MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER: AN AGRICULTURAL AND FAMILY JOURNAL. 
FRUITS IN NORTHERN ILLINOIS. 
Probably our prairies are not in all re¬ 
spects as good for fruits generally, as West¬ 
ern New York. Our winters and springs 
are extremely variable. Sometimes we 
have the steady cold winter of a high north¬ 
ern clime, succeeded by a regular gradu¬ 
ated spring; at other times our winters are 
only an extension of Indian summer, and 
succeeded by a cold and changable spring. 
These great variations are often fatal to the 
fruit crops,—especially peaches. 
But we have some offsets to these unfa¬ 
vorable circumstances. First,—A soil that 
is not excelled by any on the globe. Trees 
make a rapid, vigorous, and healthy growth, 
without those artificial aids which are ne¬ 
cessary on poorer and harder soils. Second, 
— Our summers are generally bland, dry, 
and warm. Grain and fruits expand rapidly, 
and ripen early. 
I cannot speak from experience, (for my 
two years residence has been in too new a 
settlement,) but I have read and heard from 
good authority, that fruits in Illinois are 
larger, and richer, than the same kinds in 
older States. This is probably our com¬ 
pensation for an occasional failure. 
Apple trees have about the same enemies 
to contend with here, as in New York.— 
The borer, caterpillar, and canker-worm 
have made themselves known. In a recent 
ride through the country, I noticed in the 
older orchards, a blight which is cpiite com¬ 
mon. The ends of the limbs seem to have 
been suddenly killed. This is probably the 
same that is sometimes called, “fire blight,” 
and what Downing calls “insect blight.”— 
In some orchards, more than half the trees 
were more or less affected. But in spite of 
all enemies, large and fine crops of apples 
are generally produced, whenever the trees 
have obtained the requisite size and age. 
I cannot say as much of peaches. More 
than half the time, on the open prairies 
they do not produce at all; and I am told 
there occasionally comes a storm which kills 
the entire tree except the roots. Peach 
orchards are not much noted any where 
for their beauty, but i never saw them any 
where else, look so brambly and scragged 
as here. This appearance is owing to the 
total neglect of trimming off the lower 
limbs, as it is said they are less liable to 
winter kill; and when they do winter kill, 
the whole nest of suckers thrown up by the 
living roots are .allowed to grow. 
The cherry, plum, grape, and pear, gen¬ 
erally produce abundantly. Wild fruits 
and berries are very prolific, and are much 
used. In this section of the State we have 
wild plums, crab apples, gooseberries, black 
berries, raspberries and strawberries; and 
a little south of us, they have in addition to 
these, persimmons, pa paws and mulberries- 
Others, before me, have pronounced Il¬ 
linois the garden of the world; and I think 
our fruits will prove no disgrace to the gar¬ 
den. And as no country possesses equal 
advantage for such universal and instan¬ 
taneous planting of orchards, as the prairie, 
we may reasonably expect an abundant 
supply very soon. 
Break and fence the wild prairie one sea¬ 
son, and the next it is as ready as ever for 
a garden or an orchard. You will find a 
nursery within a half days ride, and you 
can obtain the choicest kinds of apple trees 
of the proper age for setting, at a York 
shilling each. 
Some of our old settlers, neglect setting 
out an orchard because they think it is too 
late, but generally new comers very prop¬ 
erly provide for an orchard the first tiling. 
Not to do so, when it is so easily done, is a 
blindness to the future, totally unbecoming 
a man of sense and reflection. l. d. w. 
Indiantown, Ill., July, 1851. 
White Blackberries. —The Salem 
(Mass.) Gazette of last week says;—“ It is 
an ancient joke that ‘all blackberries are 
red when they are green.’ We have re¬ 
cently received a quantity perfectly ripe, 
but of a beautiful light pea green color, of 
a luscious sweetness, and the brightest 
cleanest and handsomest of all the small 
fruits. They were raised by Mr. J. S. Need¬ 
ham, of Danvers, and have been propagated 
from a single plant, obtained in the State of 
Maine, which was, no doubt, an accidental 
variety of the common high bush black¬ 
berry.” 
FRUIT TREES—TIMELY HINTS. 
Attend to your fruit trees. Support by 
props or remove the fruit of such as are 
overburdened. In doing this, take care 
that you do not injure the bark. Place be¬ 
tween it and the stake whenever employed, 
something that is soft—like woolen cloth or 
hay. Let these props be taken away as 
soon as the fruit is gathered. 
