NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



185 



AN HOUR AT MR. SHELDON'S FARM. 



Mr. Sheldon having attained some celebrity as 

 a cattle breeder, and having a desire to look at some 

 heifers in his barn, we passed an hour or two with 

 him on Friday, on his premises. We found a herd 

 of some forty or fifty neat cattle, including calves, 

 of the native and mixed breeds of Devon, Durham 

 and Ayrshire. Some of them were very fine. 

 His piggery is extensive, and contained beautiful 

 litters of crosses of the Suffolk and Middlesex, and 

 some very fine breeding animals. But in passing 

 over the farm we felt more disposed to give him 

 credit for the extent and beauty of his orcharding 

 thaft for Ins stock. He has about twelve acres set 

 with apple trees, making one thousand in all, that 

 are not only a credit to his skill as a cultivator, 

 but will soon repay him for his outlay. The trees 

 having been judiciously trimmed, have flatly spread- 

 ing tops, and their straight, smooth trunks, show 

 no marks of carelessness in plowing the ground. 

 He pointed out an orchard where an attempt had 

 been made with trees taken from the same nursery, 

 and transplanted at the same time his were, not one 

 of which had attained a height of six feet, or borne 

 an apple, while some of his are three inches in di- 

 ameter and have produced several bushels to a 

 tree. So much for culture. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 EXTENSION OF FORESTS. 



BY MORRELL ALLEN. 



Mr Editor : — It is not yet two hundred years 

 since most of the territory of Massachusetts was^ 

 covered' with a dense forest. Within the memory 

 of some of the present generation all the improve- 

 ments on farms which attracted much notice or 

 occasioned many remarks, were the clearance of 

 portions of forest and the preparation of the soil 

 for cultivated crops. It is not, therefore, very 

 wonderful that many farmers hear, with surprise, 

 recommendations to plant forest trees, or that they 

 should inquire, why urge us back into the woods, 

 when we have but lately made our escape from 

 them 1 This inquiry is certainly a very natural 

 one in view of the recent settlement of the coun- 

 try; but when the present condition of our soils is 

 considered, it will appear that no more important 

 improvements can be suggested to many of our 

 farmers than the contraction of cultivated fields 

 and the extension of forests. In every section of 

 the State we see wide tracts of land which have 

 been cropped with different kinds of grain till they 

 will no longer yield a compensation for the labor 

 bestowed. The renovation of these exhausted 

 lands in a course of cultivation with the present 

 resources of farmers is impracticable; if they could 

 employ the requisite number of laborers, they would 

 often fail of obtaining the necessary quantity of 

 vegetable matter to re-invigorate their fields. Ea- 

 ger to reap the fruits of virgin soils, we have ex- 

 tended our cleared fields beyond our powers of 

 right management. The fields are now demand- 

 ing compensation for the fruits they have so liber- 

 ally yielded in past time ; those fruits we have 

 dispersed into different parts of the world, and do 



not now possess the means of direct payment of 

 the debt. We can do it gradually, as heavy de- 

 mands on a community are lessened by sinking 

 funds. Plant forest trees, and with every year of 

 growth they will be scattering substances which 

 have been taken away in cropping ; ultimately the 

 fields will be restored to nearly pristine richness ; 

 if posterity should need them for cultivation, they 

 would find in them two valuable prizes, one in 

 wood and timber, and the other in soil of sufficient 

 energy to yield abundant crops. This may seem 

 to some farmers a work requiring too much time ; 

 and they may feel disposed to inquire if there be 

 not some shorter way of renovating soils ? There 

 certainly is, and we earnestly recommend the mix- 

 ture of soils and the manufacture of manure to 

 the extent of every farmer's power. But when 

 this is done a large breadth of surface must be 

 left untouched. Reduce the fields of cultivation, 

 but not in the least the quantity of labor or 

 manure bestowed. In several of the counties if 

 the farmers would reduce the quantity of land now 

 called cultivated, to one-half the present extent, 

 with the same amount of labor and manure they 

 would reap far greater products. Some may sup- 

 pose the planting of trees is work for the exclusive 

 benefit of posterity ; it is not so ; the attention of 

 the writer was directed to this subject rather late 

 in life, but has for several years been using fuel of 

 his own raising. Since 1833 a number of old fields 

 have been planted with different kinds of forest 

 trees, and several of them have been advanced in 

 value by the operation, not less than 150 per cent. 

 We have satisfactory and strong evidence that this 

 subject demands the attention and experiments of 

 our farmers, that their labors in this direction will 

 promote personal prosperity and conduce in a 

 high degree to the welfare of posterity. m. a. 

 Pembroke, Feb. 24, 1852. 



Remarks. — The subject matter of the article is 

 worthy of careful consideration. It discusses the 

 whole matter in the briefest manner, and gives the 

 remedy for the evil. Extend your forests and 

 manure your cultivated lands more highly. We 

 hope to hear from the writer again. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 FARM SCHOOLS. 

 Mr. Editor : — Quite an interest has been taken 

 in the last few years on the subject of agricultural 

 education in connection with farm schools. All 

 this shows that the right spirit is among our far- 

 mers in regard to educating themselves, and more 

 particularly their sons, both in practical and sci- 

 entific agriculture. In a late number of the Far- 

 mer, there is a very good article on a "Model Farm 

 School," by Mr. French. Probably there are ma- 

 ny other gentlemen in your State, each of whom 

 might suggest a good plan for a "Farm School." 

 But we think that the greatest difficulty will be 

 found in bringing down these plans to a practical 

 operation. La fact, to know just how-to manage, 

 and who can manage such an institution success- 

 fully, is the great question to be settled. There 

 are many men, I doubt not, in any State, who 

 might think themselves just "the man''' to manage 

 such a school. But in all faith we must say, that 

 we do not know where the first man can be found 

 in this country to manage such a school. But then 



