NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



317 



HEALTH—GARDENING— TOOLS. employments of the garden by such a display? 



How much, suppose you, kind reader, is expend- But we will only stop to say that this chest may 

 ed annually by the people of these States, in run- be found at the warehouse of Messrs. Ruggles, 

 ning to watering-places by persons in the cities, INourse, Mason & Co., Quincy Hall, Boston. We 

 seeking health and amusement, and by persons in: will add this, however, cultivate a garden — tool 

 the country making their annual visits to the city chest or not. 



to catch the fashions and enjoy a few days' ex- 

 citement amid strange scenes and modes of life ? 

 The sum would unquestionably be enormous, while 

 the utility of such a resort, taking morals into the 

 account on one hand, and the loss or waste of 

 time on the other, is somewhat doubtful. 



It is certainly a partial loss, when time is de- 

 voted to a particular object in the pursuit of health 

 and amusement, if that time might be given to 

 some useful employment in which health and spir- 

 its would be promoted in an equal or greater de- 

 gree, and at the same time some profit gained. 



Men seek these places of resort as their only 

 refuge from the dust and toil of the city ; but 

 they come "like angel's visits, few and far be- 

 tween," and do not, after all, answer the purpose 

 desired. They need some daily call, to turn them 

 from their pressing cares, some balm for the agi- 

 tation of politics or commerce, or mechanic life ; 

 some cheap, attractive, and yet useful and profit- 

 able amusement. 



It seems to us that nothing will satisfy this want 

 like a Garden. We have often spoken in these 

 columns of its beauty, its home-attractions and 

 moral influence. Its profit will soon be manifest 

 to him who cultivates it. Then the modes of com- 

 munication are so frequent and rapid, that it is 

 convenient and cheap to live in the country, and 

 nearly every man who desires it may obtain a rood 

 of land, where his leisure hours can be occupied in 

 the midst of his family, and where he could culti- 

 vate the graces in his children, while cultivating 

 his plants. This occupation would come daily, 

 make no demands upon the purse for travel- 

 ling expenses, hotel bills, porters and other ex- 

 tras, but on the contrary bring health, calm and 

 contentment, and spread the table with bountiful 

 supplies of wholesome nutritive vegetables. 



Looking at the convenient arrangement and 

 beautiful collection of Garden Implements exhibit- 

 ed in a collection gathered in a chest, suggested 

 these reflections : — To enjoy garden or farm oper- 

 ations, one must have good tools to work with. In 

 this collection we find the pruning saw, chisel and 

 hook, with screw-pointed handle ; the hoe, rake 

 and scuffle ; the tree-scraper, pruning-scissors and 

 knife, vine-scissors, budding-knife, flower-gatherer, 

 hammer, twig-cutter, grass or hedge shears, weed- 

 ing fork, transplanting and weeding trowel, a gar- 

 den reel and floral hoe-rake ! 



Shades of the "Old Gardeners," if you could 

 see these, you would sigh for your old haunts again. 

 Who is there that ever plucked a rose or dug a po- 

 tato, that would not be attracted to the delightful 



For the New England Farmer. 

 THE MOTHER APPLE. 



BY CHARLES SIEDHOF. 



This apple, a representation of which was given 

 in the New England Farmer a few weeks ago, is 

 a native of Bolton, about two miles from here. I 

 never have seen it, but being so highly spoken of 

 by such as know its value, it attracted my atten- 

 tion. The original tree is still growing ; I was in- 

 formed it was to be found on Mr. Theodore Gard- 

 ner's farm in Bolton. On April 1st I set out, in 

 the afternoon, with one of my pupils, for Bolton. 

 I called on Mr. Gardner, who was very kind and 

 obliging. He had sold the farm on which the tree 

 in question is still growing, but he accompanied 

 me there, and pointed the tree out, from which he 

 cut me a few scions, being aware of the great in- 

 terest I manifested in it. The apple was formerly 

 known by the name of Gardner's apple. It be- 

 ing the only apple Mr. Gardner's mother liked, 

 the children picked and preserved yearly the whole 

 crop of the tree for her. This caused its present 

 name, Motlier apple, i. e., mothers apple, as the 

 children of Mrs. Gardner used to call it. The tree 

 stands in the yard between the house and wood- 

 shed. The house is the last in the village of Bol- 

 ton, on the road to Stow, right hand side. 



The Mother apple is said to be an abundant 

 bearer. It is by many much preferred to the Hub- 

 bardston Nonsuch. It keeps till February, but is 

 in eating from October. 



Lancaster, Mass., April 1G, 1852. 



WHERE DOES WOOD COME FROM, OR 

 WHAT ARE TREES MADE OF? 



If we were to take up a handful of soil and ex- 

 amine it under the microscope, we should proba- 

 bly find it to contain a number of fragments of 

 wood, small broken pieces of branches, or leaves, 

 or other parts of the tree. If we could examine it 

 chemically, we should find yet more strikingly that 

 it was nearly the same as wood in its composition. 

 Perhaps, then, it may be said, the young plant ob- 

 tains its wood from the earth in which it grows. 

 The following experiment will show whether this 

 conjecture is likely to be correct or not Two hun- 

 dred pounds of common earth were dried in an 

 oven, and afterwards put into a large earthern ves- 

 sel ; the earth was then moistened with rain water, 

 and a willow tree weighing five pounds, was plant- 

 ed therein. During the space of five years, the 

 earth was carefully watered with rain water. The 

 willow grew and flourished, and to prevent the 

 earth being mixed with fresh earth, being blown 

 upon it by winds, it was covered with a metal 

 plate full of very minute holes, which would ex- 

 clude everything but air from getting access to the 

 earth below it. After growing in the earth for five 

 years, the tree was removed, and on being weighed, 

 was found to have gained one hundred and sixty- 

 four pounds. And this estimate did not include 



