1862. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



449 



Fig. 6 



Flat. 



Obion". 



Obucate. 



Obovate, ovate form revei-sed. Fig^. 8. Osborn's 

 Summer Pear ; Blue Irapei-atrico Plum ; Cran- 

 berry. 



Coniccd, tapering much, and straightly, or near- 

 ly so, to the top or calyx. Fig. 9. Burr's New 

 Pine Strawbei-ry. 



Tiirhinate, top-shaped. Fig. 10. Dearborn's 

 Seedling Pear. 



Fig. 9. 



Conical. 



Turbinate. Ileart-shuued. 



Heart-shaped, shape of a heart. A form pecu- 

 liar to cherries. Fig. 11. Elton Cherry. 



Angular, elongated diagonally, one side the 

 lower, the other the higher. Fig. 12. Newton 

 Pippin. 



A combination or modification of these forms, 

 is expressed by a combination of these and various 

 other terms ; as, rouudish-flat, flattish-round, flat- 

 tish - conical, roundish - conical, oblong - conical, 

 roundish-ovate, oblong-ovate, obtuse-pyrifurm, 

 acute-pyriform, obovate-pyriform, turbinate-pyri- 

 form, roundish-pyriform, tlattish-roundish-coaical, 

 roundish - acute - pyriform, obtuse - heart - shaped, 

 acute-heart-shaped, roundish-heart-shaped, &c. 



Calville-sliaped, prominently ribbed and irreg- 

 ular. 



Ribbed, having moderate protuberances on the 

 sides. 



Undulating or Waved, having very gentle swel- 

 lings on the sides, or in the cavity or basin. 



Colors of fruit are described in terms so famil- 

 iar, that they need no explanation. They should 

 represent the fruit as it appears when ripe or per- 

 fect for use. 



The Stem is also called stalk, and the hollow- 

 in which it is set is called 



Cavity, which is of various forms. 



The Calyx is the remains of tlie blossoms, and 

 the parts of it are called segments. The calyx is 

 generally in a depression or 



Basin, which is of various sha])es, and is smooth, 

 waved, furrowed, plaited, or notched. 



Suture is a hollow or furrow on stone fruit, ex- 

 tending lengthwise round, nearly round, mostly 

 round, half round, or partially round it. It is pe- 

 culiar to peaches and plums. 



Mr. a. Saul, of Newburg.— We are sorry to 

 learn of the death of this well-known horticultur- 

 ist. As partner in the firm of A. J. Downing & 

 Co., Mr. Saul became widely known; and as the 

 active man in the nursery branch, caused the New- 

 burg Nurseries to reach a distinguished position 



in the trade. When the firm was dissolved by the 

 withdrawal of Mr. Downing, Mr. Saul occupied 

 the position of head of the firm, and we believe 

 nearly entire proprietor, Avitli varying success 

 through these disastrous times, until the 2oth of 

 June, the day of his sudden death. He had a 

 slight fall, on his grounds, a few days previous, but 

 it was deemed nothing serious, lie was, however, 

 injured internally, and died from this cause. 



Fur the New England Farmer. 

 RETROSPECTIVE NOTES. 



"Agriculture in Our Common Schools. — 

 On page 3.52 of current volume of this journal, 

 (monthly edition,) and in the weekly issue of July 

 12th, the reader may find an article with the above 

 heading, from the pen of John Golusbury^ a 

 gentleman who^usually writes instructively, and 

 with admirable good judgment. Upon the pres- 

 ent occasion, however, his good judgment seems 

 to have been asleep, as not a few readers, it may 

 be presumed, will be inclined to think, as well as 

 the writer of this, after a careful and candid peru- 

 sal of the following strictures. 



Mr. Goldsbury presents for the consideration of 

 readers of this journal the two following ques- 

 tions, viz : "Ought agriculture to be taught in 

 our common schools ? In their present state and 

 condition, can it be successfully taught there, with- 

 out doing more harm than good ?" He then pro- 

 ceeds to off. r a few reasons why, as he thinks, ag- 

 riculture ought not to be introduced, as a study, 

 into our common schools. 



The first objection offei'ed by Mi". G., though 

 not formally stated as such, is the remark that our 

 common schools were established for the purpose 

 of teaching reading, writing, spelling and defining 

 of words, grammar, or the use and power of lan- 

 guage, arithmetic and geography ; and that the 

 design of the education of children in common 

 schools is, not to fit them for any particular call- 

 ing, whether it be that of a farmer, a merchant, a 

 mechanic, or a manufacturer, but, by a thorough 

 training and drilling in the above studies, to pre- 

 pare them for any occupation or pursuit. Now 

 this jn'eliminary remark, or first objection to the 

 introduction of agriculture as a study into our 

 common schools, is itself objectionable, as being 

 nothing more than an erroneous assumption, if 

 ^Ir. G. means to imply that common schools have 

 been established, or are maintained for the pur- 

 pose of teaching onlg and solely the particular 

 branches of study which he has specified. It is 

 true, indeed, and "i)ity 'tis, 'tis true," that the par- 

 ticular branches of learning named by Mr. G. 

 form, generally, nearly the entire list of studies 

 pursued in many, perhaps most of our common 

 schools ; but as no one will be daring enough to 

 assert that the enlightened legislators of any State 

 ever established schools, or that intelligent pa- 

 rents ever maintained schools, in which children 

 vv'ere, by any authority lohatever, to be limited to 

 such a small and ciixumscribed range of studies, 

 then it still remains nothing else than an errone- 

 ous assumption that our common schools were es- 

 tablished for the purpose of teaching only the par- 

 ticular branches named, or any similar limited 

 range of studies ; and furthermore, the objection, 

 based upon this mere assumption, to the effect 



