338 



ing apple trees, that I grafted for experiments, 

 tvvo on the 1.5th of June, and one on tlie 20th.— 

 As the harU was then loose 1 split it as above, be- 

 fore I did the stocks. 



Respectfully, 



SAMUEL PRESTON. 



Stockport, Pa,, May 2, 1829. 



roBTHK NEW tNCl.ANU FARMER. 



Mr Fessenben — It a|)pears not to have been 

 sufficiently noticed that they have latterly intro- 

 duced into Europe a new and most valuable spe- 

 cies of Mulberry, capable of sustaining the rigor 

 of the coldest regions, and of course rendering 

 the rearing of silk available in any northern clime. 

 This species was obtained from Tartary, and is 

 known as the Morus lartarica, or Tartarian Mul- 

 berry, and has been latterly introduced to our 

 country, where it thrives and flourishes beyond 

 any other, and promises great advantages to the 

 eastern and northern section of our country. 



HORTUS. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



Mav 15, 1820. 



Fiom llie Columbian Reporter. 



AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 

 Adjourned Meeting of the Board of Ojjuxrs of the 

 Bristol County Agricultural Society, at Taunton, 

 April 8, 1829. 



The Committee on Agriculture award the fol- 

 lowing premiums in addition to those awarded at 

 the Annual Cattle Show, in October last, viz. 

 To Scliuyler Shejiard, of Mansfield, for the 

 best crop of Indian corU) being 85 3-4 

 bushels on one acre and eight rods of 

 land, $10 



To Roland Howard, of Easton, for the best 

 crop of English turnips, being 117 1-2 

 bushels on half an acre, 3 



To the same, a gratuity for an e.ttraordlnary 

 crop of Ruta Baga, 5 



JACOB DEAN, 

 ELLIS HALL, 

 HEiNRY WASHBURN. 



regulations of the Bristol Co.mty Agricultural So- 

 ciety, I send you the amotmt, together with the 

 manner of culture, &c. of half an acre of Flat 

 Turnips, and also the amount, &c. of 37 rods of 

 ground sown with Rnta Baga seed, both the 

 growth of 1828. 



The quality of the soil sown to Flat Turnips, is 

 a sandy loam, and much more natural to grain 

 than grass. The laud had been in grass for the 

 last four years, and produced but small crops of 

 fine top hay. It was mown in July last, and soon 

 after jdoughed, taking care to turn the furrows 

 flat. About the close of the month, there was 

 nineteen loads of ordinary compost manure (28 

 bushels to the load) carted on and evenly spread 

 over the said half acre, and the ground once har- 

 rowed. On the 4th of August the clods were 

 raked in heai)S, and the turnip seed sown with a 

 hand drill machine, in rows 16 inches a|)art, and 

 fronf 3 to 4 inches in the row. When they were 

 well up they were thinned, calculating to have 

 them stand at least 6 inches apart in the row. — 

 They were afterwards hoed twice, at intervals 

 suited to keep down the weeds. They were gath- 

 ered Oct. 31st and Nov. 1st, and the produce of 

 the half acre was one hundred and seventeen 

 bushels and a half. 



EXPENSES or CULTIVATION. 



Ploughing — two small yoke of oxen and a 



horse, half a day, $00,83 



Driver, and ploughman, half a day, 00,75 



19 loads manure, and spreading, 14,25 



Harrowing once, 00,30 



Baking sods, 1,50 



Sowing the seed — one man half a day, 00,50 

 Thinning and hoeing twice — equal to six 



days' work, 4,50 



Gathering the crop — 5 dajs' work, 3,75 



Amount brought up, 



Harrowing, 



Sceil, sowing, and picking some small 



stones, 

 Thinning and hoeing twice — five 



work, 

 Gathering — 4 days' work, 



days' 



VALUE OF THE CROP. 



104 bushels at 25 cts per bushel, 



$6,75 

 0,25 



0,60 



3,75 

 3,00 



$14,25 

 $26,00 



Leaving a profit of $11,75 



I beg leave here to remark, that I consider 

 Ri ta Baga a very valuable esculent, especially for 

 cattle ilurii.gour long winters, when they are fed 

 principally upon fresh hay, of whi<h our section 

 of the country abounds ; a snuiU quantity givea 

 daily will serve to keep them sufliciently loose, 

 and thus contribute greatly to preserve their health. 

 Its value need only be known to be more general- 

 ly cultivated. 



I am aware. Gentlemen, that agreeable to your 

 list of premiums, you are not authorised to award 

 a premium for the |)roduct of any root crop growa 

 on any less quantity of laud than one-fourth of 

 an acre ; and it was my intention to have sown 

 mwe than that amount to ruta baga, nor did I sus- 

 pect until the ground was measured, but that I 

 had so done — the hues being in a zig zag form 

 deceived me. But, Gentlemen, I leave the case 

 with you, believing that if you think me entitled 

 to a gratuity, you will recommend one, and not 

 otherwise. 



