 

 year I observed that a tree of the pound pear kind 

 had one of its largest branches so completely filica 

 with fruit, that three props were placed under it to 

 prevent its breaking down. A few days since I 

 examined this tree, and found that identical branch 

 blighted. The leaves appeared to have been burnt, 

 and the bark was decayed and dried up, presenting 

 the Usual appearance of blighted trees. I exam- 

 ined another tree in the same orchard, having a 

 single branch blighted, which last year was over- 

 loaded with fruit. The other branches were in a 

 vigorous state. 



I was led to conjecture the cause of this disease, 

 from observing the effects of overbearing on a sin- 

 gle branch of a Baldwin apple tree. This branch 

 was so completely filled with fruit, that the apples 

 touched each other from the insertion of the branch 

 to its extremity. T tied it up to the other branches 

 of the tree, and it ripened all its fruit. The next 

 spring it put forth its leaves, and flourished till the 

 middle of July, when it was suddenly blighted, — 

 the branch presenting the appearance of having 

 been burnt. This year it is dead. 



The reason, I conceive, why pear trees are more 

 subject to blight in a well cultivated and rich soi' 

 is, that they are forced to a higher state of v'lso: 

 than trees standing on a poor soil or in srrass land. 

 After a year or two of rich culture, they become 

 exceedingly vigorous, make a sreat proportion of 

 wood, and form numerous fruit spurs ; and then, 

 a favourable year occurring, they are overloaded 

 with fruit. The maturity of this great quantity of 

 fruit checks the growth of the tree, exhausts it, 

 and destroys the vegetative principle. It is well 

 known that an apple tree decorticated in the win- 

 ter will put forth its leaves and blossoms in the 

 succeeding spring, and even bring its fruit to ma- 



turity ; but by this time it is exhausted, and at 

 this stage of the process, the whole dies. The 

 overbearing of a pear tree seems to exhau.st the 

 vegetative principle in ripening its great burthen, 

 yet it may throw out its loaves in the succeeding 

 spring, and continue to llourish till the time the 

 sap ceases to flow in summer, and then die. If 

 overbearing be the cause of the fire blight, the ob- 

 vious preventive is, to thin ofl" the fruit wherever it 

 shall appear to bo too much for the tree to bear ; 

 and this will depend upon the vigor of the free, the 

 richness of the soil, and upon other circumstances, 

 of whicli the horticulturist must judge. The over- 

 bearing of the peach tree and grape vine is equal- 

 ly fatal to them, as to apple trees. 



Upon stating my conjecture to Mr M'Guire, the 

 head gardener of Elias H. Derby, Esq. of Salem, 

 I was happy to find it corroborated by his own ob- 

 servations in a great number of instances, and he 

 declared to vr.c his perfect conviction that tliis was 

 the cause of the disease. Thr.t Nature, when " let 

 alone," will " regulate herself," is true ; but she 

 will not regulate herself according to the purposes 

 of man. It is necessary in horticultural as in po- 

 litical economy, to apply the restrictive system, in 

 order to produce the best results. B. C. 



Saltvi, July 24, 1827. 



may not be excited into early vegei.itioii. In such 

 a spot the Mountain Po3ony, Scarlet Nipal Rho- 

 dodendron, and similar plants, survived the last 

 winter ; while in most places, differently situated, 

 they have been wholly destroyed. 



STRAWBERRIES. 



It is stated in the Gardener's Magazine, that 

 Tohn Williams of Pitmaston, near Worcester, cul- 

 tivates strawberries on small ridges of earth run- 

 iiing north and south, about nine inches above the 

 level of the ground, planting the strawberries on 

 tlie top, and laying plain tiles on each side of the 

 ridge. He finds the produce earlier, more abund- 

 ant, ard better flavored, than on plants grown on 

 the fla; ground. The flat tiles retain the moisture, 

 promoie the ripening of the fruit, and keep it free 

 from c'irt after heavy showers of rain. 



WHITE MULBERRY. 



