124 



NE^y ENGI.AND FARMER. 



[Nov. H, 



ORZGXNAIi COnSiaUNZCATZOHS. 



TO THE EDITOR OF THE NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



[Eitract of a Idler from a correspondent in Ilunls- 

 burgh, Ohin.'\ 



ON PRUNING FRUIT TREES. 



Sir [ see you piililish much on the lime and 



manner of pruning fruit treed. I consider it n 

 very important subject — the in.uiiigenieul of ;i 

 nursery and orchard h;i3 been a tavourile pur- 

 suit with me from my boyhood. I have fre- 

 quently thought it would be eiilremeiy usel'ul if 

 you, or some of your correspo.Tdent^, would say 

 more on the proper tools for pruninsj orcliards. 

 The axe and hatchet are made use of by ton 

 many people. 1 think these tools the reny .vorii 

 that can be made use of in an orchard of any 

 age in pruniii 



slanlingf. 

 graftins;. 



These saws are most convenient lor 



Bi/ Ihe Editor. We regret that our correspondiiit 

 declines periiiitlin» us to annex lus name to his com- 

 munication, because anonymous articles usually niaUe 

 less impression on the mass of readers than those which 

 are sanctioned by the si^iature of a respectable ciilti- 

 vator. 



The injudicious mode nf pruning above animadverl- 

 ed on, has olten been made a subject of complaint by 

 our best horticulturist.-. Amon;,' others, hy a wiiter, 

 whose essay on the cultivation of Fruit Trees was pub- 

 lished in the .Mass. A'r. Repository, vol. V. p. 121 to 

 127. He mentions three modes of mismanagement, 

 which injure orchards in the vicinity ot lioston.r— 

 1. Gejinian» to prune them in March, " wlieu tberejis 

 still much wet and frosty wtatlier, and no activity \u 



old practice of liatk- 



the sap of the tree." i>. The *' 



mg and mutilaling apple trees in a manner ruinous t 



- : an orchard. It is a universal pr.ictice anion; Ihe old 



I have been in the habit of | farmers to mount the tree with a hat. het or bill hook. 



using a two inch lirman chisel and mallet of a 'and hack off any branch which is in a state of decAv, 

 suitable size for younsr trees, and wiiere the op- ' oi' which is .-nisp'aced, about six or eijht inches from 



eration of pruning can be ilone by standing on 

 the ground, I think nothing is more oonveiiieiit. 

 Branches trom the smallest size to ^uch as are 

 l^ inch in diameter can be talten o(f in the neat- 

 est and most expeditious manner. Chisels with 

 handles of different lengths are sometimes ne- 

 ce.ssary. For trees, which are so large thai the 

 operation of pruninjf must be (lone by climbing, 

 nranciies of iimbs of any size can be taken olf 

 by a saw, a sketch and description of which I . 



have given you at the bottom cf this letter. 1 |="" '^' ^'^"^ inccrrectness of the practice." 

 was much surjirised in the spring of 1824, in 

 my excursions in the neighborhood of P.oslon, to 

 see the axe and hatchet so frecjiiently made use 

 o( in this business. The only kind of saw, 

 which I saw used was a small kibd of hand saw. 

 The disadvantage of saw.s of this descilplioii is. 

 that in sawing largo branche,-* they clog, and re- 

 (piiro the arm of a Hercles to use them. — 

 Whereas the saw I would wish to recommend is 



ts insertion, having a stump to rot, and to operate at 

 a condiicter of Ihe water, froit and canker into the 

 mother branch in which it grew, or into the body of 

 the tree according (o i(» situation. T his was done o- 

 riginally from an idea that if you cut close lo the moth- 

 er branch, or to the body of the tree, Ihe rot or canker 

 will seize more readily on its trunk than if cut at a 

 distance, and (hat the tree will decay the sooner. The 

 practice has been followed without retleclion, and 

 without reason by many ; but the error is so obvieus, 

 that any man of obsei vation may see it yeaily; and 

 any one who iloubts, may salisfy himself in one sea- 



FOR THE NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



THE BRIGHTON CATTLE SHOW, j 

 Having been a constant attendant at Ihe Cat- 

 tle Show at liri^hton I C:!D form a ;.'r-"UV torrc'C*. 

 ►•siiiiiate as lo its ejfects, and as lo any imprnrc- 

 iHcnts, which have taken place I am ilecidod- 

 ly of opinion, that llio greatest clianges have 

 sufiii-.ient for branches of any size, and can be | ''^f" apparent in Ihe working rattle, and in Ihe 

 used with ease by a Ooy of 12 years. JTualily of Ihe p!uughiii!^', and of ihe ploughs. — 



The saw and c.'iisel I have de.scribed are alii ■' '-'' ""' ''"')' ''"""'i "'■'' '''f "Pi'i' "•' cinulailon 

 the tools I thin'^ necessary to prune an orchard j '''"^ ''«'«'n '^'""•" >'*'•"' '•' Je'"" increasing, but the 

 of any age. 1 object to the use of the axe and k''"'" -"rR every vear apparently much imprnv- 

 halchel in pruning trees, because it is impossi-' *"'' '" Irainin;;. The first trial went od' kfuvili) ; 

 ble wilh them to cut a limb close with any nice- ' ^"'"'^ "^ '''" <>""*'ees were obliged to send their 

 ty, wfiich sh.>old always be done. ! ""i learns in order to make the trial a rpspecl- 



Many orchards m New England, and I believe | •'*''*' ""^i •"•'' ^^t ;•' l'>'it time we iiad not more 

 f may say a large majority oi' them, are now in '^an seven or eight teams. Now we see (if- 

 a stale of premature decay in consequence ofl'^C" teams owned by f.irmers from distant parls 

 these tools being thought the only ones which ["' 'he state, from Concord — Newbur\ — Sutlon, 

 could be used in pruning: the impossibility of | ''^ '"e" a* Norfolk and Middlesex. The work 

 cutting close with them'has given rise in my o | is m"ch better executed— The skill and anxiety 

 pinion, to an opposite mode of pruning, more,"' "i"? competitors are much more remarkable, 

 destructive than cani-er-u'ormj or ioreri to trees — 1'1'e ploughs are every year improved— In 



of any sort. 



