298 



JN Jli W Jt, iN *jr 1^ A JN U J^ A 1< M Jl. K 



MARCH 2*. t14I 



now he weighs — what think ye ? — why 135 lbs. ; 

 which, calling his weight when piirchaseil 25 lbs., 

 gives a gain of 110 lbs. in about 275 days I ! Now 

 your correspondent may be satisfied with such 

 growth, but I am not, nor should I be even though 

 it was a white hog. But I have other objections 

 to Berkshire hogs : it is eighteen month.s before 

 they mature, and should you attempt to fiu them 

 sooner, you make but a waste of provender, for al- 

 though they ajipear round, plump and fat, they cut 

 lip but miserably, as a neighbor of mine can testify, 

 who tried the expi^riment. It appears to me that 

 to raise pork with the greatest profit in our vicini- 

 ty, it should be pigged the first of April and slaugh- 

 tered the first of February, and it should at that 

 time weigli from 200 to 250 lbs. ; and if it is nice, 

 handsome, jti/i)(e pork, it will readily bring the one 

 half of a cent per pound more than overgrown hogs 

 of twice the sine ; and you escape feeding in the 

 spring months, when your help is wanted for other 

 purposes, when roots are often scarce, and there is 

 no green food. A Beginner. 



Boston, March 4, 184 J. 



GRAFTING. 



Grafting is usually performed in spring. Pro- 

 fessor Thouin has described forty modes, but the 

 following will answer all general purposes. 



TVIdp graflitig or splice grajling. This mode is 

 practised principally on small stocks ; and it suc- 

 ceeds best when the scion and stock are of an 

 equal size. 



The scion, which consists of the young wood of 

 the former year's growth, is cut to the length of 

 about four inches. This and the stock are each to 

 be cut sloping for an inch or more, and tongiied. 

 Tonguing consists in cutting a slit in the middle of 

 the slope of the stock in the scion downwards, and 

 a corresponding slit upwards ; both are now to be 

 nicely joined, so that cme of the sides at least, if 

 not both shall perfectly coincide, and to be secure- 

 ly bound with a wet ba^s nwtting string, and cov- 

 ered with composition, or with grafting clay. As 

 soon as the scion and stock are completely united, 

 the string is to bo removed. 



Clefl grafting. Tliis mode of grafting is usually 

 practiced on stocks from one to two inches in diam- 

 eter. It is thus performed. 'I'he head of the stock 

 is carefully sawed otf at a part free from knots, 

 and the top pared smooth ; with a thin knife split 

 the stock through the centre, to the depth of abont 

 two inches, and insert a wedge to keep it open for 

 the reception of the scion. The scion is to be pre- 

 pared in the form of a wedge ; with an eye if pos- 

 sible in the upper part of the portion tlius formed ; 

 perfect success is the more certain when this is 

 the case. The scion is now to be carefully inserted, 

 go that the inner bark of the scion and of the stock 

 may e.xactly meet. Large stocks rrquire two 

 scions, one en each side; sometimes four are in- 

 serted. The whole is now to be carefully covered 

 with composition, or grafting clay, except two or 

 three eyes of each scion. Tiiis u)ode of grafting is 

 equally applicable to very small stocks, but being 

 weak must be bound with a cord of ba.ss matting. 



Saddle Grafting. This mode of grafting is per- 

 formed chiefly on very small stocks — it is much 

 practised by Mr Knight. '1 he upper part of the 

 stock IS prepnred in the form of a wedge, by two 

 sloping cuts, one on each side. The scion is pre- 

 pared by slitting it upwards, and paring out the 

 middle part of each side to a point. When the 

 stQck aad scion arc of an equal size, the adjust- 



ment may be perfect ; but if unequal, one at least 

 must exactly meet. The whole is secured by a 

 string of matting and covered with the composition, 

 or clay. The string however is to be removed 

 when a perfect union has taken place. 



Root grafting. This operation is often per- 

 formed on grape vines, just below the level of the 

 surface, by the usual mode of cleft grafting. It is 

 also performed on pieces of root, where suitable 

 stocks are scarce. 



Side grafting. This mode is sometimes prac- 

 ticed on those parts of a tree wlicre a limb is want- 

 ing. — There are two ways in which it is performed, 



1st. The scion is prepared in the same manner as 

 for splice grafting, and the bark and wood on the 

 side of the stock is cut sloping and the scion being 

 adjusted as carefully as possible, it is bound and 

 covered with clay. 



2d. The scion being cut sloping as in whip graft- 

 ing, a cross cut is made in the side of the tree on 

 the top of a perpendicular slit; the bark of the 

 tree above the cross cut is pared down slanting to 

 the wood. The bark is now raised as in inocula- 

 ting, and the scion inserted, and bound fast, and 

 covered with clay. 



Grafting bij approach. This is often practised on 

 trees and shrubs wliich succeed with difficulty by 

 other modes. The tree to be gralted must be 

 growing very near the tree which is to furnish the 

 grafts. Tlie limb or limbs of each tree which is 

 to be thus united, must be pared with a long slop- 

 ing cut of several inches, nearly to its centre ; and 

 the parts of each tree thus prepared, are to be 

 brought together, and firmly secured by a bandage 

 of matting, so that the bark shall exactly meet at 

 least on one side and covered with clay or com- 

 position. When a complete union has taken place, 

 the trees are separated with a knife, by cutting oft' 

 the stock below the junction. 



