vol-. XVII. NO. 1. 



AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL 



have been informed, tliey used to girdle their trees 

 in the winter, for the very purpose of having them 

 rot and fall down, and thereby save the necessity 

 of cutting them. I think therefore, that we may 

 fairly conclude that the Romans girdled their trees 

 in the summer; and further, that they let them 

 stand until the dry rot developed itself in the 

 alburnum. 



If the timbers in ancient buildings were exam- 

 ined closely, the season in which the trees were 

 killed may be pretty correctly ascertained, for if 

 cut in the summer, the powder-post will invariably 

 be found on the alburnum, and if that ha.s disap- 

 peared, there will be always some appearance on 

 the heart-wood, that will show that the disease has 

 been there, but never within its siu-face, and the 

 same is true as regards tlie dry rot. The result 

 of the following experiments will prove these facts. 

 Cut two saplings, (no matter how small, if there be 

 any heart-wood in them,) one in June, and the oth- 

 er in December. Take one piece of a convenient 

 length from each, and put them into the garret, 

 and one from each and put them into the cellar. 

 In about three years it will be perceived that the 

 powder-post has appeared on the alburnum of the 

 one cut in June ; and in the heart-wood of the one 

 cut in December, of tliose in the garret ; and that 

 the dry rot has made its appearance on the albur- 

 num of the one cut in June, and in the heart-wood 

 of the one cut in December, of those in the cellar. 

 By these experiments it can also be seen, that the 

 cause which produces dry rot, under other circum- 

 stances will produce powder-post. 



Although it is my opinion that June is the best 

 time to cut timber to nihke it last the longest, yet it 

 is probable that there would not be much difference 

 in its lasting, if it be cut in either of the summer 

 months. But there is a period in which, if timber 

 is cut, the dry rot, or under other circumstances 

 the powder-post, will appear both in the heart-wood 

 and the alburnum, at the same time, although I 

 have seen but few cases of it, and in those cases 

 I had no knowledge of the time of the death of the 

 trees ; but I judge it is either late in the fall, or 

 early in the spring, from the circumstance of the 

 bark being closely attached to the alburnum. 



It would be satisfactory to know the exact pe- 

 riod when the tree was killed, from which the block 

 was taken that is now undergoing the severe ordeal 

 of the fungus pit at Woolwich, England ; and if 

 that cannot be ascertained, whether the dry rot 

 first made its appearance in the alburnum or the 

 heart-wood, of its fellow tliat was destroyed by it ; 

 and also to have a block taken from a perfectly 

 healthy tree killed in June, with the alburnum re- 

 moved and the surface of the heart- wood left per- 

 fectly smooth, and without any seasoning put into 

 the pit. 



CULTURE OF TROPICAL PLANTS. 



Having accidentally seen the manuscript of the 

 following letter to the Hon. Levi Lincoln from a 

 gentleman as well accjuainted as any otlier in the 

 country with every thing relating to Horticulture 

 and Arboriculture, we have placed it in our columns 

 as well for information to our readers on the matter 

 which it treats of, as to show to them that the esti- 

 mable writer has lost none of that zeal which has 

 always distinguished him in the pursuit of objects 

 likely to be useful or beneficial to his countrymen. 

 — JVational Intelligencer. 



Hawthors Cottagb, } 



Roxbvrij, April 17, iai3 J 



My dear sir : — I am very much obliged to you 

 for the report of the Agricultural Committee on the 

 memorial of Dr Perrine, in relation to the culture 

 of tropical plants in Florida, which you were so 

 kind as to send me. I have read it with the deep- 

 est interest, instruction, and' pleasure ; and so favor- 

 ably do I think of his honorable and patriotic enter- 

 prise, that I most sincerely hope Congress will 

 cheerfully and promptly grant his request, and aid 

 him in the most liberal manner. 



The introduction of a single plant, or seed, has, 

 in all ages and nations, frequently produced the 

 most important and valuable results. The mighty 

 influence on the agricultural industry and the gen- 

 eral prosperity of empires which the naturalization 

 and culture of the eereal grains, the olive, vine, 

 white mulberry, for the silkworm, the sugar cane, 

 coffee plant, cotton, potato, rice, and tobacco, have 

 produced, is well known ; and I have no doubt tliat 

 several of the plants which Dr Perrine has now 

 growing at Cape Florida and Indian Key may 

 speedily become staple articles of cultivation in 

 several of the most southern States. Besides, I do 

 not think so meanly of the capabilities of the soil 

 of Florida as most people. I well remember that 

 Louisiana was called a mere alligator swamp when 

 first, so cheaply acquired. The single fact that 

 East Florida is the only portion of the Union where 

 many of the most precious tropical plants can he ac- 

 climated, will, at no very distant period, bring every 

 acre of land into great demand for tillage. It will 

 be drained, diked, embanked, and converted into 

 various kinds of plantations. 



