MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER: AN AGRICULTURAL AND FAMILY JOURNAL 
m 
CULTURE OF PEAR TREES. 
\ In the spring of 1849, I purchased a 
, choice lot of pear trees, and set them out 
s as well and carefully as I could, with my 
knowledge of the business. One tree died 
, the first summer, and the next—more of 
them seemed affected with some disease, 
which, this spring, came out plainly. Some 
of the trees set very full of buds, (they 
' bore well last summer,) but soon they all 
dropped off. The leaves assumed a dull 
yellowish color, with the ends blackened as 
if burned,—the bark exhibited dark purple 
\ spots and stripes, and on cutting into the 
body of the tree the wood was black and 
J in some places dry. This I suppose is the 
> blight; and some said it was caused by too 
much acid in the sap, and recommended 
> me to try soap suds as a remedy. 
, Accordingly, I scraped off the outside 
bark from the body of the tree, and applied 
; the suds with a broom, doing this for sev¬ 
eral weeks, once or twice a week. But my 
trees did not improve as fast as I desired, 
, so I concluded to use something stronger, 
and as my folks had a leach running, I tried 
washing with ley. Whether they had got 
started with the suds before or not, I can¬ 
not tell, but at any rate they are as thrifty 
and promising at present as any one could 
> desire. I am indebted to Mr. Frost, of the 
) Genesee Valley nurseries, for the sugges- 
> tion referred to, of using soap suds as a 
) remedy. Wm. Law. 
needle, so says Dr. Green, devour them. 
Dr. Green says that “86 of these spoilers 
have been known to infest a single rosebud 
at the same time.” 
The writer was led to prepare the article 
on the rose-chafer in consequence of a gar¬ 
dener’s inquiry concerning the mode of prop¬ 
agation. The earth is the place in which 
a vast amount of animal transformation 
takes place. Insects and reptiles, many of 
them, deposit their eggs in the earth, and 
there leave them. In due time they come 
forth to feed, mature, propagate, and die. 
They know no mother but earth—and with 
the dust that warmed them, as it were, into 
life, they soon return to commingle. w. 
f 
Rochester, N. Y., July 20,1851. 
ROSE- CHAFER.— (Melclonthe. SubspinosaU 
The rose-chafer, or rose-bug, as it is more 
commonly called, is, or has been until re¬ 
cently, much more common in the Eastern 
States. It is, alas, becoming far too com¬ 
mon here. Only a few years since, says 
Dr. Harris, the rose-chafer was unknown 
in the northern and western parts of Mas¬ 
sachusetts, in New Hampshire and in 
Maine. The writer remembers well that 
only a few years have passed since the 
rose-bugs became common in the interior 
of the “ Bay State.” They were then call¬ 
ed “Art Joslyn buys,” from the circum¬ 
stance that they were discovered in the trail 
of one Artemas Joslyn, who crossed the 
fields and meadows of a farmer. 
This species of the order Coleoptera, 
(from koleas a sheath and petron, a wing,) 
is a scourge which the nurserymen and 
gardeners have very much reason to fear. 
These bugs usually make their appearance 
about the time that roses begin to flower 
and from the circumstance of their feeding 
upon the petals, have been called rose-bugs. 
They have greatly increased in num¬ 
bers within a very few years. They are 
not difficult about their food. They seem to 
prefer the rose showing that they have 
good taste, which, when it cannot be satia¬ 
ted on the queen of flowers, however, caused 
them to turn to the grape vine, the cherry 
plum, apple, the grass of the fields, and the> 
trees of the forest. 
They usually make their appearance 
about the first of June, and remain 6 or 7 
weeks, when the males perish. The fe¬ 
males enter the ground to the depth of 3 
or 4 inches and deposit about 30 eggs 
apiece and then return to the surface and die. 
These eggs, says Dr. Harris, are globu¬ 
lar, whitish and about 1-30 of an inch in 
diameter, and are hatched in about 20 days 
after they are laid. The larvae begin im¬ 
mediately to feed on such tender roots as 
are within their reach; and like other grubs 
of the Scarabceian tribe, lie upon the side 
when not engaged in eating, with the tail 
in near contact with the head. They de¬ 
scend below the frost in October, and re¬ 
main in a torpid condition until the ap¬ 
proach of spring, when they return toward 
the surface and in due time appear upon 
vegetation, perfect rose-chafers. 