Be careful to remove from the garden 
anti orchard such as seem to ripen and fall 
early. By doing so you will destroy mul¬ 
titudes of insects in embryo. In order to 
effect this thoroughly, wherever it is expe¬ 
dient, let the pigs run in the orchard until 
the fruit is ripe and fit to save. Otherwise 
pick up and remove what are not unfre- 
quently denominated windfalls. These will 
almost always if examined be found to con¬ 
tain a grub or a well grown worm. 
If you would have your grapes mature 
and ripen well, keep the grounds free from 
weeds and grass and from trailing wander¬ 
ers from the vine stalk. Thus you will pre¬ 
vent mildew and improve the quality of the 
fruit, and also hasten the time of its ripen¬ 
ing. In pruning or removing from the 
main branches or vines, side productions or 
suckers, avoid the injuring of the leaves > 
whose office, in part, is to protect the grow¬ 
ing fruit from too great an exposure to the 
direct rays of the sun. 
This is the time for budding apples, pears, 
peaches, nectarines and almonds. Look to 
your July buddings, if any nursery work of 
this kind was then done. Remove any 
shoots which have appeared—also from the 
the trees that were grafted in the spring. 
Preserve fruit stones, such as you desire 
to grow, and plant them as soon as you can 
make it convenient to do so. 
Keep your nursery free from weeds, if 
you would see seedlings in a healthy, grow¬ 
ing state. 
Itis interesting to watch the struggle that 
goes on during the warm season between 
the industrious gardener, farmer and nur¬ 
seryman, and their, enemies, the weeds, 
which seem to tread hard, as it were, upon 
the heels of the growing crop. They are 
like the theives and robbers of civilized so¬ 
ciety. The latter are not more eager to ob¬ 
tain their booty, than the former, from vege¬ 
table instinct, so to speak, are to produce 
seed. This the faithful and ever vigilant 
tiller of the soil has set himself against in 
the most determined manner. Such a gar- 
dener would consider it less odium upon his 
character, to fail of producing a crop, thro’ 
the want of skill, than through negligence 
to have suffered a crop of weed seed to 
have matured and disseminated itself over 
his cultivated grounds. w. 
—" 5 ' "» I . 
TO MAKE YOUNG PEAR TREES BEAR. 
I was afflicted by the sight in my garden 
for four or five years, of the most luxuriant 
and thrifty young pear trees, which would 
not bear, but all their strength ran to wood. 
Yexed at this, I resolved to try the effect 
of bending down the branches so as to 
check the flow of sap and cause them to 
form fruit buds instead of wood buds.— 
Accordingly, the first week of December, 
1847, I filled my pockets with stout twine; 
I drove down some small pegs into the 
ground underneath my trees, (which had 
branched low, so as to make dwarfish 
heads;) I then tied a string to the end of 
every long shoot, and gradually bringing 
down the end of the limb till it curved 
down so as to make a considerable bend or 
bow, I fastened it in that position either 
by tying the other end of the string to the 
peg, or to another branch or a part of the 
trunk. 
According to my expectation, the tree 
next year changed its habit of growth, and 
set an abundance of fruit buds. Since that 
I have had plentiful crops of fruit without 
trouble—take good care not to let many 
branches go on the upright system.— Hor¬ 
ticulturist. 
Cultivating Blackberries. —The Mass¬ 
achusetts Agriculturist says they cultivate 
the blackberry in the vicinity of Boston.— 
An old pasture is broken up, the sprouts 
are planted in rows in October, and kept 
clear of weeds, and otherwise treated like 
raspberries. The fruit thus produced is of 
a size and ilavor which surprises those who 
are only acquainted with the wild blackber¬ 
ry. Our readers may not all be aware that 
the American species has a more agreeable 
flavor than the European. There are also 
different varieties of the American fiuit, 
even in its wild state, from which a selec¬ 
tion might be made. 
Many kinds of garden seeds lose their 
vegetative power, if kept over the first year, 
be sure, then, to sow none but new seeds. 
HORTICULTURAL MEMORANDA. 
Protecting tender Roses. — After try¬ 
ing various modes of sheltering tender ro¬ 
ses during winter, including- the use of moss, 
inverted turf, straw, tan-bark covered with 
boards, Ac., none appears to be equal to a 
covering with the branches of evergreens. 
Plants but slightly tender need very, little 
shielding in this way; while those the most 
susceptible of injury should be encased 
several inches thick. One eminent advan¬ 
tage which this treatment possesses, is the 
entire feedom from decay in the bark and 
stems of the shielded plants, which some¬ 
times results from other modes. Pine, 
hemlock, white cedar, Ac., may be used for 
this purpose. Where evergreen hedges or 
screens have been planted, the shearings 
or clippings may be employed with great 
convenience. 
