NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



107 



being so different the union is imperfect. I once 

 saw ,i pear tree on an apple stock which had been 

 growing 12 or 15 years and bore pretty well, but 

 I have not had them live over four years. In each 

 stock I had a pear and an apple scion inserted, so 

 that when the pear scion should fail, its place 

 might be occupied by the apple scions, and the re- 

 sult was that the third year, 1850, the pear and 

 apple grafts both blossomed, but the pear grafts 

 broke out in July or August, having pears on them 

 half or two-thirds grown. The following autumn 

 the apple grafts fruited, which with the Siberian 

 apples growing on the ungrafted scattering limbs, 

 presented a contrast which was not only pleasing 

 to the eye but a source of profit to the pocket, and 

 the object sought for in grafting was obtained. 



Finally, in reply to the inquiries of "A Young 

 Digger," are stocks from the seeds of the same na- 

 ture, and do they make as large and long lived 

 trees, as stocks from the seeds of other varieties ? 

 I will say, if you insert buds or scions of the com- 

 mon apple tree in small stocks of the Siberian ap- 

 ple, the result will be dwarf trees. Stocks from the 

 seed are of the same nature, but I doubt very 

 much their growing as large as the common vari- 

 eties ; and as to the Siberian stocks making as long 

 lived trees as those of the common varieties, I 

 should doubt it, from what specimens I have seen 

 in the New England States and New York. I am 

 not so well prepared to answer as the boy was 

 when asked how long a certain kind of rails would 

 last, replied "they would dast three or four gener- 

 ations, for his father had tried them." 



SoutUoro\Jan. 20, 1852. 



THE LOCUSTS. 



Gideon B. Smith communicates the following in- 

 telligence in regard to the seventeen year locusts to 

 the Baltimore Patriot : 



"The seventeen year locusts will appear this year 

 in Connecticut, east of the river, in portions of 

 Tolland, Middlesex and Hartford counties, about 

 Manchester, Glastonburg and Chatham, and most 

 probably in a portion of Massachusetts north of 

 these places. They will also appear in Franklin, 

 Bristol and Hampshire counties, Massachusetts, 

 and especially about Fall River. I have been un- 

 able to ascertain whether they will appear in 

 Rhode Island, but they most probably will in the 

 neighborhood, especially adjacent to Massachusetts 

 at Fall River. In Barnstable and that neighbor- 

 hood in Massachusetts they will not appear until 

 1855. The grubs or larvae of these insects may 

 now be found in all places in the above districts 

 where forest or other hard-wood trees and shrub- 

 bery grew seventeen years ago, by digging two or 

 three feet in the ground. 



They will be found singly in their little horizon- 

 tal cells, in a half-torpid state. About the first of 

 May they may be discovered by merely shaving off 

 the top soil with a spade, when their chambers 

 will be found completed near the surface of the 

 earth. It would serve the cause of science if some 

 one in those districts would take the trouble to 

 make these researches, and also to watch their 

 first appearance above ground, which happens sev 

 eral days before any notice is attracted to them. 



I expect they will first begin to emerge about 

 the 1st of June in the above districts. This early 

 notice is given of their expected appearance, that 



those who have the opp jrtunity may be prepared 

 to take the proper notice of them. I shall be very 

 glad to receive any information on the subject that 

 may be elicited." 



For the Neiv England Farmer. 

 AXLETREES. 



Mr. Editor : — I find in the N. E. Farmer of the 

 13th ult. a communication from Wm. D. Brown, 

 on "Oiling Axles." 1 think his views correct on 

 the subject, and his remarks might be extended a 

 little further. Your correspondent recommends 

 using sperm oil for oiling axles, in preference to 

 any other kinds of grease ; but what I have found 

 to be still better than that, is olive oil. I have a 

 common one-horse buggy wagon, which is the 

 only carriage I have for the use of my family, 

 which cost me for an outlay to furnish it with 

 olive oil for the past season, the sum of one dime. 

 I think it is the best and cheapest article that can 

 be used. Mr. Brown, in his communication, says 

 that he "don't believe in the economy of wooden 

 axl^trees at all," but we farmers in Vermont 

 think we get a greater amount of strength, com- 

 pared to the weight of the axle tree, from wood 

 than from iron. 



Will not some scientific mechanic inform us on 

 this subject. Insley Dow. 



East Corinth, Vt., Jan., 1852. 



02P We have received a copy of the excellent 

 Address of Col. M. P. Wilder, before the Berk- 

 shire Agricultural Society, at Pittsfield, in Oct. 

 last. It is a "plain, practical, earnest production, 

 containing many valuable statistics, and admira- 

 bly adapted to influence the farmer to a more care- 

 ful consideration of his own interests. In the pres- 

 ent crowded state of our columns, we have only 

 room for the following extract, which we hope 

 every farmer in the union will read: 



"True, we have agricultural papers and periodi- 

 cals, and they have wrought wonders in the dis- 

 semination of knowledge. Where there was only 

 one ten years since, there are now a dozen, urged 

 on in their noble cause by a generous rivalry and 

 competition, and it is estimated that in New Eng- 

 land alone, there are sent out, weekly, more than 

 fifty thousand copies. These are cheering omens. 

 Their rapid increase and extension, evince the grow- 

 ing interest of the community in this department 

 of literature. Where they were once ridiculed as 

 chimerical and visionary, they are now hailed as 

 the welcome messengers, and as the best friends 

 of the farmer. Let then no farmer deny his sons 

 the advantage of at least one paper, which is 

 either wholly or in part devoted to this subject." 



Farmer and Planter. Pendleton, S. C, 

 Geo. Seadorn and J. J. Gilman, Editors.— Papers 

 devoted to Agriculture and Horticulture are spring- 

 ing up in many portions of the country where none 

 have heretofore been published, and a new era in 

 the art has dawned upon us ; while those which 

 have attained some years, are assuming new forms 

 and attractions. The one before us gives evidence 

 of talent and thrift. Its editorials and remarks 



