NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



•?39 



entifie cultivator would recommend it. After trees 

 are set, the ground should lie stirred around them 

 while the heat of the season lasts, as often as once 

 in two or three weeks ; and if great drought should 

 prevail, they should he occasionally watered ; this 

 should be done by making holes with a stick among 

 the roots, and then poui on a pail of water. 



Budding, — Apple trees, and all others except 

 plums and cherries, should be budded in the latter 

 part of July or the first of August ; they should be 

 put in so late that they will not grow the same 

 sims ,n . The plan of operation is to select a shoot 

 of the present season, with good buds, and cut off 

 each leaf within half an inch of the leaf-stalk ; 

 then hold the shoot in the left hand, and the knife 

 in the right ; the lower part of the blade is placed 

 on the shoot about half an inch above the bud — 

 the thumb of the right hand rests on the shoot at 

 the lower extremity of the bark to be removed with 

 the bud; the knife is then drawn towards you, 

 parallel with the shoot, smooth and level, so that 

 the hark and a portion of the wood will be taken 

 off.., The stock to be budded should be of the 

 present year's growth — a T should be made in the 

 bark with the knife, and the bark raised with some 

 convenient instrument ; the bud is then inserted, 

 and the bark is brought back and tied over the 

 bud, letting the leaf-stalk project out of the stem 

 in the bark. 



Grafting. — Grafting is performed in the spring. 

 The last of March is the proper time for plums and 

 cherries ; and April for all others. In grafting, 

 thrifty young stocks should be preferred. The 

 operation is simple, and consists in cutting off the 

 stock at the point where we wish to insert the 

 scion, and splitting the stock down the centre; 

 the scion is cut at its lower end, in the form of a 

 wedge, and inserted in a split in the stalk; the 

 outside bark of the scion should fit nicely the bark 

 on the stalk. A salve made of 1 pound beeswax, 

 6 of rosin, melted with 1 pint linseed-oil, is then 

 used to cover the seams made in the operation, so 

 as to render the whole air-tight : the salve should 

 be looked to occasionally, and kept smooth and 

 tight on the seams, for it sometimes gets open and 

 lets in the air, which will destroy the scion. Sci- 

 ons should be of the last year's growth, and have 

 upon each two or three buds. 



Remarks. — The above article is as concise and 

 practical as can be desired by any one who wishes 

 to bud, graft or transplant. We should think the 

 proportion of rosin given too large ; but a little ex- 

 perience will enable you to temper your grafting 

 wax to suit. The ingredients are of the right kind. 



Sowing Seed. — Farmers, as well as other people, 

 like to make good bargains, and we like to have 

 them, especially when they buy a year's paper of 

 us, and pay for it in advance. But that is not the 

 bargain we are going to write about. It is the 

 sowing of grass seed. If you would make a good 

 bargain with mother earth, give her a plenty of 

 seed. If you scrimp her, you cheat yourself and 

 •cheat your earth, and are guilty of double dishon- 

 esty. If you undertake to save five dollars in seed, 

 you will lose twenty dollars in hay and pasture. 

 Be wise, then, and sow bountifully, and you shall 

 gather bountifully, and make a good bargain. — Ver- 

 mont State Journal. 



THE FARMER'S CREED. 



We helicve in small farms and thorough cultiva- 

 tion. The soil loves to cat, as well as its owners, 

 and ought therefore to be nurtured. 



We believe in large crops, which leave the land 

 better than they found it — making both the farm 

 and farmer rich at once. 



We believe in going to the bottom of things, 

 and therefore in deep plowing, and enough of it — 

 all the better if with a subsoil plow. 



We believe that the best fertility of any soil is 

 the spirit of industry, enterprise, and intelligence — 

 without this, lime and gypsum, bones and green 

 manure, marl or plaister, will be of little use. 



We believe in a clean kitchen, a neat wife in it, 

 a spinning-piano, a clean cup-board, dairy, and 

 conscience. 



We firmly disbelieve in farmers that will not im- 

 prove ; in farms that grow poor every year ; in 

 starved cattle ; in farmers' boys turning into clerks 

 and merchants ; in farmers' daughters unwilling 

 to work ; and in all fanners who are ashamed of 

 their vocation. 



HINTS ON FRUIT ROOMS. 



BY M. P. WILDER, BOSTON. 



We extract by permission, from a private letter 

 of January last, from Hon. M. P. Wilder, the 

 following notes regarding the construction of a 

 fruit-room, which will interest many of our fruit 

 growers. — Ed. 



My fruits are keeping admirably in the new 

 fruit-room. This room happens to have been situ- 

 ated and constructed so much like Mr. Morrison's, 

 (of which you have seen the drawings and descrip- 

 tion in the Gardener's Chronicle,) as to be almost 

 a fac-simile of his. 



The walls of mine, however, are filled in with 

 charcoal and sawdust. 



The Beurre Diel, Vicar of Winkfield, Excellen- 

 tissima, and other autumn pears, are now in as 

 perfect condition as when gathered from the trees, 

 and so they will remain till the warm weather of 

 spring approaches. I shall then try some of them 

 in the non-conducting boxes, where I think they 

 may be kept till summer. I have, by a similar 

 process, preserved some varieties till July. Mr. 

 Morrison has no new principle. All that is neces- 

 sary, is to obtain a low temperature during the 

 warm weather of autumn, and to preserve this 

 equilibrium. This being attained, there is no diffi- 

 culty whatever. When the severe weather of last 

 month occurred, my fruits were removed from the 

 shelves and packed in boxes, with a thin layer of 

 clean rye straw between each tier, the tubes of the 

 straw containing air enough to correct mildew and 

 damp. The boxes are now piled on one side of the 

 room, and covered with hay about three feet m 

 depth. 



My experiment was suggested by the bad effects 

 of moisture and warmth in my old fruit cellars, 

 under my dwelling-house, and the same difficulty 

 exists with rooms on the ground-floor of buildings. 

 I therefore resorted to the other extreme — a cool 

 and dry chamber on the north end of my barn, the 

 location of which you know, (and like Mr. Mor- 

 rison's,) over the carriage room. I am now quite 

 satisfied that we have at last ascertained the proper 

 location for a fruit-room; namely, a cool upper 

 apartment, with lined non-conducting walls. — 

 Horticulturist. 



