oo 



^i)t farmer's iHontl)ii} bisitor. 



Nothing appears to be so captivating to the 

 muss of human bein(;s, as novellij. And there is a 

 fashion in trees, wliich soinetitnes has a sway no 

 less rigorous than that of a Parisian modiste— 

 Hence, while we have the finest indigenous, or- 

 namental trees in the vvoilil, growing in our na- 

 tive forests, it is not an unusual thing to see ihein 

 blindly overlooked (or foreign species, that have 

 not half the real charms, and not a tenth part of 

 the adaptation to our soil and climate. 



Thirty yeara ago, there was a general Lombardy 

 poplar tpidemic. Tliis tall and formal tree, stri- 

 knig and admirable enough, if very spaiingly in- 

 troiUiced in landscape planting, is, of all others, 

 most abominable, in its serried stiffness and mo- 

 notony, when planted in avenues, or straight lines. 

 Yet nine-tenths of all the ornamental planting 

 of that period, was made up of this now decreji- 

 id and condemned tree. 



So too, we lecall one or two of om- villages, 

 where the soil would have produced any of our 

 finest forest trees, yet where the only trees thought 

 worthy of attention by tlie inhabitants, are the 

 Ailanthus and the Paper Mulberry. 



The principle which would govern us, if we 

 were planting the streets of rural towns, is this : 

 Select the Jinest indigenous free or trees; such as 

 ike soil and climate of the place will bring to the 

 highest perfection. Thus, if it were a neighbor- 

 hood where the Elm flourished pecidiarly well, 

 or the Maple, or the Beech, we would directly 

 adopt the tree indicated. We would then, in 

 time, succeed in producing the finest po.=sible 

 specimens of the species selected: while, if we 

 adopted, for the sake of fashion or novelty, a for- 

 eign tree, we should probably only succeed in 

 getting poor and meagre specimens. 



Jt is because this principle has been, perhaps 

 accidentally, pursued, that the villages of New- 

 England are so celebrated for their sylvan charms. 

 The Elm is, we think, nowhere seen in more 

 majesty, greater luxuriance, or richer beauty, than 

 in the valley of the Connecticut: and it "is be- 

 cause the soil is so tridy congenial to it, that the 

 elm-adorned streets of the villages there, elicit so 

 much admnation. They are not only well |)lant- 

 ed with trees— but witli a kind of tree which at- 

 tains its greatest perfection there. Who can for- 

 get the fine lines of the Sugar Maple, in Stock- 

 bridge, Massachusetts .= They are in our eyes 

 the rural glory ol' the jilace. The soil there is 

 rt)eir own, and they have attained a beautiful 

 symmetry and development. Yet if, instead of 

 maples, pojilars or willows bad been planted, 

 how marked would have been the difference of 

 effect. 



There are no grander or more superb trees, 

 than our American Oaks. Those who know them 

 oiily as they grow in the midst, or on the skirts 

 of a thick forest, have no proper notion of their 

 dignity and beauty, when planted and grown in 

 an avenue, or where lliey have full space to de- 

 velop. Now, there are many districts where the 

 native luxuriance of the oak woods, points out 

 the perlect adaptation of the soil for this tree.— 

 If we ini.stake not, such is the case where that 

 charming rural town in this Stale, Canandaigu.i, 

 stands. Yet we confess we were not a little pai'ied 

 in walking through the streets of Cunandaigua, 

 the past season, to find them mainly lined with 

 that comparatively meagre tree, the Locust. How 

 much finerand more imposing, for the longnrin- 

 cipnl street of Cnnaiidaigua, would be an avenue 

 ot om- finest and hardiest native oaks— rich in fo- 

 liage and grand in every part of their trunks and 

 branches.* 



Though we think our native weeping Elm, our 

 Sugar Maple, and two or three of our Oaks, the 

 finest of street trees for country villages, yet there 

 are a great many oiIkms which may be adoi)te(l 

 when the sod is their own, with the happiest ef- 

 fect. What cnnld well be more beautiful, forex- 

 aniple, for a village with a deep mellow soil, than 

 a long avenue of iliut tall and most elegant tree 

 the Juhp-tree or Wliitewood ? For a villa"e in 

 a mountainous dislriri, like New J.ebanon iiuhis 

 Slate, we would perhaps choose the While Pine 

 which would produce a grand and striking i-dect! 

