1856. 



NEW ENGLAND FAEMER. 



51 



to trees, hence it should be the duty of every man 

 to do all in his power to save the birds from 

 harm. I have never knowii but one kind of bird 

 that ever injures a tree, that one is the sap-sucker, 

 a species of woodpecker, which sometimes eats the 

 tender bai-k ; and he, probably, does ten times more 

 good than mischief. 



It is thought by very many of our farmers that 

 the forest does best if let alone and not pruned, and 

 as the woi'k has generally been done,this is the best 

 way ; but from twenty years' experience in the busi- 

 ness, I have come to a different conclusion. I know 

 of no good reason that can be given why a wood- 

 lot may not be as much benefited by pruning as an 

 orchard. Every good cultivator of fruit knows 

 that it injures his orchard very much to let an in- 

 experienced man prune it with an axe, as peoj)le 

 generally have done their wood-lots, and the same 

 rule applies as well to the one as to the other. 



The method I should recommend to be pursued 

 ■would be, to thin out all trees that are dead or 

 show vsigns of decay, and also othei's where they are 

 so thick as to interfere with each other too much, 

 and to trim off with a pruning-saw all dead and de- 

 caying limbs where they interfere. I very much 

 doubt the propriety of cutting off good, thrifty, 

 growing limbs, unless they interfere badly with oth- 

 er trees or limbs of the same tree. 



It is frequently said that it does not pay to trim 

 them. It may be so in some instances ; but when 

 wood sells from four to nine dollars per cord in our 

 markets, it does not take but a small pile to pay 

 for a day's work. I know of many places near by, 

 where a man may turn out from two to thee dol- 

 lar's worth per day and still leave the lot in a better 

 condition to grow for ten years more, than if not 

 pruned. 



In order to have a growth of trees start in good 

 shape, it is necessary to have them very much 

 thicker at first than they can grow when they be- 

 come larger, and most farmers argue that they will 

 die out and thin themselves best, if let alone, and 

 refer you to the old growth and talk of the clear 

 lumber they make where the limbs have rotted off; 

 but they do not consider that our climate is very 

 different from what it was when the whole face of 

 the land was covered with wood, and that those old 

 trees that made the clear lumber had been 200 

 years in growing from 1 to 2 feet in diameter ; nor 

 that the dry winds now sweep through and between 

 our scattered wood-lots, and have a tendency to 

 preserve the dead limbs from decay, so that they 

 remain on the tree in a dry state and make what 

 the carpenters call pin-knots, ?o that the only way 

 by which we can have clear lumber, is to prune the 

 limbs off when the trees are small. It is well 

 known to every observing man that the lumber of 

 our second growth grows much faster, and comes 

 to maturity in much less time, than it took for the 

 original growth, and that there is a vast difference 

 in the value of lumber, some of it being more val- 

 uable and some of it less — the ash and white pine, 

 for instance — the former being more valuable and 

 the latter less. 



In regard to the length of time that a lot of 

 wood should he left to grow, people differ very 

 much ; but where wood is for the fire, and dollars 

 and cents are the only objects in view, from 26 to 

 30 years is long enough. But, if this ])rocess were 

 followed out, the question would be asked — where 

 is our lumber for building and mechanical purposes 



to come from? and the answer will and must be, 

 let your wood-lots stand longer, and prune and con- 

 tinue to thin out, and you will soon have lumber 

 enough. 



In conclusion, it may not be out of place here to 

 give a few instances of the growth of some trees 

 on my own land, to show at what age of the tree 

 we may expect a good sized lumber. I have two 

 white pines, one of which was trimmed about 50 

 years ago to the height of 25 feet, and a man, who 

 was present at the time, said that it was just the 

 right size to hew for a six inch square stick. The 

 other was pruned 5 years later, and was just about 

 the same size ; they stand in thick woods and are 

 100 feet high, and girt, 4 feet from the ground, 8 

 feet 3 inches each, and are estimated by good 

 judges to contain more than 1200 feet each of mer- 

 chantable lumber. Another lot of six trees, where 

 the old growth has, more of it, been cut out, meas- 

 ure 7 feet 7 inches, at four feet from the ground, 

 are not so tall as the others, but grow much faster, 

 I as I can remember the time that I could carry off, 

 on my back, the whole of a tree, and my age is 52. 

 Another lot which came from seeds of the first 

 mentioned tree, and cannot be more than 40 years 

 old, are now 60 feet, or more, long, and from 6 to 

 10 inches square. From the above it will be seen 

 that the trees gain in quantity much faster after 

 they arc 40 yeai's of age than they do before. 



The study of nature, as seen in the growing for- 

 est, is a very profitable and pleasing one to me, and 

 it seems strange that there are not more who pur- 

 sue and enjoy it. — Granite Fanner. 



CULTIVATION OF CRANBERRIES. 



At the New Hampshire State Fair, Kichard Hall 

 of Auburn, exhibited some cultivated cranberries 

 raised in a run not very wet, but bordering upon 

 the high land. His process of cultivation he stated 

 to be this : to remove the surface of the ground 

 some three inches in depth, which in this case was 

 carted to the pig-sty ; he then took sand from the 

 shore of a pond, and spread it plentifully upon the 

 ground, and set his vines two feet apart ; the second 

 year after this he had a plentiful crop. This was 

 done three years ago, and the vines now cover the 

 ground completely, no grass or weeds being present. 

 He has done nothing to the vines since, and says 

 that the average yield will be, the present year, two 

 bushels of cranberries to every ten feet square. He 

 esteems this the most profitable crop he can culti- 

 vate. He has five acres of this land which he in- 

 tends to appropriate to this use. 



When it is considered that fruit is now sold at 

 not less than two dollars a bushel in our markets, 

 this may be considered as farming to some purpose 

 and profit. There are thousands of acres in New 

 England which should undergo the same treatment. 

 Ey such a course a great deal of wealth would be 

 added to the community annually from the invest- 

 ment of a small amount of capital. Mr. Hall also 

 stated that some cranberries in the immediate vicin- 

 ity, growing naturally, had been destroyed by the 

 frosts, while those cultivated were not affected in 

 the least. — Maine Fanner. 



Food for Milch Cows. — It is said that a large 

 milking establishment at the North of England, 

 the cows are fed in the following manner, viz.: 



