^ O-.. XVII IV. » 30 



AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL, 



167 



diate gain, we think he deserves your second pre- 

 mium of $10,00 

 By order of the committee, 



JOHN 11. LORING. 



WINTER WORK. 



The labors of summer and of h^irvest being fin 

 ished, it may not be inappropriate to inquire, what , ^^^^ ^jj ^1^^ various articles on the fire blight. P 

 shall be the work for Winter ? 



Fall's last month, and winter's throe, with their , jj^g various writers knows anything about it. When 



For the New England FanTn-r. 

 BLIGHT IN PEAR TREES, 



AND REMARKS ON FI.CMS. 



Joseph Breck, Esq. — 



Sir I have taken the N. E. Farmer for the 



last eight years, the Albany Cultivator from its 

 commencement, and frequently see the Genesee 

 Farmer and other agricultural papers, and have 



"rom 

 my own experience, I am satisfied that not one of 



siiort days and long evenings — how shall the far 

 i.icr improve their moments of day and evening to 

 h;s best profit and entertainment ? We would say, 

 let him bestir himself in his business during the 

 day, and in the evening, cultivate the intellectual 

 soil, the mind. Let him enjoy the fruit of his summer 

 labor and industry by the social tire side, and trea- 

 sure up a know edge which shall guide him in his 

 duties as a citizeu. and direct him in a better appli- 

 cation of his labor so as to secure an increased 

 product with less expense. The firmer is truly 

 privileged above his co-equals of other classes, in 

 the particular of having his evenings to himself, 

 as a time of leisure from his toilsome labor, afford- 

 ing an opportunity of mental cultivation and social 

 happiness, which the envied may envy. Improve 

 it, we say — be glad in your abundance, and be wise 

 in your gladness. And permit us here, to suggest 

 that in this opportunity for the attainment of know- 

 ledge, you do not neglect the knowledge of your 

 own occupation — the science of agriculture. Ev- 

 ery one should give his chief attention to his own 

 calling; it should be his highest ambition, to excel 

 in tliat — to elevate it and render it honorable, and 

 thus to be honored in it. But we will leave the 

 merry evening, and turn to the work of the day. 



The last month of Autumn, is not a month of 

 idleness. The farmer must be active to prepare 

 for winter. All the buildings intended as an asy- 

 lum for man or for beast from the chill- blasts of 

 winter, should be made tight so as to exclude his 

 cold breath. Cattle when kept warm, ^o not re- 

 quire near the quantity of food that they do if ex- 

 posed to the inclemencies of the season. A warm 

 house is half a wood-pile. 



The cellar too, should be made secure from that 

 old thief, Jack Frost— and everything we would 

 wish to secure from his clutches should be season- 

 ably deposited there just one day before the first 

 freeze. Lastly, a word for the poor bawling cattle, 

 and we will retreat into winter quarters. Do not 

 let them suffer and starve and pine for want of 

 food. What they do not obtain from tie fields 

 sufficient fully to keep them in flesh, supply from 

 the barn. It is poor economy to pineh cattle at 

 any season, but the poorest to commence winter by 

 half starving theui. 



Winter — to the slothful, who have not made pre- 

 paration, cold, dull, unwelcome winter ; to the dil- 

 igent, with their full garners, tight and convenient 

 buildings, and a " rousing wood-pile" of dry wood, 

 joyous, merry, welcome winter, — " this too, is not 

 a season for idleness ; a term which precludes the 

 idea of enjoyment, but its active hours are pleasant 

 and useful to the farmer ; it is peculiarly the sea 

 son of his intellectual culture. But we will defer 

 a specification of its appropriate work, as " there 

 is time for that yet" (a bad phrase) meanwhile sug- 

 gesting that the Cheshire Farmer will expect to 

 greet you at vour winter evening fireside. — Ches- 

 hire Farmer. 



ever our medical men shall discover the cause and 

 cure for the Asiatic cholera, then, and not till then, 

 I fear, will our horticulturists learn the cause and 

 cure of the blight. I have whittled many limbs 

 into fine shavings,, dug up a number of trees, ex- 

 amined the roots and shavings as closely as pos- 

 sibly with a good dass, and am fully satisfied that 

 it is not caused by any insect. One of my trees, 

 in the fall of 1837, produced 10 bushels of fears ; 

 this season blossomed full ; soon after the fruit was 

 formed, was attacked on the body about four feet 

 from the ground; a strip around the body of the tree 

 about 10 or Vi inches wide, was entirely killed in 

 three or four days, whilst every limb was vigorous 

 and healthy. Tlie bark of the body of the tree 

 was coarse and-rough. Could that have been done 

 by an insect? I had 50 trees, 25 of which were 

 kil'ed, from the seedlings of two years up to those 

 of 30 years standing. I had the Easter Beurre, 

 Bartlett, Passe Colmar, St. Michael, Seckle, down 

 to the most worthless seedling. The disease pays 

 no attention to age, location or quality^of fruit. 

