1856. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



261 



last season, about 200 steamboats, and the number 

 will probably be double the present season. 



Our flourishino; little town has a back country of 

 great fertility, and will be the shipping point for the 

 surplus produce of a farming district of great ex- 

 tent. "Can government land be obtained ?" No, 

 only in small parcels. Second-hand farming land 

 can be bought, within three miles of town, at from 

 $3 to $6 an acre, unimproved ; and at about the 

 same price in the interior. Farms, partially im- 

 proved, command from $7 to $12 an acre. "Who 

 will bo our neighbors ?" An im])ortant inquiry, 

 which I can satisfactorily answer — prol)ably there is 

 not another town in Wisconsin that contains a 

 more desirable population than ours. Its proprie- 

 tors have encouraged none but American citizens ; 

 and it has been their highest aim to have it distin- 

 guished for its temperance, morality and piety, and 

 in these respects, it will compare, favorably with 

 any town of the same size in New England. It is, 

 in fact, a New England village, shorn of its loafers, 

 transplanted. "Can you raise fruit here ?" Yes. 

 The apple, plum and grape grow here spontaneous- 

 ly. Of the peach I cannot speak confidently ; prob- 

 ably it would succeed as well as in the same latitude 

 in New England. The general reader will think 

 me unnecessarily particular in my statements. I 

 have been compelled to be so in answer to particular 

 inquiries. The fare to our town can be more accu- 

 rately ascertained in Boston. The route will be to 

 Chicago, and Dunkirk — thence by steamer to our 

 landing. Persons arrived here, last year, from 

 Boston, in four days. 



Respectfully, James Osgood. 



Bad Ax Co., Wis., March 24, 1S5G. 



A SHOET TOOTHED BAKE ! 



Do you own one, Mr. Gardener? If not, you 

 are still without one of the most comfortable, aye, 

 and profitable, implements used in yom- business. 

 For cleaning paths, where the autumnal leaves 

 found a nestling place for the winter, tliere is noth- 

 ing like a. short-toothed rake. For raking the grass 

 borders of paths, the short-toothed rake will accom- 

 plish the work in half the time that any other will. 

 For finishing off the bed, just made to sow with 

 small seeds, nothing will draw out the pebbles, the 

 bits of stick or coarse manure, like a short-toothed 

 rake ! 



What gives the house a more inviting appear- 

 ance than a green door-yard, covered with a carpet 

 more beautiful than the art of man can possibly de- 

 vise ? One that need not be taken in when it rains, 

 and whose color is not injured, even if there be a 

 little soap in the water. But it must be clean — no 

 bones that RoUo has gnawed, no dead twigs from 

 the old elm or chips from the wood-yard, must be 

 left there. And here, too, the short-toothed rake 

 operates like a charm ; it insinuates itself into eve- 

 ry little recess, holds all it gets, and supplies plenty 

 of soft dead grass to mulch the rose tree, or favor- 

 ite plum or pear. 



And then on the lawn ! We do not mean the 

 amateur's lawn of an acre or two, but the little 



sunny lawn of the common farmer or mechanic, 

 who never dreamed of a regular lawn rake, with its 

 curved back and capacious maw. On such a little 

 lawn, it is the king among rakes, small as it is. 

 So do not take our word for it, but get a short- 

 toothed rake, and find a greater pleasure than ever 

 in working in the garden, and a faciHty in accom- 

 plishing it, altogether unknown before you wrought 

 with a short-toothed rake ! 



For the New England Farmer. 



LITTLE THINGS: 



Or, a Walk in My Garden....No. 7. 



I have just been out to examine into the condi- 

 tion of my pear and plum trees. Everything here 

 must be tied to a stake to keep it from being bro- 

 ken down by the snow. While extending my ob- 

 servations, I s])ied an apple on the ground that had 

 passed through the winter without any other pro- 

 tection than a snow-bank. While looking at it, I 

 was led to think of the causes of 



THE SWEATING OF APPLES. 



I have been led to suspect for two years past, 

 that popular opinion was wrong in regard to apple 

 sweating ; and these suspicions have become much 

 strengthened during the present winter. Last fall, 

 I gathered my apples later than usual, and put 

 them into my cellar earlier than usual, and during a 

 very warm day. They did not sweat at all. AVhy 

 not ? Because I did not carry them into the cellar 

 with a temperature much below the cellar itself, 

 so as to condense the moisture of the cellar upon 

 them. Will a])ples sweat in a sealed glass jar ? 

 I much doubt it, under any circumstances. Has 

 any one ever tried the experiment ? I remember 

 a few years since, of filling a barrel in which brown 

 sugar had been kept. The apples were brought 

 from the orchard on a cold morning, and put into 

 a room adjoining the kitchen. In a short time, a 

 stream of water had passed the length of the room, 

 from the moisture of the apples and the sugar. 

 Now I may be wrong, all wrong ; if so, will some 

 ppmologist convince me by direct proof from liis 

 own experience ? 



My conclusions. — Carry your apples into the cel- 

 lar in the middle of the day, when they are warm 

 and dry, rather than on some cold morning, for 

 fear they will freeze. As I have got from the gar- 

 den into the orchard, I will look at my various 

 methods of 



MANURING OLD TREES. 

 I doubt the economy of placing manure around 

 the trunks of old apple trees. Come along with 

 me, and I will give you my reasons. Here are two 

 trees, very vigorous, bear well. Between them a 

 large pine stump was dug up, nine years ago, and 

 the cavity was not filled, but became a receptacle 

 for the trimmings of the trees, from year to year, 

 where they have decayed, and into which the roots 

 of these have penetrated, and furnished abundant 

 nourishment. Let us take the next two trees, yes, 

 four of them. The soil is rather poor around, as is 

 the case with those before mentioned. So I thought 

 I would place some manure around the trunks, al- 

 most every year, but they have borne but few ap- 

 ples. Let us go still farther. Here are two trees 

 whose roots extend twenty feet into a deeply 



