220 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



give support to vegetation. All the reasons I 

 have ever heard or read in favor of deep soils, 

 have, in my opinion, possessed weight. But many, 

 taking it for granted that deep plowing will pro- 

 duce deep soils, have sought to bring about that 

 end so speedily, that the meagre crops which they 

 have gained after pushing down the plow has 

 damped their ardor, and some of them perhaps 

 have said that "the newspapers are all full of 

 falsehoods." 



We advise them to consider the old saying, 



"A little learning is a dangerous thing," 



and plunge their heads deeper into the study of 

 that greatest and most necessary of all sciences, 

 the science of agriculture. 



There is no great difficulty in accomplishing 

 anything that we desire to, if we only know how. 



Mason, N. H., March, 1852. c. 



GRAFTING WAX. 



Wax is commonly used now in grafting as be- 

 ing quite as certain to answer the purpose required 

 as clay, and easier to be applied. The best 

 mode of using it which we have ever found is in 

 the following, communicated to the Bangor Cou- 

 rier, by Col. Little, of that city, an experienced 

 horticulturist. We have tried the plan recom- 

 mended, and find it cheap and convenient. The 

 quantity mentioned below would be sufficient to 

 cover twenty or twenty-five yards of common 

 shirting, while two or three square yards would be 

 enough for two or three hundred trees. A sample of 

 the grafting cloth described below may be seen at 

 this office. 



It will be observed below that Col. Little con- 

 siders it important that the exact proportions 

 which he has given should be observed. We have 

 made some &f the wax from his recipe, observ- 

 ing the proportions given, but do not find it suffi- 

 ciently adhesive, which made it necessary to add a 

 little more rosin. Mr. Pinneo, a successful nur- 

 seryman at Hanover, N. H., informs us that he 

 has used the grafting cloth for many years, but 

 uses much more rosin in the proportions. He 

 speaks highly of its excellence in preserving the 

 limb, and of its convenience in working. 



Grafting Wax on Cotton Cloth. — Inquiries 

 are frequently made for the best grafting wax and 

 the recipe for making it. I have procured the rec- 

 ipe for the best article I have ever seen, which 

 was three years since invented by Maj. Chapman, 

 of this city, which he uses in grafting in his nur- 

 sery with good and almost sure success. I have 

 used it two years and find it valuable ; for it is 

 very pliable, easily worked, and it contains nothing 

 that in the least injures the scion or stock. 



It should be made precisely according to the fol- 

 lowing proportions. 



Recipe. — 6 lbs. beeswax ; lib. rosin ; 1 pint lin- 

 seed oil. (No other than linseed should be used.) 

 Melt them well together over a slow fire. Then 

 with a paint brush, spread the wax thinly while 

 warm, on one side of thin but closely woven cloth. 

 Cut the cloth when waxed (lengthwise, as the 

 warp is the strongest) into strips as may be want- 



ed — say half an inch wide and about 9 inches 

 long — according to the size of the stock to be 

 grafted. 



Grafting can be w r orked with these strips very 

 readily, as no strings are necessary, and may be 

 very neatly as well as quickly performed. These 

 wax strips may also be used in budding trees. 



I would again remind our citizens that to insure 

 success, all stone fruits should be grafted before 

 the frost is out of the ground, or as early after- 

 wards as possible. Respectfully, 



Henry Little. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 HONEY BEES. 



Mr. Editor : — I am obliged to you and your 

 correspondent, for the answer I have received to 

 my inquiry as to the reason of the destruction of 

 bees without any apparent cause, and will say in 

 reply to the question of Mr. Stockwell, that the 

 bees, in the two hives alluded to were found as he 

 premised, clustered in and upon the comb in which 

 there was no honey. It was stated in my inquiry 

 that bees die in this way, in winter, and some- 

 times in other seasons of the year. But I will 

 say in regard to the last statement, that I was 

 misinformed concerning the cases I w r as then 

 thinking of, there being, as I have since ascer- 

 tained, some other cause (of course) for their 

 death. If, as your correspondent says, (and it 

 looks very reasonable,) "it is the long continued 

 cold weather that destroys them," why would it 

 not be good policy for all who have bees, to keep 

 them in the cellar during the winter months, as 

 some do already, and thus secure them from that, 

 which so often proves their destruction ] 



Yours, &c, S. L. White. 



Groton, March 3, 1852. 



Remarks. — We doubt whether the true solution 

 of the difficulty of which you spoke in your first 

 communication has been given. But we have an- 

 other, which accords with our owti views, which 

 shall be presented soon. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 PRACTICAL FARMING— NO. 1. 



POTATO CULTURE. 



Mr. Editor : — So much has been written upon 

 the best method of cultivating this root, that it 

 may seem quite unnecessary for me to attempt to 

 say anything, but I trust I shall be excused for so 

 doing. Last spring, when planting, I selected four 

 rows ; two of them I planted with large potatoes 

 cut into two pieces, one piece to a hill, the other 

 two, with the small ones, from which I bad picked 

 the seed for the other two rows. They were 

 treated alike in every other respect, and the whole 

 seed produced one-eighth the most, and they were 

 smoother than those raised from the cut seed. 

 They were of the variety known as the long red. 

 I like medium sized whole potatoes best for seed. 

 To plant all the little ones, seems to me too much 

 like planting the tips of ears of corn, instead of 

 the full ripe grain. We generally plant our pota- 

 toes on greensward turned over the fall juvvious, 

 (the earlier the better,) using a small quantity of 

 gypsum, lime or ashes, in the hill, using no other 

 manure. 



