1372 .] 
AMERICAN AGRICULT URIST. 
303 
Cold-frame Cabbage Plants. —Col. War¬ 
ing wrote an article on cold-frame cabbage 
plants, to some points in which Mr. Henderson 
took exceptions. We give Col. W.’s rejoinder, 
which closes the discussion : “ I would not pre¬ 
sume to dispute the statements of a wise old 
gardener like Peter Henderson, but you must not 
try to screen me behind ‘climate.’ Bless you, 
Newport is green and growing after Bergen Point 
is brown with the frost. I have not my previous 
article before me, but I think I said—I surely 
should have said—that when the plants are large 
enough to prick out, if it is too early, we pull 
them up and heel them in. If they recover from 
this check in time to threaten to run to seed, we 
pull them up again and give them a fresh start. 
This treatment will save them, if they are planted 
in August. If you doubt it, just try it. My ex- 
■perieuce of this year with some plants whose 
stems had been split by frost, show Mr. Hender¬ 
son to be about right—these plants are heading 
about as well as the others, but this does not 
shake my belief in his statement, 1 Gardening for 
Profit,’ pagel2G: ‘In planting, it is very im¬ 
portant with cabbage or cauliflower that the 
plant is set down to the first leaf, so that the 
stem or stalk is all under ground, for we find 
that if exposed it will be split by the action of 
the frost, and will be injured in consequence.’ ” 
The Baldwin Apple and its Origin. 
BY MBS. ELIZABETH OAKES SMITH. 
It is not improbable that of the many who 
are able to procure a taste of the delicious Bald¬ 
win Apple not more than one in ten knows from 
whence it originated, or knows anything of 
some interesting historic points associated there¬ 
with. I have so often heard my husband, Seba 
Smith, speak of this fruit, and of the Pearce 
family, with whom he was associated by the 
warmest ties of friendship for nearly sixty years, 
that I am induced to offer your readers a brief 
sketch of the same. 
The Baldwin Apple came from a seedling 
planted by Josiah Pearce, Esq., of the town of 
Baldwin, Me. From this stock innumerable 
grafts have extended the fruit far and wide, but 
from a well-known law of extension, the Bald¬ 
win Apple is rarely found in perfection when 
far removed from the place where it originated. 
In Maine, the color, texture, aroma, and solid¬ 
ity of the apple leave nothing to desire, being 
in truth so delicious, that it might have been 
akin to the one said to have brought difficulty 
upon our mother Eve. In other localities, 
where the soil, climate, or culture may have 
proved unfriendly, what is called the Baldwin 
Apple may often be found a total failure, being 
puffy, insipid, and subject to early decay. 
It is not generally known that “Squire 
Pearce,” of Baldwin, Me., was half-brother to 
Benjamin Thompson, bettor known as Count 
Rumford. The mother of these two men was 
twice married, the first husband being Benjamin 
Thompson, the second Josiah Pearce, both men 
of culture and influence in their day. Mrs. 
Thompson, afterwards Mrs.Pearce, was a woman 
of strong sense, one of those self-poised, wise 
women so prominent in our Revolutionary an¬ 
nals. Count Rumford was born in the then 
town of Rumford, now Concord, N. II., being 
some twelve years older than his half-brother 
Pearce. He received a military commission 
under the Royal Governor of the Colony of 
Massachusetts. At the breaking out of hos¬ 
tility to the British Crown, young Thompson 
was supposed unfriendly to the popular move¬ 
ment for freedom, and was most rudety driven 
from his home by his more zealous neighbors, 
and compelled to lake refuge in Boston, where 
he became associated with Governor Gage. He 
was unquestionably what was then known as a 
“Tory,” a circumstance which for many subse¬ 
quent years was considered as a blot upon the 
family escutcheon by its patriotic members, 
although he never took up arms against his 
country. The subsequent career of Benjamin 
Thompson is well known. He seems to have 
cast lingering looks of fondness toward the 
place of his birth, though familiar with courts 
and loaded with honors by crowned heads, as 
is evident by his assuming the name of his 
native town when the honor of knighthood was 
conferred upon him by the King of Bavaria— 
hence his title of Count Rumford. 
He was a brave soldier and accomplished 
military leader, but his character, essentially 
observant and philosophic, was more naturally 
employed in those scientific pursuits which for 
many years engaged his attention. He unques¬ 
tionably anticipated many of our modern im¬ 
provements, and was one of the first to turn 
public thought in the direction of economizing 
the fuel of the laboring classes. It was a jest 
in regard to him in Bavaria that he “would 
soon be aide to cook his dinner from the smoke 
of his neighbor’s chimney.” He was philan¬ 
thropic in the highest sense. He devised 
methods for improving the condition of the 
poor, by making their labor more productive, 
by founding better dwellings for them, by teach¬ 
ing them order, cleanliness, and economy, and 
thus doing away with beggary and disease. 
