No. 7. 



AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL. 



103 



well sttiteil for the growth of the peach tree, yet by 

 the nest antnmn, many of thorn were dead, and the 

 bolaiice so sickly thatl had iheiu all dug up, and there 

 was no sign of the worm at their roota. From ihia, 

 and other similar experiments, I think the disease may 

 be generatud by planting in or near where a nursery 

 or orchard of peiich trees lias been, or where the lat- 

 ter IS ; consequently, where a neighborhood abounds 

 with peach trees, there is danger of iis becoming over- 

 spread with disease, without greater care than is usu- 

 ally taken to prevent it. 



I think I have seen evidences of its being in some 

 degree contagions. Richard Cromwell, the respecta- 

 ble and worthy peach raiser, near Baltimore, has for 

 upwards of thirty years supplied that city with peaches 

 of the best quality, on a largo scale. Some time since, 

 when I was walking with Mr. Cromwell through his 

 peach orchard, when the trees were hanging full of 

 ripe fruit, he pointed out a tree he said had the yel- 

 lows, having a full crop upon it, at that time worth 

 one dollar per peck, and to me it appeared healthy ; 

 but he observed to me, "as soon as I take the fruit 

 from the tree, I shall dig it up, in order to prevent the 

 disease spreading any farther, for I expect the side ol 

 the adjoining trees next to it will be afTected next 

 season." I liad occasion to pass through Mr. Crom- 

 well's orchard the next fruiting time, and the sickly 

 tree had been dug up, but, as had been predicted, 

 parts of the four neighboring trees were evidently 

 much affected, but only the sides next to the diseased 

 tree, which made it the more striking, and convinc- 

 ing of the contagion, if this is a proper term. 



On another occasion, I had a favorite early pm-ple 

 peach, before I had a nursery, that I suspected was 

 partially affected by the yellows, and being desirous of 

 preserving the variety, I cut the healthiest branch I 

 could get, and I had twelve buds inserted in healthy 

 peach stocks, but when they had grown about three 

 feet, they showed the disease so plainly that in order to 

 prevent it from spreading, I pulled up all the trees, 

 and had them burnt. 



Fro;u these cases, it seems to me the disease may 

 be generated by planting old peach orchards or nurse- 

 ries too soon after the removal of the old trees, and 

 also by planting too near those already affected with 

 the disease ; and if cuttings or scions are taken from 

 diseased trees, their product will be also diseased. 1 

 also think the yellows may be communicated to young 

 trees by planting seeds taken from diseased peach 

 trees. Respectfully yoni friend, 



ROBERT SINCLAIR. 



Clairmont Nursery, March 18, 1841. 



Botauy. 



In the whole familily of sciences there is not one 

 more instructive and pleasing than Botany. It culti- 

 vates and purifies the better feelings of our nature, by 

 directing our minds to the goodness of God, as dis- 

 played in a very extensive portion of His works. And 

 while it refines the taste and captivates the fancy, it 

 enlightens the understanding and strengthens the judg- 

 ment. 



Cold and unthankful indeed must that man be, who 

 feels no warm emotion while he beholds the bounties 

 ■nd smiles of an Omnipotent Creator. How then 

 can that science fail to be interesting which treat of so 

 important an operation in nature, as the process of 

 vegetation, and which classifies plants and explains 

 their properties. Whether we survey nature in the 

 wild luxuriance of the forest, or in the most delicate 

 beauties of the garden, without some knowledge of 

 this science, all is equally irregularity and confusion. 

 We may admire the wilderness of the one, or be pleas- 

 ed with the variety of the other, but we cannot feel 

 that interest which even a partial acquaintance with 

 this science will impart. All then is order, beauty 

 and harmony. We see the sturdy oak of ages, and 

 appropriate to it its legitimate place in the vegetable 

 kingdom; we acrntinize the polished petals of the 

 flowers and glow with admiration and delight. We 

 no longer walk in the woods, or the fields, or amuse 

 ourselves in the gaiden without discovering new beau- 

 ties in every shrub, and plant, and tlower, which 

 comes under our notice. The vegetable world at 

 once becomes animate. We read new lessouij of wis- 

 dom and goodness in every blade of grass, and find 

 that there is not a leaf nor a fibre, which does not per- 

 form its proper ofHce in the production of the plant. 



'i'he science of Botany has already secured itself a 

 place in almost all schools of the hieher ordor, and on- 

 ly needs an introduction to be generclly received and 

 studied, in our schools of even the humblest character. 

