170 



SI)C jTarmcr^g illontl)lii fatsitor. 



Tlie gentleman answered there wus little clepie- 

 (lalion of fruit trees or melon yards in Worces- 

 ter. We have an association or society here, 

 ■vvliose hiisine.ss it is to see that tlie laws are exe- 

 cuted : evidence being furnished or tlie assurance 

 of it to a meniher of this association, he is hound 

 not to leave the matter until the injury is settled 

 and atoned for. It being confidentially made 

 known to the trespasser or his parent or guardi- 

 an that the first offence can he settled without 

 public exposure, a second offence was seldom 

 commilted by the same person. He said his 

 own fruit yard had but a slight obstacle to street 

 exposure, and that he had not known of the rob- 

 bery of a peach, pear, plum or cherry tree or of 

 a melon or grape vine during the season. When 

 Concord can be as well protected, there will be 

 a general movement towards raising fruits. As 

 a step towards it, we this year have set with our 

 own hands in our own door yard, three grape 

 vines, and five peach trees of selected fiuits, 

 sent by our friend Clement of Draciit;and we 

 want, as the beginning of an orchard, either this 

 full or next spring, to set out upon the ten acre 

 pine plain lot two hundred a|)ple trees ingrafted 

 with the Baldwin bud, if any friend will furnish 

 them at the price we think we can afford to pay 

 for them. Our intention is to underlay these 

 upon the light soil at the depth of eighteen to 

 twenty-four inches, with a quantity, say from a 

 |)eck lo half a bushel, of the bones of meat ani- 

 mals or oyster shells. 



The $-2019 does not include all the produc;,s 

 from the farm during the year: as we have 

 charged the pasturage of the cattle and shee|) to 

 the income, it would hardly be fair to add to it 

 the amount of milk from seven cows sold during 

 the year : this may amount to some $1.50 or $200 

 more or less. Then again of two litters of beau- 

 tiful iiigs, three of one at $2,50 and seven of the 

 other at §3 each sold— five calves sold at $2,50 

 each, and two reared ; eggs, hens and chickens 

 and turkeys; half a doz n fleeces of wool: two 

 or more hogs in the season, suf1icii;nt for the 

 pork and ham and lard to he used in the family 

 dm'ing the year. This season also go fiom the 

 premises a pair of oxen for beeli worth $75 to 

 $100: two cows, if they were farrow, might be 

 spared for the same |)urposp, worth $30 each, 

 with no permanant diminution of slock. 



A handsome Present. 



As the rapid growih of the \illage 



anil town 

 of Worcester, Ms., soon to become a city, first 

 commtjnced in the |ilough-making establishment 

 of Messrs. Ruggles and Company, so the great 

 impetus to VVorcester County agricidlural i(n- 

 provemcnt has been given, in the grand (■xhilii- 

 tions of its agriculiiu-al society, by the bi'anlifid 

 display of ploughs and other agricultural imple- 

 ments which ihe house of Ruggles, Nouise and 

 Mason have annually presented. We noticed in 

 the monthof Septend)erat Worcester, iIk; siilcn- 

 did work made into deep, rocky soil, ni^ver be- 

 fore moved by the plouiih, by Messrs. liugglos, 

 Nourseand Mason's Subsnil I'lough No. I : three 

 lieautilul yoke of oxen ownc.'d iiy Col. John W. 

 Lincoln, drew the plougli fullnwing alier the 

 breaking up t(;am, and moving the ground fully 

 to the dcpili of iweiily inches. IJil liiilo bus 

 yet been dnm: in Worcesliir with llic subsoil 

 plough: the land there, easily maile rich near 

 the surface, does not sei:m to require the subsoil 

 plough. It is that kind of soil which will re- 

 quire unilerilriiining to show the real value ol 

 deep subsoil ploughing. 



As for our own use we have in a lighter soil 

 made use of the lighter subsoil plough of Messrs. 

 Prouty and Mears, the first of which was made 

 lor experiment in a soil much less tenacious than 

 that about Worcester : in all, including fourteen 

 acres of pine plain anil twenty-four acres of 

 higher intervale, we have subsoiled thirty-eight 

 acres. In doing this, two of the smaller subsoil 

 ploughs have been well nigh used up. Having 

 completed twelve acres of subsoil ploughing 

 for next spring's planting with our old ])loughs, 

 we remarked lo our men on leaving the field, 

 that our next subsoiling would want a new 

 plough. At the County Fair of Fisherville we 

 were glad to see a specimen of the various kinds 

 of Worcester ploughs on the ground; and after- 

 wards on learning the presence of one of the 

 Boston firm of the house, the editor took occas- 

 ion to compliment, as he felt its value, the great 

 establishment of Worcester, the value of whose 

 agricultural implements was acknowledged and 

 felt in all parts ©f the country. Unexpectedly 

 by the same railroad conveyance that brought us 

 the following letter, came the beautiful subsoil 

 plough— just the thing wanted for our use if we 

 should live to plough another year— as a most 

 welcome and acceptable present. 



Ruggles, Nourse and Mason, and Prouty and 

 Mears, (rivals in plough-making) mannfactm-e 

 this grand implement by the thousand and ten 

 thousand : they go now from their establish- 

 ments into almost every part of the United 

 Stales. Few jieople duly apjireciate t!ie value 

 of these ploughs until they use them : they 

 not only turn over the ground better, but the 

 force of team and in ploughing with them is 

 from one fourth to one third less than that 

 used in the old breaking up ploughs. The 

 plough is the first item necessary to accomplish 

 those sreat agriculiural improvements, which 

 the best friends of the cause contemplale for 

 the New England States. 



Boston, Oct. 29llj, 1847. 



