334 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



whether animal or vegetable, or what particular 

 specks of either, was most appropriate and bene- 

 ficial to any of his working animals or other live 

 stock, if he was at the same time so ignorant of 

 the habits of the animal as not to know by what 

 mode it would take the food, and should adminis- 

 ter it, as did the crane of the fable, when she in- 

 vited the fox to supper, in such a mode that the 

 creature was physically incapable of receiving it. 

 And as the hungry fox left the supper un tasted, 

 bo may the hungry plant famish and die while food 

 is abounding around it, if not disposed so that it 

 may be taken up into the vegetable organism. The 

 knowledge of the diseases of plants and their reme- 

 dies is also depending on this science. 



But neither is it to be expected that a farmer, if 

 competent to the task, would employ himself in 

 making analyses of his plants to ascertain what 

 particular food is most appropriate. He will learn 

 this from the agricultural journals, or other sources 

 to which he may go to find the result of the an- 

 alyses which have been made by the chemist. 

 This, in whatever way acquired, is a highly impor- 

 tant knowledge. I do not mean to underrate its 

 value. It is highly necessary that he should know 

 that of the fifty-five simple substances or elements 

 which compose all organized and inorganic matter, 

 the vegetable world is constituted principally of 

 only four ; tnree of them only in large proportion, 

 carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen ; and in a less de- 

 cree nitrogen, and that of these carbon is the 

 most abundant : that the hardness of wood is ow- 

 ing to the carbon ; that nitrogen is an important 

 ingredient in gluten, to the more or less of which 

 is due in great measure the nutritious property, 

 and the adaptation to peculiar culinary purposes of 

 wheat: and that ammonia, silica, potash, soda, 

 and the carbonate, oxalate and phosphate of lime, 

 enter into the composition of various plants. Hav- 

 ing this knowledge, he may understand what is 

 taken away from his land by the different crops ; 

 and what should be added to keep up or increase 

 its fertility. But so apt are we to take a one-eyed 

 view of things, that many men anxious for the im- 

 provement of the farmer have considered this 

 knowledge as pre-eminent, while others I fear con- 

 sider it to be the whole sum of agricultural science, 

 and overlook entirely the vastly more important 

 science of vegetable physiology. The structure of 

 the vegetable and of its different parts ; the func- 

 tion of root, stem, leaves, flower; the uses of 

 each part in the general vegetable economy ; the 

 whole economy itself; and the diseases of the veg- 

 etable life, are, beyond all other knowledge, prac- 

 tically useful to the farmer. By this ho knows 

 how the proper nourishment is taken up, how, by 

 what agency, and what mode, it is carried through 

 the plants, how it is elaborated and assimilated, 

 the changes wrought in the vegetable tissue, and 

 the periods of ascent and descent of the sap, the 

 effect of temperature and moisture upon plants and 

 seeds ; the season of transplanting ; of cutting tim- 

 ber and various other matters of greatest benefit 

 in the management of the farm, and in rural econ- 

 omy. A man may have the highest chemical 

 knowledge, but without the other his knowledge 

 will be of no value in agricultural practice. A 

 chemist may have no more knowledge of farming 

 l ban a blacksmith or other artizan ; nor even to a 

 practical farmer will chemistry be of very great 

 advantage in the operations of husbandry, unless 



united with a knowledge of physiology. It is only 

 by a union of the two sciences that chemistry can 

 be practically applied to agriculture. 



Essex, April 28, 1852. w. j. a. b. 



THE SEASON. 



The month of May was too dry and cold to be 

 favorable for the grass crop, and to nearly the 

 middle of June there had but little rain fallen dur- 

 ing that portion of the month. Grass did not get 

 well set, and therefore is thin at the bottom, and 

 the crop at present is not very promising. 



Grain and corn look strong and healthy. July 

 and August are the months in which the corn crop 

 principally grows ; if they are hot and give season- 

 able showers a fair crop may be expected, although 

 the plants may be backward on the first of July. 



Very little rain has fallen up to this time in 

 June, and when it has come has been succeeded 

 by strong cold winds, mostly from the southwest. 

 The moisture has been carried off with extreme 

 rapidity by these winds, so that the surface has be- 

 come dusty in a few hours -after the rain has fall- 

 en. 



Squashes, melons, tomatoes, and most of the 

 garden vegetables, appear well — of good color, 

 stocky and strong, and with a hot mid-summer 

 and seasonable rains will yield an abundant crop. 



There has been frost several nights in the first 

 half of June, but mostly confined to low grounds, 

 and not so heavy anywhere as to injure vegetation 

 materially. There was frost on the night of the 

 11th. Upon the whole, the season at this time is 

 rather unpromising, and reminds us of the descrip- 

 tions of the summer of 1816, when it Avas said that 

 frost made every month in the season. 



There is, then, the greater necessity for frequent 

 hoeing and the most careful cultivation, which 

 will do much towards obtaining a good crop. 



CULTURE AND IMPROVEMENT OF NA- 

 TIVE FRUITS. 



Messrs. Editors: — I have been frequently sur- 

 prised that more attention is not paid to the cul- 

 ture of our native indigenous berries and nuts. 

 Who has not noticed the superiority of the chest- 

 nut, walnut and other native nuts when grown in 

 a cultivated field, over those taken from the thick 

 forest ; and how much larger, sweeter and finer, 

 those taken from some trees than others 1 This 

 shows their susceptibily of improvement. But how 

 few have ever left natural trees of the chestnut, 

 walnut, butternut, or any other of our delicious 

 native nuts, to grow around their fields; much more 

 to transplant or set them out. I have seen chil- 

 dren of large farmers, go a long distance and tres- 

 pass on the grounds of others, to obtain these in- 

 digenous fruits of our soil, when a little care on 

 the part of their parents would have given them 

 these fruits in plenty. This may seem a small 

 subject, but to the younger rural population- it is 

 of considerable importance, and not beneath the 

 notice of children of larger growth. 