 Jn Ohio, the Ciiciimher-lree would make one of 

 the noblest and most ailmiralile avenues, and at 

 the south what could be conceived more captiva- 

 ting than a village whose streets were lined with 



rows of the Magnolia grandiflora .= We know 

 how little comnion minds appreciate these natu- 

 ral treas-ures ; how much the less because lliey 

 are common in the woods alioiit them. Still 

 such are the trccE wliioli should be planted ; (or 

 fine forest trees ore fiist disappearing, and plant- 

 e(l trees, grown in a soil fully congenial to them, 

 will, as we have already said, assume a character 

 of beatity and grandeur that will arrest the atten- 

 tion and elicit the admiration of every traveller. 

 The variety of trees for cities— densely crowd- 

 ed cities— is l)iit small ; and this, chiefly, because 

 the warm brick walls are such hiding-places and 

 iiurseries for insects, that many fine tiees— fine 

 for the country and for rural towns— become ab- 

 solute pests in the cities. Thus, in Philadelphia, 

 vve have seen, with regret, whole rows of the 

 European Linden cut down within the last ten 

 years, iiecause this tree, in cilies, is so infested 

 with oflioiis worms that it often becomes unen- 

 durable. Oh this account that foreign tree, the 

 Ailanthiis, the strong-scented foliage of whicli no 

 insect will attack, is every day becoming a great- 

 er metropolitan fiivorite. The Maples are anion" 

 the thriftiest and most acceptable trees for large 

 cities, and no one of them is more vigorous, 

 cleaner, hardier, or more graceful than the Silver 

 Maple. 



We must defer any further remarks for the 

 present ; but we must add, in conclusion, that the 

 (ilanting season is at hand. Let every man, whose 

 soul is not a desert, plant trees ; and that not 

 alone for himself— within the bounds of his own 

 demesne— but in the streets, anil along the rural 

 highways of his neighborhood. Thus he will 

 not only lend grace and beauty to the neighbor- 

 hood and county in which he lives, but earn, hon- 

 estly, and well, the thanks of his fellow men. 



♦J he Oak 18 easily transplanted from the nursericn— llinuirh 

 noi from the woods, unless in the latter case, it has been mc- 

 p»red a year beforehand, by shcrtening the roots and branchet. 



The Horse and Cow. 



Extract from an Jlddress delivered before the Greene 

 County (JV. Y.) .Hgricultural Society, by Hon. Za- 

 doc Pratt, President : 



Of all the animals created for the use of man, 

 none lias been the subject of so much observa- 

 tion and esteem as the horse. In their native 

 wilds, nature forms them into herds and groups, 

 and gives them in command of the strongest and' 

 fleetest; and by this and other wise arrangements 

 of which God is capable, guards the sjiecies' 

 against general degeneracy. The same kiinl care 

 has been shown in special provision (or the secu- 

 rity of every race of animals; but when this se- 

 curity is taken away, and they are biought under 

 the dominion and management of man, the most 

 skilfiil attention is required in changing the gen- 

 eral character of the s|)eeies, and producing and 

 improving distinct breeds, each adapted to its 

 own specific purpose. It is not every breed that 

 is suited to every locality ; for climate, anti the 

 face and food of different countries, will modify 

 lli«: shapes and (jnalitie.*, not only of the domes- 

 tic animals, but of the human species ; the raw- 

 boned, industrious, hardy, and temperate man of 

 the North, becomes enervated and indolent, both 

 in the mental and physical constitution and ener- 

 gies, in tropical latitudes where he re[ioses in the 

 lap of luxury, enjoying, without exhaustion, the 

 abundance which nature lavishes around him. 



The horse best fitted to travel in the sun and 

 sands of the South, is the descriulaiit of the 

 small hard-bonerl, light-tooted Arabian, with his 

 high courage and silken coat ; while grain-grow- 

 ing Pennsylvania and Ohio, with their cumbrous 

 wagons, prefi-r to use a heavy corn-fed breed, 

 that will ilirow a greater weight upon the collar. 

 The North again is better served by a more com- 

 pact and aclive race of middle size, endowed wiih 

 much more strength in proportion to their 

 weights and greater power of nuluiance; who 

 bravely champ the bit, and nobly strain the load 

 with lion-like vigor; rejdiring at toil and answer- 

 ing to the driver's voice with proud step and mar- 

 tial air, as if it were the trumpet calling them to 

 battle. Thus the wants and pcculiiiiiiies— the 

 soil, climalc, and uses — of each district refjuire 

 and produce that breed which is best suited to it- 

 self. What buuer stock do vve need than such 

 as be bred liom the best of those we iilreadv 

 have ? 'J'lie teams of Z. Pratt & Co., comiiosiil 

 of a single span, (natives of our region) are in 

 the habit of ihawing (i-oiii Catskill over the 



mi tains to I'liillsville and hack, loads of lii,!e 



and leather of (ioni thirty to fifty, and even sixtv) 

 hundred weight, each wngoti or sleigh not iiiclit-i 



Med, the distance l>eing thirty-seven miles and 

 recpiirmg three days to go and come. 



