r<-«-r yc^iywV^-Ty^j'r^ ■;" ' '■• 



t .■• 



-Xi--- 



46 



THE ILI.I:N^0IS Ih-^^-RMEK. 



opened to dry. How many can say the 

 same of 140 acres? 



" Bleaciiino. — There is no bleaching 

 to the grain put up by this machine. — 

 The heads ot every course, except the 

 top, being all under cover ol: the butts of 

 the preceding course, there is no chance 

 for bleaching. 



*'Rakinq — This is done by the sim 



plest contrivance, Glover's Rakers. They ; our ganloiis wouM disappear ami be replaced 

 are but a few sticks of wood, and can be ' by a few original wild f'onus." 



made with a jack-knife and hand-saw 



*' Sickle. — The sickle is the ordinary 

 scollop, but has a remarkably large stroke 

 and quiet motion ; such that the slowest 

 oxen will cut the grain perfectly, and yet 

 the fastest walk of horses will not jar or 

 rattle the machinery. 



" Solidity. — The solidity of these 

 machines is unequalled. Ic is as sub- 

 stantial as an ox cart, and scarcely il ore 

 complicated. 



_ "Centre Draught. --"Its centre draug ht 

 is perfect, owing to the weight of the 

 shocking cart being on the side of the 

 "wheel opposite the cutter bar. 



"Uneven GROUiNTD. — The grou.id wheel 



is hollow, HAVING NEITHER SPOK'B NOR 



HUB. This brings the bearing clcse to 

 the ground, and by a peculiar, but i natu- 

 ral and simple shifting of the cen tre, 

 where the ground is uneven, all unstea d- 

 iness is done away with, even when run - 

 ning along the side of, or across a dea J 

 furrow. It never tips or Jr'alters. 



"Hauling.— The simplest ond best 

 way of doing this is by a light stone boat, 

 either running on the ground, or mounted 

 on wheels. Half an acre can be so haul- 

 ed at A load by a span of horses." 



the apple have been derived froih the crab 

 apples of the woods and ]iGd<i,eri, and are, 

 therefore, artiBcial productions, the results 

 of skillful cultivation, bcinir susceptible of 

 indefinite improvement, and of a multiplica- 

 tion of varieties without limit. Yet, not- 

 ■\vithstandlug all this, ])r. Lindley says, 

 "there can be no doubt that if the arts of 

 cultivation were abandoned for only a few 

 years, all the annual varieties of j)lants in 



the (Bxxhml 



From noTey'H M>i>ca7.ine of nortiiultur*. 



History of Fruit Trees and Iruils. 



EY LEAXDER -WETnERELL. 



THB APFLK TF.El. 



Of all the various products of the farm 

 and the garden, nothiuij so tempts the appe- 

 tite as rij)e, luscious fruit in their srasou. It 

 is well (tecasionally, to consider tbe iMi[u:r\- 

 not unfre(|uently made, "Whenc.i have we 

 derived all these excellent vari .'ties of tlu' 

 apple, the pear, the cherry, t' le plum, tlu' 

 peach, the strawberry, the gc ,jsel>erry, ami 

 the currantr' To answer sue u and kindred 

 questions, it is necessary to interrogate the 

 records of the past. 



The apple tree is mentioi .ed in tlic early 

 records of both sacred and profane history. 

 Solomon alludes to it on thi i wise — ''As ihe 

 apple tree among tl.c trees of the wood, so it 

 my belovc«.l," etc. The p' ophct Joel men- 

 tions f?rc apf>le. dfc* as bei nt? held in hi<:h 

 estimation amon_s* the ini it trees. It 

 eluded in the natural laiu ily of phints call 

 Rcsaccaj, from the rose, ^ „hc typo ofthe fami- 

 ly, comprising most o£t> e fruits ol'thj tem- 

 perate zone. 



Eotanists are agTeod that all varieties ol 



IS HI- 



cd 



by 



The crab apples,, whence have originated 

 all varieties, are cmimon in both Asia and 

 Europe. There are also two or tliree species 

 indigenous to America, — as the Pi/ruA coro- 

 imria of the South, rarely attaining the 

 height of twenty feet, producing large, fra- 

 grant, rose-cohn-e 1 blo.-^sonis, hence cilled 

 sweet-scented crab, bearing small fruit; in the 

 Middle States, P. aii'/iii^fi/o/ift, with smaller 

 leaves, flowers and fruit; and 1*. riciilm-is, 

 the crab of Oregon, bearing a small fruit, the 

 size of a cherry, used by tlic Indians as an 

 article of iood. None of the present cultiva- 

 ted varieties of the apple, it is said, have been 

 derived i'rom American crabs, but from 

 seeds brought hither by settlers from Eu- 

 rope. 



The common name of th's well-known 



fruit, Pi/rux m«/«.s, is derived from the (rreck 



apiosj the Celtic opt, and the Saxon rrpprl, 



each signifying a fruit. The original crab is 



armed with small thorns, leaves serrate, fruit 



small and exceedingly acrid, and indigenous 



in most p;irts of Europe. It is not known 



whence the Europeans derived the cultivated 



apple, — probably, however, from the East. 



It WAS, introduced into I'^ngland most likely 



I, y the lU)nians. Twenty-nine varieties were 



k, \own in Italy at the time of tl'.e Christian 



era.- The number was greatly increased at 



the Norman coiKpicst. 



