348 



NEW ENGLAND FAR M E R 



MAY 5, 1841. 



For the N. E. Farmer. 



EFFECTS OF GRAIN CROPS UPON OR 

 CHARDS. 



J\reio Bedford, 'i'id Jpril, 1S41. 

 Df.arSiu— I liave a yming i.rchanl of 3 1-2 

 acres, that is very promisiiis, a'ld lookiiiir uncom- 

 monly well. It has been planted to roots for four 

 vears successively, and I had determined to change 

 the crop this year, and put-in harley with clover 

 let the youncr clover die and reiiiai!i on the ground 

 through the winter: take a crop of clover from it 

 in 1842, and break it up in the autumn of '42, turn 

 ing in the after-math, and again grow roots. 



"l am told by a nurscry-min, who is a good far- 

 mer that if I sow barley, or any kind ot grain, tiiat 

 whe'n the grain is cut, the foliage will irmnediately 

 change on the trees, and they will be checked in 

 growUi, nearly or quite three years, by one gram 



crop. 



Will you be so kind as to give me your experi- 

 ence and opinion in this matter, and any informa- 

 tion you may possess on the subject. Also, wlr.t 

 you think of a crop of field peas with clover, by 

 way of a change; or what course will he best to 



pursue. 



I look more to the fuluic good ot the orcliard, 

 than to the profit of the crop, and yet 1 like to keep 

 that in view. 



Please give me the name of the best pea tor 

 field tultur'e, the quantity required for one acre, 

 and say if Messrs Breck & Co. have them for sale, 



and the price. 



Your answer as soon as convenient, will much 

 obli'Te Vour ob't serv't, 



GEO. RANDALL. 



To Allen Putnam, Esq., Boston. 

 We can give our corre.^pondent no information 

 to be relied'upon. Inquiring of an iiitelligpnt ag- 

 riculturist as to the proper reply to be given in this 

 case, he answered—" A few years since, I procur- 

 ed trees of a nursery-man, which failed to do well. 

 Mentioning the disappointment to the man of whom 

 I purchased, he asked what crop was grown on the 

 ground where they were set out? I told liim — bar- 

 fey. ' Why,' said he, ' why did you not put them 

 in the fire?' That is all tiiat I know about the 

 matter." We saw the yellow leaf on parts of our 

 orchard in the summer of '157, when oats were grown 

 on the greater part of the land ; while two small 

 patches wore planted to ruta baga. The trees in 

 the vicinity of the ruta baija generally suffered, 

 and also some th.at were rather remote from them. 

 We asked at tlie time, whether the ruta baga caus- 

 ed the harm ? hut the fact that some of the suffer- 

 ]n" trees were quite distant from them, caused us , 

 to°doubt whether it were so. The oats were not | 

 thoiightof as the possible cause. But they may 

 have°pr<)'luced the injury. This sub|ect deserves 

 attention ; and we respectfully solicit informatmn 

 upon it. 



The inquiry relative to peas, wo are not able to 

 answer, any farther than to say, that the Early 

 Frames are often used for the field, and can be ob- 

 tained at the N. E. Agricultural Warehouse, at $5 

 per bushel. 



Were we asked for advice by our correspondent, 

 we would hint to him a belief that ho might find it 

 a good course to [ilant corn on his land, cultivate 

 without hill, sow his clover seed about the middle 

 of .luly, at the last time of hoeing. He will thus 

 get a good crop ol clover in '42.— Ep. N. E. Far. 



For the N. E. Farmer. 



ENGRAFTED SCIONS. 



Mu Putnam — In none of the essays either in 

 the N. E. Farmer or elsewhere, on the vexed ques- 

 tion " whether an engrafted scion affects the stock 

 below the point of insertion," does any reference 

 appear to have been made to treati.^es on vegetable 

 physiology. If the propositions laid down by Pro- 1 

 fessor Liiidley, in " An Outline of tiie first princi- 

 ples of Kotaiiy," are correi I, the question must be 

 answered affirmatively. Examine some of them : 



G7. The stem is produced by the successive 

 developement of leaf buds, which elongate in oppo- 

 site direction.^. 



''G8. If an annular incision be made below a 

 branch of an exogenous plant, the upper lip of the 

 wound heals rapidly— the lower lip does tot: the 

 part above the incision increases sensibly in diame- , 

 ter— the part below does not. j 



"(19. If a liirature he made round the bark, be- 

 low a branch, the part above the ligature swells— 

 tliat below it does not swell. 



"70. Therefore the matter which causes the in- 

 crease of exogenous plants in diameter, descends. 



'^74- In the spring, the newly formed wood is 

 to be traced to the form of fibres descending from 

 the leaf-buds; that which is most newly formed 

 lying on the outside, and proceeding from the most 

 newly developed buds. 