Bleeding of Grape-vines. —When the 
grape is pruned in autumn, in winter, or 
very early in spring, the sap-vessels will 
close, and no flow from the wound will fol¬ 
low. But where this needful work has 
been omitted at the right time, those who 
have an aversion to prune in consequence 
of the prodigious flow of the sap which 
takes place as the buds expand, may save 
themselves all trouble from this cause by 
waiting some days till the leaves are as 
large as a currant leaf. If the pruning is 
then performed no bleeding will take place. 
Pruned at this season, we have found 
young hardy vines to do as well as at any 
other time. The injury resulting from the 
flow of sap, is however, overrated; and by 
some experienced cultivators it is believed 
to produce no injury whatever. 
Remedy for Plum Knots. —The old- 
fashioned remedy, “ to cut and keep cut¬ 
ting,” still proves infallible. Unfortunately, 
it is very rarely applied, even by those who 
think they have given it a fair trial. Per¬ 
haps the disease has been permitted to ad¬ 
vance for two or three months before it has 
even excited attention. The knife is then 
made use of and a single operation is re¬ 
garded enough. No wonder that a reme¬ 
dy, applied in such a burlesque manner, 
should be considered inefficient. We ob¬ 
serve that the application of copperas water 
to the wounds made by the excision of the 
knots on the larger branches, is spoken of 
highly by different cultivators. 
The Cherry Slug.— This larva, which 
eats the pulpy part of the leaf of the cherry, 
and sometimes of other fruit trees, is most 
effectually routed by a sprinkling of lime. 
Air-slacked lime, applied in the dew of the 
morning, usually accomplishes the desired 
purpose. Dry, water-slacked lime, taken 
fresh, is still better, being more caustic.— 
Alb. Cultivator. 
NEWLAND’S STRAWBERRY HUMBUG. 
A few years since George Newland, 
from Palmyra N. Y., was in this region, and 
sold plants of what he called a new seed¬ 
ling strawberry, under the pompous name 
of “ Neioland’s Celebrated Mammoth Al¬ 
pine Strawberry.” A large number of 
cultivators purchased plants, gave them a 
fair trial, and condemned them as worthless. 
They were the old Wood strawberry, or 
something very nearly resembling it. So 
the whole affair proved to be a great hum¬ 
bug. This being known, Newland left this 
region, and has been operating in parts 
where he and his strawberry are not so 
well known. 
We see by a late number of the Pennsyl¬ 
vania Farm Journal, that the editor has recei¬ 
ved a present of some vines from Newland’s 
agent, and before waiting to give them a 
trial he is commending them to the public; 
thus aiding this impostor in deceiving the 
farming community. We think notice 
should be given of the imposition through¬ 
out the country in order to put a stop to 
the operations of this great impostor. Ed¬ 
itors should check rather than aid him. — 
New England Farmer. 
GARDEN HINTS. 
To procure a succession of roses, prune 
down to three buds on all the branches of 
some trees as soon as the buds begin to ex¬ 
pand ; defer the same operation with others 
until the leaves are expanding; in the for¬ 
mer case the three buds will bear early 
flowers; in the latter they will not begin to 
expand until the others are in full foliage, 
and will bloom proportionally later. 
No plants can bear sndden contrasts of 
temperature, therefore bring nothing direct 
from a hot-house to the open air. Warm 
weather should be chosen even for bringing- 
out plants from a green-house. 
Plants, when in bloom, have all their 
juices in the most perfect state; choose, 
therefore, the period of their beginning to 
flower for cutting all aromatic and medici¬ 
nal herbs. 
Profuse flowering exhausts the strength 
of plants, therefore remove flower-buds be¬ 
fore they expand, from all newly rooted 
cuttings and sickly plants. 
Remove all dead flowers from perennials, 
unless you wish to save seed; the plants 
will thus be prevented from exhausting 
themselves. 
LIST OF PATENT CLAIMS 
ISSUED FROM THE UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 
For the week ending July 29, 1851. 
To Job Cutter, of Birmingham, England, for 
improved method of liberating metal tubes from 
the forming mandrel. Patented in England Feb. 
28, 1849. 
To Aaron Richardson, of Bellows Falls, Vt., 
for improvement in oil cups for journal boxes. 
To Harvey Shaw, of Lowell, Mass., and L. T. 
Smart, of Campton, N. II., for improvement in 
fly-traps. 
To Geo. LI. Corliss, of Providence, R. I., for 
imprved cut-off gear. 
To M. P. Coons, of Lansingburgh, N. Y., for 
improvement in flexible fences. 