] Uny, writing of apples, says, ''there are 

 manv i*p}'les trees in tlie villages near iioiiie 

 thatl. 't for till! yc'irly sum, each, of 2,000 

 SLstercv 'Sf (about SiJO;) some of them yielded 

 more T,r "»iit to the owner than small farm. 

 This bro 'Jj^ht abou^ the invention of graft- 

 ing." 



Says A'ii 



— — "firan Mio tonilcfslioof. 



Tlij- ciiilJr, "'•■' t'hilun.11 sljaU cnj'.'y the fruit."' 



IMinv farthi. 1' remarks, ''Thoro urc apjiles 

 th;it have eiiu. ''bJt'il the coaiitrii^s whence 

 they came, and have immortali/.ed their 

 founilei.. anil in 7enfc ;is; such as took their 

 names Wcm i'lat in.-, Cestius, .AL-nlius, and 

 Claudius." lie aicutions the (juince apple, 

 produced by graft "Jig the <|uincei>ii the ap|>le 

 stock, and called . ijiiaiia, aiter Appius. < t'the 

 Claudian house, w! lo first practiced thi,>gniit- 

 ing. "Some I'.jiph !S aro to j'cd," say-: In; '-that 

 they resemble bh-od, c.titsed by ^hcir tir.-t 

 having been grafted upon a mulberry stock." 

 "The most exeelle at of :dl, both on ao- 

 eount of its sweetui ks and agiveableness ol' 

 flavor," sii^-s he, "took its name from Petisius. 

 who reared it in hi.;, time.." J'liny furtlier 

 adds, "1 have seen \ .oar 'J'JiuliiC, in the coun- 

 try of tiie Tibuitincs, a tree grafted and 

 laden with all mann.er of fruits, one bougF 

 bearing nuts, anoth vx berries; here hung 

 grapes, there figs; iiL one jiart you might see 

 pears, in another pe niognaiates; and, there is 

 no kind of apple or other fruit but there it 



gil- 



was to be found : but this tree did not live 

 long." Horticulturists of the present day 

 may call this fabulous; but they should re- 

 meniber that Pliny was one of the most dis- 

 tinguished naturalists of any age of the 

 world's history; and it should not be forgot- 

 ten, that his life was not only devoted to, but 

 his death caused by, his labors in the search 

 after truth in many and mar\-elous works of 

 nature. 



The following curious description of the 

 apple tree is taken from Gerai'd's "History of 

 Plants" :— 



"The apple tree hath a body of truncke 

 Commonly of a meane bigne.sse, not very 

 high, hauing long armcs or branches, and the 

 same disortlered; the barke somewhat plaine, 

 and not verie rugged: the leaues bee also 

 broad, more long than round, and finely 

 in the edges. The flourcs are whittish, tend- 

 ing vntoa blush colour. The fruit or Apple 

 doe differ in greatnessc, forme, Colour and 

 taste; some couercd with a red skinne, others 

 yellow or greene, very great, some little, an«l 

 many a middle sort; some arc sweet of taste, 

 or something sourc; most be of middle taste 

 betwecne «we"et and soure, the which to dis • 

 tinguish I thinkc impossible; notwithstanding 

 I heare of one that intendeth to write a pecu- 

 liar volume of Apples, and the vse of them; 

 yet when hee hath done what hee can doe, 

 hee hath done nothing touching their seuer- 

 all kindes to distinguish them. This that 



hath been said shall suffice for our Historic." 



The apjile tree attains to a great age. 

 Ilaller mentions some trees in Hereibrdshire 

 that were one th(msand years old, and good 

 bearers. Mr. Knight considered two hun- 

 dred years as the ordinary duration of a tree 

 grafted on a crab stock, planted in a strong, 

 tenacious soil. Spccchly mentions a tree in 

 an orchard at IJurton-joyce, near Notting- 

 ham, about sixty years old, with branches 

 extending twenty-seven feet round the bole, 

 which produced in 17U2 twenty -five bushels 

 of apples. 



31r. Downing mentions two trees in the 

 grounds of 31 r. Hall of Kaynham, Mass., 

 about one hundred and fifty years old. The 

 trunk of one of these meatured, one foot from 

 the ground, thirteen feet and two inches, and 

 thb other twelve feet and two inches. The 

 trees bure that sea.-on about forty bushels of 

 apples. In ITSO, the two bore one hun- 

 dred and one bushels. In Duxbury, Pl}'- 

 niouth county, is a tree, twelve feet and five 

 inches in circumference, which has borne 

 one hundred and twenty-one and a half bush- 

 els of ajiples in a season. Th-re is a tree on 

 the larm uf Closes Stebbins, South Pcerfield 

 Franklin county, about the s:ime size, and a 

 prolific bearer. 



The celebrated traveler Van Buch re- 

 marked, that the apple and the common fruit 

 trees grow wherever the o.ik thrives. In 

 Europe the apple is tultivatd to the sixtieth 

 degree of north laliludc. (Iood apples arc 

 produced in the Orkney and Shetland Islands. 

 The people of Lapland showed Linnaeus what 

 "they Cilled an apple tree, which bore no 

 fruit," said they, "because a beggar woman 

 cursed it in con.se<iuenee of having been rc- 

 fu.^icd some of it:^ Ihiit. Tlie bot:ini.st in- 

 tormed them it was elm, a rare tree in that 

 latitude. 



It has already been stated that the apple 



