AND HORTICULTUItAL REGISTER. 



PUISLISHED BY JOSEPH BRECK & CO., NO. 52 NORTH M.iRKET STREET, (Aghicolturai. WAREHot-sE.)-ALLEN PUTNAM, EDITOR. 



VOL.. X'lX.] 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, JUNE 2, 1841. 



[NO. 48. 



N. £. FARMER, 



PRODUCTIVE FARM. 



Through the politeness of Capt. Chandler, super- 

 intendent of the House of Industry at South Bos- 

 ton, we have received the Report of the Directors 

 of that institJtion for the year ending May 31st, 

 1841, from which we copy the following statement, 

 showing the 



Produce of the Farm in 1840. 

 17 tons English hay, 

 5 ' Straw, 

 a04 bush. Barley, 

 8 1-2 tor.s Mangel Wurtzel, 

 51 bush. Ruta Baga, 

 4000 lbs. Canada Squashes, 

 310 bush. Potatoes, 



1620 ' English Turnips, 

 253 ' Blood Beets, 

 395 ' Sugar Beets, 



73 ' Turnip Mangel Wurtzel, 

 568 ' Carrots, 



50 ' Parsnips, 

 650 ' Onions, 



4 ' Quinces, 

 104 bbls. Apples, 

 500 Cabbages, 

 22 tons green fodder, 

 Vegetables used before harvest, 

 Sales of vegetables and fruit before har- 

 vest, not included in the above, 

 Garden seeds sold, avails not collected, 

 Garden seeds on hand. 



$289 00 



00 00 



142 80 



68 00 



10 20 



40 00 



108 50 



194 40 



126 50 



110 60 



18 25 



170 40 



25 00 



425 00 



12 00 



l.'iO 00 



20 00 



132 00 



210 00 



845. 85 



711 94 



63 00 



Produce of dairy and pigs. 

 Avails of oakum picking, 



Total, 

 Being ,"51313 19 more than last year. 



$3,939 44 

 1,775 46 

 2,297 23 



$8,012 13 



For the Now England Farmer. 



A GOOD TEAM. 



Mr Editor— Some time since I noticed a com- 

 imunication in your paper upon the importance of 

 good tools : I thjnk that a good team is of equal 

 importance for the advantageous workino- of the 

 farm, ['"or however good your plough may be, un- 

 less your team has strength enough to draw it 

 steadily you will make but poor work. 



Some fanners appear to act as though they 

 thought it necessary for them to keep a long team 

 to do their work ; and then they act as though they 

 thought th4t every straw of hay they could cheat 

 their cattle out of and keep them on their legs, was 

 80 much clear gain. But let us look at such a far- 

 mer as he is doing his spring work: — if he has a 

 piece of ground to plough, one pair of his oxen 

 (lavo not strength to do it, so he yokes up another; 

 they cannot move off in a straight line, so he must 

 :iook on the old m.ire to keep them straight ; and 

 :hcn with a boy to lead the mare, another to drive 



and one to hold, he may accomplish about as much 

 as one man would do with one good pair of o.xen 

 well fed and trained. If he has a piece of hard 

 breaking up to do, he must have four or five such 

 yoke of o.veii to do it. When he gets them all to- 

 gether, they look about as crooked, shriveled up 

 and inefficient as a string of dried apples. Mr Edi- 

 tor, did you ever witness the work of such a team 

 just commencing operations ? Their principle of 

 action appears to be, "one at a time last the lon- 

 ger": — some wishing to move in one direction, 

 some in another; some deliberating whether it is 

 best to move at all or not, moving so unsteadily 

 and crookedly that it would be impossible for the 

 best ploughman with a good plough, to make good 

 work. So it is with all the operations of the farm. 

 Twice the time is required to yoke and manage 

 sucli a team, as is necessary to manage a good one. 

 I once knew a sort of farmer who prided himself 

 much about his long team. Going to market one 

 day with a cord of dry pine wood with four yoke 

 of o.ven and a horse, he was thus acco.sted by one 

 of his neighbors : "A long team today, neighbor 

 G." " Yes, yes : three yoke more at home, and 

 none of them mortgaged neither." " Well, I should 

 think the crows would soon have a bill of sate of 

 them." 



