1848. 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
343 
the same reason that we want so many sorts of food: 
the pleasure that springs from variety. Another, not 
less cogent, however, might be given. In proportion 
to the number of kinds cultivated, are the chances for 
a supply in unfavorable seasons,—for the frost often de¬ 
stroys one sort, and leaves another; and continued rains 
induce decay in some, and not in others, especially 
among plums and cherries. Some fair-skin varieties of 
the latter, have been almost worthless this year; and 
some of the black have suffered, while the acid sorts, as 
the Mayduke and Moreilo, have generally escaped. Let 
us, therefore, have many kinds, and if the best, some¬ 
times offer nothing, let us have the second best.” 
We close by quoting the following interesting state¬ 
ment of an experiment, and reminding our readers that 
what we have here given is only a fair sample of the 
rest of the address, of which we have given but a very 
small portion:— 
11 Last fall, I had many late planted cabbages that 
formed large tufts of leaves, but not good heads; and 
I had a hope that if I could preserve them till spring, 
they might grow into something useful,—so they were 
set in a trench, very closely, side by side—some straw 
was thrown on them—and over that about two inches 
of earth. As the trench was ten or twelve feet in 
length, two tubes were set in near each end, to let off 
the had air—-just such as every cabbage depot under 
ground, or potatoe heap ought to have. In the spring, 
I was surprised at the result. Every green leaf had 
disappeared—the larger plants had formed good heads, 
though not so compact as grew in the open air, and all 
were beautifully blanched and fit for use.” 
I* Grape Grafting. 
Eds. Cultivator —In your May No., at page 148, 
you published an experiment of mine in grafting the 
July Grape upon our common hardy varieties. I have 
now the satisfaction to state to you that two of these 
grafts were in flower before they were one year old, 
and are now actually presenting clusters of fruit. 
If. Budding the Hawthorn with Pears. 
In 1847, August 24th, I budded about sixty Haw¬ 
thorns of three or four years of age with pears, chiefly 
the Beurre de Capiaumont and White Doyenne varie¬ 
ties. The buds nearly all took. But they broke much 
later and more slowly than those on quinces beside 
them. One of them is even now, (August 17th,) but 
just opening. Many of them after opening, remained 
a long time, a mere rosette of leaves. A few even 
now remain in this condition, and may not probably 
advance any farther until next year. But the most of 
them have made from six to thirty inches of wood, and 
appear healthful. Many, on first putting out, grew 
nearly at right angles with the stock for some time. 
This seems to be occasioned by a greater degree of ri¬ 
gidity in the bark than that exhibited by the quince. 
This experiment, though appearing very discouraging 
in the early part of the season, is likely to result well. 
I need not say that they were budded as near the 
ground as possible, some even below the ordinary le¬ 
vel. 
Ill, Various effects of Winter on Quinces, 
In the winter of 1846—7, which was quite open, 
my quince trees every where suffered very severely, lo¬ 
sing much of the wood in the previous year’s growth. 
During the winter of 1847—8, which was even more 
open, they suffered hardly at ail with the exception of 
one row, and those my finest trees, which were amply 
protected by a high Hawthorn hedge. These last were 
badly injured, some of them being killed, root and 
branch. This result was occasioned doubtless, by the 
&£&itement of the circulation at an untimely period. 
IV. Experiment with an Asparagus Bed. 
This bed is about four years old, and contains thirty 
square rods. It was originally put in too superficially, 
the crowns of the plants coming almost to the surface; 
nor had the soil been perfectly freed from quack grass. 
So foul had it become by the 9th of June, of the present 
year, that it was almost impossible to cut for market. I 
mowed over the whole bed on that day, cutting down 
quack, weeds, and young seedling asparagns. I then 
hoed it as deeply as the superficial character of the bed 
would permit, pulling out the quack as much as possi¬ 
ble and stirring up the manure that had been put on in 
the spring. The consequence was, the renewal of my 
bed in its productiveness, while I did not lose more than 
four or five days’ use of it;— u a good operation,” as 
they say. 
The Sunflower. 
Eds. Cultivator —I am desirous of gaining infor¬ 
mation in relation to the culture, management, and 
yield of the sunflower, as also the usital amount of oil 
that can be expressed from it. If any 6f your subscri¬ 
bers will furnish the required information, they will 
much oblige yours, &c. W. I. I. Canada West, 
September, 1848. 
Montreal Agricultural Society. —The Montreal 
Herald gives an interesting account of the exhibition of 
this Society. A much greater interest is said to have 
been manifesto! in the show than on former occasions. 
The finest pert of the show was said to be the horses, 
of which there was a large number of fine ones. Great 
improvement was observed in the cattle. The Short¬ 
horn bull Timour, owned by Mr. Hays, of Montreal, 
(bred by Mr. Prentice, of Mount Hope,) is very high¬ 
ly spoken of. A bull, a cross of the Ayrshire and Gal¬ 
loway, is said to have attracted great attention. There 
was a fine display of poultry, chiefly by Mr. Hays and 
J. E. Guilbault —the latter showing 14 choice va¬ 
rieties of fowls. 
The Peacock. —The natural disposition of the pea¬ 
cock is selfish and gluttonous, and it is only by pam¬ 
pering this weakness that he can be persuaded into 
obedience and attachment. He is vain, and at the same 
time ungallant. He is far from manifesting the polite¬ 
ness and attention which the common cock shows to¬ 
wards his mates. The peacock will greedily snatch 
from the mouth of his hens those titbits and delicate 
morsels which the cock would either share with his fa¬ 
vorites, or yield to them entirely. The peahen, in re¬ 
turn, cares less for her lord and master, and is more in¬ 
dependent of him when the breeding season is over. 
She then regards the display of his tail, his puffings 
and struttings, and all the rattling of his quills, with 
the coolest indifference. Nor does ke seem to care 
about her admiration, or to make all this exhibition of 
his attraction to secure her notice, but is content if he 
can get some astonished hen, or silly, bewildered duck, 
up a corner, to wonder what all this fuss is about. 
Like other vain coxcombs, he expects the lady to make 
the first advances. Although occasionally cruel, the 
peacock is shy of fighting, particularly when in full 
plumage; nor do they so frequently engage with each 
other as with birds of a different species, such as 
drakes, cocks, &c. One, out of feather, was seen to 
keep up a three hours’ struggle with a musk drake; 
but had it been in full plumage, it would not have 
shown fight at all. Their probable term of life is 
18 or 20 years. They may be eaten as poults at nine 
months old. If fatted, they should be shut up together 
with any turkeys that may have been in the habit of as¬ 
sociating with them, and fed exactly the same. If con¬ 
fined alone, they pine.— Ag. Gazette . 
