62 



THE NEW GENESEE FARMER, 



Vol. 



For the fs'ew Genesee Fanner. 

 The Past Winter. 



Messrs. Editors — The winter which has just clo- 

 sed, hae been peculiar for the mildness of some part of 

 it. The weather has been quite uniform, though 

 eome severe changes have taken place. The barome- 

 ter has shown no great variations in the weight of the 

 atmosphere. 



The mean temp, of Dec. 1838 was 22 



" " " 1839 ' 



« .1 .. 1^40 ' 



«« " Jan. 1839 ' 



II a .1 ig40 " 



u <• ■< 1841 <- 



" 'f Feb. 1839 " 



" " " 1840 " 



u 1. .• 1841 '^ 



Mean of 3 winter months just ended, 

 for 1840 

 " 1839 



The mean temperature of February, 1840, was un- 

 commonly high, and made the mean of the winter 

 somewhat above that of this year. The influence of 

 that warm month was felt through the spring, in the 

 preparation given for the early starting of vegetables. 

 In December, 1840, there fell in the last half of the 

 month, about 21 inchee of snow, and near a foot of 

 it on the 26th and 27th, forming the first sleighing of 

 any consequence. 



On Jan 3, 1841, the temperature was 1 ' below zero. 

 (( ^ ti t( (( 4 tt It 



The next half was warm; but on the 18th the tem- 

 perature fell to zero, and the next day was only 3 

 above, while the rest of the month was warm. At 

 the beginning of this month, snow fell 6 inches, and 

 the sleighing was good till the 7th, when the whole 

 was carried away by a sudden thaw, and on the 9ih the 

 ice broke up in the Genesee and passed over the Falls. 

 Little snow fell the last half of the month, and the 

 roads were smooth and fine for carriages. 



Februaryl2, 1840, the temperature was at zero,and 

 from the 10th to the 18th was a very cold week, 'with 

 constant and brisk N. VV. winds; and the last half of 

 the mon h was considerably colder than the same part 

 of January. The whole month was 5° colder than 

 that of January. Several inchee of snow fell in the 

 nionih, but the sleighing was at no time good. So 

 much for the winter. 



The first week of March has now passed, and has 

 been only one-tenth of a degree warmer than the first 

 week of February. On the 7th snow fell 14 inches 

 deep, and the sleighing is now excellent. The pre- 

 sent cold offers few indications of an early spring. 



RocUesler, March 9, 1841. C. DEWEY. 



Vegetable Oyster Pudding. 



"A lady of no small standing," as our Wisconsin 

 friend says, has furnished us the following, and were 

 we at liberty to append her name, we are sure it would 

 be a sufficient voucher for the excellency of her dish. 



" Having a gteatdeal of saleity or vegetable oyster, 

 I tried many ways of cooking it; at last I thought of 

 making a pudding of it — and it is very nice indeed — 

 fit for Queen Victoria. 



"Take 1 pint of sweet cream; 3 eggs; sugar 

 enough to sweeten it, probably 3 large spoonfuls; a 

 tea spoon of salt: a spoonful of bread crumbs; a tea- 

 cup of grated salsify or vegetable oyster; and a quar- 

 ter of a nutmeg. Make some pie-crust, line a dish, 

 and bake it about half an hour." 



Regretting that we cannot give the name of the in- 

 ventor of the above famous dish, we recommend it to 

 special notice ; and hope in future that none of our 

 distinguished female friends will bide their names un- 

 der a bushel, though it may be no (additional) honor 

 to them, even if appended to so Hue a dish sa the 

 •bove. * 



A Scene in Asia Minor. 



Know ye the Jand wJiere the cypress and myrtle 



Are eoiljlems of deeds that are done in tijeir dime,' 



Where the rage of tlie vulture, the Inve of the turle. 



Now melt into sorrow, now madden to crime ? 



Know ye the land of the cedar and vine, 



Where the flowers ever hlossom, tlic lieams ever shine? 



