202 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



Jan. 16, 1829. 



men, which can be employed at a time. And it 

 is easy to show from the progress made in other 

 works of the liind, that many years would neces- 

 sarily be required to complete it^ 



" But even if a canal were constructed upon the 

 proposed route, your Committee are unanimous in 

 opinion that a Rail Road would be far more use- 

 ful to the public. And their opinion in this res- 

 pect is corroborated by Mr Trcdgold, who states, 

 ' tliat for new works Rail Roads will in nine cases 

 out of ten be better adapted for public benefit than 

 canals.' If this is true in England, where, from 

 the mildness of the climate, a canal is seldom 

 closed by frost ; and upon an average not exceed- 

 ing seventeen or eighteen days in a year, how 

 much more preferable must a Rail Road be in all 

 our Northern States, where a canal is closed upon 

 an average, one hundred and forty-five days in a 

 year." 



The following summary view of the superior 

 advantages which Railways possess, when com- 

 pared with Canals, is extracted from an able pa- 

 per, originally published in the Boston Patriot, by 

 a writer with the signature " Middlesex." 



The Railway requires but one third the quanti- 

 ty of land that is required for a Canal, exclusive 

 of ponds, reservoirs, and feeders. 



The Railway requires one man and four horses 

 to transport fifty tons 4 miles per hour. 



The Canal re(iuires two men, one boy and two 

 horses to transport 30 tons 2 miles per hour. 



The Railway may be attended and kept in re- 

 pair for one tenth that of a Canal. 



Railways give the greatest possible facility to 

 travellers. Canals retard them. 



Railways may be easily passed in all places re- 

 quired. Canals only by bridges. 



Railways interfere with no water privileges, 

 Canals destroy many. 



Railways are subject to no interruptions, except 

 by snow, which is easily removed. 



Canals are subject to be interrupted by droughts, 

 flood, frosts, leakages and locks. 



Railways carry their freight to the doors of the 

 warehouses, Canals deliver their freight upon the 

 wharf. 



A Railway can be constructed for half the cost 

 of a Canal per mile. 



A Railway ujay be used twelve months in a 

 year, a Canal hut seven niontlis. 



The toll of passengers will jiay the interest on 

 the cost of a Railway. 



Tiic toll of passengers on a Canal is very 

 trilling. Half the connnon rates of tolls on a Ca- 

 nal will be sufficient to pay the wiiole exi)ense of 

 transportation on a Railway, iiicluditig the toll. 



Mountainous countries are easily surmounted 

 by Railways, Canals can never get over them. 



Rivers and streams are much more easily pass- 

 ed by Railways than they can he by Canals. 



Railw.ays will be the |)ridc of New England ; 

 they will unite its inhabitants in one common 

 centre, connect them in one connnon interest, ami 

 raise them to eminence and glory by one connnon 

 operation. (To be continued.) 



FOR THE NEW ENGLAND FAHMFI!. 



INSECTS ON FRUIT TREES. 



]\la Fessende.v — You will receive with this a 

 box containing 4 papers. Enclosed in No. 1 are 

 ])ieces of bark from an apple tree, covered with 

 blisters containing th 

 cribed by IMr Perley. 



No. 2 contains pieces covered with black eggs, 

 from which the green lice are hatched, that are 

 so destructive to the tender leaf of scions. 



No. 3 contains a small piece of a limb of a pear 

 tree, and pieces of hark from the same covered 

 with the insect described by your correspoudent 

 "M."in the New England Farmer of the 21st 

 ult. They were taken from a pear tree from Mr 

 Prince's nursery, last spring. The tree was very 

 thrifty, and arrived in good order. I examined it 

 at the time of transplanting, and discovered no 

 appearance of insects of any description till about 

 the first of September, when I noticed the tree, 

 from the ground to the end of the limbs, was cov- 

 ered with whitish scales. Immediately aftenlie 

 discovery the tree was well scrubbed with sojp 

 and water, and all that could be reached were re- 

 moved, which will account for the scanty samile 

 I send you. The insect and general appearance 

 of the bark are very accurately described by " M." 

 From the stained appearance of the bark in spots 

 clear through to the wood, I think it will have a 

 very bad effect upon the tree, if it does not entiiie- 

 ly destroy it. 



Probably Mr Prince, of Long Island, is well ac- 

 quainted with the insect and its effects, and could 

 favor the public with a correct account of it. 



No. 4 contains pieces of hark taken from the 

 body and limbs of smooth barked apple trees. I 

 have observed them on my trees for several years, 

 but have never read any account of them. They 

 are sacks containing some kind of an insect, 

 which, in the spring, will eat its way through one 

 end of the sack and makes its escape. AVhether 

 it remains upon and draws its support from the 

 sap or leaves of the tree, I am unable to sa. . J - 

 perhaps you may know their history. 



