32c 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



overcoat nor umbrella, I was able fully to appre- 

 ciate the advantages which vegetation was likely 

 to derive from the irrigation. One of the good la- 

 dies, who carefully protected her best yellow bonnet 

 from the rain with a large whitish parasol, by 

 means of which she skilfully conducted the surplus 

 water down the back of my neck, complimented 

 me highly upon my cheerfulness under these trials. 

 Upon my saying that fretting would not help the 

 matter much, she solemnly remarked, "Well, I 

 suppose it is all for the best, and we ought to be 

 resigned to it, and trust in Providence, when we 

 can't help ourselves.'''' And so we came to Lemp- 

 ster, and waited one hour for breakfast, and then 

 proceeded seven and a half miles to Washington, 

 when the driver announced that we were to stop 

 there to dine ! 



It was precisely quarter past eleven when we 

 arrived, and we had come less than twenty miles in 

 all, and had but twelve more to go. But in spite 

 0"" all remi nstrance, the driver wjuld stop and d d 

 stop, and gut his dinner and started at twelve, ve- 

 ry much refreshed. The country seemed gradual- 

 ly to improve, as we approached Hillsborough, 

 where we emerged once more into a region where 

 ever , thing valuable except time seemed to be more 

 abundant than on the United States mail route from 

 Claremont to Hillsborough Bridge. I next visited 

 the pleasant village of Francest own, and returned 

 home by way of the N. II. Central Railroad, 

 t' ro tgh Manchester, and the next day visited the 

 good old town of Chester. 



And now, having shown you my opportunities 

 for observation, I will give you the results, and 

 then my theory as to how apple trees have been 

 winter hilled, as it is called. 



At Keene, in the garden of Col. B. F. Adams, 

 I saw apple trees injured precisely as my own are 

 at Exeter. 



His garden is in the village, on plain, frosty land, 

 and I i-i trees had grown rapidly. In company with 

 T. II. Leverett, Esq., I visited an orchard of some 

 fifteen acres, about two miles out of the village, 

 on the northerly side of a high hill, owned by Mr. 

 Leverett and Hon. Joel Parker, now of Cambridge. 

 About 5 years ago, they purchased the tract, which 

 had never been plowed, and is so stony that it pro- 

 !>ably never ivill be, Avith a large number of natu- 

 ral trees upon it. They have grafted those trees, 

 and filled up any unreasonably large vacancies, 

 and their trees, many of them large and in full 

 blossom, are likely to prove very valuable. 



These orchards are on one of the very top cor- 

 ners of that end of the world, with no' shelter be- 

 tween them and the north pole, and not one sin- 

 gle tree, twig, bud or blossom, so far as I could 

 perceive, had suffered by the winter. On this 

 same hill I saw peach trees in full bloom, as I did 

 also on the hills at Hillsborough, Francestown and 

 Chester. At the latter place, which you and I, 

 who have lived there for years, know to be one of 

 the bleakest places in this part of the State, every 

 thing in the shape of a tree, apple, pear, peach, 

 cherry, everything that is not sawed off square at 

 both ends, is full of blossoms. Not a single young 

 apple tree that I could hear of has been injured. 



Upon the low, sandy land subject to early autumn 

 frosts, the injury is extensive, and it lias been 

 greatest to highly cultivated trees. My conclu- 

 sion upon the whole matter is, that it is not the 

 intense cold of the winter, but the cold weather of 



autumn which finds the trees on warm and shel- 

 tered land full of sap, that does the mischief. 

 Whether the first severe frosts destroy the peach 

 buds I am not confident, but am inclined to think 

 that such is frequently the case. The wood of the 

 apple tree is probably killed by the freezing of the 

 sap and Jfcrsting of the sap-vessels in the fall or 

 early part of winter. 



I cannot conceive that the difference between 

 the mere intensity of the cold of the past and of 

 previous winters can have produced such results. 

 In all parts of New Hampshire the thermometer 

 almost every winter sinks to twelve or fifteen be- 

 low zero, and I have seen plenty of apple and 

 peach trees fresh and blooming this spring, where 

 it was twenty degrees below during the past win- 

 ter. 



My friend, Mr. Hall, of Bradford, who is good 

 authority in such matters, assures me that his ten- 

 der shrubs, with no more than ordinary protection, 

 have endured the winter unusually well. 



It is obviously important that the true theory of 

 this matter should be understood. .Against over- 

 cultivation and against over-protection of trees by 

 shelter in the growing season we may provide, and 

 we may often have choice of hill or plain or valley 

 for our orchards, but against the thermometer's 

 going twenty degrees below zero anywhere at the 

 north, we have no means of interposing any effec- 

 tual preventive. 



Hoping that the readers of the Farmer will fur- 

 nish us the means of comparing notes upon these 

 points, I remain, Yours, &c, u. f. f. 



Exeter, N. H., May 31st, 1852. 



HOEING. 



This important farm operation is now in prime 

 demand. The long-continued cold, succeeded by 

 unusually hot days, together with genial dews and 

 showers, has given vegetation great activity. The 

 corn, potatoes, peas, beans, squashes, in short, all 

 the plants look well — bearing a fine healthy color, 

 and are stocky and strong. With such a start, 

 their growth may be very rapid, and the toceds ivill 

 keep pace with them. A neglect to hoe a field 

 just at the time when it needs it, increases the la- 

 bor of that operation wonderfully ; indeed the er- 

 ror can scarcely be retrieved through the season. 

 Weeds become like the power of a bad habit, al- 

 most impossible to be broken up ; they not only 

 draw largely upon the soil, but mix their roots 

 with those of the plants, and upon being pulled, 

 loosen and break their tender fibres. 



But the benefits to be derived from hoeing are 

 not confined alone to the extermination of the 

 weeds. This is but a small part. Plants only 

 come to maturity under a combination of favorable 

 circumstances. They must have light, air and 

 warmth, and the soil must be in such condition as 

 to administer all these to the young and tender 

 roots, in order to secure their perfection. There 

 may be no weeds to exterminate, while the neces- 

 sity for hoeing will still exist. Heavy showers, 

 succeeded by fierce suns, form a crust on the sur- 

 face which renders it impermeable in a great mea- 