Few men of our country have enjoyed more 
general approbation abroad than Count Rum¬ 
ford, and our own people are beginning to learn 
that he was a great and estimable man. 
In the mean while, the other brother, Josiah 
Pearce, had become the possessor of a large 
landed estate, and was living in Baldwin, Me., 
where he was plowing and planting, and help¬ 
ing on the interests of a scattered but thrifty 
population. Like his brother, Count Rumford, 
he was a generous, warm-hearted man, striving 
to make better what other men considered well 
enough, if not absolutely good. He experi¬ 
mented much in horticulture, endeavoring to 
ascertain what fruits could be cultivated to high¬ 
est perfection in the inhospitable climate of 
Maine. He bestowed much attention upon the 
native grape, many varieties of which have 
large and well-flavored fruit. He planted the 
seeds of the potato, as did my grandfather David 
Prince, and thus produced new varieties, w r ell- 
suited to the soil, and of superior quality. But 
it was in. the cultivation of the Apple that he 
finally settled down upon as the fruit most 
genial to the soil, and best adapted to the 
climate of a State whose long winters are the 
fostering nurse of a social virtuous population, 
and whose brief summers vie in intensity with 
the heat of the tropics. The apple-blossom is 
the first harbinger of its springs, and the frosty 
airs of October are rendered more aromatic by 
the perfume of the apple-tree laden with its 
richly-colored fruitage. Thus an entire season 
is required to perfect this kingly fruit. 
The old Pearce homestead at Baldwin still 
attests the skill and enterprise of its ancient 
owner by its extensive orchards, amongst which 
may be found the Baldwin, richly productive. 
The tree has been known to yield an almost 
fabulous quantity of fruit, and in the season for 
pruning its thrifty branches were carefully 
preserved, and liberally distributed to the neigh¬ 
boring farmers. 
I have often heard my husband describe this 
intelligent and most hospitable family. Mr. 
Pearce was a sort of lord of the manor, to 
whom everybody came in time of trouble, and 
was sure of the best aid and advice. He was 
an eloquent converser, and recited admirably. 
Some time in the early part of this century, 
the Countess of Rumford, daughter of Benja¬ 
min Thompson, visited her transatlantic cousins, 
and was for many months domesticated with 
the cheerful household. She was a plain, un¬ 
married woman of great good sense, and some¬ 
what learned. 
It was the custom for New England teachers 
of public schools to “board round” with the 
families of the district until the amount each 
one was to pay the “master” was boarded out, 
and such experience was not always of the 
most agreeable kind. My husband kept the 
district school of Baldwin for several seasons, 
but was generally exempted from this contin¬ 
gency by being warmly welcomed at the Pearce 
homestead, whence he wrote comical rhyming 
letters to his friends describing the good cheer. 
One couplet I remember was thought very 
grotesque: 
“We have apples, and doughnuts, and cider. 
And curious things fried in a spider,” 
the last-named being, of course sausages, and 
the apples the favorite Baldwin. 
Shortly before the demise of my husband he 
received a long letter from his unfailing friend 
Josiah Pearce, Jun., who had been a judge for 
many years, in which he thus refers to the 
family: “Baldwin has greatly changed since 
you were there. My sister Hannah, -who is un¬ 
married, lives at the homestead, and owns the 
house by division of the property, all the out¬ 
buildings, and one hundred acres of the farm. 
I oversee her business for her. All is still, 
where once had been so much harmless mirth 
and activitj’.” 
It may be remarked that George W. Pearce, 
brother to the judge, and son of the first-named 
Pearce, married a sister of the poet Longfellow. 
He gave very great promise of a brilliant career, 
having beauty, genius, and wealth, but died sud¬ 
denly, while little more than twenty-five years 
of age. His widow has never since married. 
PATcnoGUE, L. I., June 29th, 1872. 
Vegetable Plants for the South. 
BY PETER HENDERSON. 
Every few days, during the summer months, 
I am written to by some of your readers in the 
Southern States, wanting to know how they can 
procure plants of celery, cabbage, cauliflower, 
etc., to plant so as to produce crops of these dur¬ 
ing the fall and winter months. Plants can easily 
be raised here at any season, from May to Octo¬ 
ber, but the time that it is necessary to plant for 
the fall or winter crops in South Carolina or 
Louisiana (August and September), it is hardly 
practicable to ship with safetjq particularly 
celery plants, for if packed more than three or 
four days (unless the weather is very favorable 
when set out), the chances are that many would 
die. To produce plants in these latitudes by 
seed sown in the ordinary methods, during the 
month of June, July, or August, rarely results 
in success, but an experiment in raising celery 
plants in which we have just been successful 
here this season, suggests that the same plan 
may be adopted in the Southern States. Our 
celery plants, are always sown here from the 