 It has nothing abstruse in it, but is entirely within the 

 capacity of every grade of intellect, and may bo acqui- 

 red even by cliildien. True they may not become 



thoroughly versed in it, nor are they capable of ful- 

 ly understanding many other branches of knowlcriftc 

 which they study. It is a matterworthy of investiga- 

 tion and trial whether the introduction of as pleasing 

 a study as that of tlowers, for which all children have 

 a great fondness, would Hot have a happy inllucnce on 

 our schools. It would bo connecting pleasure with 

 iniprovcmeiit, and would have a tendency to create a 

 taste lor study which should not be the least object of 

 schools. 



It would bo an instructive amuEcment too for youth 

 of both sexes to study this science oven alter leaving 

 school. Youth is a period in which amusement will 

 have a place in the distribution of time. This is as it 

 should be, but that course cannot be an unwise one, 

 which makes thai amusement a source of instruction. 

 The study of which we speak, is one where the path 

 of science is literally strewed with Howers. How 

 many an hour which we spend in idle lounging, might 

 be occupied in some pursuit, which while it recreated, 

 would improve us. And at this seasoir of the year 

 nothing could be better suited to such a purpose than 

 the study of Botany. — Weslcm Star. FHILO. 



Farmers and Mechanics. 



We heartily concur with the Louisville Journal in 

 the ibllowing remarks. The Ncz/^ York Mechanic is 

 one of the cheapest and most interesting of our ex- 

 change papers. It is published weekly at the low 

 price of $1,50 per year. All mechanics and most 

 farmers, will find it worth many times the price of 

 subscription. 



"Among the many valuable piipers which we re- 

 ceive, there are few possessing more substantial merit 

 than the ' New York Mechanic' It is a weekly pa- 

 per published in the city of New York, by Rufus 

 Porter & Co., and, as its title indicates, is devoted to 

 the diffusion of information on subjects connected 

 with the arts and sciences — notices of the progress of 

 mechanical and other improvements, discoveries and 

 inventions, scientific essays, philosophical experiments 

 and general miscellany. Each number contains plates 

 illustrative of some new invention or improvement in 

 macbinery, with accurate and copious explanations, 

 calculated to keep the mind of the reader well inform- 

 ed of the progress of the useful arts. 



" The success of a paper of this kind is a cheering 

 evidence of the increasing interest of the reading com- 

 munity in whatever tends to develop the genius and 

 unfold the resources of our people, as well as of the 

 growing intelligence and enterprise of the mechanics 

 of the country. In times past, no class of society has 

 been so poorly represented in the world of letters, as 

 the mechanics and farmers. Literary periodicals are 

 every where to be found — political papers have multi- 

 plied until their name is legion — even until every po- 

 litical party and fragment of a party has its horde of 

 stipendiaries, performing its behests with a blind and 

 heedless devotion — theology has its champions — law 

 its advocates — medicine and surgery their defenders, 

 and even phrenology, animal magnetism and Gra- 

 ham's system of sublimating the mind on bran bread 

 and Taunton water, have secured the aid of the pkess, 

 which, with its thousand times multiplied voices, has 

 heralded the merits of each all over the land, and com- 

 pelled the public eye and ear to entertain its claims to 

 attention. 



"Bnt the interests of agricidture and the mechanic 

 arts, and the beautiful and glorious sciences in the 

 midst of which they spring into life and usefulness, 

 have scarcely been deemed worthy a place in the ar- 

 chives of the age. It has been deemed enough for the 

 farmer to plough sow and reap, as his father did before 

 him; and for the mechanic to learn his trade and pur- 

 sue it in the beaten and unimproved track that his 

 master trod — as though labor were the only means on 

 which to rely for success and experience — interchange 

 of opinions — diffusion of knowledge — intellectual cul- 

 tivation and generous emulation, out of place or, noi 

 worih the pursuit. 



" Of late however, those classes on whom the pros- 

 perity, wealth, and glory of our country so much de- 

 pend, have assumed a more commanding position. A 

 newspaper devoted to the interests of the mechanic 

 and the cultivator o( the soil, and conducted with taste, 

 abil'tyand eflect, is now no strange thing. We sec 

 no surer mark of the progress of society than the ele- 

 vation of the laborer to his proper dignity, wherein his 

 moral power is brought into action as well as his phy- 

 sical strength. 