Where the light wings of zephyr, oppressed with perfume, 



Wa.t faint o'er tlie gardens of Gul in her bloom? 



Where the citron and olive are fairest of fruit 



And the voice of the nighting,ile never is mute? 



Where the tints of the earth, and the hues of the sky, 



In color thougli varied, in beauty may vie. 



And the purple of ocean is deepest in dye ? 



Where the virgins are soft as the rosea they twlae 



And all but the spirit of wan, is divine? 



We copy the following sketch of a scene in Asia 

 Minor, for such of our readers as are fond of flowers, 

 and who have not read the " Letters from the Old 

 World, by a Lady of New York. It occurred on the 

 wild route between the Gulf of Maori and Smyrna, 

 about latitude 37 * , but if we make the usual allow- 

 ance of 10 or 12 degrees on account of the difler- 

 ence in physical climate on this side of the Atlantic, 

 we shall find no corresponding temperature in winter, 

 nearer than the middle ol Florida. 



It is a sad reflection that lands fertile enough for 

 such productions, and under so fine a sky, should be 

 entirely deserted by the husbandman; and all this on 

 account of the oppressor, — froin the savage bandit up 

 to " the most unlicensed and remorseless despotism 

 that the world has ever seen." * 



The party, of which this lady was one, carried 

 theirown tents and provisions, a cook, «&c. &c., and 

 encamped wherever it seemed to suit them best. Our 

 extract begins with the morning of the third day after 

 their departure from Macri. t 



" The next morning a most glorious scene present- 

 ed itself to us, which we bad not observed in the dusk 

 of the evening before. We were in the midst of a 

 paradise of flowers of such magnificent appearance, 

 unusual size, and profusion of quantity, that were I 

 to relate to you a tythe of what I saw of these splendid 

 productions of nature, you might think I was draw- 

 ing largely on my imagination. Were I to lell you 

 that I had seen Olaindcr-trecs twenty-five feet in 

 height, you might accuse me of "drawing a bow" of 

 equal dimensions; nevertheless such is the fact; for 

 not willing to trust to our senses, nor having the 

 means of making a trigonometrical measurement of 

 their elevation while standing, we caused one to be 

 cut down, and found it to be of the height before sta- 

 ted, and the body of it six inches in diameter; about 

 ten feet of the latter we have brought away, with the 

 intention of taking it home with us. This was only 

 one of many, many thousands which we could see at 

 one glance. 



" Very few stood singly, but as far as the eye could 

 reach, we could see them bordering each side of a 

 stream of water, as in Palestine, only of far greater 

 dimensions and in greater numbers. 



" In the latter country, wo only saw them near 

 streams of water, but here we find them also in the 

 midst of the plains. But the most extraordinary and 

 almost incredible thing for you to realize from my 

 description is this : — Here wasa plain fifteen miles in 

 circumference, which seemed more like a land of en- 

 chantment than any thing that one can realize from 

 the limited observations one is in the habit of making 

 in countries where Flora is less prodigal of her lavors. 

 It seemed to me as if 1 was in a land where giants had 

 been amusing themselves in arranging and cultivating 

 parterres by the square mile, instead of by the square 

 foot, as we do. 



" Distributed over this plain in all directions were 

 groves of Oleanders, from ten to one thousand feet in 

 diameter. At the outer extremes of these circles and 

 ovals, the trees were not more than one foot in height, 

 and in the centre they were of the loftiest dimensions. 



" The smaller plots resembled beautiful cones, 

 while the larger ones appeared like mounds of roses, 

 80 entirely were tlicy covered with flowers. The 

 leaves of the larger trees measured fourteen inches in 

 length by two and a half in diameter. 



