394 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 



tar, and rub the mixture over the place where you have cat off a limb, and you -will 

 have no trouble. I did that, after 1856, to prevent the sap running down and turning 

 black and killing the bark, and I have never had any trouble since. Therefore, if you 

 trim in June, you mast be very careful that you do not start the bark. You cannot 

 put it back and make it stay, and there will be a dead place when you leave it. 



Mr. Hills, of New Hampshire, was satisfied tbat June was the best 

 season, for this reason : If the pruning is early enough, the wound will 

 heal over almost completely the first year ; but if it is too early, as in 

 April or May, before growth commences, the tree " will bleed almost as 

 surely as a grape-vine pruned in spring, and th&sap will run down and 

 poison the tree. It will run not only tliat season, bat the next, and the 

 tree is liable to be ruined." To prevent bleeding, Mr. Hills uses an applica- 

 tion of gum-shellac, dissolved in alcohol to about the consistency of mo- 

 lasses, which, be said, will harden in half an hour as bard as glass, and 

 will not only keep out, but will also keep in, the wet. As to the best 

 mode of using it, he says : 



The most convenient way I have fomjd of using the preparation is to fix a sponge on 

 a piece of wire and put it "into the stopple of a large-mouthed bottle, which you can 

 fill with the preparation, and when you have cut off a limb take out the stopple and 

 brash the sponge over the wound, just as you would use sponge-blacking. If it is a 

 bright day, in half an hour it will harden so that you cannot make any impression on 

 it with your thumb-nail. The sap cannot get out, and it will exclude the wet from the 

 outside. 



Among the other topics of general interest treated in this volume are: 

 "Co-operation among Farmers;" an extended paper, by Dr. J. R. Nichols, 

 on the "Origin, History, and Utilization of Bowlder Kocks;" "Vege- 

 table Culture and Market-gardening;" "Restoration of Forests," (24 

 pages;) "Tree-Planting in Massachusetts," (33 pages:) "Devon Cattle;" 

 reports by Professor (Goessmann on the "Reclaimed Salt-marshes in 

 Plymouth County," and on " Fertilizers," the latter occupying 50 pages; 

 " Mental Faculties of Domestic Animals;" " Origin and growth of asso- 

 ciated effort in Massachusetts for promoting agricultural industries;" 

 "Relations of Science to Agriculture;" "The Texas Cattle-Disease;" 

 and "Chemical- Corn-Growing." 



MICHIGAN. 



Reports of the Michigan State Board for the years 1873 and 1874 were 

 issued in one volume. One of the interesting features is a series of 

 articles, by Mr. Henry S. Clubb, on the fruit-belt of Michigan; another, 

 a detailed account of the experiments in feeding and fattening hogs, by 

 Mr. M. Miles, superintendent of the college farm. These articles are in 

 the report for 1873. 



Mr. Clubb begins with a description of the pioneer peach-region of the 

 State. It is located sixty-one miles northeast of Chicago, on the Saint 

 Joseph River. The village of Saint Joseph is built on the south side of 

 the stream, on a fine eminence, and extends a mile or more along the 

 lake shore. On the north side the Paw-Paw River enters the Saint 

 Joseph, immediately opposite Saint Joseph village. On the east bank 

 of the Paw-Paw the village of Benton Harbor is located. The harbor 

 of Saint Joseph is one of the naturally good harbors of Lake Michigan. 

 Owing to the large increase of business in Benton Harbor, a separate 

 custom-house was established there in 1871. In the tabular statement 

 given below it will be seen tbat the shipments of fruits are greater at 

 Benton than at Saint Joseph. This is owing to the wide extent of land 

 devoted to fruit-culture on the north and east sides of the Saint Joseph, 

 which for several miles runs parallel with Lake Michigan, leaving Saint 



