NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



501 



lively visions of rank clover crops and tall wheat 

 on many a forsaken lot. "Bat how is it to be 

 done?" we inquired. "By cultivating the Sim- 

 flower upon the infested spots," said Mr. Hall. 

 He had tried it thoroughly, and the thistle refused 

 to grow with the sunflower, a single year some- 

 times completely supplanting the former. Give it 

 a trial, ye who are afflicted. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 LIVE AND LEARN. 

 BY SILAS DROWN. 



Messrs. Editors : — Though I have seen more 

 than three-score years and ten, I have still a de- 

 sire to see the progress and improvements which 

 are yearly made and making in agriculture. The 

 man who has no other measure than himself, 

 to measure himself by, forms an erroneous opin- 

 ion of himself, and to rectify his mistake it will be 

 necessary for him to see what other people are 

 about in the world. A man may suppose he has 

 arrived nearly at perfection who never pays any 

 attention to the progress that others are making 

 around him. He that knows too much to gain in- 

 struction by reading or example is in a more hope- 

 less condition than a very ignorant man who is 

 sensible of his deficiencies. The above reflections 

 occurred to my mind, lately, after making two or 

 three little excursions, and seeing the improvements 

 which are going on in the farming world. 



I had frequently heard of the horticultural op- 

 erations of the Messrs. Needhams, of Danvers, 

 but the "half had not been told me." Their fruit 

 garden was an extensive one, on land descending 

 moderately to the south, furnished with a great 

 variety of trees of all sizes, from large ones bur- 

 dened with a profusion of fruit, enough to tempt 

 any of the descendants of grandmother Eve, down 

 to little saplings of a few months growth ; also, 

 with an extensive variety of fruit-bearing vines. — 

 Among the vines, the object of special curiosity 

 was the white blackberry, which (at the time 1 

 was there) was divested of its ripe fruit, but the 

 vines were in a flourishing condition. 



The next tiling very noticeable was an argument 

 which would subdue the incredulity of the most 

 stubborn unbeliever — some 15 or 20 bushels of as 

 tine cranberries as ever grew in the county of Essex, 

 were on vines in their garden, cultivated in drills and 

 kept clean of weeds as their onions. I should 

 think if any man among us deserved a premium 

 for persevering industry and merited success, at- 

 tended with considerable expense, Mr. Needham, 

 nen., stood in the front rank for a liberal one. — 

 Messrs. Needhams' apple trees, pear trees, and all 

 his trees, were cultivated and kept as clean of 

 weeds as their kitchen garden ; they have young 

 grafted apple trees and pear trees of the best va- 

 rieties for sale, as well as quince bushes, plum 

 trees, and a variety of other fruit-bearing trees 

 and vines. 



There are none of us, old or young, who retain 

 our mental faculties, but who can learn either by 

 preceptor example. It is worth the expense to 

 every young farmer to visit the establishments o r 

 the noted farmers and horticulturists of our own 

 land, if not foreign lands ; they will find that 

 somebody else knows "a thing or two" that them- 



selves do not know. There is a great deal more 

 skill required to make farming profitable at the 

 present day than formerly, when farmers had no- 

 thing to do only clear and plow their ground, sow 

 their seeds, hoe their fields and harvest their crops. 

 Now our worn-out lands must be restored to fertil- 

 ity by learning to supply the exhausted ingredi- 

 ents to fertilize them, and then to discover what 

 crops can be grown upon them to the greatest ad- 

 vantage ; or in other words, find out what the land 

 was made for. The farmer is under the necessity 

 of thinking and studying, as well as the engineer or 

 mariner ; what can a man do who has no mind of 

 his own, but is wedded to some old dogmas or 

 customs of his forefathers? Such ones may be 

 wise in their own fancies, but still there is room 

 "to live and learn." 



P. S. Last week I was in the orchard of Andrew 

 Leighton, Esq., Elliot, Maine, and among other 

 well cultivated and well burdened varieties, there 

 was one tree that struck my fancy wonderfully, 

 which was called the "Granny Simonds apple 

 tree," from a circumstance which he said originat- 

 ed from some rogueish boys in Cambridge, the na- 

 tive place of the original tree. These boys an- 

 noyed "Granny Simonds" by their repeated plun- 

 dering nocturnal or diurnal depredatory visits to 

 rob her favorite tree, and gave it that name. The 

 tree is apparently a great bearer of large, beauti- 

 ful, light yellow, sweet fall apples. And now,. 

 gentlemen, I should like to know whether you have 

 any knowledge of a tree of the above name and 

 description about Cambridge, or any where else, 

 and if you have, you would gratify me and proba- 

 bly some others by a note in the N. E. Farmer. 



Wilmington, August 27, 1852. s. b. 



Remarks. — From the description of the apple 

 mentioned above, we have no doubt it is the Early 

 Sweet Bough, a handsome and excellent apple. 



ONE ACRE. 



Mr. Mitchell has but a single acre of pine land, 

 with a sandy loam soil, which with that adjacent 

 was sold fifteen years ago, covered with timber, 

 for six dollars per acre ; more recently, and since 

 the timber has been removed — and this, by the 

 way, brought the owner $60 per acre clear of 

 expense — the Deacon purchased one acre for $80 

 — a very handsome advance, one would say, from 

 its former value. And so it was ; but the increase 

 in value did not stop then, for if he owned the 

 land to-day, it would take five hundred as good 

 dollars as ever came from Philadelphia mint to 

 purchase it. Mr. M. has cultivated it four years, 

 and during that time has put upon it manure 

 which cost him about $32,33. He has upon it 

 about 160 plum trees, embracing a great variety 

 —the Jefferson, the Washington, the Lombard, 

 &c.;— some 25 choice and thrifty apyle trees, 

 grafted and budded ; numerous pears, mostly the 

 Bartlett, some 500 quince, from which to furnish 

 excellent stocks for engrafting ;— grapes ; the Isa- 

 bella, the Tewksbury and native ; and such a va- 

 riety of vegetables, &c, as we have seldom seen. 

 His potatoes are healthy, and notwithstanding 

 the dry weather, are well formed and large — his 

 beans are the largest we have seen this season — 

 peas nearly past and some of them quite ripe — 

 tomatoes, melons, and other vines, vigorous and 