" Of all the varied employments of men, there are 

 none 60 well calculated tol unfold thej powers of 



the mind and lead it on from discovery to discoverj— 

 from invention to invention, as the cultivation of tho 

 Koilaud the pursuit of tho dillerent branches ot iiie- 

 chnnical science. The rniud has always a fund of 

 fresh materials to work upon, capable, by a thousand 

 changes ami combinations, if being improved without 

 limit, yet without ever reaching absolute perfection. 

 The chemical prop'rties of soils — their adaptation 10 

 particular crops — the cultivation of the fruits o< the 

 earth, and the rearing of the useful animals, afford a 

 never ending series of instructive lessons. And the 

 mechanic arts, how noble — how useful — how well cal- 

 culated to enlist the inquiring mind in the pursuit ot 

 those improvements which, while they develop ita 

 own powers, enlarge the sphere of human happiness, 

 anil strengthen the dominion of the intellectual over 

 the material world." 



How to Eradicate the Bramble. 



I observe that a correspondent in your last number 

 inquires how the blackberry bush may be destroyed. 

 As I have encountered and eradicated some ibrmida- 

 Iile patches, which existed on the lands which I have 

 at ditTorcnt times added to my farm, I think I may 

 venture to recommend to your correspondent an in- 

 fallible prescription. Some time in the winter or 

 spring cut them close to the ground, and repeat the 

 ojieratiop. the last of July. A few will appear the se- 

 cond year, be sure to cut them also the last ol May, 

 and the last of July. This specific is based upon tha 

 scientific principle, that no tree, sknih or plant, can 

 long maintain tlu: life of the root without the aid of the 

 top. The leaves, &c. are as indispensable to lh» 

 long life of a vegetable, as lungs are to an animal.g 



The same plan will destroy the iron weed or devil- 

 bit, which so much infests the blue grass pastures of 

 Kentucky, and which some farmers have vainly en- 

 deavored to eiadicate by cutting once a year for thirty 

 years in succession. Such nests are not to be exter- 

 minated by cutting in the blossom or in the moon, but 

 by tho dint of scratched hands and sweated faces.— 

 You may have remarked the freedom of my farm from 

 them, though a scattered one here and there shows the 

 propensity ;ii the soil to produce them, and that my 

 predecessors were industriovs enough to raise their 

 oion blackberries. — ^Vcstcrn Farivc7 and Gardtner, 



Consumption of DIeat. 



There are few things in the habits of Americans, 

 which strike tho foreign observer with more force, 

 than the extravagant consumption of food — and more 

 especially of meat. Truly we are a carnivorous peo- 

 ple. With all cur outcry about hard times, the quan- 

 tity of provisions consumed in America would sup- 

 port, in health, treble our population in Europe. The 

 vast consumption of meat is not only wasteful, but in- 

 jurious to Ucnlib, and to activity, of body and mind. 

 The body if made of iron, would be unable to perform 

 all the functions imposed upon it at one time — especi- 

 ally is it, we s'jould suppose, without pretending to 

 any science on the subject, deleterious to eat meat 

 suppers — or to eat a heavy meal immediately prece- 

 ding any action of body and mind. How well this is 

 proved by the experience of the turf. Suppose a race 

 to be made for a heavy sum, half forfeit, and on going 

 into the stable, the tiuiiier finds that although he ia 

 sure that his nag is the better horse, the groom haa 

 been bribed to give him a gallon of oats and water at 

 pleasure, would he not at once withdraw, and pay for- 

 feit sooner than encounter the uncertainty of paying 

 the full amount ? May it not be averred that one half 

 of the provisions consumed in this country might ha 

 saved with certainty of avoiding the numerous disea- 

 ses that arise from plethora, impaired digestion, and 

 disordered blood ? Let the heads of any family ex ■ 

 amine, and they will find that a substitution of bread 

 and vegetables and milk for three-fourths of the meat 

 consumed, would be attended with economy and bet- 

 ter health. — American Farmer. 



Kecipe for Making French Honey. 



Take six eggs, leaving out two whites, one pound of 

 loaf sugar, a quarter ef pound of butter, the juice of 

 four lemons, and tho rind of two grated; the sugar to 

 he broken into small pieces, and the whole stewed over 

 a slow fire until it becomes of tha consistency of honey. 

 It is very nice. A Si/bsckibsb. 



Montgomery CO., Pa., May, 1841. 



Inqniiry. 



A person renders me services, and I write a letter 

 of thanks, acknowledging the obligation. Who 

 ovghl to pay Ihcposluge ? Q- 