 My soil is a sandy loam ; a number of the trees 

 stood in tlie kitchen garden and have been culti- 

 vated for 25 years ; others stood in the fruit garden 

 which has been in sward for a number of years ; 

 one tree stands within a few feet of a spring strong- 

 ly impregnated with iron, and the soil in the imme- 

 diate neighborhood contains iron ore, which I should 

 suppose would answer as well as to hang old inm 

 on the limbs of the tree. A Seckle pear tree had 

 40 or 50 pears of a very large size ripened well ; 

 about two weeks before tliey were ripe the tree was 

 attacked within two feet of the ground ; although 

 the tree was apparently healthy and vigorous above 

 the wound, the flavor of the fruit was strongly af- 

 fected by it. Could this have been caused by the 

 eflTect of the sun upon unripened wood ? The dis- 

 ease has been known in this section of country about 

 six years ; it commenced on my trees this season, 

 about the 20th of May, when the trees were in full 

 blossom., and continued till the first of September. 

 The months of April and IMay were remarkably 

 cold and wet, the summer hot and dry. 



The apple trees and the quince are affected by 

 the disease, but not to the extent of the pear. As 

 to some experiments tliat I made on plums, see N. 

 England Farmer, Vol. 15. No. 31. Not one of them 

 answered any good purpose. 



Dr J. P. Kirkland, a gentleman who has liad 

 probably more experience than any otiior man west 

 of the Allegany mountains, says (in a report to the 

 Legislature of Ohio) he knows from experience, 

 that hogs, whenever they can have ready access to 

 the tree to eat the premature falling fruit, and root 

 and rub around the tree, is an effectual remedy. 



A gentleman at my house a few months since, 

 says that he has a plum orchard which for a num- 

 ber of years used to be loaded with fruit, the plums 

 commenced falling soon after they were formed, 

 and continued to fall during the whole season ; that 



scarce any ever ripened ; ten years ago ho convert- 

 ed it into a hog-pen and since has never failed to 

 have plums in abundance. 



If any gentlemen will call at my house in Euclid 

 and examine my pear trees and is not fully con- 

 vinced that the liisease is an epidemic, I will 

 give Ijiui a plain farmer's dinner. 



Respectfully yours, &c. 



Euclid, .'Vol'. 4, 183i:'. M. L. 



Since writing the above article, I saw a notice 

 in your paper of an e.xtraordinary cow exhibited at 

 tlie Worcester Cattle Show, weighing 15C0 lbs. 

 I had cow during the summer and fall of 1837 ; 

 gave a large quantity of milk, was kept witli my 

 otiier stock, ate nothing but grass, had been dry 

 only two weeks ; that weighed 1574 lbs. Had she 

 been fattened like some of the Connecticut River 

 cattle, slie must have weighed 2000 lbs. ; she is said 

 to be of the full blood Durham Short Horns. 



(For Ihe New England Farmer.) 



We send you a copy of a letter we have just 

 addressed to the editor of the Wisconsin Culturist, 

 which you are at liberty to insert in your paper. 

 Yours respectfully, 



WM. PRINCE & SON. 

 Flushing, JVov. 9, 1838. 



Jf'm. P. Prou'lft, Esq., Editor Wisconsin Culturist. 

 Dear Sir, — We have perused a letter in your 

 paper from Lucius B. Allyn, Esq. accompanied by 

 an editorial comment, whicli, without proper expla- 

 nation, is calculated to mislead the public. It ap- 

 pears that Mr Allyn received seeds from Dr Steb- 

 bins of Northampton, Mass. which he deems to be 

 the morus multicaulis, and from which he states 

 he has raised 30 to 40,600 trees. We have simply 

 to say that there never has been one ounce of gen- 

 uine morus multicaulis seed sold in the Union, and 

 that all the trees raised from seeds professedly of 

 the morus multicaulis have proved to be none other 

 than an improved variety of the white mulberry, 

 with much larger leaves than the white mulberry, 

 but possessing no resemblance or aflinity to the 

 genuine morus multicaulis. All such applications 

 of the term "Multicaulis," meaning many stalks 

 from one root, are totally improper, and any such 

 terms as Alpine Multicaulis, or Canton Multicaulis 

 are delusive. The Alpine is the Moretti Mulberry 

 of France, and was originated there from seed, and 

 is not known in China, and all efforts to import the 

 genuine multicaulis from China have as yet proved 

 abortive, and there exists no proof whatever that it 

 is to be found there, although in all probability it 

 is, but at some locality not yet ascertained. The 

 genuine multicaulis was brought from the Phillip- 

 pine Islands to France, and was first imported into 

 .\merica by ourselves. It is time these errors 

 should be put a stop to, as thousands of dollars 

 have been already lost by persons cultivating and 

 propagating the wrong tree. The seed from Dr 

 Stebbins no doubt produces valuable trees; but let 

 them be called by their true name, and not by one 

 totally distinct, and the use of which may mislead 

 people at a distance, although here it cannot In 

 the whole town of Northampton there were not 

 50,000 trees of the genuine morus multicaulis raised 

 the present season, but they have there many other 

 fine varieties in abundance. Yours respectfully, 

 WM. PRINCE & SON. 

 Linnaean Garden and Nurse- ) 

 ries. Flushing, Nov. 8, 1838. 5 



