1856. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



15 



sowed over the lot a bushel of cranberries, first 

 crushing them and mixing Anth sand. He finds no 

 beneficial efFect from the sand — finds his cranberries 

 do best where the peat or mud is deepest. He 

 sowed his cranberries from October to April. His 

 products were at the rate of 250 bushels per acre. 

 Has no faith in raising cranberries on dry soil. 



Other experiments, however, show the practica- 

 bility of raising cranberries on upland. Mr. Rob- 

 erts' experiment embraced a tract near the foot of a 

 slope descending in a westerly direction. The ground 

 was })lowed eight inches deep, and harrowed ; light 

 furrows, three and a half feet apart, were run 

 lengthwise, and the sods were cut from the swamp, 

 carted on the upland, and placed three feet apart in 

 the rows, (though two would have been better,) 

 then carefully hoed and kept free from weeds for 

 two years. No water was supplied except that re- 

 ceived from occasional rains. 



In the cultivation of cranberries, whether on up- 

 land or lowland, it is very important tliat the ground 

 should be entirely covered by the vines as soon af- 

 ter planting as possible, not only on account of the 

 great saving of labor, by thus preventing the growth 

 of grass and weeds, but also because ver}- little fruit 

 is commonly produced until the vines have thus 

 spread over the surface. At the end of thi-ee years, 

 the whole ground should be covered ; but in the in- 

 stances of upland culture referred to, it was not so, 

 though the plantation had been set there, at least 

 three or four years. Probably, if the roots had 

 been but twelve or eighteen inches apart, the re- 

 sult would have been different in this respect. As 

 it was, however, the yield in 1852 was one bushel 

 to the square rod, or one hundi'ed and sixty bushels 

 to the acre, when cranberries were selling readily at 

 $4 per bushel. 



Far the New England Fanner. 



ROOT CROPS. 



Mr. Editor : — As much has been said of late to 

 encourage farmers to raise root crops for cattle, I 

 was induced to plant a small piece of ground to car- 

 rots the past season. The land on which they grew 

 had been plowed three years, producing tlie last 

 two years, crops of potatoes ; the year previous of 

 com. 



It was of a hard and strong nature, manured at 

 the rate of twenty-five ox-cart loads to the acre, 

 spread and plowed in. The carrots were sown on 

 the 24th and 25th of April, in drills of about twenty 

 inches apart. They came up very uneven, so much 

 so, that I jjlanted the empty spaces with beets and 

 turnips. On the piece of land jiine rods in length, 

 by twelve in width, I harvested thirty-two bushel 

 baskets full of carrots, five of turnij)s, two of lieets, 

 and one of ])arsnips. This is at tlie rate of four 

 hundred and seventy-ibur bushels to the acre, a 

 small yield compared to some; but had the carrots 

 occupied all the ground sown, at a proj)er distance 

 apart, the yield would have been much larger, j)er- 

 haps double, as they grew to a very large size, some 

 weighing u])wards of four lbs. each. Even at this 

 yield, which is, perhaps, nothing more than an aver- 

 age, I consider the carrot cro]), taking into consid- 

 eration the land so\\ti, trouble and expense, more 

 profitable to me the present season than either the 

 crops of corn or ])Otatoes that grew adjoining in the 

 same field, whether designed for home consunipfion, 

 or to sell at market prices. V. E. Howard. 



West Bridgewater, JVbvember, 1855. 



Fur the New England Farmer. 



SEVERAL EXCELLENT PEARS. 



TVie frashington Pear is a fruit not extensively 

 knoMTi, but I have seen persons who have tasted it 

 the past season who consider it of rather more 

 agreeable flavor than the Bartlett, which is no mean 

 commendation. It is a native of Delaware, of me- 

 dium size, turbinate, rather full in the neck, of 

 lieautiful yellow ground, with a blush, thin skinned, 

 tender, juicy and delicious. In season a little later 

 than the Bartlett. The tree is an upright, hand- 

 some grower, and bears early, and the fruit is uni- 

 tVn-mly fair. If this pear were somewhat larger, it 

 would rival the Bartlett as a market fruit. 



The Heathcot is a beautiful native fruit, and I 

 thmk bears an affinity to the St. Michael. Medium 

 size, stout, pale yellow, of very tender skin and 

 flesh, juicy, ^^•ith rather more of the champaign 

 flavor than the St. Michael. Ripe last of Septem- 

 ber, and ranks among the best, though not much 

 known. Cole says, "thrifty, hardy, but moderate 

 bearer." 



The Andrews Pear is a peculiarly delicious fruit, 

 and although not so sweet as the Seckle, I prefer 

 it to that, for its singular and beautiful aroma. It 

 is rather later than the Bartlett, and is of mcreased 

 value on this account. It is a native fruit, and so 

 generally dissemmated that a formal description of 

 it is hardly necessary. Not so handsome as some 

 pears, being a pale yellowish green Avhen fully ripe, 

 yet its tenderness and freshness, juiciness and good 

 size, give it a very high rank. Several persons to 

 whom I had presented the Washington, Bartlett 

 and Flemish Beauty, pronounced the flavor supe- 

 rior to them all. Good grower and bearer, but re- 

 quires high culture. 



The Flemish Beaidy is so well kno\vn, that 

 hardly any thing can be said of it except to praise. 

 Its flavor is not always first rate, but its great size, 

 early and heavy bearing will ever make it a great 

 favorite. A twig of this fi-uit was lately exhibited 

 at the annual show of the Massachusetts Horticul- 

 tural Society, but about eighteen inches in length, 

 having thirteen enormous pears upon it ! 



The Louise Bon de Jersey is another pear of stand- 

 ard excellence, and possesses some admirable traits 

 which the Flemish Beany and many other excel- 

 lent pears do not. One' of these traits is its in- 

 crease in sweetness and goodness up to the stage of 

 decay — never being over ripe — a quality equalled 

 only perhaps by the Dix. 



Among the many pears of the nm-serymen, but 

 few stand out prominently in the Boston market. 

 These are the old Jargonelle, the Bartlett, the 

 Seckle, the Bon de Jersey, the Flemish Beauty, the 

 Beurre ] )iel, the Andrews and the Duchess d'An- 

 gouleme. Some of these varieties sell from fifty cents 

 to two dollars per dozen, and the price does not 

 seem to come down witli the increased supply. 

 Some persons have a passion for raising nice j)ears, 

 while others have an equal passion for paymg a 

 good i)rice tor them. As yet, the Bai-tlctt seems to 

 be the most popular. 



If the price of pears should keep up, a question 

 would present itself to the serious consideration of 

 the extensive and prudent farmer, who has hereto- 

 fore cultivated only winter apj)les, whether the 

 ])lanting of jjear orchards — of^ dwarfs and stand- 

 ards — would not be a more profitable stroke of 

 husbandry than the planting of apple orchards? 



