Published by John B. Russell, at JVb. 52 Mirth Market Street, (over the Agricultural Warehouse)^ — Thomas G. Fessenden, Editor. 



VOL. VI. 



BOSTOIN, FRIOAY, .JUrSK 20, 1828. 



No. 48. 



AGRICULTURE 



FOR THE NEW KNGLAND KiBMEn. 



HISTORY OF THE APPLE TREiJ^,' 



ro SIIOTV THAT THEY ARE NATIVES OF PERNSTL- 

 VANIA, IK NOT OTflT.H I'ARTS OF THF. U. STATES. 



I shall begin with the original Indian apple tree 

 that grew within three miles of the spot of my na- 

 tivity, say thirty-four miles a little east of nortli 

 from Philadelphia, called the Townsend apple, from 

 the following circumstance. 



See Robert Round's History, vol. I, p. 228, that 

 in the same sliip with William Penn, in the year 

 1682, came from London, Richard Townsend; he 

 was a fanious quaker jireacher, religiously con- 

 •eerncd to cidtivate the friendship and better the 

 condition of the native -Indians ; in which concern 

 reports have said that he devoted much time in 

 travelling. For the history of the original apple 

 tree, 1 have had it traditionally, from the family 

 of Richard Townsend's descendants, who were 

 deemed a family of first rate respectability. 



Stephen Townsend, (grandson of RichardI was 

 an elderly and amiable man in my tune, and own- 

 er of the apjile tree. I have heard him lelate 

 that his grandfather had been informed by the In- 

 dians, that back in the country was a great ipple 

 tree, wliere abundance of Indians collected in the 

 season to live on apples — that with Indian glides 

 he imdertook the journey through the wilderness, 

 to pay them a religious visit. When he came 

 there, he was surprised to see so many Indians. 

 There was a spring of good water near by, and an 

 .apple tree in an Indian clearing, vastly lars,cr than 

 any he had ever seen in England, lica-v^ loaded 

 with larger and better apples than he had ever 

 seen before— that his ideas were to take up a 

 tract of land there for his descendants, provided 

 the Indians would sell him what was called their 

 good will, or claim to their clearings, which v/as 

 then customary to give, to support their friend- 

 ship ; to that tliey agreed, (as to he soil) but no 

 consideration would purchase ther ap))le tree. — 

 That they strictly reserved to be asjree as sunshine 

 to all or any tvho wanted apples. Tlat part of the 

 contract, the Townsend family evei faithfidly ojj^ 

 served ; and Stephen Townsend lid more, he 

 supported a strong fence round it ;o keep cattle 

 fi-om the falling apples, and used to haul and 

 throw his buck-wheat straw luidei the tree, to 

 keep such as fell from high from spitting. 



The apples were very large and iat, of a yel- 

 low color, striped, and specked with -ed, of a rich 

 deUcious flavor neither very sweet noi sour ; gen- 

 erally esteemed to this day, in preferince to any 

 other. I have a great plenty of them n my orch- 

 ard ; but I think they are depreciated in size, say 

 one third ; but not lost their former ddicious fla- 

 vor, or luxuriant growth of limbs an< abiuidant 

 bearing. 



It is now some months upwards of sxty years, 

 .since I cut grafts off" the original tre;, and set 

 them in young trees, from which gafts were 

 brought here. 



I never measured the tree, and shdl forbear 

 mentioning my ideas of the size or quantify of 

 apples that I have seen under it, lest I may be 

 •i-nii<rht extravagant. 



I well reniemlier being there when very young, 

 and a company of the better informed old men 

 were viewing it, and hearing them say, that ac- 

 cording to the growth of trees, that apple tree 

 must be tmich older than Cohunbus. 



From whence tlie seed of that ajiple tree, or 

 when the Indians cleared a field round it, is in the 

 dark unltnown ; it stood on a poor thin gravelly 

 soil, and verifies the maxim, that temperance pro- 

 motes long liie. 



Thirty-eight, seven, or six years ago, I heard 

 that venerable tree was fast declining. I wrote 

 to a confidential friend of mine, (near by) that if it 

 it died or fell down, to saw it off" and count its 

 growth, for the age. His answer was, it tiu'ned 

 up by the roots ; that they sawed it off" and found 

 it so hollow, rotten, and inwardly defective, that 

 nothing could be done to establish the age. 



Another native apple tree, I may mention, I 

 have heard the oldest people of my remembrance, 

 say, that it was the practice whenever there was 

 what they called a new comer, for the neighbors to 

 unite, go, and make bun what they called a begin- 

 ning ; that was, grub and clear a small piece of 

 groimd — put up a little log-house, and cover it 

 with bark, Szc. 