L. BARTLETT. 



flarner, M H. Dec. 15, 1828. 



(C?" We are under great obligations to Mr 

 Bautlett for the favors above specified. The 

 boxes and their contents may be seen at the oftice 

 of the JV'. E. Farmer, and we hope Dr Harris 

 will be so kind as to look at them with the eye of 

 a connoisseur. — Editor. 



of my flock, and his example has been imitated by 

 his neighbors in both cases with the same success. 

 I have old worn-out ewes renovated by this shift 

 from scanty to luxuriant pastures. 



The same effects result from shifting the pas- 

 ture of neat cattle and horses. In 1824 1 pur- 

 chased a pair of little oxen ; one was eight years 

 old, and the other his elder by six months. They 

 were adjudged to possess a capacity for weighing 

 when fatted— the one 700 lbs. the other 775 lbs. 

 They were taken into my cow pastures, which, 

 though a thin soil, were considerably better than 

 that they had been reared on, their living having 

 been hitherto very bad, and food meagre. I gave 

 them my customary allowance to working oxen, 

 and used them much in the yoke. They never 

 had an ear of corn, nor root, from the time I pur- 

 chased them till their death. I kept them two 

 years. In the month of September, there being 

 a scarcity of beef, I gave them some corn blades 

 and pumpkins for six weeks, and they were sold 

 to the butcher. One of them weighed 890 the 

 other 976 lbs. They were not fat, one of them 

 having but 60, the other 78 lbs. of tallow. IT 

 those who reside on the rich soils of Pennsylvania 

 will buy, every two years, from the starved herds 

 of New Jersey, they will realize more profit than 

 by any other mode of raising stock. 



Philadelphia, J^Tov. 26, 1828. T. J. R. 



From the American Farmer. 



ON SHIFTING CATTLE. 

 J. S. Skinser, Es<j. 



Sir — I do not know that any writer in your pa- 

 per has remarked on the astonishing effect jho- 

 duced by shifting cattle from lands of jioor quali- 

 ty and short feed, to those of fertile soil and rich 

 grasses. My experience is worth something on 

 this ])oint, and I wish to put it on record for the 

 benefit of my countrymen. 



In July, 1820, my farm being overstocked with 



I sheep. 1 sold sixty of the ])oorest quality, the 



small, diseased ones, fur cue dollar per head, to i 



' gentleman living about five miles from me. Oir 



; land was quite diil'erent in its quahty. Mine wag 



I a thin, worn-out soil, producing nothing but rytj; 



I his was high and very rich land, covered with ia 



j thick growth of white clover. At the next season 



of shearing, I took pains to be at his jien. Thp 



whole sixty sheep purchased of me had livej 



through the winter ; their produce per head wag 



four pounds of clean washed wool, about threp 



times as great as that of the preceding year ; and 



their weight (but this last was conjecture.) was 



double to what it was when purchased of me. — 



He has at various times since purchased the refuse 



ON THE USE OF SAND 



In propagating Ti'ees, Shrubs, and Plants, from cut- 

 tings of them. B>j Mr Thomas Haines, of 

 Oundle, JVbrthamptonshire. 



" The fnest white sand is superlatively useful to 

 autumnal planted cuttings of the more tender tver- 

 greens and shrubs. In the business of planting 

 cuttings of these underhand-glasses, in the au- 

 tumn, as well as the more hardy green-house 

 plants, such as myrtles, faschia, roses, cistuses, 

 germander, &c., no unmi-xed soil whatever can he 

 found to bear a comparison with the finest white 

 sand; as cuttings planted therein will be far 

 more secure from mouklincss throughout the au- 

 tumnal and winter seasons ; during which times, 

 the pots in which they arc planted, generally re- 

 main standing up to their rims in the connnon 

 ground, as the greatest preservative from frost; 

 but in which situation they are more exposed to 

 the ill effects of damp, than if standing on the sur- 

 face. 



" Although but little more than a knot, or a 

 swelling protuberance, at the foot of each cutting, 

 can be effected, during the first autumn ; yet, on | 

 the advance of spring, they will early make roots, 

 even without the addition of any other soil or ar- 

 ticle to promote their growth ; rind which young 

 plants, being potted otV, or transplanted in some 

 way, as soon as they have formed sufficient roots; 

 immense quantities from these small cuttings, may 

 be thus annualhj propagated, by the help of ihe full 

 sized single hand-glasses 1 This process, howev- 

 er, will not extend to any other description of 

 plants than the evergreens. 



" In the propagation of the trees and shrubs al- 

 luded to by this process, it must be recollected, 

 that the sanil is to be considered as no farther 

 essential, than to strike or jiromotc growth in 

 the cuttings, siifiicient for transplantation ; as, 

 on their being removed into another situation, in 

 the next stage of the process, a mixture of suita- 

 ble soil, with a proportion of sand only, will be 

 requisite. 