The quantity thus transportetl wiihin the year 

 IS nearly two and half millions of pounds; "and 

 the expense the last season, including all risks 

 and charges, was only thirteen cents a hundred 

 Unrmg twenty years of this service, which I 

 make bold to -assert, has not been equalled by 

 hor.ses of any district or country on the globe, 

 not a horse has been injured, in "the hands of a 

 careftjl driver, an.l^to the honor of the county be 

 It said, that vve have never lost a hide or a side of 

 leather, ol tne million and a half thus transport- 

 lam aware that there are those, and among 

 them, my friend, Mr. Skinner, the experienced 

 editor of the Farmer's Library, who have strong- 

 ly recommended mules for slow and consiant 

 work; on the ground of much longer life— great- 

 er e.xemption from accident and disea.se, and 

 more economy in feeding; but experience, the 

 best ot teachers, .seems to show that the mule 

 and the slave are destined to work together in 

 the sunny South— both are uncongenial to us and 

 our latitude. 



The horse which we have is just the kind 

 which vve need ; and if we pay proper attention 

 in breeding, to the selection of both sire and dam, 

 we shall soon have, of our own raising, a class of 

 animals that for our purposes cannot be excelled; 

 already, indeed, two of the most celebrated trot- 

 ters the country ever saw, have been raised in 

 our immediate neighborhood. We do not want 

 such horses as roam half wild over the pampas 

 of South America; they are small, light, active, 

 always on the gallop, and admirablv filled to 

 chase the ostrich over the sand, or the "ox throu'di 

 the tangled grass; but when put to severe teJis 

 they are ibund wanting in strength, power of en- 

 during fatigue and even fleeiiiesi!. Neither do 

 vve want the English dray horse, which presents 

 the other extreme ; he is large and stronir, and 

 like him, too sluggish, heavy," and unwieldlv. 



The requisite vigor and spirit are not to bo 

 looked 111 overgrown size and fatness in the horse, 

 any more than in man— animation that ensures' 

 perseverance, the muscle that gives activity, and 

 that aidor and ambition which never permits 

 them to back and baulk, ate what is wantiii" in 

 both. " 



III every settlement a stock of good cattle is of 

 the highest importance; and every sagacious far- 

 mer vvilj learn to choose ibr breeder's, such as 

 promise best (or his particular object, whether it 

 be butter, beef, cheese or labor ; and he shall 

 study this subject with a deep feeling of scienii- 

 fic interest, as well as for the .sake of gain. Let 

 his first care be to put aside the best progeny of 

 his stock, and never permit his dearest frienil to 

 have a wistful eye on them— nor be templed by 

 any price, to sacrifice them to the buicher's 

 knife. If he has a fiivorite cow of the real fill- 

 pail breed, let him reserve and turn out one of 

 her calves that most resembles herself, before it 

 grows ohi enough to be sold to the butcher, and 

 iilways guard it with special care. 



We read of premiums being given to large im- 

 ported cows that have yielded some thirty quarts 

 a day ; but every dairy woman will tell you that 

 the cow that gives tiie greatest qnanlily at a 

 milking, is the bad one in the long run. A bet- 

 ter one siill, is she that keeps on throiiL'h the 

 year, giving milk (or our dairy and cream for our 

 talile, in winter as well as slimmer, let the feed 

 be short or long. Run fast, is u good name, but 

 hold litst is a bett(U' one. 



About a hundred years ago there lived in Boa- 

 ton a tallow-chandler. He was too ignorant to 

 give, and too poor to pay for his children's in- 

 slriiclion, but he was a wise and an honest man, 

 and there was one book, upon whose precepts he 

 relied, as being able to instruct his children how 

 to live prosperously in this VMirld, as well as to 

 prepan; iheiii (iir another. We are told that he 

 daily repeated lo them this proverb: " Scest thou 

 a man diligent ill his business? lie shall stand 

 beliire kings." In process of time this tallow- 

 chandler died and was (brgotlen. Hut the good 

 seed IkmI (iillcn upon gooil ground. One of his 

 lillle boys obeyed his (iitlier's iiislriiction ; he vvas 

 diligent in his business, and he did stand before 

 kings, the first representalive of his native land! 

 lie lived as a philusojilirr, to snatch the lightning 

 ;roin lieuven ; as a statesman, to wrest the scf ji- 