It ,3 suggested in the American Farmer that it 

 wou'd be well if Editors of papers throughout the 

 couitry weuld suggest the expediency of gather- 

 ing white mulberries, wherever they are to be had, 

 anc drying them for the sake of their seed. He 

 v;\q thus lays a foundation for a nursery of young 

 milberry trees will not fail to find an adequate 

 dtmand for them. 



SHELTERING TREES. 

 Nothing is more common than to select for the 

 receptinn of a delicate tree in the open air, a warm 

 south border, fully exposed to the daily influence 

 of the sun ; it being believed that the chief diSi- 

 culty in preserving what are called half hardy 

 trees, arises from a deficiency of solar heat. This 

 is a mistake. Solar heat is more frequently inju- 

 rious than advantageous to such plants ; it dries 

 the circumambient atmosphere to a desrree which 

 cannot fnil to prove highly prejudicial to most ar- 

 borescent plants. The best station which can be 

 pointed out for a tree which is to be acclimatired, 

 is in a cheltered garden, where it is well protect- 

 ed from the north and easterly winds. It shouH 

 face the north- ivest, and be so much shaded from 

 the sun, that during the warm days of spring, it 



THE SEASON. 

 We do not remember to have ever seen somanj 

 favourable notices of the products and the pros- 

 pects of the season, as at the present time. The 

 papers from Maine to Georgia are teeming with 

 t\ie fruiifnl theme, and grass and grain, pumpkins 

 and potatoes, corn, cotton and cabbages, are de- 

 clared from all quarters, as with one voice, to have 

 been " never more prosperous." In our own 

 neighborhood, the Lynn paper declares that the 

 season, thus far, has been most propitious. Hay- 

 ing-time is nearly over, with farmers in this neigh- 

 borhood ; and the abundance which has crowned 

 their labors, is such as demands our liveliest grati- 

 tude to the Author of all Blessings. So great 

 crops of hay have not been known for many years. 

 Some of the farmers have cut from two to throe 

 tons per acre. We have been visited with copi- 

 ous showers and sunshine, and the early and lat- 

 ter rain have come in their season. Fruit is not 

 expected to be very plenty ; but the luxuriant 

 fields of corn look beautiful, and promise a rich 

 harvest. [Salem Gaz.] 



AMERICAN INGENUITY. 



Mr Jacob Perkins has been engaged by the 

 French Government to build steam artillery. A 

 piece of .■t('.-^.''nco is to throw sixty balls of four 

 pounds each in a minute, with the correctness of 

 a rifle musket. A musket is to be attached tr 

 the steam generator, for discharging a stream o 

 lead from the lason of a fort. It is to throw 

 from one hundred to a thousand bullets in a min- 

 ute, as occasioE may require. A series of satis- 

 factory experiments has taken place at Green- 

 wich, attended by the French Engineers appoint- 

 ed for the purpose by the Duke d'Angouleme, 

 with one of his aids, and Prince Polignac. Lord 

 Wellington remtrked, that a country defended by 

 this kind of artillery, would never be invaded. 

 Lord Exmouth, after witnessing a few showers of 

 lead, said he believed the time would comp wtmn 

 a steam gun boat, with two large guns in her bow, 

 wou'd conquer any line of battle ship ; and Sir G 

 Cockburn said, the mischief of it was, it would be 

 to nations what the sword and pistol was to duel- 

 lists — it would bring strong and weak on a lev- 

 el [London p.TPfr.l 



SOWINu i.RAi.x. 



An English farmer, impressed with the idea 

 that a better rule might be obtained for sowing 

 the various species of grain, than what could be 

 regulated by the calendar, determined to make 

 minutes of his own pp rii ds of sonin? as they 

 were in coincidence with the blossoms of well 

 known trees ; or on the return of various bi. ^^ ot 

 passage, with the earliest voice or sonij of these, 

 or such as were stationa y in the country. The 

 following is the result of his observations for a 

 series of years : — 



Peas mnd spring vetches. — As early as the lark 

 arises to sing, and partridges are paired. 



