AND HORTICULTURAL REGISTER. 



PU1;LISHED by Joseph BRECK & CO., no. 52 north market street, (Aoricultubal warehouse.) 



voi>. XIX.] 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVKNINO, AUGUST J'J. 1840. 



[NO. 7. 



N, E . FARMER. 



VISIT TOTIIR FARM OP E. PHINNEV, Esq., 

 LEXINGTON. 



Wo ffavo list year an acccuuit oftlin ff.rm of Mr 

 Pliinney, of Lexington, which we believe was ac- 

 ceptable to our readers. Our ol)joct was to enconr- 

 ago and stimulate others to follow the example of 

 Mr Phinnoy in their improvements, that like him 

 they might receive ten fold in the amount of their 

 produce. Wo have reason to believe that the ac- 

 count given was not altogether in vain to the pub- 

 lic, but has been instrumental in some measure of 

 calling up the attention of a few to the importnnce 

 of a more systeuiatic cultivation and liberal outlay 

 in their agricultural operations. We do not wish 

 to convey the idea that Mr Phinney 'stands at the 

 head of agiicultural improvements, or that he has 

 no equals in the vicinity, by our frequent recurrence 

 to his farm, for there are hundreds in the circle of 

 our acquaintance, who like him stand in the fore- 

 most ranks, and are making rapid strides towards a 

 better and more perfect mode of cultivation. Hav- 

 ing again had the pleasure of spending a day upon 

 this farm, which may truly be styled a pattern one, 

 we will now take the opportunity to communicate a 

 few things, which more particularly struck our at- 

 tention, and first we will speak of the 



Oiilutrding. 



We refer our readers to the last volume of the 

 N. E. Farmer, page fil, for the account given of it 

 last year. The trees have made a vigorous growth 

 the present season and are now loaded with a heavy 

 crop of fruit. The Baldwins arc remarkably fair, 

 and promise to be of an e.xtra quality and very free 

 from the ravages of the curcnlio. The contimted 

 drought began to affect the crop seriously, and 

 great quantities of fruit had fallen, but the abun- 

 dant and timely rains have revived the trees and 

 probably as much fruit remains as will be benefi- 

 cial to the trees, or profitable. We were informed 

 that in the fall of 1838, 700 barrels of good mar- 

 ketable apples were gathered from this orchard, 

 which when it is considered that at that time the 

 trees were but 14 years old, must be thought a very 

 large crop, and a pledge that the expenses which 

 have been incurred in bringing these trees forward 

 would soon be reimbursed, and that hereafter a 

 handsome income would annually be realized as a 

 reward for the extra care and attention v/hicli has 

 been bestowed upon them. 



1 he trees are 40 feet distant from each other : 

 most of them have finely shaped heads. It appears 

 thai much utteution had been paid in their early 

 training to encourage the branches to shoot out in 

 a horizontal direction, as in that position they are 

 not in so much danger of splitting off as those 

 which rise with an angle of 45 degrees or therea- 

 bouts. By this mode of training the fruit is more 

 equally expo.=;ed to the beneficial effects of the sun, 

 and is more easily gathered. The bark of the 

 trees appears in a fine healthy condition, looking 

 clean and bright : this has been effected by wash- 



ing the limbs with potash water. One man was 

 employed thirty days in tie spring in performing 

 this operation. The vigor of the trees has been 

 produced in a great measure by keeping the ground 

 in constant cultivation, it having never been laid 

 down to grass since the orchard was planted. Ten 

 acres of the orchard is devoted to the raising of 

 rooti for the hogs and i thor stock. Where the 

 ground is much shaded the crop will barely pay 

 for cultivation : in the intervals between the trees 

 however, the roots are very promising. If the crop 

 pays the expense of cultivation without profit, the 

 object is attained, as by this means the ground is 

 kept clean and light and the growth- of the trees 

 promoted and fine fruit produci'd. The manuring 

 for the crops is rather light, as it is considered that 

 an excess of manure would be injurious to the trees. 

