218 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



good common school education— could be made a 

 good practical geometrician, and well acquainted 

 with other requisite studies in two quarters of 

 eleven weeks each ; they might also become good 

 civil engineers. In this way the character and 

 standing of farmers might be elevated. 



In conclusion, he spoke of the sterility of the 

 soil in New England, and counselled a friendly 

 feeling towards other sections of the country with 

 which we find it for our advantage to interchange 

 our products of the farm and other departments of 

 industry. 



On motion of Hon. B. V. French, of Braintree, 

 the thanks of the meeting were tendered to Capt. 

 Partridge for his address. 



Mr. Gray then made a few remarks upon the 

 subject assigned for the evening's discussion. He 

 alluded to its importance, and said that he coin- 

 cided in the views expressed to him by a gentle- 

 man then present, that in most instances it was 

 best to dispense with all but an exterior fence 

 around the land, and to keep the cattle up, to 

 practice what is called soiling them. The cheap- 

 est fence he considered to be stone walls ; a cheap 

 kind of wall, he had heard said, could be built for 

 two shillings a rod ; they consume the stone with 

 which many of our fields are almost paved, and 

 which it is considered excellent husbandry to get 

 out of the way. When well laid, he considered 

 stone walls a really beautiful fence, and mentioned 

 especially some he had seen in Rhode Island, which 

 were five feet high, and laid without mortar, but 

 yet with great care. He considered it the most 

 effectual fence. Wickersham's iron fence, which 

 has recently been introduced into this vicinity, he 

 commended very highly for interior fences. It 

 can be put up at $1,25 per rod. For gardens a 

 picket or close board fence will be found best ; the 

 former can be put up for $3 a rod, and the latter, 

 as high as a man's head, for $4. A good wire 

 fence, he had been told, could be put up for less 

 than 75 cents a rod. There was another kind 

 which in some cases he thought to be preferable to 

 any he had named — he meant live hedges. No- 

 thing could be more beautiful or effectual, if well 

 trimmed and kept. He commended highly for this 

 class of fences a kind of thorn introduced into this 

 country by E. H. Derby, Esq., of Salem, the bo- 

 tanical name of which is Rhamnus Cathariicus. 

 Some call it the Buckthorn. It cannot be killed 

 by heading down. The cattle will not eat the 

 leaf, and it is troubled by no insect ; when it is 

 headed down it will grow more thickly and stocky. 

 It can be set out for three or four shillings a rod. 

 For mere border, as evergreen, he commended the 

 Arbor Vita as the best plant. It keeps clothed 

 near the bottom ; as a single tree he thought it 

 more beautiful than the Funeral Cypress. The 

 English thorn will not do well here. It cannol 

 bear our dry climate. There was one kind of them 



he considered dangerous, and that is the Gleditsia 

 or Three Thorned Acacia, or as some call it, the 

 Triple Thorned Locust. It has a spur from which 

 proceed three shoots ; if it is not pruned it will 

 grow out of all manner of reason, and if it is 

 pruned it appears unsightly. It sheds its thorns, 

 and he had known an instance where a man step- 

 ping upon one of them rim it through his foot. 

 He had exterminated all of this class upon his 

 place. 



Maj. Wheeler inquired whether Mr. Gray had 

 found the Buckthorn hedge a sufficient fence against 

 cattle, or whether they woidd not tear it to pieces 

 with their horns. ' 



Mr. Gray thought it might be made a sufficient 

 fence to stop them, if it was cut in and made 

 stocky. They might injure it, but he did not think 

 they would break through. 



Mr. French, of Braintree, said he had been told 

 by persons recently from England that the English 

 farmers are taking down their hedges and supply- 

 ing their place with expensive stone walls. It had 

 been found a great expense to maintain and keep 

 up these hedges. Besides giving shelter to poach- 

 ers, they Avere found to be great exhausters of the 

 soil. As a matter of economy, where the land will 

 admit of it, he thought it best to have the whole 

 farm in one lot, especially unless there was upon 

 the land a superabundance of rock which it was 

 desirable to be rid of. In regard to setting posts, 

 his practice is to burn, so as to char the bottoms 

 of the post, befere they are put into the ground. 

 Last year some white cedar posts which were put 

 clown thus charred, twenty-seven years ago, were 

 taken up and found in excellent condition. He 

 spoke highly of the Arbor Vita for hedges. The 

 Buckthorn is also beautiful, but it is hardly a safe 

 fence to keep out cattle. The Washington Thorn 

 he had found a good fence to keep out cattle, but 

 it was expensive to cultivate. 



Maj. W # heeler preferred the Hemlock to the Ar- 

 bor Vita. 



For the New Ensland Farmer. 



PLANTING OF TREES. 



Mr. Editor : — In my former letter I gave you 

 my opinion respecting pruning of trees ; now I will 

 make a few remarks on planting ; not that I ex- 

 pect my plan will be carried out' — for Brother 

 Jonathan does not like much extra labor, but who- 

 ever will take the trouble, will not have to com- 

 plain of trees decaying after a few years' growth, 

 and then attribute their decay to blight or light- 

 ning. I have seen many trees partly dead on the 

 upper branches ; ask the cause, and you will be 

 tola that it is blight, but it is not so. The cause 

 is, the roots have penetrated into some soil that 

 does not suit its growth, or it cannot enter through 

 some substance that impedes the roots. To ob- 

 viate that difficulty, and to preserve fruit trees 

 from decay, take this method. Cut a trench 3 

 feet deep, say 2 feet wide, narrowed at the top 

 from end to end ; put your earth that you dig out 