The late John Lowell, Esq., of Boston, 
says, that in 1823, he discovered on a soli¬ 
tary apple-tree such numbers as could not 
be described, and would not be believed if 
described—unless seen. They were sha¬ 
ken from the tree upon sheets spread un- 
underneath, and destroyed by fire. 
Every gardener, farmer and nurseryman 
should do what he can to destroy these in¬ 
sects, which are becoming such a scourge 
to the vegetable world. Insectiverous birds^ 
and a species of the dragon-fly, or devil’s 
This beautiful and excellent native pear 
was first introduced in this vicinity, by 
Judge Chapin of this city, who brought it 
to Rochester from Macedon, N. Y., some 
dozen years ago. He found the fruit acci¬ 
dentally in market, and thinking it a valu- 
ble one—the best of its season—procured 
grafts the following spring, making the jour¬ 
ney for that special purpose. Mr. Osband, 
from whom this pear is named, procured the 
original tree in Wayne county, in this State, 
many years ago. 
J. J. Thomas, in his “ Fruit Culturist,” 
gives the following description: 
Medium in size, often rather small, obo- 
vate, regular, smooth and even; sometimes 
remotely pyriform; greenish yellow becom¬ 
ing yellow, with a reddish brown cheek, of¬ 
ten faintly russeted; stalk three-fourths to 
one inch long, slightly sunk in a nearly even 
cavity; calyx erect, in a round, nearly even 
or slightly wrinkled basin; flesh white, gran¬ 
ular, with a sweet, mild, and fine flavor.— 
First rate in its best state, but soon loses its 
flavor when mature. Ripens early in 8 mo. 
(Aug.) Shoots yellowish olive, thick. 
ELACE WARTS ON CHERRY TREES. 
Mr. Moore :—I noticed in the Rural of 
July 10th, an article concerning black warts 
on cherry and plum trees. I have seen 
much of these warts in the last six years, 
and perhaps my ideas concerning the causes 
are erroneous, but they are founded on ob¬ 
servation. I have opened many of these 
warts, and never yet failed to find a worm 
or maggot, or where there had been one,— 
this led me to the conclusion that these 
worms changed to a fly which deposited 
its eggs under the bark of a branch of the 
same season’s growth — which egg again 
changed to a worm, and so on from year to 
year. I can find no other cause or shadow 
of a cause for this affliction which has now 
spread throughout our State. 
In Seneca Co., this disease attacks only 
the plum, while in Steuben it is confined to 
the cherry trees, though I have seen on 
willow bushes a bunch similar, except in 
color, which results from the same cause, 
but a different worm or fly. I should think 
that salt would hardly operate as a pre¬ 
ventive. The only means which I can think 
would prove adequate is to clip off the 
knots as fast as they appear in the spring, 
for their is little use of locking the door af¬ 
ter the horse is stolen. Burn the knots so 
as to kill the worms. 
People having trees affected by this dis¬ 
ease, if they do not cut off the branches so 
as to destroy the worm, had better cut 
down and burn the tree, as it will present 
a horrible appearance and affect all neigh¬ 
boring trees of its kind. If any other per¬ 
son has observed anything contrary to the 
above, I would be happy to know their ideas 
concerning it. I have merely written facts 
and thoughts as I believe them, 
Wm, H. Gardner. 
Hornby, July 27,1851. 
THE TIME FOR BUDDING. 
As to the time for budding, no definite 
rules can be given. It varies with the sea¬ 
son, the weather, the age and growth of 
stocks, the ripeness of the buds, and other 
circumstances. We generally commence 
about the first of August First with toe 
plum, then the cherry, pear, quince and ap¬ 
ple, extending nearly, and sometimes quite 
through the month. If the cherries are 
young and vigorous, ihey may be omitted 
till the middle or latter part of the montii. 
We have budded cherries the first of 
August, as they appeared to be nearly done 
growing; afterwards the weather became 
wet and warm, and the trees grew more 
thanone- half, and threw out the buds, and 
we budded again the first week in Septem¬ 
ber with success. Some seasons we have 
known the pear to stop growing so early 
that it could not be budded after the first 
week in August. Again, we have known 
it budded the first week in September, and 
notwithstanding it was so late, the buds 
started, and grew an inch or two that fall, 
and the winter killed them. So no precise 
rule can^ be given for future action, any 
more than for the time to cut hay or grain. 