How can a farmer afford to keep such a pour 

 team as this, when his success depends in a great 

 measure upon the manner in which his work is 

 done .' A good team is the cheapest ; but it is 

 not enough to procure a good team ; it needs con- 

 stant care and attention to keep it good. The cat- 

 tle must be well and regularly fed and carefully 

 driven. Much depends upon the early training of 

 the ox. If he is heavily loaded while young, he 

 usually gets into a dull and slow gait, which it is 

 difficult to break him of; but if he is moderately 

 loaded and accustomed to walk quick, lie will per- 

 form much more labor on the farm. The farmer 

 gains nothing by loading his team heavily, for they 

 acquire a hahit of moving slowly while so loaded, 

 which they will continue in when ploughing and 

 doing the lighter work on the farm. It is necessa- 

 ry for farming work that oxen should be taught to 

 back well. This may usually be done very easily 

 by right management. Do not strike an ox hard 

 upon the nose, for if you do, he soon learns to put 

 his nose down so as to avoid the blow ; and this 

 brings the yoke in such a position that he cannot 

 back. An ox should be taught to throw his head 

 up and turn it a little out when he backs. This 

 may be done by a good teamster in a short time. 

 , AN ESSEX FARMER. 



From the Yankee Farmer, of July 18, 1840. 



CANKER WORMS. 



Mr Editor — When I was in Boston last win- 

 ter, I promised to give you some information re- 

 specting the habit of the canker worm; also some 

 of the means to be used to prevent the ravages of 

 this u'.ost destructive insect. 



I shall commence with the insects in the egg, 



and shall proceed with a number of occasional 

 communications, which I shall send you from time 

 to time. 



The worms are usually hatched about the fif- 

 teenth of May, sometimes earlier and sometimes 

 later, depending very much upon the season. When 

 first hatched they are very small, but their presence 

 can soon be discovered by a close observer. They 

 are, in the early stage of their growth, very sus- 

 ceptible of cold, and a frost is fatal to them ; al- 

 though the insect in its perfect state is as hardy, 

 and will endure cold or a pelting storm like a Po- 

 lar bear ; in fact, the grub in its ascent upon the 

 trees in February, when overtaken by a cold snap, 

 nmch resembles Bruin when placed in like circum- 

 stances, by drawing up its legs under the body, 

 and sleeping in a torpid state until moderate weath- 

 er. Last spring, in a cold Northeast storm, I ob- 

 served the worms crawl into the closed petals of 

 the apple blossom for shelter. They usually ac- 

 quire their growth and leave the tree about the fif- 

 teenth of June, and during this period, chance 

 their skins several times. 



They eat with astonishing voracity, particularly 

 in their last stage, first devouring the leaf and then 

 the fruit. After acquiring their full growth, which 

 is usually in four or five weeks, they leave the tree 

 by lowering themselves down to the ground by a 

 silken thread, which they learned to spin from the 

 earliest period of their existence, as they move 

 about upon the branches, always careful to have 

 the end of the c«rd fast, so that if the branch on 

 which they are feeding is struck, they will always 

 show themselves by spinning down a few feet, and 

 if suffered to remain a short time, they will again 

 ascend the tree by their cord, alternately grasping 

 it with their feet and seizing it with their jawa. 



Professor Peck is in some respects, incorrect in 

 his description of the habit of this insect. He 

 says "the worms descend by the trunk of the tree 

 in June, and immure themselves in the earth near 

 the trunks, and rarely if ever more than three to 

 four feet distant." Our observation has led us to 

 a diffrrent opinion. They leave the tree from the 

 branch on which they feed, and suddenly spin down 

 by their thread to the ground, and enter it to the 

 depth of from two to six inches, and immediately 

 change into the chrysalis state. I have seen them 

 leave the branch of an elm thirty feet from the 

 trunk, and at once work their way into the ground. 

 And the grubs and millers can be seen in the sea- 

 eon of their running, soon after sunset struggling 

 and fluttering through the grass for many feet 

 around, usually to the extent of the branches' of the 

 tree, under which they are striving to reach the 

 trunk. And if in their progress they meet with a 

 fence, post, or house, they will ascend it, and the 

 grub before leaving it, will deposite her emrs. 



As we have now fairly disposed of the canker 

 worm, for at least a few months, by burying it in 

 the earth, let us now look around us and see what 

 can be done to counteract the bad effects of its 

 ravages. And what I shall here relate, came un- 

 der my observation last year. In purchasing a 

 piece of land, I came in possession of twenty large 