To T. J. Eddy, of Waterford, N. Y. f for im¬ 
provement in cast-iron car wheels. 
To James McCarty, of Reading, Pa., for spring 
expanding swage for boiler tubes, &g. 
To Wm. Hall, of Boston, Mass., for improved 
powder-proof bank lock. 
To Sewall Short, of New London, Conn., for 
improvement in window sashes. 
To J. C. Fonda, of Albany N. Y., for improve¬ 
ment in machine for grinding flock, &c. 
To J. H. Barsantee, of Portsmouth, N. LI., for 
improvements in knitting machines. 
To G. LI. Thatcher, of Albany, N. Y., for im¬ 
provement in stoves and portable ovens. 
To David Horner, of Knox Co., Ohio, for im¬ 
provement in seeding apparatus for a seed planter. 
To Henry Moore, of Seneca Co., O., for im¬ 
provement in machines for preparing hubs for the 
reception of boxes. 
To Wm. H. Bryan, of Georgetown, D. C., for 
improved fittings for bolts, to facilitate the dis¬ 
charge of cargoes, etc. 
RE-ISSUES. 
To Paul G. Stillman, of New York, N. Y., for 
improvement in steam and vacuum gauges. Orig¬ 
inally patented May 9, 1848. 
DESIGNS. 
To R. J. Blanchard, of Albany, N. Y., (assign¬ 
or to B. P. Seamed & Geo. H. Thatcher,) for de-* : 
signs for stoves—three patents. 
To N. S. Vedder, of Troy, N. Y., (assignor to 
A. T. Dunham & Co.,) for design for stoves. 
BELGIAN THREAD-SPINNERS. 
The spinning of the fine thread used for 
lace-making in the Netherlands, is an ope¬ 
ration demanding so high a degree of mi¬ 
nute care and vigilant attention, that it is 
impossible it can ever be taken from the 
hands by machinery. None but Belgian 
fingers are skilled in this art. The very 
finest sort of this thread is' made in Brus¬ 
sels, in damp, under-ground cellars; for it 
is so extremely delicate, that it is liable to 
break with the dry air above ground; and 
it is obtained in good condition only when 
made and kept in a humid, subterranean 
atmosphere. There are numbers of old 
Belgian thread-makers, who, like spiders, 
have passed the best part of their lives spin¬ 
ning in cellars. This sort of occupation has 
naturally an injurious effect upon the health, 
and therefore, to induce people to follow it, 
they are highly paid. 
To form an accurate idea of this opera¬ 
tion, it is necessary to see a Brabant thread 
spinner at her work. She carefully exam¬ 
ines every thread as she draws it off the 
distaff; and that she shall see it more dis¬ 
tinctly, a piece of dark blue paper is used 
; as a back ground for the flax. Whenever 
the spinner notices the least unevenness, she 
stops the evolution of her wheels, breaks 
off the faulty piece of flax and then resumes 
her spinning. This line flax being as costly 
as gold, the pieces thus broken off are care¬ 
fully laid aside to be used in other ways.— 
xill this could never be done by machinery. 
The prices current of the Brabant spin¬ 
ners usually include a list of various sorts 
of thread suited to lace-making, varying 
from sixty francs to one thousand eight 
hundred francs per pound. Instances'have 
j occurred in which as much as ten thousand 
| francs have been paid for a pound of this 
! fine yarn. So high a price has never been 
i attained by the best spun silk; though a 
• pound of silk, in its raw condition, is incom- 
; parabty more valuable than a pound of flax. 
1 In like manner a pound of iron may, by 
j dint of human labor and ingenuity, be ren- 
| dered more valuable than .a pound of gold. 
I — Household Works. 
IMPROVED CRUTCHES. 
Mr. John S. Gallagher, says the Wash¬ 
ington Telegraph, who has long been so af¬ 
flicted as to require crutches, has made a 
valuable improvement in the same which 
we hope will benefit him in every aspect.— 
The crutch is thus described.—It is neat, 
light, and elegant, and at the lower end 
there is a combination-extension ferule of 
brass, by means of which the length of 
the crutch can be extended or contracted 
at will. The extremity is rounded off with 
a Knob, from which projects a bulb of gum 
elastic, or gutta percna, to prevent noise, 
injury to floors, and the harsh jars that at¬ 
tend the putting down the crutch upon 
hard ground. 
The upper portion upon which the arm 
rests, is a steel elliptical spring, which rests 
upon a strong spiral spring, having its inser¬ 
tion in the firmly bound staff. 
NEW AND PORTABLE AIR-GUN. 