The better way is to begin in season, and if 
there be a failure from budding too early, 
repeat it It is necessary that the stocks 
should continue to grow about ten days 
after the buds are set, that they may unite 
firmly with the stocks. 
Peaches should generally be budded 
from the first to the middle of September. 
Old trees early in the month, but young 
trees from seed this season, about the mid¬ 
dle. Generally vigorous trees of two years’ 
growth should be budded about from the 
5th to the 12th of September. We have 
succeeded in budding peaches as late as 
the 20th of September, but warm wet 
weather succeeded. If the weather had 
been cool and dry, they would have failed. 
A great deal of care is necessary to see 
that the bands do not bind too closely, and 
to see that they are properly re-tied after 
being loosened. Generally the bands need 
to be loosened in about ten days after bud¬ 
ding; sometimes earlier, and frequently 
later. In some cases the bands will not 
bind too tightly during the season.— New 
England Farmer. 
STRAWBERRIES- 
A correspondent of the Friend’s Re¬ 
view, published in Philadelphia, who has 
been exceedingly successful in the cultiva¬ 
tion of this delicious fruit, in a communica¬ 
tion to that journal, remarks: 
“Those who know anything About the 
magnificent strawberries and the immense 
quantity of them raised in a bed 30 feet by 
40, for several years past, in the garden 
formerly owned by me in King street; may 
like to know the process by which I culti¬ 
vated them. I applied about once a week, 
for three times, commencing when the 
green leaves first began to start, and ma¬ 
king the last application just before the 
plants were in full bloom, the following- 
preparation—of nitre of potash, of glauber 
salts, and sal soda, each, one pound; of ni¬ 
trate of ammonia one quarter of a pound 
—dissolving in 30 gallons of rain or river 
water. One-third was applied at a time; 
and when the weather was dry I applied 
clear soft water between the times of using 
the preparation—as the growth of the young 
leaves is so rapid that unless well supplied 
with water the sun will scorch them. I 
used a common watering pot and made the 
application towards evening. Managed in 
this way there is never any necessity of dig- 
ing over the bed or setting it out anew.— 
Beds of ten years old are not only as good, 
but better than those two or three years 
old. But you must be sure and keep the 
weeds out.” 
GARDEN HINTS. 
Leaves shaded from the light do not ac¬ 
quire depth of color or strength of flavor; 
gardeners take advantage of this fact, tying 
up lettuces and earthing cellery, that they 
may be white and mild. 
Light is necessary to flowers that they 
may acquire their proper hues; therefore, 
when kept in rooms, their place should be 
as near to the window as possible. 
Plants are in their most active state of 
growth while in flower; avoid all trans¬ 
planting them at this period, for in all prob¬ 
ability they will suffer from the check. 
All plants have a season of rest; discov¬ 
er what season is peculiar to each, and 
choose that season for transplanting. 
Grow nothing carelessly; whatever is 
worth growing at all, is worth growing 
well. 
Not much Trouble to Try it.—To 
raise an orchard of grafted fruit without 
grafting! How can it be done? Select 
the kind of fruit you desire, then take a 
linen string and tie it as near the top as 
may be. Let ic remain one year, then you 
have above the string one year’s growth.— 
Over the string will form a bulb; cut off 
just below and set it in the ground, and 
from the bulb will start out roots, and soon 
trees of a dwarfish size will be seen groan¬ 
ing under a burden of fruit. 
4!tcel)ame 
LIST OF PATENT CLAIMS 
ISSUED FROM THE UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 
For the week ending July 22, 1851. 
To J. J. Riddle, of Covington, Ky., for improve¬ 
ment in brick machines. 
To G. II. Thatcher, of Albany, N. Y., for im¬ 
provement in combined fountain and operator. 
To J. V. Strait, of Litchfield, O., for improve¬ 
ment in mode of changing reciprocating into rota¬ 
ry motion. 
To John Jones, of Clyde N. Y., for improve¬ 
ment in hanging carriage bodies. 
To Wm. & Wm. H. Lewis, of New York, N. 
Y., for improvement in buffing apparatus for da¬ 
guerreotypes plates. 
To John Jones, of Clyde, N. Y., for improve¬ 
ments banging carriage bodies. 
To C. W. Stearns, of Springfield, Mass., for 
improvement in faucets. 
To J. A. Lawrence, (assignor to Roberts & 
Lampson,) of New Haven, Ct., for improvement 
in saddle-trees for harness. 
To J. F. Flanders, of Newburyport, Mass., for 
improvement in pumps for raising water, &c. 
