184 



ij\t barter's JRant|% 



our assistanco, in the blrak prairie region, for the 

 purpose of contributing to our comfort, and to econ- 

 omise in the use of fuel. 



In your issue of January 5th there was a state- 

 ment that a gentleman in Western New York, who 

 had planted a great many Evergreens about his 

 homestead a few years ago, so that his neighbors 

 laughed at his "cedar swamp," now finds that he 

 saves nearly half the fuel that was formerly re- 

 quired, and this because of the shelter afforded by 

 the tree \ 



In the "Horticultural Annual," which has re- 

 cently made its appearance from the press of Orange 

 Judd& Co., New York, among many articles of 

 value, there is one upon some of the " Rarer Ever- 

 greens that have Proved Valuable." It is written 

 by Thomas Meehan, the well known tree propag i- 

 tor, and the instructive Editor of the Gardener s 

 Monthly. Before commencii g his description, Mr. 

 Meehan expresses his views upon the heat-produ- 

 cing powers of Evergreens, and other trees in the 

 following terms : 



"We all know that a stove throws out heat by 

 reason of the fuel it consumes, and that, in like 

 manner, the food taken by an ani al, is as so much 

 fuel to a stove — the source from whic animal heat 

 is derived, and which is given off to the surround- 

 ing atmosphere, precisely as heat is given off by 

 the stove ; but it is not so well know that trees 

 give off heat in the same way ; they feed, their food 

 is decomposed, and, during decomposition, heat is 

 generated, and the surplus is given off to the at- 

 mosphere. 



"If anyone will examine a tree, a few hours 

 after a snow-storm, he will find that the snow, for 

 perhaps a quarter of an .nch from the tree, has 

 been thawed away, more or less, according to the 

 severity of the cold ; this is owing to the waste 

 heat from the tree. If he plant a hyacinth four 

 inches or more beneath the urface of the earth, in 

 November, and it becomes immediately frozen in, 

 and stays frozen solid until March, yet, when it 

 shall then be examined, it will be four d that by 

 means of its internal heat, the bud has thawed 

 itself through the frozen soil to the surface of the 

 earth. 



"These fa^ts show the power of plants to gene- 

 rate heat, and the more trees there are on a pro- 

 perty, the warmer the locality becomes. Ever- 

 i greens, besides possessing this heat-dispensing pro- 

 perty, have the additional merit of keeping in check 

 cold winds from other quarters, thus filling, as it 

 were, the two-fold office of stove and blanket." 



These statements are worthy of our serious con- 

 sideration, and while the climate is changing for 

 the worse, in the older states, since the clearing off 

 of the timber over large tracts, we, in the prairie 

 region, may anticipate a corresponding melioration 

 of climate, both as to temperature and moisture, 

 just in proportion to the increase of screens and 

 timber belts, whether these be of native growth, or 

 the result of judicious planting by our intelligent 

 farmers. — W. 



[We extract the above, by one of the Editors of 

 the Prairie Farmer, not for the purpose of display- 

 ing the compl ment to the editor of this journal, — 

 but that additional attention may be given to what we 

 consider an important fact, — one which it is now 

 sometime since we first referred to in our journal. 

 —Ed. G. M.] 



Wood Burning without actual contact 

 WITH Fire. — The Gardener s Monthly has, for 

 many years past, endeavored to educate the public 

 to the fact that greenhouses, which often " mj^ste- 

 riously " take fire, do so from the slow charring 

 process of heat on wood. 



The following paragraph, from a learned maga- 

 zine, shows that " Scientific" writers are coming to 

 the same conclusion : — 



"Scientific writers inform us that wood, when 

 continually exposed to a very moderate heat, such 

 as that of steam and hot-water pipes,, will, in a 

 space of time varying from eight to ten years, be- 

 come so inflammable that it will take fire at a tem- 

 perature very little over that of boiling water. The 

 wood undergoes a slow process of charring, and it 

 is said only awaits the admission of air (which it 

 gets by shrinking and cracking) to burst out into 

 flame." 



Sporting of Fruits.— On a tree, bearing Pound 

 Sweet apples, growing in the garden of C. C. 

 Hamilton, M.D., in Cornwallis, three apples form- 

 ed and grew on a small twig the size of a goose 

 quill and eight inches long. Two of these apples 

 had all the characteristics of the Pound Sweet, in 

 color, size, shape and other peculiarities ; while the 

 middle one was smaller, perfectly russeted, and dif- 

 ferant in shape, more ribbed at the blossom end, 

 and having a shorter stem. The twig with its 

 three apples was exhibited at Somerset, and recent- 

 ly the fruit was tested by the Council of the Fruit 

 G-rowers' Association, when it was found that the 

 apples differed also in their qualities. The two 

 apples appearing to be Pound Sweets had all their 

 true characteristics, whereas the middle one, which 