.We were recently admitted to a private 
inspection and demonstration of the powers 
of a newly invented air-gun, the production 
of Mr. F. D. Arstall, who discharged, in 
very rapid and continuous succession, many 
scores of bullets, from a fragile tube con¬ 
nected with a gutta percha reservoir. The 
whole of the bullets perforated most com¬ 
pletely through a thick plank target, and 
indented a plate o.f quarter-inch sheet-iron 
placed at the back. 
The exhibition took place in the large 
Lecture room, No. 11 Lime street, and was 
attended by many scientific gentlemen, who 
freely inquired as to the various properties 
and advantages of the invention, all of 
which were satisfactorily explained by Mr. 
Arstall and his intelligent assistant. By 
means of this gun a charge of atmospher¬ 
ic air can be effected in one or two minutes, 
sufficient to propel at least a hundred balls 
in instantaneous succession; and as there is 
neither flash nor report, and the weapon is 
much lighter than the ordinary musket, we 
have no doubt that, among many other 
uses to which it may be applied, in new 
colonies, where the settlers are thinly scat¬ 
tered, it will prove a great desideratum in 
affording protection against predatory ex¬ 
cursions. 
For our own part, we were more particu¬ 
larly struck with the advantages offered by 
the adaptability of the weapon to a charge 
of carbonic acid gas—a power so easily 
generated, the materials being so plentiful¬ 
ly found in all countries and situations, and 
the utter impossibility of explosion being 
so securely guarded against, simply by 
keeping the acid and alkaline solutions in 
separate tubes, and allowing a small drop 
of each to meet in the gas tube at each 
opening of the trigger. The inventor states 
that he has only partially perfected his ideas 
at present. When completed we have no 
doubt it will prove the “ Head Pacificator” 
of the world by the very intensity of its 
> destructive power, and in portable and cheap 
amm unition.— European Times. 
TELEGRAPH ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 
A Mr. Reynolds, of New York, pro¬ 
poses to construct a telegraphic communi¬ 
cation across the Atlantic at a cost of $3,- 
000,000. He thinks the plan practicable 
and safe, and sets forth that the distance 
between Canso, above Halifax, on the Amer¬ 
ican coast, and the nearest point in Ireland, 
near Galway, is but about 1,600 miles along 
the banks of Newfoundland, which are 
known to extend within 160 miles of the 
coast of Ireland, at an average depth of 
800 feet. A line of this length, consisting 
of four [wires perfectly insulated in a cord 
of gutta percha of the size proposed, would 
last four hundred years, as the insulating 
substance is indestructible in water, and has 
a strength equal almost to iron. Such a 
line would weigh about 10,000 tons, and 
would require about 1,500 tons of iron 
anchors. The cost of every thing, when in 
complete working order, would be less than 
$3,000,000. Such a line would do more 
to advance intelligence, true liberty and the 
interests of the people, than anything hith¬ 
erto achieved in the way of “ obliterating 
time and space.” 
IMPROVED SHINGLE MACHINE. 
In addition to the improvements on ma¬ 
chinery for making clapboards invented by 
Mr. E. D. Worcester, of Lockport, N. Y., 
and noticed by us last week, he has taken 
measures to secure a patent lor a good im¬ 
provement in the feed motion of the knife 
cutting shingle machine. No weight nor 
spring is employed to feed the rough block 
to the knife, but the block is fed in by rack 
and pallet actuated by cams which are op¬ 
erated by the knife gate, at every stroke, to 
move the feed frame forward, to the exact 
point and position of every new cut. The 
improvement simplifies the feeding motion, 
and renders it less liable to getting out of 
order. Every improvement, however small, 
in machinery which is extensively used, adds 
greatly to the wealth of our country, and 
the inventor should receive his due reward. 
Manufacture of Porcelain. —A San 
Francisco paper announces that several 
gentlemen in that city have resolved to 
make the experiment of manufacturing por¬ 
celain out of the immense quantity of pow¬ 
dered quartz which is to be obtained in the 
mining districts. The labor of the Chinese 
who are daily flocking to California, it is 
thought, can be advantageously employed 
in this business. 
What a place for the manufacture of 
crystal. California is a great country, gold 
and crystal are certainly precious minerals. 
Is there any coal there ? that is the next 
important question. 
Japanning Stone. —It is said that a 
young artisan of Cincinnati has succeeded 
in the art of japanning freestone slabs with 
enamel of a kind of glass, which will resist 
the action of all common acids, thereby 
making the stone to represent perfectly the 
finest Egyptian marble, and that at a very- 
trifling cost. Slabs for counters, Ac., can 
be furnished by the inventor at about the 
same cost as that of common wood. 