What was Holland before its dikes and canals 

 were constructed ? What has made the cotton and 

 sugar estates of Lower Louisiana so prolific, but the 

 levees for restraining the overflowings of the Mis- 

 sissippi ? What the rice fields of South Carolina 

 and Georgia ? Human genius and indomitable in- 

 dustry. Where there is a cheering prospect of re- 

 ward, they will triumph over all natural physical 

 difficulties. We know the knights of Malta made 

 fertile gardens on the barren rocks of that island, 

 so celebrated for their chivalric deeds, and as the 

 site of Paul's shipwreck, by pounding up the loose 

 and scattered stones which covered its bleak sur- 

 face, and importing soil from Sicily to mix with 

 their dust. The Mexicans had floating gardens on 

 the lake Tezcuco, where their capital city was es- 

 tablished. The Chinese have long resorted to the 

 same means of rearing culinary and other plants, 

 and not an inch of soil, even though situated amidst 

 the precipitous cliffs of the mountains, is unti!lec_ 

 so great is the demand for vegetable products by 

 the thronged population of the Celestial Empire. 

 The lemon and orange groves of Portugal and Sic- 

 ily are established and mamtained by an expensive 

 and laborious system of artificial fountains and 

 channels of irrigation. With us land is so abun- 

 dant, in comparison with the population, that we 

 have no just conception of its value, as estimated 

 in those portions of the globe where the inhabitants 

 are so numerous that a few roods are considered an 

 estate so ample that the fortunate proprietor is ac- 

 counted an independent man. 



But, even in the vast extent of the United States, 

 with tlie millions of acres still in a state of nature, 

 how many thousands are now cultivated which, a 

 few generations since, ay, in our day, were deemed 

 worthless .' In England, what extensive morasses 

 have been reclaimed, and added to the domam of 



agriculture, while the heath covered mountains of 

 Wales and Scotland are rapidly being planted with 

 magnificent forests, not for embellishment merely, 

 but as inexhaustible sources of wealth. The olil 

 Duke of Athol planted on his estates in Perthshire 

 1.5,.')f)3 acres, which contained U7,4'i],(iOO young 

 trees ; and his successor set out G,500 acres of poor 

 mountain ground solely with larches. The land 

 was not then worth over 22 cents rent per acre, and 

 now, with the timber on it, is valued at H'2,500,OQD 

 dollars. The citizens of this country have, here 

 and there, selected the most fertile and eligible lo- 

 cations, and call most of the vast remainder of tte 

 land either refuse or worthless. Time, and the in- 

 crease of population, will show that nearly the 

 whole will become more valuable than even what 

 is now deemed the most choice. The embank- 

 ments in the vicinity of New Orleans will be ex- 

 tended on each bank of the Mississippi, from the 

 Gulf of Mexico to the Falls of St. Anthony. 



If but one of the most valuable of the two hun- 

 dred plants introduced by Dr Perrine can be suc- 

 cessfully cultivated, all Florida will be drained, 

 and become luxuriant fields and gardens, and em- 

 bellished by canals, rivers, bays, harbors, and beau- 

 tiful lakes. It will be the Cuba of this nation. 



I know your liberal disposition, and enlightened 

 and enlarged views in relation to subjects connect- 

 ed witli agriculture, and all the great branches of 

 national industry, and am confident you will be 

 disposed to do what is expedient on this occasion, 

 Dr Perrine, like most men of science and ardent 

 patriotism, has devoted much time, and expended 

 his resources, for a great purpose, sanguine in the 

 beneficial results to the Republic, and the hope of 

 future renmneration from his own practical exer- 

 tions ; and it is very desirable that he should not 

 bo left, as ia too often the case, to lament his la- 

 bors, and to find that others, hereafter, reap the 

 fruits of his meritorious enterprise, without having 

 endured any of the toils or expense of a first ex- 

 periment. Congress must be to him as munificent 

 as would have been Henry IV. and Napoleon, tD 

 render his indefatigable researches and intelligence 

 useful and honorable to himself and the country. 



With assurance of the highest respect and es- 

 teem, your obedient servant, 



H. A. S. DEARBORN. 

 Hon. Levi Lincoln. 



Preserving Milk. — A foreign Journal states 

 that some m.ilk was lately exhibited in Liverpool 

 from aboard a Swedish vessel, that was several 

 months old, having made two voyages from Swe- 

 den to West Indies and back again, and remained 

 pertectly sweet and fresh. The manner of pre- 

 paring it is as follows. The bottles are made clean 

 and sweet, and the milk is milked directly into 

 them without the intervention of a pail. As fast 

 as they are filled, they are closely corked, and the 

 corks wired down as in bottling cider. The bot. 

 ties are placed when filled in a boiler, a layer of 

 straw and a layer of bottles until the boiler is full. 

 Fill the boiler with cold water, kindle a fire and 

 let it heat gradually ; when it begins to boil, with- 

 draw the fire, and let tlie bottles remain till cold. 

 They must then be taken out, packed in hampers, 

 with straw or sawdust, and stowed in the coolest 

 part of the ship. The milk so exhibited was above 

 eighteen months old, and was of excellent quality. 

 The perpetual motion of the sea, in time improve» 

 milk as much as it does Madeira ; at least such 

 seemed tlie result in this case — Gen. Farmer. 



