162 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



Dec. 1-2, 1828. 



From Mfmcirs of ihe Board of Agric. 'n ilie stale of i\ew York. I is neressary to be provided with mulberries from 



— the white wild mulberry tree, or else from the 



ON THE MANAGEMENT OF COWS. s,,a„i,|, n,„,borrv tree, which are the two most 



Having formerly kept a large number of cows, I proper kinds for this purpose ; they must then be 



I observed many amongst them that dried up j dropped in the furrows at the distance of twelve 



their milk so onrly in the fall, that they were not j i„,.hns from each other, must be covered from the 



profitable, while others, with the same keeping, ^.j^gg ^j ,[,e furrows, and the beds carefully level- 



gave milk in plenty until late in the season. I 

 likewise have often heard my neighbors observe, 

 that some of their cows, though very good in the 

 fore part of the season, dried up of their milk so 

 early, that they were unprofitable, and they should 

 have to put them off; 1 accordingly found it ex- 

 pedient to find out the cause, if possible : and 

 when I brought to mind the ways that some of 

 my young cows had been kept and milked, I at- 

 tributed the cause to the milking of them the first 

 season they gave milk ; and by many experiments 

 since, I have found that young cows, the first year 

 I'hey gave milk, may be tnadc, with careful milk- 

 ing and good keeping, to give milk almost any 

 length of time required, say from the first of May 

 to the first of Februai-y following, and will give 

 milk late always after, with careful milking. But 

 if they are left to dry up of their milk early in the 

 fall, they will be sure to dry up their milk each 

 succeeding year, if they have a calf near the same 

 season of the year ; and nothing but extraordina- 

 ry keeping wdl prevent it, and that but for a short 

 time. I have had them dried up of their milk in 

 August, and could not by any means make them 

 give milk much past that time in any succeeding 



led off with a short toothed rako 



There are two seasons for making nurseries ; 

 the spring and the time of the maturity of the 

 fruit. Those who choose to sow the seed of the 

 mulberry in the month of April, must consequent- 

 ly use the dried seed, gathered nine months be- 

 fore, and less apt to sprout. But those who sow 

 the grain at its maturity, enveloped with all the 

 moisture of the fruit which seems intended for its 

 nourishment and to give it, if we may use the ex- 

 pression, its first milk, have generally the pleasure 

 of seeing it put forth with vigor. Besides, the 

 heat of the season, jirovided the proprietor have 

 the attention to water the plants, viill necessarily 

 cause their rapid growth. 



OF THE MANNER OF MULTIPLYING MULBERRY 

 TREES BY CUTTINGS. 



The soil chosen to receive the slips of the mul' 

 berry tree ought to be prepared in the same man- 

 ner with that for sowing the seed, and which we 

 described in the preceding chapter. The cuttings 

 of the mulberry tree are to be |)lanted as we plant 

 the cuttings of the vino ; that is by making fur- 

 rows by a line at the distance of sis feet from one 



year. In 1820, I had two heifers, which had I'" t''" other, and by crossing them by furrows at 



calves in April, and after getting them gentle, I 

 set a boy to milk them for the season, (which is 

 often done the first season on account of their 

 having small teats :) he was careless, and drieil 

 them off in August. Although I feel satisfied I 

 shoukl lose the greater part of the profit of them 

 afterwards yet I took it upon me the following 

 year to milk them myself, and give them good 

 feed, but to no purpose. I could not make them 

 give milk much past the same time they dried the 

 year before. I have two cows now that were 

 milked the first year they had calves, until near 

 the time of their calving again, and have continu- 

 ed to give milk as late ever since, if we milk them. 



[Furtlier Kxtracts from Vernon's Tre.Tllse on Mulberry Trees, 

 Continued from P'ige 154.] 



OF THE CHOICE OF SOIL FOR ,V NURSERY OF MUL- 

 BF.RRY TREES, AND OF THE IVIANNER OF SOW- 

 ING THE MULBERRIES. 



A soil mild, light, and mixed with much mould 

 is the proper soil for a nursery nf mulberry trees. 

 New shoots must have groim<l easy to penetrate. 

 Strong, clayey land does not suit these new plants, 

 unless, by mixing with it a great quantity of sheep's 

 (lung and sand, it niay be made light and friable. 

 Thus prepared by this manure, and by three drcs- 

 siiigs with the hoe, or by ploughing it three times, 

 and afterwards levelling the ground, it will be fit 

 to receive the seeds of the mulberry. 



Ujion two acres of land, or any other qnantitv, 

 at the will of the proprietor, beds must be made 

 four feet wide, levelled and smoothed with the 

 rake. 



On these beds must be traced by a fine, eight 

 small furrows lengthwise, two inches wide and 

 very little more than half an inch deep, and at 

 the distance of six inches from one furrow to an- 

 other. 