" 142. Leaf-buds consist of rudimentary leaves 

 surrounding a vital point, the tissue of which is 

 capable of elongation upwards in the form ot stem, 

 and downwards in the form of wood or root." &c. 



much interest, should have been settled long since, 

 as 't might have been by mere inspection. Any 

 one having access to a nursery which has been en- 

 graited a ?ew years, can end all doubts merely by 

 Tiiaking a vertical section through the centre of a 

 yonng'^Siberian Crab, which had been engrafted on 

 a thoni, or on wood of another color, carrying the 

 section through the root. It is desirable that some 

 1 one having the means should make the eKamina- 

 tion, that we mav have fact as well as theory. 



The question 'is as interesting in an economical 

 as in a scientific point of view. Many a stock 

 which has been grafted two or three years, has 

 been thrown away, merely because the scion has 

 been broken off or otherwise destroyed ; yec it 

 may have produced a bud below ; and in cases of 

 very rare varieties, it would be desirable to pre- 

 serve the stock if any chance of obtaining the de- 

 sired fruit remained. 



I It must not be concealed, that although Profes- 

 \ sor Liiidlev has the iiighest reputation for accura- 

 i cy and proVound learning in vegetable physiology, 

 I he may, like all mortals, be fallible. His propo- 

 siLions in the " Outline of the first principles of 

 Botany," though laid down with the most imposing 

 precision and confidence, are contradictory. Mode- 

 rate and candid ciiticism need not step out of the 

 work itself to destroy its credit for intallibiliiy ; 

 yet this consideration furnishes uo apology tor^not 

 ascertainiug the fact disputed. G. 



j Fairport, Ohio. 



The above propositions are selected for exnmi- 

 nalion, to save space in your sheet and time to the 

 reader, should you consider these remarks worthy 

 of notice ; though the conclusions aimed at would, 

 perhaps, be more obvious from the examination of 

 all the propositions from No. 52 to No. 112 inclu- 



The truth or falsity of these propositions may be 

 ascertained bv inspection at the proper seasons.— 

 If they are true, it fidlows of course that every sci- 

 on must affect the slock upon which it is engrafted ; 

 and if the diameter of the stock and of the scion 

 wereequal.andtlieengrafting.be made near the 

 around, and the buds of the stock rubbed ofif, the 

 wood from the scion should soon envelope the 

 stock and furnish roots similar to those of the tree 

 from which it had been taken. 



But a scion from a tree of vignruus growth, en- 

 o-rafled upon a stock of slow growth, indicates its 

 character by the increased size of the tree nbove 

 ! the point of insertion, which is visible for many 

 years, if the stock was engrafted free from the 

 ..round. This would seem to favor the notion that 

 the scion does not aff^ect the stock. On the other 

 hand, examine a Siberian Crab, which has been en- 

 grafted on a small stock. The young leaf-buds of 

 the crab nre scarlet, when just opening, and the 

 roots are much more slender than those of the thorn 

 or of the common apple, and of a different color, 

 by which its influence and progress can be traced. 

 If the crab had been engrafted near the ground, in 

 a few years all the roots which support the tree 

 will be found to be those of the crab only ; and 

 scarlet buds may be found below the point of in- 

 sertion, wliere the latter is at a dhstance from the 



earth. 



The questicm being one of mere fact, yet ot 



For ifie N. E. Farmer. 



DESTRUCTION OF CANKER WORMS. 

 Mr Putnam— Year after year, the horticultu- 

 rists of many parts ot New England, have had their 

 apple orchards ravaged by that severe scourge, the 

 canker worm ; and many and various have been 

 the remedies which have from tifne to time been 

 proposed for the destruction of that fatal enemy to 

 fruit trees : but I cannot learn that any of the 

 many remedies suggested have proved entirely ef- 

 ficacious. , ,■ .. 



Within a few days. 1 have seen the public atten- 

 tion drawn to the consideration of this, as yet, rem- 

 ediless evil. I have, I confess, not paid much at- 

 tention to the origin and habits of the canker worm ; 

 but I conclude that late in autumn, before the 

 fro..t sets in, the worms descend from the branches 

 to the earth and bury themselves in the ground 

 amon^ the roots ofthe trees and below the reach 

 of the" frost, where they lie securely until warmed 

 into active life by the invigorating influence of 

 1 the sun's heat, when they ascend by the body of 

 the trees into the branches, to prey upon the ten- 

 der leaves and multiply their species, &c. 



Reflecting upon this deplorable evil, it has oc 

 curred to me that the worms may be eff-ectual y de- 

 stroyed by adopting the following remedy :-lnthe 

 autumn and spring-in the former, just before the 

 earth is frozen, and in the latter, as soon as possi- 

 ble after the frost is out of the ground-dig up the 

 earth around the trees in a few places, to the depth 

 to which the worms penetrate, and place in each | 

 hole small quantities of Indian corn, and also thrown 

 corn under the trees, to the extent of the diameter, 

 of the branches ; this done under every tree, turn, 

 i„to the orchard a few hogs, and they, in rooting to, 

 find the corn, will turn up and kill many of the;, 

 worms, and expose those not killed to the heavy < 

 night frosts, which will destroy them. In order. 