" So delighted were we with this grand Floral dis- 

 play, that we coursed our horses round and round them 



• B wood. 



in ccstacies, plucking handfuls of flowers, and si 

 ing them on the verdant carpet beneath our feet 



"The daybegan to waste away, and we had 

 yet made a mile of progress on our road; and 

 guide informed us that we sho\iId find subjects en 

 of this nature to engage our attention on every si 

 us during the whole day, if we proceeded onv 

 We then took up our line of march, and i 

 scenes of a far more pleasing and not less extra 

 nary nature presented themselves to our asion 

 gaze, during the remainder of our day's journey, 

 . " We rode through forests of flowering trees ii 

 blossom, of such rare beauty and splentjid inter 

 ture of species and colors, and of such overpowi 

 fragrance, that we really supposed ourselves ii 

 midst of " the gardens of Gul in her bloom." 



"Here were the Pomcgrante, with its inci 

 blossom, its fully expanded bright scarlet flower, 

 beautiful fruit; the Myrtle in full bloom; Limt 

 Orange trees in b'ossom and fruit, with many ot 



" VVhat are with us but mere shrubs, culti" 

 with the greatest care, and demanding constant o 

 lion, are here literally standing trees of large di 

 sions. Around the bodies of those are seen a 

 variety of flowering creepers, Honcysvclsles, J 

 mines, &c. &c., which reaching to the tof 

 branches, hang in festoons from tree to tree, so th 

 that sometimes it was with much difficulty we ■ 

 make our way through them. 



" Our attention was attracted to another sin 

 appearance in the vegetable kingdom; we rode 

 and found it to be a vast field of Heath and B 

 plants of so great a size that we could not at fin 

 lieve our eyes, that what we beheld was the 

 Scotch HeaUicr fifteen feet in height with bodies 

 suring six and nine inches in circumference of 

 wood. But upon close observation we found we 

 not in error. * 



" The whole field which was of great extent 

 covered with blossoms. We saw many other fie 

 the same kind afterward. 



' There was too much enchantment about all 

 scene for us to hasten from it, so we encamped 

 in the day in order quietly to luxuriate on the bet 

 of this Eden." 



Cheap and Durable Fences. 



Messrs. Editors — As it will soon be time 

 pair fences, my plan is, where a fence is to stand 

 out being removed, I stake out the ground, 

 throw two furrows towards each other, within ; 

 eight inches of meeting, then plough two mon 

 same way and lay them on the top of the oth.;rs, 

 plough the loose earth where the last were taken 

 and shovel it on the ridge and raise it about tUrei 

 high, between two ditches. Then lay a strait 

 on said ridge, by placing the bottom rails on s I 

 or wood; cut your connecting blocks of wood <- 

 two feet long and lay up the fence five or six raill il 

 Then stick stakes without sharpening, in the r 

 edge of the ditches and lay on heavy rails for ri k 

 and no cattle will jump or throw it down. B • ; 

 method you can build a lence that will stop gAfi ^ 

 pigs, will drain the water from the field, no dfl' 

 will grow near it, the bottom rails will last mud l| j 

 get, and it is not liable to blow down. 



Sliding Gates for Bars. 



To obviate the inconveniences of common 

 take two 4 inch scantling, 5 or 6 feet long, and f 

 the end of the bars into them, take up your bar 

 and throw them away, place two stakes or posts 

 where your bar post stood, the thickness of the 

 apart, and two at the other end four inches apai 

 receive the frame and keep it perpendicular; mo 

 out at the bottom of each post so as to receive 4 

 rollers: bed two slabs down level with the surfa 

 the ground, one at the end of the other, and ; 

 gate is done. No longer time is required to n 

 such a frame than to make posts and bars, and 



* !n lioudon's Encyclopa'dia of Plants, no Britlsl 

 is marked more than ?iro fret high ; but Ertca 

 is inarkeil four feef ; and E. arborea. also from the 

 Europe is marked Jive feet high, Oiir travelers 

 been very correct in their botanicoj rxainlnatronf, 

 genus of many snecl^o fnnd Erica tias UW) i\ iff 

 iiiffii:ull to avoid niittkef. 



i 