To D. R. Ambrose, of Portsmouth, N. H., & 
O. L. Reynolds, of Dover, N. H., for improve¬ 
ment in clothdressing machines. 
To Samuel Cook, of Adam’s Basin, N. Y., for 
improvement in Hour bolts. 
To N. A. Boynton, of Boston, Mass., for im¬ 
provement in parlor cooking stoves. 
To S. A. Bantz & Wm. Andrew, of Frederick, 
Md., for improvements in mills for grinding corn 
and cobs. 
To M. G. Hubbard, of Rochester, N. Y., for 
improvements in carriage springs. 
To Wm. Hawkins, of Milwaukie, Wis., for im¬ 
provement in stave-dressing machines. 
To Joseph Burgess, of Leicester, Mass., for 
improved machine for dressing boot forms. 
To Jacob Jenkins, of Andover, Mass., for im¬ 
provement in feather edging gauges for shoema¬ 
kers. 
To S. W. Kirk, of Coatesville, Pa., for im¬ 
provement in bran dusters. 
To Reuben Shalor, of Madison, Conu., for im¬ 
provement in dyeing door mats. 
To Win. R. Jones, of Granville, N. Y., for im¬ 
provement in machines for preparing hubs for 
boxes. 
DESIGNS. 
To H. K. Flinchbaugh, of Koneetoga, Pa., for 
design for cast-iron tomb. 
PAST ARTS. 
We are reviving the arts of the ancients, 
one by one ; but we may not re-discover 
all that they knew. All record of their 
knowledge has passed away forever. Ever 
since the age of modern language, written 
and printed, has come in, we are frequent¬ 
ly tailing on the traces of old discoveries, 
which had been neglected or forgotten.— 
The Thames Tunnel was thought to be an 
entirely new manifestation of engineering 
genius; but the discovery of an ancient 
tunnel under the wide mouth of the harbor 
at Marseilles, a few years ago, showed that 
the ancients were beforehand with us. 
The other day, a manuscript of Papin, 
the inventor of the “ Digester,” came to light, 
showing he had discovered methods to dead¬ 
en pain,and that chloroform is no new thing: 
the name of the newly discovered treasure 
is “ Traite des Operations sans douleur.” 
In like manner, at a sale of a library in Paris, 
recently, there turned up a dusty old manu¬ 
script, entitled, “A treaties on Electricity ap¬ 
plied to the transmission of news,” and bear¬ 
ing the date of 1765. The author’s name 
was Lesage; he was a physician, the son 
of a Frenchman settled in Switzerland. It 
is said that in 1/74, an electric telegraph 
was actually established in Geneva. " This 
telegraph was composed of twenty-four 
separate wires, answering to the twenty-four 
letters of the alphabet. This apparatus, 
all imperfect as it was, is averred to have 
contained and illustrated the principle of 
that which is now in such general use. 
There is also every reason to believe, 
from the works of Friar Bacon, who .flour¬ 
ished in the thirteenth century, long before 
the invention of printing, that the applica¬ 
tion of steam to mechanical purposes was 
quite well known to him. But whether he 
derived his knowledge of such a power from 
tradition, handed down from those who had 
lost or forgotten the practical uses of steam, 
or arrived at it through original investiga¬ 
tions of his own, it is impossible for us now 
to know. The modern inventions of the 
steamship, the railway locomotive, the hy¬ 
draulic machine, and the diving bell, seem 
to be quite distinctly referred to in the fol¬ 
lowing passage, which is of very curious in¬ 
terest : 
“ I will now,” he says, “ mention some 
of the wonderful works of art and nature, 
in which there is nothing of magic, and 
which magic could not perform. Instru¬ 
ments may be made, by which the largest 
ships, with only man guiding them, will be 
carried with greater velocity than if they 
were full of sailors. Chariots may be con¬ 
structed that will move with incredible 
rapidity, without the help of animals. In¬ 
struments of flying may be formed, in which 
a man, sitting at his ease, and meditating 
on any subject, may beat the air with his 
artificial wings, after the manner of birds. 
A small instrument may be made to raise 
or depress the greatest weights. An in¬ 
strument may be fabricated, by which one 
man may draw a thousand men to him by 
force and against their will; as also ma¬ 
chines which will enable men to walk at the 
bottom of seas or rivers, without danger.” 
