NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



457 



but brings premature decay. This is strong lan- 

 guage, we are aware, but a careful inspection of 

 most old orchards will confirm it. 



There is need of but very little pruning where 

 an orchard has been properly managed from the 

 start ; no large limbs will ever need to be taken 

 away, unless broken by winds or injured in some 

 other way. Prune but little, is a good motto. 

 Suffer the shoots which start out on young trees 

 to remain till autumn, when they have shed then- 

 leaves. The tree needs them, ?and Nature, ever 

 ready with her helping hand, sends them out to 

 aid the leaves of the top in elaborating the sap 

 and increasing the whole growth of the tree. We 

 find in an exchange a case in point which we give 

 as confirmatory of our theory. A correspondent 

 of the Prairie Farmer, published at Chicago, Il- 

 linois, states that he pruned young apple trees 

 four to six feet high, early in spring, and then kept 

 the shoots rubbed off the lower parts of the stems, 

 leaving only suitable heads, — on one-half the trees. 

 The others were left with their shoots untouched 

 from top to bottom. The result was, that those 

 which received no summer pruning were 25 to 40 

 per cent, larger than the others, even after they 

 were pruned up to heads the following spring. So 

 it may be noticed in older trees that when most of 

 the limbs are cut off in the process of grafting, 

 large numbers of suckers are thrown out, and we 

 believe for the same purpose that shoots are on 

 young trees, — to keep up a proper circulation and 

 balance in its powers. 



As to the best time for pruning apple trees we 

 have no doubt. From personal experiments made 

 for several years, from reliable books, conversa- 

 tions with practical men, and a pretty extensive 

 examination of orchards, we are fully of the opin- 

 ion that the autumn, after the leaves have fallen, 

 is the most proper time. Where we have careful- 

 ly pruned at this season it has never been followed 

 by a flowing of the sap and that discoloration of 

 the bark which follows spring pruning. The 

 wounds either heal over or become so dry and 

 hard as to prevent decay, and the tree seems to 

 sustain no check or injury whatever. 



The head of the tree should be kept open to the 

 air and light and free from limbs crossing and rub 

 bing against each other. Cut out these and the 

 occasional dead limbs which maybe found, and the 

 orchard which has been well managed will need 

 little more in the way of pruning. 



tient with us, we trust, remembering that their 

 diets and opinions are not brought to the light for 

 a mere ephemeral purpose, but are recorded in an 

 enduring form, and will be matters of reference 

 and instruction long after they and we have left 

 this stage of action. 



To Correspondents. — The articles of our corres- 

 pondents sometimes remain longer on hand than 

 we desire. We give them place, however, at the 

 earliest moment consistent with many circumstan- 

 ces, always existing, but hardly necessary to ex- 

 plain here. It is to the able articles contributed 

 by them that much of the extraordinary success of 

 the Farmer must be imputed. They will be pa- 



For the New England Farmer. 



A NEW GRASS. 



[The following article was intended by its writer 

 to be published in the Maine Farmer, but for some 

 reason it did not appear there. Although it comes 

 somewhat in the form of an advertisement, we give 

 place to it, being desirous to aid in the introduc- 

 tion of any new variety of grass which promises to 

 prove a public benefit.] 



Dear Sir : — I think it is known to the readers 

 of your paper that I have obtained seed from a 

 single -plant, of a new kind of grass of surpassing 

 luxuriance, found in a turnip field, raised from im- 

 ported seed, and dressed with guano, (of course, 

 of foreign origin,) transferred to my garden, and 

 by subsequent analysis found to be a species of 

 Bromus ; and that I have sold seed to a few per- 

 sons, for their own use only, at $10 the barrel; 

 and for a less quantity, requiring a pledge that it 

 should not be allowed to go to seed, at $4 the 

 bushel. Thus reserving the aale of seed to myself, 

 while making protracted experiments to determine 

 the best adapted soil, time of sowing, quantity of 

 seed, whether alone or with spring grain and other 

 kinds of grass seed, for pasture, mowing summer- 

 soiling, to plow in green as a fertilizer, and as feed 

 for horses, sheep and dairy cows ; and also witli 

 the seed, given to stock, swine and poultry, — dry, 

 boiled and ground. Suffice it to say here, I have 

 witnessed the most satisfactory results of my own 

 experiments, and so far as I have heard from oth- 

 ers, not the firs b word of complaint. Our Agricul- 

 tural Society's committee on farms viewed my pas- 

 ture sown with this grass, and some acres just ri- 

 pening, high as their shoulders, and saw in a mow 

 three tons of this fragrant hay, cut from one acre. 

 The President, Hon. J. W. Lincoln, said, "It is 

 well worth a journey from Worcester to see this 

 splendid grass.*' They made favorable notice of 

 it in their "Annual Report." Some extracts from 

 this reliable document, (if it has been sent you,) 

 as well as my letter to Hon. J. Davis, chairman of 

 the meeting for agricultural discussion in the Staff 

 House, in February, — subject, grasses, — would 

 give information and additional interest to your 

 columns. This letter appeared in the New Eng- 

 land Farmer for June, and the Massachusetts 

 Ploughman, April 17. 



My principal object now is, to express my wish 

 to distribute Avhat seed I have in time for the au- 

 tumnal sowing, toithout restriction, and hereafter 

 to share in common all its benefits with the yeo- 

 manry of our republic. For this I make the first 

 offer to your State ; to any agricultural society or 

 dealer in wares and seeds, who will send me, (with 

 their address,) $100, to put up ten barrels of <:!<<: i 

 Bromus seed, and deliver immediately at our rail- 

 road depot, marked and directed according to or- 

 der; or if preferred, forty bushels in bags. Same 

 time, if desired, I will furnish a particular descrip- 

 tion and directions concerning its properties and 

 culture, as learned from my various experiments. 



