1856. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



253 



not few,) who, with their money, would have built 

 on the same land an elegant villa, with Gothic 

 summer-house, and other similar appendages. 



It would seem, from the history of farming in 

 Essex, that it is as true in England, as with us, that 

 debt is the great enemy of farming — that the mort- 

 gage is a blight on agricultural prosperity — and 

 want of capital is fatal to success. On the other 

 hand, Mr. Mechi's farm of Tiptree Hall would 

 seem to show that capital may be over-spent, so as 

 to give no return; and that there is a proper and wise 

 prejudice among practical farmers against extrava- 

 gant or high farming. Still, does not the fact stand 

 that the farmer must make liberal advances to his 

 land, and must have an amount proportioned to his 

 acres, invested in stock, implements, fixtures, drain- 

 age, &c., in order that he may be successful ? What 

 is wanted is, that the practical farmer who has ca]> 

 ital, should, judiciously and for his own interest, ad- 

 vance more capital than he now does to his farm ; 

 not that he should be called upon to imitate the 

 man, who, city-bred, comes forth into the country 

 to carry on his newly purchased farm, as ho would 

 a mercantile adventure. The farmer should rath- 

 er compare himself with the manufacturer, and con- 

 sider himself engaged in a similar pursuit ; the 

 manufacturer rarely succeeds without capital ; no 

 more can the farmer ; both raise or make objects of 

 necessity for the market, and the one employs the 

 agencies of nature about as much as the other in 

 producing his results ; both occupations require cap- 

 ital, thought and skill. I am tired of hearing agri- 

 culture called a science — it is not a science any 

 more than manufacturing is a science — science may 

 aid farming or manufacturing ; thus far it has aid- 

 ed manufacturing more than it has aided farming. — 

 Agriculture is an art, a business rather than a science, 

 to be conducted like all arts or business, by capital 

 and skill. M. 



For tlie New England Fanner. 



USE OF PLASTER. 



Mr. Editor : — I wish to make some inquiries of 

 you or your correspondents in regard to the use of 

 plaster. Plaster costs at the mill here eight dollars 

 per ton. Will it pay to sow it on pasture and mead- 

 ow land ? If so, on what kind of land and what 

 quantity per acre should be used? A farmer once 

 said to me he sowed one year seven tons, and could 

 perceive no benefit therefrom. I have apjjlied it to 

 potatoes when planting, which I think decidedly 

 preferable to applying it to the tops, and also to 

 oats with marked advantage. Whether it should 

 be used on oats when sowing and harrowed in or 

 after they are up, I am undecided. Either way the 

 cro]) will be greatly increased. Can it be used to 

 profit also on wheat and rye ? 



It is customary in this region to sow buckwheat 

 about the 20th of June, but the crop is often great- 

 ly injured, if not destroyed, by early frost. Can it 

 be sown earlier and a good crop obtained ? 



Can you give a description of a cheap stump ma- 

 chine which can be operated by one horse or a yoke 

 of oxen ? s. s. b. 



Essex, Ft., 1856. 



Remarks. — Willis' stump machine is the best 

 we have ever seen. We have often spoken of it, 

 and given an engraving. 



For the New England Fanner. 



HOW TO TREAT AN OLD ORCHARD. 



Mr. Editor : — In your directions to your corres- 

 pondent relative to cultivating old orchards on poor 

 land, I think you are not quite thorough enough 

 for a farmer of the "old Bay State," and many of us 

 away up here in Vermont look to you for direction 

 horv to do all things pertaining to farming, so that 

 a mistake of yours causes great injury. I will re- 

 late my experience in this matter, which you are at 

 liberty to use as you think proper. 



Seventeen years since, I jiurchased a lot in this 

 village, one mile from, and two hundred and fifty 

 feet above the lake, having a western slope. When 

 I tell you the owner was a sea-captain, that he had 

 not seen it for fifteen years, during which time ir 

 had been rented to, generally, yearly tenants, you 

 can imagine its condition better than I can describe 

 it. 



On this place was one and a quarter acres of 

 what had once been an orchard of apple trees only ; 

 more than half the original trees had died of star- 

 vation, or been cut down and burned by various ten- 

 ants ; about thirty trees remained ; one-third of 

 them grafted when young, the others natural fruit. " 

 These were in such condition that all my friends 

 advised me to cut down most of them, and plant 

 young trees — but, lilce most Yankees, being stub- 

 born and self-willed, I determined first to try ex- 

 periments. 



I made two drains through the lot, 20 inches 

 deep, carefully completed after the usual mode o! 

 blind drains. In the spring, after wet seasons, wa- 

 ter runs freely from them, two to four weeks ; after 

 the dry season, they are dry during the spring ; 

 summer rains never affect them. In April, I pur- 

 chased and applied 50 loads of coarse manure, at 

 an expense of one dollar a load. This was spread 

 evenly, the land carefully plowed and levelled with 

 a hoe. I then applied eight loads of twenty-five 

 bushels each of refuse lime, perhaps equal to half 

 the quantity of fresh slaked lime ; this was spread 

 on the surface. The next operation was to have a 

 gardener from the '■ould counthriee," (brought u]i 

 as most foreign gardeners are at the end of a spade- 

 handle) dig with a spade about each tree, twelve to 

 eighteen inches deep, and as far as the roots ex- 

 tended ; to complete two trees was his regular 

 day's work. In the summer following, I employed 

 two active young carpenters to prune it, of course, 

 as I directed. Large quantities of dead and decay- 

 ing limbs were removed ; on many trees nothing 

 but sprouts were left ; some half a dozen trees were 

 so decayed that as soon as they commenced grow- 

 ing, the dead portions were loosened so as to drof> 

 out, and the trees needed heavy posts to sustain 

 them ; nearly all of them were either hollow or de- 

 caying at the heart. 



The next season I commenced grafting; the 

 trees being in active, growing condition, large tops 

 were soon formed. I have since yearly applied a 

 heavy top-dressing of "long stable manure," mostly 

 straw or swamp hay used for bedding horses and 

 cows, and as often as once in three or four years, 

 refuse lime or ashes and peat or swamp muck. The 

 ground has not been cultivated where shaded, — nor 

 has it been necessary — the yearly top-dressing 

 keeping it very light and porous. The grass has 

 been cut often every season. 



The practical result of this treatment has been. 



