NEW ENOIiAND FARMER. 



Published b)/ John B. Russei.i., at Ao. 52 J^Tortk Market Street, (over the Agricultural Warehouse). — Thomas G. Fessepjuen Editor^ 



VOL. VI. 



BOSTON, FRIDAY, AUGUST XO, 1827. 



No. 3. 



HOUTICULTURE. 



DISEASE IN GRAPE VINES. 

 Mr Fessenden. — The enclosed letter, being a 

 reply to one from me making inquiries respecting^ 

 the cause of a disease which has this season at- 

 tacked my grape vine, I send for publication, (be- 

 ing authorized by the writer,) presuming the in- 

 formation contained in it may be useful to those 

 who are cultivating the vine in New England. — 

 In order to give a better understanding of the let- 

 ter, and with the view of eliciting further inform ■ 

 ation on the subject from some of thy correspond- 

 ents, I will briefly state the manner of attack, and 

 the progress of the disease alluded to. 



I received from Flushing, Long Island, in the 

 spring of 1823, a grape vino of the celebrated sort 

 called Isabella Grape, which grew finely, and pro- 

 duced in 1S2G about tliroc bushels of grapes. — 

 About the time of its blossoming this year, I ob- 

 served a number of leaves on the lower part of the 

 vine, to have spots on them resembling iron rust, 

 1 which in a short time e.\tcnded over the leaf, and 

 finally killed it. The spots would also appear on 

 the leaf stem, and on the young shoots of the vine, 

 not, however, affecting the fruit until it attiined 

 to the size of a large pea, when it attacked that 

 also. A small reddish spot, resembling a ratten 

 speck in an apple, would appear on one side cf the 

 grape, and spread so rapidly as in one or two^ays 

 completely to surround, and entirely to kill i',. — 

 The disease, thus far, has been confined to alout 

 half the vine, on which part the fruit is mostly ijl- 

 !ed. Respectfully, thv friend, 



JOHN OSBORNE. 

 Smiilifield, (R. I.) 8th Kwnih 1, 1827. 



[TRANSLATION.] 



To Mb John Osborne — I have received your 

 favour of the 13th current, concerning the malady 

 of the grape vine, which you planted in 1823. I 

 answer you in French, because although I under- 

 stand the English language, I am not habituated 

 to writing it. The disease is a very dangerous 

 one, for which the remedies hitherto applied are 

 not wholly effectual. It proceeds, oftentimes, from 

 two opposite causes — a soil too highly manured, 

 or too poor — the application of too powerful and 

 active dung may occasion it — or if the vine has 

 not a sufficiently free circulation of air. Rains and 

 humidity may often produce the disease. It is not 

 an insect, which causes it ; it is a plant of the fun- 

 gus tribe, which propagates itself in an extraor- 

 dinary manner. Some plants of this sort are white, 

 and are called generally the miller — others are 

 led or black. They are all dangerous on account 

 of the e.xtent and rapidity of the injury which they 

 do to trees. This complaint is not common in open 

 and exposed situa.ions. The curative or remed- 

 ial means are, to collect all the leaves which fall, 

 and to burn them, which should be repeated till 

 the plant loses its last in autumn, — washing the 

 leaves with a composition of flour of sulphur, black 

 Boap, and tobacco leaves, a receipt for which I 

 sent to my respectable friend Hon. John Lowell, 

 President of the Agricultural Society of Massa- 

 chusetts, who caused it to be inserted in the New 



England Farmer, last year,"' which you probably 

 take, or can procure from one of your friends. 



This composition, which can never produce any 

 ill-effects, will in a great measure check the prog- 

 ress of this fungus or parasitic plant, the cause of 

 the disease on your vines. 



1 am sorry that yoti did not write to mc earlier, 

 for if you continue to abandon your vine to itself, 

 I woulii not answer for its life. Be pleased to 

 write me, if you should receive any benefit from 

 the application of my remedy, for it is a point of 

 great interest with me, to see the vine successful- 

 ly cultivated in this country. As this disease af- 

 fects the plant greatly, and weakens it, I would 

 advise you to sacrifice the fruit which is now on 

 it, for they will come to little or nothing. This 

 may give more force to the vine, which at best will 

 suffer by being obliged to push forth new leaves, 

 f would also strip off a quarter of the leaves which 

 are most injured, but not more. 



You are authorized to publish this letter in the 

 Now England Farmer, for the Editor of which I 

 have the highest esteem ; and I shall be happy if 

 I can aid the numerous readers of that paper in 

 the culture of a fruit so delicious as the grape. 

 I am, with esteem, your 



Very humble servant, 

 ANDREW PARMENTIER. 

 Horticultural Garden, Brooklyn, JV. Y. July 17. 



DISEASE IN APPLE TREES. 