 It was probably owing to forcing the trees too fast, 

 that so many were destroyed by the severe winter 

 a few years since. Fresh soil is taken frotn the 

 woods and spread under the trees occasionally, 

 which has a good effect. The canker worm has 

 never attacked this orchard, and we hope it will 

 never be subject to their destructive ravages. We 

 mentioned last year instances where trees which 

 had been girdled had been saved by inserting sci- 

 ons from the bark above to the bark below the 

 wound. We saw an example now of a tree which 

 had become so badly damaged about the root that 

 no graft could be inserted, where the tree was sav- 

 ed by setting out small trees around it and graft- 

 ing the tops of them into the bark above. We 

 doubt whether in either case the trees will be long 

 lived, but as a matter of curiosity they are interest- 

 ing operations: 



We believe there is no danger of overstocking 

 the market with winter fruit, as the demand is con- 

 stantly increasing. The steam navigation to Eng- 

 land will open a way for the disposal of a large 

 quantity, as our fruit is highly esteemed and brings 

 a high price there. P^armers should pay particular 

 attention to this department of cultivation, and 

 have their farms well stocked with none but the 

 best of winter apples : if their fruit is inferior let 

 them proceed without delay to graft over their trees 

 with such as is considered good and saleable, and 

 young trees should be planted from year to year to 

 supply the place of those which are soon to decay. 



Pears and other Fruit. 



The same course is pursued with the other fruit 

 trees as with the apple ; — the ground is under cul- 

 tivation and kept perfectly free from weeds. The 

 peach trees were bending to the ground with fruit : 

 in the intervals where there was a chance for the 

 sun to shed his genial inflviences, we noticed mel 

 ons in a flourishing state. The health and fruit- 

 fulness of the vines, it was said, was owing to the 

 fact that wherever it was designed to plant a hill, 

 the ground was liberally supplied with virgin soil 

 from the woods. In other places we saw squashes 

 planted in the same way. There are about 700 

 pear trees on the premises including all the good 

 varieties in cultivation, many of them in full bear- 

 ing. Mr Phinney has received from time to time 



large accessions to his collections from Prance and 

 \ other foreign countries, some of which have proved 

 to be fine, while many varieties have been condemn- 

 I ed as unworthy of cultivation, and other approved 

 sorts engrafted upon them. His spare moments 

 1 seem to- be occupied, in the proper season, in raia- 

 . ing up a succession of young trees, and in engraft- 

 ing over the old ones. We saw a small nursery 

 containing a number of thousand young pear, peach, 

 ' plum and other trees, from the seedling upward, 

 and were shown pear slocks imported last spring 

 and budded the same season, which have made a 

 growth this year of two and three feet, in spite of 

 the severe drought : thus he has at all times young 

 trees in readiness to fill up spare ground, or supply 

 the places of such as by disease or accident have 

 been destroyed. The plum trees are in great a- 

 bundance and variety, but yield no fruit this year. 

 The Isabella grape vines show abundance of fruit 

 and the season thus far has been favorable for ma- 

 turing it. This variety when fully ripened is very 

 fine, but it is not every year that this is the case, 

 and we have been pained to see hundreds of bush- 

 els rendered worthies! by an early frost. In our 

 last year's account we noticed a variety of native 

 grape grown upon a massive stone wall, which has 

 proved in many respects more valuable than the Isa- 

 bella, as it never fails to ripen. Tiiis wall now 

 presents a sight worth looking at, as the quantity 

 growing upon it has been estimated at two tons, 

 and the grapes will bring froiri (5 to 8 cents per lb. 

 the only trouble of which is to gather them. 



Weeds Suhdued. 

 We W'Cre happy to see the extensive crop of roots 

 and the avenues leading through the grounds free 

 of weeds, scarcely a straggling one left to give 

 evidence that the original curse included this sec- 

 tion of terra finna. Tliere is nothing more grate- 

 ful to the agriculturist than a clean crop at this or 

 any other season of the year. The expense of ma- 

 nuring is so great that it is a pity to suffer the 

 weeds to draw its richness from the ground. It is 

 not generally understood that veeds are great ex- 

 hausters of the soil, and that it frequently costs 

 more to support the weeds than it does the crop ; 

 then they deprive the crop of light and moisture, 

 and in case of droucht, the plant may well say, 

 "my sufferings is intolerable." Before calling 

 upon .Mr Phinney, we noticed a crop on another 

 fiiriH quite the reverse of what we have been de- 

 scribing. Here the weeds h;id gained the ascen- 

 dancy ; the hope of eradicating them with the hoe 

 had passed away, and the only chance left of pre- 

 venting the crop from smothering was by reaping: 

 to this the owner had resorted, and we noticed a 

 pretty heavy crop. Had this man been "able" to 

 have hired a few days additional he Ip in season, he 

 would not only have had an addition of one third 

 at least to his crop, but his grounds would have 

 been in a far better condition to sustain the next. 

 We could say, as Solomon did when he passed by 

 the field of the slothful, and beheld it covered with 

 thorns and nettles and the stone wall tumbled 

 down — "Then I saw and considered it well: I 



