NEW ENGLAN D FARMER. 



Published by Jons B. Russell, at :he corner of Congress and Lindall Streote.— Thomas G. 



Fe 



VOL. IV. 



BOSTON, FRIDAY, JULY 7, 1826. 



ssiijjDEN, Editor. 



NO. 50. 



ORIGINAL PAPERS. 



TO THE EDITOR OF THE NEW ENGLAND FAIiMER. 



ASHES ROUND PEACH TREES. 

 Mr FcssEiVDE-v — In j'oiir 43 No. vol. iv. I re- 

 commended the use of common wood ashes as be- 

 ing beneficial (wlien properly applied) to all stone 

 fruits. In your 46 No. page 3<)2, Dr Fiske ex- 

 presses an opinion that the quantity recommended 

 is too great. I am satisfied tliat a further and 

 more particular statement as it respects the quan- 

 tity and manner of using the ashes is necessary. 

 Men of Dr Fiske's e.xpcrience will not be misled 

 by the very short directions given in No. 43, but 

 perhaps others may be. I will briefly express my 

 experience on the subject. 



In 1804 I transplanted two peach trees ; one a 

 common rareripe ; tlie other a heath clingstone ; 

 I never had heard of the use of ashes to fruit trees 

 that I recollect. It was thought that the peath 

 trees never lived long enough in my neighborhoo), 

 (situated on the bank of a river) to produce frut. 

 The second year after transplanting my trees. I 

 found several worms had attacked them. I coi- 

 cluded to make use of lime and ashes togethe, 

 thinking it possible that they might prevent tit 

 worms destroying the trees. They flourished finfr 

 ly, and I continued the use of lime and ashes h 

 small quantities ; but after they had producol 

 fruit plentifully, and become much larger, I usal 

 from half a bushel to a bushel in the course of ii 

 year. Either of the above mentioned trees, whidi 

 were transplanted in 1804, measure more th«i 

 eight inches in diameter near tlie ground, and 

 they botli bore fruit plentifully last season. 



After using lime and ashes for several years, i 

 saw an account in some of the public papers jf 

 the accidental discovery of the use of ashes 'or 

 peach trees, in Connecticut, which I tiiink staged 

 that a considerable quantity of old ashes had been 

 thrown out by the servants of a gentleman aroanu 

 an old decayed peach tree, which they conside-ed 

 worthless. I doubt not that Dr Fiske and miiiy 

 others who receive tlie JVew England Sarmer hive 

 read the same statement. 



After reading it, I began to make use of asiies 

 alone, and have continued to do so ever siire ; 

 but I should at all times prefer ashes half spent ; 

 rny reason for so doing is because by building up 

 considerably around the trunk of the tree, I luive 

 uniformly found that worms did not injure it so 

 much as when new ashes are used, and conse- 

 quently a smaller quantity. If ashes are used in a 

 nursery of trees, I should think the quantity ouglit 

 to be very small ; and I do not think it advisable 

 to use ashes about trees the same year they are 

 transplanted. I had in April last about forty peach 

 trees from twenty-tliree to two years old ; and 

 never have had any suspicions that any of my trees 

 have been injured by a plentiful use of ashes. 



J. CRANSTON 

 Marlborough, June 27, 182G. 



Porlant inquiry, tliat is, the sale of their wool. It 

 has been the custom with them to send it to a 

 commission house for sale, and in many instances 

 it has remained on hand for two or three years, 

 thj moths destroying one third, the remainder sold 

 at .1 reduced price to pay the expense it has accu- 

 milated. This, every one will acknowledge, is 

 bad management ; here we discover the want of 

 a proper system. The depression of the wool i 

 market ought to stimulate all those who 



hours generally used the same weapon of defence : 

 but there were a few exceptions. And when the 

 foliage of the apole tree made its appearance in 

 the spring of 18D, it was found tliat those trees 

 which were not tirred the previous spring, and 

 those which were tarred, were alike freed from the 

 ravages of the canker worm. 

 Tiie cause of tieir sudden exit was attributed by 



some to a severe storm which fell immediately 



,„„,, :„ .u^ u • . , , "^''^ ^"" ''^^'^'^ the worms had taken their station on the 



ga^ed in the business to make a thorough inveati- " 



gition how they can make the most of it" I would 



WOOL. 



Mr Pessenden — I have lately seen a commu- 

 nication in the American Statesman, addressed to 

 wool growers, which f trust will have a salutary 

 effect. I wish to call their attention to a more im- 



surgest for consideration a few remarks on the 

 method which would be necessary to adopt for 

 t!if promotion of the sale of wool. I should first 

 re(ommend that the wool growers should hold a 

 meeting to devise measures for the g.owth and 

 imsroveinont of wool, and appoint an agent who 

 has a good knowledge of the article. And, sec- 

 ondly, a company ought to be formed for the pur- 

 pose of stapling wool, to be under the control of 

 the agent, and he to have the wool stapled into 

 nine or ten sorts, tliat it may go directly, to the 

 manufacturer. By this system the farmer might 

 receive one third more, and in less than one third 

 the time, as their business has been conducted 

 lieretofore. 