I am. Gentlemen, with respect. 



Your humble servant, 



ROLAND HOWARD. 



From ihe Trausaclions of the London Hort. Society. 



$26,30 



VALUE OF THE CROP. 



112 1-2 bushels at 83 cts per bushel, (the 

 price at which I sold them,) 



S8,77 



Subjoined arc the statements of Messrs Shep- 

 ard, and Howard, showing the mode of cultivation 

 by which the above crops and premiums were 

 obtained, &c. 



JI/«n.9/(W, JVoi-. 29, 1828. 

 I, the subscriber, of Mansfield, in the county of 

 Bri-stol, hereby certify that I raiseil the present 

 year, cighiy-five bushels and three-fourths of a 

 bushel of Indian corn on one acre and eight rods 

 of land. Said corn was planted about the first of 

 May, in double drills, with about one peck of seed 

 corn soaked in copperas water ; manured with 

 about eighteen wagon loads of summer and win- 

 ter numure mixed together. 1 also dre.'Sid the 

 corn over with wood ashes before hoeing it the 

 first time ; the fiist hoeing v/as performed about 

 three weeks after iilaniing ; the second in five, 

 and the third in seven weeks after planting. The 

 crop raist'd on said land the last year was, on 

 about one-half of it, Indian corn, the other half, a 

 crop of rye, taketi oft'in June and potatoes idanted 

 after ; manured with about twelve leads of com- 

 post manure. SCHUYLER SHEPARD. 



■ To the Committee on A/rriciitturnl Erperiments and 

 Products. 

 Gentlemen : — In conformity to Ihe rules and 



Profit of the half acre, $12,39 



It may be proper to remark that I thint the 

 foregoing crop of flat turnips, wa^ materially les- 

 sened in consequence of the unusually severefrost 

 in October. 



I also tliink that the land is in a better condi- 

 tion than it was previous to taking the said crop. 

 The ipialiiy of the soil sown to Ruta Baga, is a 

 li^bt loam and was planted to corn in 1827. — 

 In April, 1828, the hills were split, and soon after 

 ploughed down, and six loads of compost manine 

 were carted on and spread. The 7th of June the 

 ground was cross-ploughed with a horse — then 

 harrowed, and sown with a drill machine, in rows 

 two feet apart, and at twelve inches in the row. — 

 When the plants were well up they were thinned, 

 and afterwards hoed twice at proper intervals, 

 taking care to keep them free from weeds. They 

 were gathered in the second day of November, 

 and the product was one hundred and fourbushels, 

 when divested of their to[is and clearly trimmed, 

 and weighing 70 His. to the bushel, giving a to- 

 tal weight of three tons twelve hundred and eighty 

 pounds. 



expense of cultivation. 

 Three floughings, 

 Si.t loads of manure, 



An Account of a lAme-Duster, for the Destruction of 

 bisects on Fruit Trees. By Mr Samuel Curtis, 

 of Glazenwood, England. 



For many years past my orchard at this place, 

 containing many thousand fruit trees, and occupy- 

 ing fifty acres, has been so completely divesfted of 

 most of its foliage and young fruit in the spring 

 months, that at Midsummer liule more than the 

 bare twigs were left, atid I had serious a(>prehen- 

 sions that iby pbin of planting so largely, adopted 

 sixteen years ago, would |)rove a failure, unless a 

 remedy could be fomid for so serious an evil.— 

 With this view, I had, for several years, been care- 

 Id to wash with lime and water, the stems and 

 Iranclies of my trees, but this I found ineffectual 

 ftr the destruction of those insects which prey on 

 tie young buds and leaves. I, therefore, procured 

 (Uin cannister of a conical form, a short handle 

 Attached to the small end, and the larirest one be- 

 ing perforated with a number of small h'des, like 

 tie spout of a common watering pot. Qincklime 

 pdverized, and often sifted through a fine sieve, 

 ias put into the cannister, and I had it shaken 

 (tver the young fi)liage just as it was expanding. 

 The fiist season I used it, the fresh-hatched cater- 

 pillars had connnenced their depredations, but so 

 easy was the application of the lime-dust with this 

 machine, that I soon efi^ected the destruction of 

 Jmost the whole of them ; fiir although they shel- 

 frred themselves as long as they could, iheir food 

 was rendered so unpalatable that they either died, 

 dro])ped off in search of other food, so that the 

 $0,75 turing shoots of my trees were preserved in full 



$1,75 

 5,00 



