500 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



spriog grain — the second year he seeds to grass. 

 Occasionally he has to plow and seed the second 

 time, owing to the seed not taking well. His land 

 lays in grass six years — he plants 2 1-2 and seeds 

 2 1-2 acres yearly. Of barley, he raised one sea- 

 son 55 bushels per acre. 



He asks a comparison with any farmer in the 

 State in regard to the amount of stock kept on 

 an equal number of acres of improved land. 



Enclosed I send you a sample of the wheat 

 raised by Mr. Andrews. 



Mr. Andrews considers the salt and ashes about 

 equal for stiffening the straw. 



Yours respectfully, Artemas Fay. 



Remarks. — This letter was sent to the Hon. 

 Marshall P. Wilder, President of the Massachu- 

 setts Board of Agriculture, accompanied by a spe- 

 cimen of the Italian spring wheat, raised by Mr. 

 Andrews, and with a request that it might be 

 published in this paper. We give it place with 

 pleasure, as it gives several items of good farming. 



For the New England Farmer. 



STEALING FRUIT. 



Dear Sir : — Your article on fruit-stealing in the 

 last number of the Farmer will meet with a hearty 

 response from every fruit-grower in the land, for 

 surely the evil has become an alarming one, and 

 the neighborhood of Boston is not the only region 

 where many are deterred from raising good or even 

 ordinary fruit on account of the vexatious, lawless 

 marauders, who make no scruple of helping them- 

 selves, and will accept of only the best. 



What sometimes gives aggravation to the case, 

 is the fact, that after all the care and labor of rear- 

 ing a favorite tree and seeing its fruit expanding 

 into maturity — even after its colors had developed 

 their richness and the hand was almost extended 

 to gather the first fruit of this honest labor and 

 watchful care, an unseen hand has plucked the 

 fruit, and another long year of solicitude and 

 watching must ensue before even a prospect of the 

 realization of fond hopes can gladden the cultiva- 

 tor. 



Now what inducement can there be for an indi- 

 vidual to goon improving his place with fine trees, 

 introducing and testing the value of new fruits, 

 increasing the amount of human comfort as well 

 as beautifying the earth by his labors, testing for 

 the whole community the resources of their soil 

 and climate, where such a state of society exists ? 

 Yet, in the present state of things in almost every 

 community, it must be done under these disadvan- 

 tages, if done at all. 



"It is but a very small affair to take a plum, an 

 apple or a pear, when there is a plenty."' It is 

 but a little more to fill a pocket, or a hag, or a 

 wagon box. If not now, it will soon grow to lie 

 so, and then how will any amount of fruit ho safe' 



The boldness and recklessness with which these 

 depredations are committed, is sometimes very an- 

 noying. But a few days since, an individual told 

 us of seeing a man, in stature at least — (lie could 

 not have had a. man's soul) go to a choice tree of 

 early apples and fill his pockets. The owner al- 

 lowed his patience to tolerate this. But the thief 

 did nut allow his mischief to stop there, he went 

 f " : ti v of valuable winter apples and began to 



pelt them off. Then, the owner of the orchard re- 

 quested him to stop destroying his fruit. His re- 

 quest, as he told us, was answered only by impu- 

 dent language, and he went to another tree of fine 

 winter fruit and again commenced strewing the 

 ground with the treasure, and refused to leave the 

 field — nor would he go until actually driven out. 

 Yet he was still allowed to go unpunished, proba- 

 bly to his own disadvantage and the future danger 

 of the commonwealth. And why? In the first 

 place the individual who claimed to have lost the 

 fruit was a very clever man. He probably did not 

 wish to injure the feelings of the man who had ta- 

 ken his property and assailed him with provoking 

 language, by showing him to be a thief. And. 

 again, he probably thought that the process of 

 bringing the miscreant to justice would (as is true) 

 cost him, as an individual, more in the time he 

 must spend, than he would gain by the operation. 

 In the third place, he might have felt his own rep- 

 utation somewhat at stake by commencing a pros- 

 ecution, for many who claim to be very honest and 

 tenacious of their own and others' rights would 

 perhaps call him a very small man, — a very mean 

 man, — a very quarrelsome man, if he had assumed 

 his rights and exposed a rascal to public view, and 

 rewarded him with the punishment which his own 

 iniquity had earned. "Well, fine times if a man 

 must be taken and tried as a criminal for getting 

 a few apples," is an exclamation that would fall 

 easily from many lips. 



So we see there are obstacles in the way to pre- 

 vent modest and unassuming men from defending 

 their own rights and those of the community. 

 They act honestly, no doubt, hoping they shall not 

 be troubled again. But do they do right? Or are 

 they not doing wrong as well as suffering wrong to 

 allow such mischief to go unpunished ? 



"Haveyou no schools ?" Massachusetts appropri- 

 ates money every year, for the education of her chil- 

 dren, to an amount which has given her a name 

 and a praise the world over. But are the princi- 

 ples of right and wrong, as they develop them- 

 selves in the dealings of man with his fellow, in- 

 culcated here? Are children taught in these schools 

 to respect the rights of property as a matter of 

 self-preservation and a great moral duty? Are les- 

 sons like this inculcated at the fireside, in the so- 

 cial circle, and from the desk, in the manner their 

 importance demands ? Until all this is done, we 

 cannot expect to see much improvement on the 

 present state of things. Fruit will be stolen, mel- 

 on-yards will be robbed, and other and higher 

 crimes will be repeated, so that there will be no 

 safety of person or property any where and under 

 any circumstances. 



Yours truly, Evelyn. 



Elmwoocl, Sept. 13, 1S52. 



CANADA THISTLES. 



While at the bookstore of Mr. Saxton, the Ag- 

 ricultural Book Publisher, at 152 Fulton Street. 

 New York, a few weeks since, we met a gentleman 

 from Mamaronek, West Chester County, N. Y., 

 who said he had found a sure, simple, and profita- 

 ble way of extirpating the Canada Thistle. We 

 thought if we could find a sure mode of extirpating 

 the thistle at some expense we should be glad, but 

 when told that it could be done a! a profit, we had 



