178 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Dec. 28, 1827. 



There were several fields contiguous to mine, 

 Vvhere tlie soil and cultivation were not essential- 

 •y different, but which u'ere sowed a few days 

 'ater, which in every instance failed to produce a 

 middling crop. I have always been in the habit 

 C:f sowing my oats as soon as possible after the 

 3;round had become settled, believing it to bo the 

 bettor way, and observation and experience the 

 past season, have only strengthened my belief, 

 that such a course is the correct one. 



A. FARMER. 



Remnj!;.s h;i ihc Editor. — Deane's N. E. Farmer 

 stales that "Oats cannot be sowed too early in 

 the spring after the ground is thawed and become 

 Jry enough for sowing. The English farmers sow 

 them soinetinie in February." Loudon says "The 

 season of sov.ing oats is from tlie last week in 

 Pebrua'y to the end of April. About the middle 

 of March is preferred by the best farmers." Wo 

 <)elieve, as a genera! rule, neither oats nor any 

 '3iher sort of spring grain can be sowed. loo early 

 nfter the grouiid can be put in order to receive 

 Jhe seed in the spring. Early sown spring wheat 

 as well as oats is much less liable to blast than 

 *ioh as is pul into the ground late in the season. 



lOR .HK ^■t\V ENGLAND FARMEl!. 



FRUIT TREES. 



Linncran Bvtniiir Garden, } 

 Dec. 11, 18i7. \ 



DEi.R Sir — T send jou herewith some parts of 

 my Treatise, now in press, which you can publish 

 as " Extracts from Prince on Horticulture." 

 Vours most respectful! v, 



WiM. 'prince. 



NOMENCLATURE OF FRUITS. ■■■ ' 



During a number of years, tlie author Ii.ts boon 

 •iigaged in a most extensive and general invest! 

 Jalion of all the fruits that have been introduced 

 (Q this country from abroad, in order to test tlieir 



.iccnracy, and the correctness of their names 



This critical inquiry has convinced him, that not 

 ■ess Uian one hundred varieties of the different 

 r'raits at present cultivated in this country are in- 

 correct, as to the identity of their names, and con- 

 sequently quite different from those they arc in 

 .'ended to represent. This lias arisen cither from 

 >rrors being made when they were sent from Eu- 

 •ope, or by established names being adopted here 

 ■'or doubtful fruits. The author himself ha?, in 

 I'Cfnnion with otiiers, been grossly deceived in the 

 varieties of fruits from Europe, even whon roceiv- 

 ''d from tlie best nurseries of England and France, 

 '.rhis has long since led liim to scrutinize every 

 variety he receives, and tlie original tree is inva- 

 ■iably planted out for bearing, that its accuracy 

 luay be tested. Tlie author has gone into tlicse 

 vomarks, to account for any present differences 

 which exist between fruits from his e.stablishment, 

 and others bearing similar names, as above one 

 hundred kinds will be found to eBsentinlly differ 

 joth in appearance and quality. Those persons 

 Alio are conversant with Duhamcl, the Luxem- 

 bourg CRti>lo'»u.-^ forme.; i.ndor the auspices of 

 the French Governnicul, the Bon Jardinier. and 

 other Frenah publications; or with .Miller, For- 

 ayth, Speechley, and the publications of the Lon 

 don HorticuUufHl Soi-iety. can have the identical 

 fruits seat Ibem that tire described in tliose 

 works, and, in e»ery case, the ideniihj is guaran- 

 teed. 



SYNONYMS IN FRUITS. 



The author is taking extreme pains to regulate 

 these properly and conclusively, ns so much of 

 the success of horticulture depends on critical ac- 

 curacy. The Catalogues of Iiis est.'iblishment 

 bear witness to liis anxiety, tliat the same fruit 

 should never be disseminated under a plurality of 

 names, and it contains more synonyms attached 

 to the respective fruits than any other publication 

 existing ; but the author intends, in his " Ameri- 

 can Horticulture," to extend this necessary part 

 of horticultural information, so as to set at rest a 

 great many of the errors which have hitherto ex- 

 isted, in consequence of a want of information on 

 this head. 



I was highly amused, on calling to see a peach 

 which an acquaintance of mine called by the 

 charming name of "Maria Antoinette," to discov- 

 er, that it was the identical fruit which has been 

 long sold as the " Yellow Rareripe," and which 

 originated in a field about two miles from roy re- 

 sidence, whence I obtained it, and called it by the 

 latter title. I have also noticed, that a peach, 

 which is now sellirig as a new variety, by the 

 high sounding nanio of "Emperor of Russia" is 

 the same fruit known for 30 years past under the 

 unpretending title of "Serrated Leaved Peach." 

 Various other instances of this kind have come 

 within my notice, which it is unnecessary to enu- 

 merate. There is nothing more calculated to 

 lessen the satisfaction of the horticulturalist than 

 this rechristening of old and well known fruits, 

 either by the name of the person who happens to 

 find a tree growing in his garden, or with some 

 fanciful productions of his imaginations, as it will 

 create the same eudless confusion that has for a 

 long period existed in England, and which their' 

 Horticultural Society is now attempting to remedy 

 for it is a fact which can be proved, that many of 

 l!ic fruits of Europe may at present be obtained 

 with more accuracy from some of the American 

 nurseries than they can, in most cases, either in 

 England or France. 