Tliere came a man from England, whose name 

 was George Hayworth ; his tract was within two 

 miles of where I was born. I have heard some 

 very old men say they were at that first grubbing; 

 that the whole tract was thick timber, no sign of 

 Indian clearing to be seen. 



While at work, they found a large old apple 

 tree ui the woods, overshadowed with forest trees. 

 They united, cleared around it, and made a fence, 

 then pronounced it public property ; and as such, 

 it was considered in my time. 



From some ancient documents that I have seen, 

 that improvement was made in the year 1714. — 

 The tree happened to bear delicious Avhite sweet 

 apples, more early than any other known ; as the 

 seeds are generally turned brown in wheat har- 

 vest. That tree, although it grew on a fertile 

 soil, never assumed a free, hve'.y, growing appear- 

 ance ; as I have cut grafts from it. It died about 

 the same time of the Townsend tree ; also hoUow 

 and rotten. 



If the Townsend apple have decreased m size, 

 the Harvest sweets have increased ; and the trees 

 grow luxuriantly. 



Dr. Darwin says, "grafting is the elongation of 

 the same tree." I have the consolation of haviU; 

 re-elongated two species of original American ap- 

 ple, independent of any seed or affinity with any 

 European apple whatever ; and perhaps I may be 

 the oidy person that has preserved them, as I 

 brought those grafts from the place of my nativi- 

 ty. They have had a general mortahty amongst 

 their ajiple trees. 



My orchards would now aff'ord, without doubt, 

 by far more grafts of both kinds, than will ever be 

 wanted ; and I have been sorry, many years, that 

 I had no conveyance, to send a box of grafts to 

 my venerable friend. Col. Timothy Pickering. 



I wish to hear through the medium of your 

 Farmer, the opinion of your antiquarians — were 

 apples natives of New England ? 



Should life and health permit me to write a- 



gain, perhaps I may show a strong hypothesis 

 that api)Ie trees abounded amongst the native In- 

 dians in one part of Peimsylvania, for perhaps cen- 

 turii.'s before the continent was discovered by Eu- 

 ropeans. SAM'L PRESTON. 

 Stockport, Pa. May 30, 1828. 



FOR THE NEw'EBGLAHD FARMER. 



RAISING WATER. 



Mr. Fessenden, — I wish to ask through the 

 medium of your useful paper, whether water can 

 be raised by means of a pumj), from a fountain 

 at a distance, through logs or other conductors J* 

 And if it be practicable at all ? At what height 

 it can be raised .' and what distance ? Are earth- 

 en or leaden pipes preferable, for coniluctors ? 

 and may not logs be so prepared as to answer 

 evei-y purpose ? 



It is very difficult to dig wells in this section of 

 the State, by reason of a ledge, which seems to 

 pervade nearly the whole of it. 



It seldom breaks out into rugged chfts, but often 

 appears at the surface ; and in digging wells, Ls 

 often found before sinking ten feet. Wellshave 

 been dug in the ledge ; but the water, although 

 good at first, soon becomes bad. A very sensible 

 alteration is sometimes perceived in the quaUty 

 of the water in those wells immediately after 

 heavy thunder. 



The ledge is generally a lime rock, but not of 

 the purest kind. It hes in thin strata, seldom ex- 

 ceeding six inches m tliiokness. The strata are 

 nearly perpendicidar, inchning south, from five to 

 Vif< ntj' degrees, perhaps. 



In this position, it is ver}' difficult to perforate, 

 as powder cannot be made a very efficient agent. 

 An eUgiVile site for building, is, therefore, a very 

 inconvenient place for procuring good water. 



If any mtans of drawing water from a distant 

 fountain — where that fountain is so low as not to 

 be accessible l>y the common aqueduct, can be 

 had, which will promise durability, it will add 

 much to the value of many farms in the county of 

 Penobscot. 



By answering the foregoing inquuies, you will 

 confer a favor on many in the county of Penob- 

 scot, and particularly obUge 



A SUBSCRIBER. 



Penobscot, June 4, 1828, 



By the Editor. What is called suction in pumps 

 is produced altogether by the action or pressure 

 of the atmosphere, on the outside of the pipe or 

 pumpstock in which the water ascends. In order 

 that this pressure on the out-side (which amounts 

 to about fourteen pounds on every square, uich 

 of the surface of the water) may not be counter- 

 balanced by a similar pressure inside of the pipe 

 or pump-stQck, it is necessary to exhaust the air, 

 or pump it out of the pump-stock in which the 

 water ascends. It makes no diff"erence whether 

 the channel or water course rises perpendicularly 

 from the fountain, well, or reservoir of water, or 

 be inclined in any angle. One end of a leaden 

 pipe, for example, may be placed in a fountain, 

 and the pipe may be carried or protracted thirty 

 rods more or less, in a horizontal or ascending di- 

 rection, and the water delivered by pumping if 



