42 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



August 29, 1828. 



quently selected as suitable for planting in burial HAY AND FODDKR. 



grounds, or to mark the existence of insulated ' Great losses are annually sustained in some 

 tombs; and a tree of this species now droops its parts of llie United States in making hay, and in 

 branches over the remains of that arbiter of em- others in curing corn blades, commonly culled fod- 

 pires, Napoleon. From respect to the memory of der. Mine, in the course of many years, have, I 

 Napoleon, branches have been plucked from this think, amounted to a moiety of the crops ; and 

 tree, and planted in our American gardens, sever- most of the expedients 1 have resorted to, for a- 

 al of which are now flourishing at Newport and voiding these losses, have been but partially beiie- 

 at Providence, as well as at the establishment of ficial. Grass loses much b(/th in quantity and sub- 

 , „ , ., rr,, ui- the author. A distinct species of Willow has, stance by an exposure to the sun in curjiig it, and 



number ot ornamental trees ? The public squares however, been dedicated to him b> botanists, un- fodder more, being thus exposed in .small bundles, 

 and private enclo,suies of the city have been der the title of Safe M<po/eo«a. " Bott, and particularly the last, sutler greatly bv 



greatly improved in this respect withm a few j^^^ ^„j ^^i,,^ ^j,;^ ^.^^^ j ,^^^.^ made the 



years; and nothing can be more grateful to the JVew present of Fndts to the Cihzens of the United „)ost promising experiment for remedying these 



evils. A large meadow in bottom land, of a grass 



[From the N. Y. Slalesman.] 



ORNAMENTAL TREES. 

 This is emphatiially the season for realizing the 

 importance, the convenience, comfort, • iid beauty 

 of shades. Who that has been sheltered from 

 the influence of a torrid sky, and has reposed in 

 the coolness of mnbrageous walks in this hot 

 month, will grudge a little expense and labour 

 during Spring and Autumn in ausmenting the 



eye, or more conducive to health, than the quan 

 tity and freshness of foliage which in many places 

 conceals our brick walls and protects our streets 

 from the glare of a summer sun. 



If this is the season to remind us of the im- 



called red-top or herd's-grass, was cut in dry 

 weatlier, and shocked in large shocks <|uite green, 

 but dry ; that is, not wet with either dew or rain 

 III I .e lollowing mode. Four sticks of five feet 

 long, ol the thickness of a man's wrist or more,, 

 were set up in a square of two leet wide at 



Slates, by Thomas A. Knight, Esq. 

 It would, indeed, be an unpardonable neglect 

 in the Trustees of the Massachusetts Agricultural 

 Society, to fail in putting upon record, in their 

 journal, the following generous and public spirited 

 portance of increasing the stock, it is also the best letter flom Mr. Knight. It should be known, that 

 time for ascertaining the comparative beauty and the box mentioned in the following letter, was a 



value of different kinds of trees, the various duplicate. Mr. Knight having despatched the bottom, and' meeting at top in a pyraniidical form 

 characters of which are as strongly marked as same plants the year before, which, owing to the where the shock was to stand. ' One at least of 

 those of men. Elegance of form and depth of negligence of a carrier, were utterly lost ; I atn these sticks should be forked at top, to keep them 

 foliage are perhaps the best general tests. From now able to state, more precisely, the fate of the steady whilst the hay is putting round them A 

 the almost endless variety which our forests and trees and scions sent, though many of the .scions round log, about six feet long and six inches in di- 

 nurseries aflTord, good taste will select those that ! are still in a doubtful condition. There were six ameter, was laid upon the ground, with one end 



pear trees sent, which are all alive. Three of reaL-hing to the centre of the two feet square be- 

 them are known ; Oakley Park, No. 3— Downton, tweeii the sticks, and the other raised upon a fork 

 No. 5— the Lowell pear ripening in England as about eighteen inches, for the purpose of enlar"-- 

 late as May— three trees are unknown, the labels jng the Hue presently mentioned, lest it should be 

 having been detached on the passage. There is cbsed by the pressure of the hay, and that the log 

 a moral certainty, however, that these are No. 1, „ ay be easily drawn out, when the shock is finish- 

 2, and 4. All the other pears in Mr. Knight's list ed. Around and over the sticks, the shock was 

 were sent as scions ; they were all numbered ,aade, its top reaching two or three feet above the 

 by notches on the scions clearly distinguishable, ,op of the sticks. The purpose of the log, was to 

 but there were no scions marked 1, 2, and 4. Of ^^ke a flue for the admission of fresh air into the 

 course the trees whose labels were lost, were i centre of the shock, and the expulsion of the air 

 these numbers; but we shall only know them heated by the fermentation of the gra-^s in curinT 

 when they bear fruit, unless Mr. Knight shall re- The flues were made to face the point from which 

 place them, which we have no doubt he will. — 

 The nectarine trees are all alive ; so are the cher- 

 ries and the fig trees, and the Siberian apple, so 

 highly praised as a cider apple. 