 Boston, July 1826. 



CANKER WORM. 



Mr Editor — In a communication published in 

 the 372 page of the current volume of the N. E. 

 Farmer, under the signature A Farmer ; the writ- 

 er suggests the importance of noticing and " re- 

 cording all facts relating to the Canker Worm 

 which has made its appearance this year." 



I fully agree with my brother Farmer of Rox- 

 bury in the importance of paying an immediate at- 

 tention to that fell destroyer ; and believe that all 

 lovers of good apples and good cider will do well 

 to contribute, each his "mite" and cast it into 

 the care of the Editor of the New England Farm- 

 er, who I venture to presume will have the good- 

 ness to act as the receiver, and publisher of all 

 facts which relate to the history of the canker 

 worm, both in its grub and worm state ; and the 

 cheapest and most efficacious means of destroying 

 them. 



The writer of the communication above referred 

 to, states " the farmers this year having had no 

 warning, are not liable to tiny imputation of neg- 

 lect in not using preventives against this old ene- 

 my." From which I infer that the writer has seen 

 no canker worms in his orchard for several years 

 preceding the present, and that they have at once 

 pounced upon his trees, like an eagle upon its 

 prey ; this in his case may be the/acJ; but I must 

 confess it is otherwise with me, and that I cannot 

 in truth, shield myself from the imputation of neg- 

 lect in not using preventives, under a pretence of 

 not having due notice of the approach of the ene- 

 my. 



In the years 1806 and 1807, the canker worms 

 iiad become numerous in my orchard ; it having 

 then just arrived to a bearing state. I felt an un- 

 lillingness to yield it up to such an apparently in- 

 significant foe without a conflict ; therefore in the 

 years 1808 and 1809, I tarred my trees with care 

 and per;50vorancc. In the same years my neigh- 



leaves, and whilt they were e.xtremely small and 

 tender ; but what:ver the cause might be, this is 

 certain, that we have experienced no great harm 

 from them until tie present year, nor is the damage 

 now great or un.versal in this vicinity ; yet it is 

 suflicient to give the alarm and teach us that we 

 must again have recourse to the means of an ex- 

 terminating wir, or suffer the consequences which 

 will result from sloth and neglect. 

 I Although i; may in truth be said that fifteen or 

 sixteen years have elapsed, during which time 

 there has been no actual necessity of the owners of 

 Orchards standing in hostile array against the can- 

 ker worm ; y»n the fact is, there has not been a 

 single i/ear since ISIO hut I have discovered the 

 enemy in my orchard, (and. he is in some others,) 

 lurking upon the trees. I have also for the last 

 three years discovered a gradual increase of their 

 numbers ; but I should judge the number to have 

 increased during the last year at least four fold. 

 I recollect having read, several years since, in one 

 of the Boston newspapers, the result of an experi- 

 ment used as a preventive against the canker- 

 worm, which was, to the best of my recollection, 

 m substance as follows : 



A quantity of lime was collected from the sweep- 

 ing of a lime atore, and spread on the ground a- 

 round a certain tpple tree, some time in the month 

 of November, (the foliage of whi^-h tree had been 

 destroyed by the canker worm the preceding sum- 

 mer,) the ground at the time being in a pulverized 

 state, the lime was spread as far from the trunk of 

 the tree as the droppings from the branches exteud 

 ed ; the effect was stated to be, the entire disap- 

 pearance of the worm, and an increased vigor of 

 the tree. I now mention this wholly from memo- 

 ry, and in the hope that there may be some one 

 who is acquainted with the fact who will have the 

 goodness to give the details to the public. 



To use tar as a preventive with complete ef- 

 fect, my experience teaches me, is a long and te- 

 dious process, and from which if any other means 

 can be devised equally as efficacious, equally cheap, 

 and more expeditious,-I confess I should be glad to 

 have an exemption. It has been found necessary 

 in some years in the tarring process to commence 

 tlie operation in the month of November, and if 

 an orchard be planted on a warm soil, and on a 

 southern declivity, the grub has been found to be 

 on its march every warm evening from November, 

 to some time in April, provided they be not im- 

 peded by frozen ground. 



I have seen great numbers caught in February ; 

 and the same year it was necessary to tar from 

 that time until the middle of April, every evening 

 when the state of the atmosphere was so warm 

 that the ground did not become frozen by sunset. 

 To those, however, wlio may have occasion to tar 