We have certainly discovered, or revi¬ 
ved it may be, the steamship, the hydraulic 
machine, the atmospheric railway and the 
diving-bell; but one old patent we cannot 
get up,—for we cannot fly. — iV A. Miscel¬ 
lany. 
CLAPBOARD PLANING MACHINE 
Mr. E. D. Worcester, of Lockport, Ni¬ 
agara Co., N. Y., lias invented and taken 
measures to secure a patent for a very ex¬ 
cellent and new improvement in machin¬ 
ery for planing boards on both sides at once, 
and making them into clapboards and Jun¬ 
gles, at one continous operation. 
He employs the Bramah wheel cutters, 
which project out and cut beyond the edge 
of a shield which holds the board tight to 
the action of the cutters. The board is fed 
in edgewise, and there is a like arrangement 
of cutters on both sides. The board by this 
action, is reduced and planed on both sides 
to the requisite thickness. In connection 
with the planers, there are disc planes for 
trimming the edges. Behind all is placed 
a circular saw set in such a manner that it 
divides the boards in two halves lengthwise, 
by an oblique cut forming two clap¬ 
boards planed on the outside.— Scientific 
American. 
A New Machine. —We have been much 
pleased with the examination of a machine, 
recently invented by Joseph D. Elliott, of 
Leicester, for measuring and folding, at one 
operation, cloth of every description. It is 
of the most simple construction, and does 
the work in the neatest and most perfect 
manner. There is one of them now in 
operation at that mill of Pratt & Smith, 
New England Village, which, we under¬ 
stand, folds eighty yards a minute, in yard 
folds. The machines are built by John E. 
Earle, of Leicester, and are afforded at the 
low price of one hundred dollars each, with 
fifty cents to each loom, additional, for the 
right of using. At this price, no mill can 
well afford to be without one of them. 
Neiv Seed Drill.— Mr. Enoch Bough- 
ton, of East Bloomfield, Ontario Co., has 
taken measures to secure a patent for an 
improvement in grain drills for sowing seed 
broad-cast, which is a very excellent im¬ 
provement. The grain passes down through 
suitable tubes, alter which it strikes upon 
rods underneath, and is scattered right and 
left in a broad-cast manner on the earth. 
— Sci. Am. 
Puff-balls for Wounds. — A writer 
who signs himself M. B. G., states that the 
common puff-ball is perhaps the best pos¬ 
sible application for a fresh cut or bleeding 
wound. Close the wound quickly as pos¬ 
sible, break open the puff-ball and apply it 
directly, tieing it on; it will stop the bleed¬ 
ing almost instantaneously, protect the 
wound like a cushion, so that you can 
scarcely wet or hurt it; and if the wound 
is not severe, you have only to let it alone, 
and it will be well almost before you are 
aware of it 
To Preserve Green Gages. —Green 
gages perfectly ripe are too delicate to make 
| a handsome preserve. Select those that 
I are fully grown, perfectly sound, and not 
1 quite ripe. Weigh them, and to every 
three pounds of fruit allow three pounds of 
fine white sugar and half a pint of cold 
water; put the sugar and water into the 
preserving-pan and over a moderate fire, 
and when the sugar is entirely dissolved, 
put the green gages into the pan, one by 
one; let them scald, then take them from 
the syrup and boil the syrup until it is quite 
thick, then put the plums into it again, 
and boil them five minutes; take them out 
carefully with a perforated skimmer and 
put them into a deep and large bowl. 
Boil the syrup a few minutes longer, then 
pour it hot upon the plums; let the whole 
stand twenty-four hours, the fill your jars 
with the preservse, put a paper wet with 
brandy upon the top of each preserve, cov¬ 
er each jar tightly, that the air cannot en¬ 
ter it, and keep the jars in a cool place un¬ 
til wanted.— Mrs. Bliss. 
Making Vinegar.— It is a general opin¬ 
ion that cider makes the best vinegar, and 
it is probably the best substance generally 
used for this purpose; but maple sap is 
superior to cider for vinegar. The juice of 
blackberries makes a very superior vinegar 
for table use, retaining the beautiful color 
and fine aroma of the fruit The juice of 
the little wild red cherry, and many other 
small fruits, make excellent table vinegar. 
In the days of our childhood, in a new 
country, all the vinegar used in the fami¬ 
ly was made from the wild fruits, or frou 
the sap of the maple. And in this respect 
there has been no improvement in the quali¬ 
ty of vinegar, but a deterioration. —JV. E. 
Farmer. 