ACCLIM.VTION OF FRUITS. 



Deciduous trees, natives of the same latitude, 

 are far more hardy than evergreens ; which proves 

 that the foliage of the latter possesses, even in 

 winter, a great degree of sensibility. Efforts, 

 therefore, to naturalize the fruits of the warmer 

 climes, should be in preference commenced with 

 those which are deciduous. The deciduous trees 

 of Portugal, Italy, and Spain, and of South Caro- 

 lina, Georgia, and Louisiana, will endure the win- 

 ters of Kew York, when the evergreens, from the 

 same places, perish if unprotected. Though in 

 England, wliere the winters are more moderate, 

 those survive and flourish, while, from the want 

 of lioat in their summers, many of the deciduous 

 trees do not ripen their wood sufficiently to sup- 

 ;iort their climate in winter ; whereas, beneath 

 tin; powerful sun of our country, the wood be- 

 com'^s so well matured, that, it in many instances, 

 resists the riiiours of our winters uninjured. A 

 consider^'tion of these circoinstances, and effccis 

 of climate, raay greatly aid those concerned in 

 the acclimafion of treM calcuUtod for fruit or for 

 ornament. 



RTRSERY SOILS. 



As n prejudice hns prevailed from time imme- 

 morial, that trees, liiie cattle, when removed from 

 a rich to a poorer soil, qunnol tUiive ; and as nur- 



sery grounds are generally supposed to be kept in 

 the richest possible state, it is a duty which the 

 author owes to himself to remark, that, for many 

 years, he has not made use of as much manure on 

 his grounds as is commonly put on the same quan- 

 tity of ground by farmers in their usual course of 

 agriculture — not from any belief in the above 

 mentioned doctrine, but from motives of economy, 

 resulting from actual experiment, he has substi- 

 tuted culture for manure, by having his grounds, 

 preoiously to plantiug, ploughed more than twice 

 the usual depth, and by having the ground each 

 year dug alongside of the rows of trees. By this 

 management they are continued in the most thrif- 

 ty state until the period for transplantation. The 

 doctrine of trees not thriving wUen removed from 

 rich to poorer soil, has long since been exploded 

 in Europe. Marshall, a celebrated English writ- 

 er, is verv particular on this subject, and gives in- 

 stances that have come under his observation to 

 prove its fallacy, in his "Rural Economy of the 

 Midland Counties of England," vol. i. p. 8o. It is 

 absolutely necessary that the young trees, at the 

 time of transplanting, should be vigorous and thrif- 

 ty, and it is of no consequence whether this is pro- 

 duced by strength of soil or by culture, as the 

 young trees will then have a constitution prepared 

 to feed itself on coarser food. 



To those who insist on the point that nurseries 

 of trees should be reared on poor ground, the re- 

 ply may be made, that it might, with equal apti- 

 tude, be asserted, that a decrepid man is the best 

 calculated to sustain the toils of a journey. 



ORCHARDS NEAR THE SEA-SHORE. 



It is recommended, in localities wholly exposed 

 to the ecean — such as Nantucket, and other isl- 

 ands — that those who desire to succeed in culti- ' 

 vating fruits, sliould first plant- a row of red ce- 

 dars, willows, or other hardy trees, to break off 

 the gales ; next to these, they might plant their 

 pears, as the fruit best calculated to support the 

 situation, and after them peaches, and other fruits; 

 perhaps it wfjuld bo bettor that the cordon of ce- 

 dars, willows, &c. should be extended on three- 

 sides of the plantation. As the red cedar flourish- 

 es uninjured on the sea-shore, and from its being 

 an evergreen, is capable of affording protection 

 against storms in all seasons, I consider it as deci- 

 dedly the most proper to be selected for the be- 

 fore mentioned purpose. 



ON RAISING WATER FROM WELLS. 



Mr Fessekden — If you tliink the following ac- 

 count of roy manner of bringing water into the 

 yard, will contribute anything to the convenience 

 of farmers, you are at liberty to insert it in the 

 New England Farmer. Yours, &c. N. L. 



Lyme, (,Y. H.) Dec. 2(1. 



Last autumn, wishing to have water constantly 

 running to my barn yard, and pasture contiguous, 

 I went back about 18 rods to ground 44 feet high- 

 er than my yard, there dug and stoned a well 20 

 feet deep, and dug a trench 21 feet deep — placed 

 in it a small leaden pipe — stopped the lower end 

 of it, and let it extend up beyond the well's mouth, 

 so far that when bent and inserted, it would reach 

 to the bottom — then filled the pipe with water for 

 the purpose of exhausting the air (having no other 

 convenient way of doing It) — stopped the upper 

 end till the pipe was carefully bent, and the end 

 put under the surface of the water, then took out 

 tiie stopper and fixed on a leaden strainer, and 