Hon. Isaac Hill : 



Dear Sir, — Having been informed by our Mr. 

 A. Stone, who visiied the Fair and Ploughing 

 match in your county a few days since, of the 

 deep interest which ynu take in agriculture in 

 your State, and particularly in the iniprovenient 

 and use of the subsoil plough, wo 'have taken 

 ihe liberly of forwarding by railroad ibis day, ad- 

 dressed to you, one of our No. 2. Sid)soil Ploughs, 

 for yom- acceptance, as a snuill token of ihe high 

 eslinialion which we have for your s<'rvices, in 

 the promotion of agrii^dlnre in your Siali' and 

 throughout New England, and for the many hi^h 

 con)plimenls passed upon our establishment be- 

 fore your Agricultural Society during the late 

 fair. 



With sentiments of high regard, wc romam 

 verv respectfully, yours, 



Kuucii.Ks, Noup.sk & Maso.n. 



favor received from our friends during the last 

 two months : all of them are felt as an encour- 

 agement that the interest we have taken in farm 

 improvement, aa the foundation of wealth and 

 general prosperity, find sympathy in the judg- 

 ment of better heads than our own. 



To the Editor of the Visitor. 



Pear Tree Blight. 



I send you an account of an experiment 1 

 made to cure the blight in Pear trees. If you 

 think it worth publisliing, you may do it. 



In the fall of 1842 or 3, the leaves on our pear 

 trees turue<l black some time before tfie season 

 for leaves to fall, and showed that the trees (sev- 

 en in number) were badly affected with the blight. 

 The next spring I wus carrying some beef brine 

 out of the cellar, and 1 poured about half a pail- 

 ful around the roots of each of five of the trees. 

 I was advised by a friend that the brine would 

 kill them if the blight had not already done it ; 

 and fearing he might be right, 1 left two of the 

 largest and most thrifty trees, and did nothing to 

 them. The two trees that I left put out some 

 leaves in the Spring, but both died that season, 

 while the five around which 1 put the brine, grew 

 thrifty, and have shown no signs of the blight 

 since : They were all the same kind of fruit. 

 Yours trulv, 



DAVID GALLUP. 

 Plainfield, Conn. Nov. 22nd, 1847. 

 [We should fear that a greater quantity of 

 strong brine than the quantity named by our 

 friend above, might injure and perhaps destroy 

 the tree. — Ecl.Visitor. 



Q^A prospectus for the Visitor, for the new 

 year commencing on the 31st of January 1848, 

 will be i.-isned and si:iit to our friends <luring the 

 ni:xt rnonili. We hope some friend in evi'ry 

 town in Now-IIamiishire, (Massuchuselts, Maine, 

 Vermont and Connecticut not excepted,) who 

 has :qiproved the eflcct of oiy monthly journal 

 in llio lasl li'ii years, will lend us llii'ir personal 

 influence to extend its circulalion for another ten 

 years which the lulitor may yot live to see, am! 

 in which, if he should live, he can live in no 

 other occupation so plca.-ing lo himself, as in thai 

 of making "two spears of gr.-iss and two blades 

 of corn grow, where only one grew befori-." 



(ty^Our long articles of the present nnmber 

 have left us no room lo do juslice lo llic items ol 



(U'An apology is due to our old and respect- 

 ed friend that owing to the absences of the edi- 

 tor, the following valued communication has, un- 

 til this time, been omitted. 



For the Monthly Visitor. 

 Rot in Potatoes. 

 Not liaving seen the researches of Mr. Alfred 

 Smec, of London, republished in our country, 

 relative to the malady in the potato plant, I shall 

 send you j-ome of his discoveries, which were 

 published in the Illustrated London News, of 

 June 12, 1847. 



Mr. Smee has ascertained, that the disease in 

 the potato plant, which has heretofore baffled 

 the invesiig-iiioiis of the potato growing world, 

 is occasioned by a species of aphides, to which 

 he has given the name of vaslator. The animal 

 feeds on the under side of the leaf at first, and 

 mtiy be found, in almost every potato field in our 

 coiintrv. 



Mr. Smec's invesligations are certainly correct, 

 as they agree precisely with all the observations 

 made in this section of the north. 



The little depredators fi-ed on the under side 

 of the leaf, until the juices are exhausted; llien 

 on the ^alk, until the fatal gans:reno is genera- 

 ted. Our own experience proves, that the vas- 

 tator operates with more ellect. on highly ina- 

 nured and moist lands, than on others of a differ- 

 ent character. 



Our own observation has ascertained beyond 

 controversy, that new grounds are more likely 

 to escape the di.'[ireilations of the vastalor than 

 those which have been lung cultivati'd, and that 

 some kinds of the potato are more likely lo be 

 ravaged than others. 



The vustalor may be seen with the naked eye, 

 in the larva state, in mjiiads, on the leaves id the 

 jiotato plant, which are ju-it bcginniiu' to be af- 

 fected with what is c;)miiionly called the rusl. — 

 He is remarkably active when malunil, and pro- 

 lific ; one indiviirual producing millions in a single 

 season, and "the wonilcr of all wonders" is, that 

 all men, who Inive been invcsiigating this disease 

 for many years, have never been able lo see the 

 multitudes ol Ihe vastalm-, when they cim now 

 be seen without a microscope by very bad eyes. 



Mr. Smee, after a mnlliplicily of obscrvation,s 

 on numerous kinds of aphides, and upon a di- 

 versity (d'plants.has developed the following laws 

 of the efii'cts wliii-ii they produce : 



1. .Aphides t\;iH\ on living plains. 



2. Aphides come lirsl upon healthy plants. 



3. Aphides suck the juices, after having pierced 



the cutii'Ic. 