Grafting Clay is made of one third part of fresh 

 horse manure free from litter, one third of cow ma- 

 nure, and one third of good clay, with a small mix- 

 ture of hair well beaten and incorporated several 

 days before using. 



Grafting Composition is made of three parts of 

 resin, three parts of bees wax, and one part tallow, 

 melted together ; when well mixed, it is poured 

 into water and worked up like shoemaker's wax by 

 hand. This composition may be spread while in 

 a melted state pretty tliickly with a brush on very 

 strong brown paper. This paper is to be cut into 

 small strips of suitable size, and is very thickly 

 applied. In cool weather, may be instantly warm- 

 ed with the breath, so as to become adhesive. 



From tlie Farmer's Cabinet. 



CULTIVATING ORCHARDS. 



Considerable difference of opinion exists among 

 farmers respecting the best method of cultivating 

 orchards ; but the practice may be divided into the 

 following three methods ; 1st, leaving them un- 

 plouglied, but pasturing them more or less, either 

 with all kinds of stock, or with hogs only ; 2d, 

 ploughing every year, and raising crops of annual 

 grain, or pasturing them in the green state ; or, 

 3d, subjecting them to the usual rotation of crops, 

 in all respects as other uplands. I propose to give 

 my views briefly, of the advantages and disadvanta- 

 ges resulting from each of these modes, as appli- 

 cable to orchards in clay soils, from which my ex- 

 perience has been principally derived : in such 

 soils the roots of the trees generally extend farther 



around the stem than the branches do, and are found 

 nearer or farther from the surface, as the plough has 

 been more or less frequently used, but, generally, 

 the larger roots are in the subsoil, below the depth 

 to which the plough penetrates. In the first, or 

 non ploughing mode, we find the ground covered 

 with fibrous-rooted perennial, or annual grasses, 

 the roots of which require, for their full support, 

 all the rain that falls and can be retained a suffi- 

 cient time in the soils in common seasons; but the 

 roots of the tree also require, for luxuriant, or full 

 growth, probably the whole of the rain that falls, 

 and that can be rendered available ; and being 

 lower in the ground, and thus deprived of a por' 

 tioii of the moisture by the grass, they are obliged 

 to contend with the grass-roots for the moisture in 

 the soil proper; thus there are two sets of roots in 

 the upper 8<iil, each requiring, in dry seasons, all 

 the available moisture present; the conseipience 

 is, that the fruit, not having sufficient nourishment, 

 grows slowly, and much of it drops prematurely, 

 neither acquiring the proper size nor sufficient ripe- 

 ness ; and the grass (if of the fibrous-rooted pe- 

 rennials) not seeding, on account of being closely 

 pastured, extends itself by its creeping routs, and 

 though its necessities, multiplies tlieui indefinitely, 

 making little growth above ground, and that suita- 

 ble for pasturage only. 



In the second mode, that of ploughing every 

 year, and raising and ripening annual crops of 

 grain, it must be obvious, that for a part of the 

 time we escape the disadvantages of the first meth- 

 od, the crop sown not requiring the whole moisture 

 and strength of the ground, until considerable 

 growth has been made, during which time the 

 moisture will have full, free, and easy access to 

 the roots of the trees, the soil, or surface, being 

 loose from recent ploughing — but after the crop 

 sown has attained half its growth, and from that 

 time till it is entirely ripened, the struggle will be 

 in some measure as before, but, I think, generally 

 more favourable for the fruit ; nay, I believe that 

 both the grain and the fruit will suffer less, and 

 that neither will be so imperfectly supported as in 

 the first method ; for owing to the loose and open 

 state of the ground, the moisture will penetrate 

 deeper to the roots of the trees, passing first 

 through the soil in which the roots of the grain are 

 foraging; and much more will be absorbed by the 

 ground, and less will run otf, in heavy rains, than 

 when the ground is covered by a close-cropped, 

 short covering of grass; in addition to which «e 

 are entitled to presume that grounds annually crop- 

 ped will require and receive frequent manuring. 

 Of these methods, when no crop is taken but the 

 fruit, I shall take notice hereafter. 



The other, and most common method, that of 

 subjecting orchards to the usual rotation of crops, 

 seems to combine the disadvantages of both the 

 preceding methods, and to preclude the possibility 

 of the tree accommodating itself to its circum- 

 stances, which, in ordinary cases, it does in some 

 degree. 



Among the many provisions which Divine Wis- 

 dom has made for the continuation of vegetable 

 (and, I believe, animal) species, there is one that is, 

 in some measure, connected with this question. It 

 has been observed that vegetables that have suffer- 

 ed great injuries, frequently produce fruit or seeds 

 in large quantities ; thus, fruit trees that have been 

 blown down, and have had part of their roots torn 

 out of the ground, frequently bear more fruit than 

 before they sulTered injury ; yet it must be remeifl- 