As to the scions — No. 7, the one most liighly 

 spoken of by Mr. Knight, are growing and out of' 

 No. 15 is also 



are most appropriate and best adapted to different 

 locations. That prim, stiff, unmeaning, shadow- 

 less, dirty, exotic, the Lombardy poplar, ranks and 

 files of which have invaded our shores, and driv- 

 en back the natives of our own woods, is now, 

 we hope, proscribed by universal consent, and 

 will be exterminated as soon as possible. Among 

 the kinds in our view most worthy of propaga- 

 tion, as well from ease of culture, as on account 

 of its intrinsic beauty and density of shade, is the 

 weeping willow. Some of its characteristics are 

 drawn in the subjoined extract from a work late- 

 ly published by a practical horticulturist. To the 

 associations of the beautiful tree, the author might 

 have added the allusion to it in that pathetic and 

 exquisite specimen of sacred poetry, contained in 

 1.37th Psalm ; 



'• By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down ; 

 yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion. We 

 hanged our harps upon the ivillows in the midst 

 shereof." 



From Pritice's TVeatisc on HoHiculture. 



tke wind usually blows at the time of hay making. 

 If any flues happened to be clo.sed by the pres- 

 sure of the grass, they were easily opened by a 

 smaller and pointed log ; or, when the largeness 

 of the shock threatened this inconvenience, it was 

 I effectually prevented by inserting into the flue a 

 danger. No. 15 is also growing— so that of the | short forked stick as soon as the log was removed 

 the pears in my possession, eight varieties, entirely j to hold up the hay. As the log^ are removed as 

 new, are secured. Some others are yet fresh, and soon as the shock is finished, two or three are suf- 

 raay grow. I divided the scions between myself j ficient for following a dozen of mowers. The hay 

 and Gorham Parsons, Esq. whose great accuracy, ! thus made is the best I ever saw, and the efficacy 



Salix Babylonica, or }Veepi.ng Willojo. — This is 

 more disseminated in our country than any other anil care, recommended him to me, as one of the ; of the mode of curing it, was strongly supported, 

 oxolic species, and may be considered as the most ' fittest persons to secure the feeble and unpromis- i,y the growing grass under the shocks having 

 ornamental of the wliole number. It is partial to I '"g grafts. I have not heard what has been his been uninjured ; whereas I never lef\ shocks so. 

 a moist situation, and is said to be a native of the , success. The grapes, the Verdelho, and striped long in one spot before, without its having been 

 banks of the Euphrates, whence its specific title. , fruited grapes, were cuttings ; two of the first, and kUled by the undissipated fermentation of the hay 



ft, however, flourishes in almost any situation, ' ""^ of the second, are now growing. Some of 



in curing. Corn blades or fodder, sustain an ira- 



spreading its roots to a great distance in the j them were grafted into the roots of other grapes, ,„ense loss, even in dry weather, by two or three 

 earth, and extracting, by their wide extension, ' and are also growing. I j^ys' exposure to the sun and dews ; and in wet 



the necessary sustenance for a lofty deveiope- ! I have now only to add, that I shall be ready to ' they are nearly ruined. For an experiment I 

 ment. It will attain to the height of from forty ■ ?'ve buds to such as may ask for them, till the shocked tlieni in the mode just explained, quite 

 to fifty feel, or more, forming a fine, majestic ami stock shall have been exhaii.=tcd ; and I beg it green and dry; but I chiefly allowed them from 



may be considered, as a special favor to me, that four to eight "hours in the sun, befoi-e they are 

 persons disposed to take care of them, shall apply : shocked. Thus was made the best fodder i have 

 for them. It is a trust for our conntry, which I : seen. But the weather was favorable. The ends 

 am anxious to discharge with the fidelity, which of the blades were laid outwards, and the shocks 



Mr. Knight expects from me. He considers me i bound at top by a rope made of the blades Tay- 



as his agent to spread these fruits as widely as i^oj.'^ Jlro/or. 

 possible, and I would endeavor to show, that the 

 confidence has not been misplaced, 



JOHN LOWELL. 



^spreading head, with its long pendulous branch 

 gr;!(. "fully droojiing on all sides ; and this tree is 

 i:akulated, when standing distinct, to form, by its 

 fine outline and peculiar elegance, one of the 

 most pleasing variations in ornamental pleasure 

 grouads. Its growth is very rapid, and it conse- 

 q,iiently soon becomes of a size to afford shade 

 ind ornament. It is said, that in ancient times 

 lovers' garlands were made of the wreaths of this 

 ti-ee> the branches of which are so slender and 

 citable.. It has al«n. in latter vears, been fre- 



Here follows a letter from Mr. Knight, to Mr. 

 Lowell, published in our last \o\. p. 323 Ed. 



ORCHARD GRASS. 



The following is the substance of a letter, writ- 

 ten by a gentleman of Richmond, Va. to a distin- 

 guished agriculturist of South Carohna, and pub- 

 lished in the last number of the American Farm- 