MrFESSENDEN — I am grieved to state, thgit a 

 disease has this year appeared on many of my ap- 

 ple trees, (from 20 to 30 years old) which resem- 

 bles in its effects the disease of the Pear trees 



It attacks the extremities, which die suddenly with 

 the fruit upon them, which instantly becomes dry, 

 and as hard as dry wood. The trees attacked are 

 in all sorts of soils, some in bearing, and some 

 which never bore. I have been always afraid that 

 the insect would go to the apple, as iis wood is so 

 much allied, or so similar, to that of the pear, be- 

 ing, in fact, of the same family. 



RespeotfuUy yours, J. LOWELL. 



Roxburij, Aug. 1, 1827. 



FRUIT TREES. 



Mr Fessenden — The following question is ad- 

 dressed to experienced cultivators of fruit, and an 

 answer requested by W. D. 



Will suckers proceeding from the roots of fruit 

 trees, if grafted, make as good and fruitful trees, 

 as seedlings ? 



ARABIAN HORSE. 



The Arabian horse Godolphin, the best ever im- 

 ported into England, was introduced in the follow- 

 ing manner. Col. Cook, a man of wealth, educa- 

 tion, and polished manners, but a highway robber, 

 committed two acts ot felony about the year 1720 ; 

 and thinking it impossible to elude the hand of jus- 

 tice if he remained in England, he embarked for 

 the Mediterranean, and travelled through Syria 

 into Arabia Petrea, where he made constant inqui- 

 ries of the Arabs concerning the best horses in the 

 country. Having received information that a cer- 



* See New England Farmer, vol. v. page 49. 



tain Sheik had the best horse in all Arabia, he 

 went to him, and offered him any sum of money 

 he pleased to demand for said horse. The Arab 

 scornfully rejecting his offer, he skulked about in 

 the vicinity, and when a favorable opportunity of- 

 fered, stole the horse, and travelled throuirh the 

 deserts until he arrived at Damietta, near the 

 mouth of the Nile, where he embarked with Iiis 

 horse, on board of a British ship. He arrived in 

 England, and knowing his crimes were so great 

 that he must perish, unless the prime minister in- 

 terposed in his behalf, he went to lord Godolphin, 

 under a fictitious name, and after many entreatie?; 

 persuaded his lordship to accept of this fine Ara 

 bian horse as a present. Soon after this, he was 

 discovered, arrested, and committed to prison for 

 his former crimes. He wrote to lord Godolphin. 

 disclosing his real name, and requesting his inter- 

 cession with the king. The king ordered a writ 

 of nolle prosequi to be issued, declared that Cook 

 could not be the man who committed the felonious 

 acts, and restored him to his former rank and falli- 

 bility. — The foregoing is an abstract of an accounv 

 published in a Virginia paper. 



Dr Sturm, professor of agriculture in the Uni 

 versity of Bonn, in his breeds of horses, calls the 

 Arabian horse the primitive race, or the horse of 

 the dry plains. The breeds the nearest to the 

 Arabian, and which have been produced by cros. 

 sing, are the Egyptian and Persian, which differ 

 but little from the Arabian ; the Turkish, derived 

 from a mixture of the Arabian and Persian ; the 

 Barbary and Tartar ; the breeds of Hungary and 

 Poland ; and the English saddle horse, which is a 

 product of a' — (Translated from the " Bi'.lletin 

 des Sciences.") — Hamp. Gaz. 



VOLCANOES. 

 Dr. Daubeny, who has examined and describee 

 most of the volcanoes in Europe, ascribes their ac- 

 tion to the heat produced in the metallic bases o! 

 the earths and alkalies in the interior of the earth, 

 by the access of water. As the lavas and other 

 products of volcanos are composed of materials 

 intimately allied with the constituent parts of 

 granitic and other primary rocks, feldspar and 

 mica, variously modified, forming more than nine- 

 tenths of the whole ; Dr D. concludes that tht 

 volcanic force is situated among the older rock 

 formations, at a depth at least as great as that to 

 which granite extends. The enormous quantity 

 of matter that has been ejected from volcanoes, 

 affords conclusive proof that the volcanic agency 

 is situated at a great depth. The matter throwu 

 out by Vesuvius at different times far exceeds the 

 bulk of the mountain, and yet the latter has un 

 dergone no diminution. With regard to water 

 finding access to the inflammable, metallic bases, 

 Dr D. states that nearly all the volcanoes on the 

 globe are situated within a short distance cf the 

 sea, or occur in ranges of mountains the extremi- 

 ties of which are close to the sea ; and he sup- 

 poses that the water at the bottom of the ocean is 

 forced through the pores and crevices of the sub- 

 jacent rock, by the powerful influence of pressure 

 derived from the vast column of superincumbent 

 fluid. Earthquakes are believed to derive their 

 origin from the same cause. The shocks are mos' 