At the moment of establishing this nursery, it 



the same distance in order to form squares. A 

 two years old branch of a mulberry tree, haviig 

 wood of four or five years at one end, must be se- 

 lected, and the extremity of the old wood must he 

 interrcMl to the depth of about ten inches. The 

 branches, chosen from the white or from the rose 

 mulberry, must be taken off in the spring at the 

 time of the first rising of the sap. Two or three 

 incisions must be made in the joints or knots of 

 the old wood, because this operation will facilitate 

 the shooting of the roots, which always put forth 

 from the joints of the old wood. The cuttings 

 must then be covered with a well manured and 

 pliable earth, and the end of the branch which rises 

 from tlie soil must be cut off at the third bud from 

 the sinface. If rains should not frequently occur 

 after the plantation is finished, it would be neces- 

 sary to water the plants often. The midtiplira- 

 tion of mulberry trees by means of cuttings has 

 the ini|iortant advantage of a produce of two 

 years in advance over the establishment of a nur 

 sery by the means of seed. 



OF THE MANNER OF MULTIPLYING MULBERRY 

 TREES BY LAYERS. 



To make layers is to force a branch or a shoot 

 of a tree or of a shrub to become itself a tree or 

 a shrub, by putting a branch or a shoot into the 

 ground without separating it from the parent tree. 

 The spring and autumn arc both suitable seasons 

 for this operation. There is no preci.se time tor 

 making layers in autumn. Every day of that a- 

 hundant season is at the service of the cultivator; 

 he has only to choo.se those that suit him best. — 

 In the spring he is more restrained, for he must 

 wait till the frosts are passed, and till the mulber- 

 ry be in sap. 



The shoots which arise at the foot of a tree : — 

 the young and smooth branches found about the 

 lower part of the mulberry ; and other branches 

 that are long and supple enough to be secured in 



the ground, and lastly the shoots of a young trev-. 

 whose trunk is not high, and which may be laid 

 as easily as the young shoots of the vine ; all these 

 offer abundant resources to the man who has in- 

 dustry to use them. We will now give the man- 

 ner of performing each of these operations. 



1st. If there arise some vigorous shoots at the 

 foot of a mulberry tree, a hole must be dug six or 

 eight inches deep, near each shoot, into which the 

 shoot must be laid, without twisting it, or separat- 

 ing it from the tree. It is then to be secured in 

 its i)lace by crotchets of wood, and covered with 

 good mould, which must be pressed over it, and 

 the end of the shoot which rises above the ground 

 must be cut off above the second bud. It will be 

 further necessary to place by the side of the layer, 

 a stake to mark the place and prevent its being 

 trodden. It must likewise be wtitered immediate- 

 ly after the operation, and as often afterwards as 

 may be necessary, to maintain about it a proper 

 state of moisture. 



2d. The young and smooth twigs among thf: 

 branchos of the mulberry may be passed through 

 a basket or a vase perforated at the bottom, and 

 filled with earth well manured. The twig must 

 be cut off four or five inches above the- vase of the 

 basket, and the mould must be kept in a due state 

 of moisture by frequent waterings. 



3d. When a nmlberry tree is well spread, and 

 the boughs nearest the ground have not been lop- 

 ped, some of the branches at the distance of si.x 

 feet from each other, may be bent down and se- 

 cured in the ground, so that the ends shall not 

 rise more than si.x or eight inches above the sur- 

 face. The same attention as to staking, manur- 

 ing &c. must be pursued for the complete success 

 of this method as well as for all the others. This 

 manner of" making layers is jierhaps the easiest 

 and most profitable, because the success of a. 

 branch may yield several trees, and it proves at 

 the same time the infinite resources and power o4" 

 vegetation. 



if we have any young, grafted mulberry trees, 

 whose trunks are not high, with four or five 

 smooth and vigorous branches, we may open as. 

 many trenches, nearly as long as the branches, 

 and eight or ten inches in breadth and depth. — 

 The roots of the little tree are cut of!" on the side 

 opposite to the trenches ; the earth is taken from 

 about the trunk, and the tree inclined towards the 

 openings in order to secure, with less risk of frac- 

 ture, each branch in its proper place. The trench- 

 es are then filled and watered as in the preceding 

 cases. The ends of the twigs are brought about 

 si.x or eight inchet: above ground, and a prop is 

 placed near them for tiieir support, aud to prevent 

 their being broken under foot. 



The young mulberry tree, iVom which we have 

 made these layers, must be weakened by this pro- 

 cedure ; it would droop and perhaps perish if we 

 did not repair its losses. This tree, deprived of 

 half its roots, is nevertheless forced to nourish all 

 the layers. It is therelbre necessary to give to 

 the roots which remaiii, that increase of strenglji 

 to be derived from manure and water. 



All the layers made in these four ditterent ways 

 may be separated from the parent tree in the au- 

 tumn of the second year. We prefer the autum- 

 nal transplantation, provided it do not freeze, to 

 that of the spring. It is unreasonable to expect that 

 a tree should perforin two such opposite functions 

 at the same time, as the settling itself by the roots 

 immediately after removal, aud the putting forth 