The saw recommended for pruning off the 

 larger limbs of trees is shaped as follows : 



It is about 10 inches in length, something more 

 than J inch wi^le. The plates can be found in 

 any of Ihe hard-ware stores. The frame of a- 

 bont 2 inch square will he, (if good iron) suffi- 

 ciently sirong. The corners ought lo be a lit- 

 tle rounded. The handle of wood, and Ihe 

 Iceth of the saw must he tei mdey and tiled 



short, there can be no doubt, that the effect of 

 these trials has been highly beneficial. Some 

 changes have been wrought in the opinions of 

 fanners on the subject. I have heard several, 

 who, of their own accord, slated, that this im- 

 provement hail taken place in all the [larlicu- 

 lars, which I have mentioned. When wo (irsi 

 proposeil breaking up the sod with one pair of 

 cattle, there was a strong prejudice against it — 

 but Ihe repeated evidence exhibitrd of its ^jrac- 

 tictihilitt/ and economy, on lands siisceplil/lc nf 

 enfii tillage has effected a material rhaniie in the 

 opinion of farmers and we have no doubt, that 

 in a few years, wo shall see instead of double 

 teams, Uoo stni^lc teams stalling together in Ihe 

 same tield and ploughing an acre, in half Ihe 

 time, we havo heretofore employed. If the 



cattle are so well Iiained at home, before they 

 aie lu-oughl for sale lo Brighton, as to admit of 

 l)eing driven by ihe ploiighiiuui, a great saving oi" 

 expencewill be perceived, and Ihe r>h] practice 

 gradually abolished, except in rocky and stony 

 lands, and tauih iinperfecllj snlnhted 



A SUBSCRIBER. 



FOR THE NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



POTATOES. 



Much has been said about the second orowth 

 of Ihe potatoo during the i resent season, and it 

 has been spoken of as a phenomenon, and one 

 writer lamented it as a yiezv disease. — But ihose 

 of us who have for 20 years cnllivaled very 

 fnc/^ varieties of the potatoe, ivhich ripen, and 

 the stalks of ivliicli die in Jiilj, are very fimil- 

 iar with this supposed disease. If you leave the 

 early varieties of the polaine in Ihe ground for 

 G weeks after they are ripe, ihey will push or 

 start again exactly in Ihe same manner .is if you 

 j had planted them in Ihe ensuing spring. The 

 : ?ame thing happened ibis year as to the s-weet 

 i or Carolina potatoe. They were as line wilh me 

 las they are in Cirolina, during the monlhs of 

 August and September, but in October Ihey be- 

 gan a second growlh, that is, the nfia polaloe.s 

 [iiished forlh new shoots and branches, and thus 

 mined the crop, which was left in the ground. 



Farmers should conform their usages lo the 

 seasons. Th.ey should exercise a sour.d discre- 

 tion. In such a season as the last, thi'ir fruits 

 should be gatliered earlier, or Ihey will prema- 

 turely ripeti, and rot. Instead of gathering 

 pears and apples every year in (he same -ucth 

 or season, they should watch the finil, and the 

 indications of ripeness, and when ihey fill Ireelv 

 giVhcr then) whether the ns:,a' lime of gather- 

 ingshall have nrrived or not. It is not gener- 

 ally known, that a'' !o ziiintcr fruits, it is much 

 heller to gather them too early than loo late ; in 

 the former case you sustain very lillle loss, if 

 they are placed at once in the cellar or in a 

 cool place under shelter ; nor is it generally 

 known, ihat fruit a little willed, (for early gath- 

 ered fruit will »vilt,) not only keeps belter, but jg 

 miich highc- JJiivoured ; lam aware, that for 

 those who supply the ixaiket ol' great towns, 

 this rule does not a(iply, because plump fruit, lul- 

 ly ripened on Ihe tree is more showy, and sells 

 better, and it is of lillle moment to ihe jc//cr, 

 that they rot as soon as they are housed, at least 

 a much greater portion oi them ; but lo those 

 who preserve fruit for themselves and friends, 

 the knowledge of this fact is of great impor- 

 tance. 



.During Ihe present year, i have tnnnd Ihat 

 fruit nf Ihe same kinds, galhereil M days before 

 )ny general gathering has survived the /o/e gath- 

 ered fruit, and is much more exquisite in fla- 

 vour ; It never bernmes mealy, or rotten at Ihe 

 core, and though its juices are less abundant 

 than of those which are galhered at maturity, 

 yet the last must be eaten immediately, while 

 Ihe other can be preserved for a great Uvgih oj 

 lime and have a more exquisite flavour. 



A 1I0KT1CULTUKI3T. 



A writer in a Calcutta paper .suggests Ihat 

 Doctor Franlflin was the author of Ihe Letters 

 of Junius ! 



