438 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Sept. 



PRUNING AND SCRAPING TREES. 

 What season of the year do you consider the 

 best for scraping and pruning trees ? R. s. s. 

 Derry, JV. H., 1856. 



Remarks. — Old apple trees may be carefully dug 

 about, and small branches and twigs, such as may 

 be taken off easily with a pen-knife, cut off, at any 

 time between the first of May and November. Tlie 

 middle of June is considered by distinguished or- 

 chardists, as the best time for pruning ; after that, 

 the month of October. It cannot, howevei*, be too 

 earnestly urged to cover all wounds, even though 

 they be small ones, with something to protect them 

 from the sun, rain and air. We have known com- 

 mon red paint extensively used, and without any 

 apparent harm. This being a strong paint, resists 

 the elements for many years. Care should be ta- 

 ken that the paint does not touch the edges of the 

 bark. Gum araliic dissolved in alcohol, is, jjerhaps, 

 the safest and best preservative to use. 



now TO GET RID OF EMMETS, 



Mr. Farmer : — Can you, or any of your numer- 

 ous correspondents inform me how to get rid of 

 emmets, which infest our pantry in swarms. We 

 have never had any until about a month since, when, 

 by some means or other, they got in. We have 

 tried all manner of ways to exterminate them, with- 

 out success. L. s. 



South Abington, Aug., 1856. 



Remarks. — Wet a large sponge in sugar- water, 

 and lay it on the shelf; when it is filled with ants, 

 drop it into cold water, and drown them. If put 

 into hot water, the ants are killed in the sponge, 

 and occasion much trouble in removing them. 



MIXING OF PLANTS. 



There is but one way in which vegetable or ani- 

 mal hybrids are produced. Corn will mix when the 

 pollen of one variety falls on, or rather around the 

 silk of another, and not otherwise. Beans and po 

 tatoes v/ill mix when made to blossom in close 

 proxim.ity, but the mixing will be in the seeds, and 

 not in the roots ; a red tuber will no more become 

 white, because a white one is planted in the same 

 field, than a red cow will become white, if a white 

 one graze in the same pasture. 



A friend had two kinds of potatoes, red and 

 white, which had been planted together till the 

 "memory of man ran not to the contrary." The 

 white variety had much the pleasantest flavor, but 

 he assured me that they could not be separated, for 

 when he planted white ones alone, still the product 

 was red and white as before. I picked out a few 

 of the white tubers, planted them carefully by 

 themselves, and when I dug them found white one's 

 only. I saved the balls, planted the seeds, and still! 

 had the same variety unmixed, unchanged, except | 

 they were of more vigorous growth. They are an 

 excellent variety, and my family would not willing- 1 

 ly part with them. 



By the way, I have another variety ; they are 

 long, a little curved, very smooth, olive colored, 

 one end a little larger than the other, and when ofi 

 full growth, weigh one-half lb. ; when eaten warmj 



they are soft, and of excellent flavor. Are they 

 State of Maine potatoes ? CllARLES CooK. 



Blackslone, Mass., Aug. \st, 1856. 



IS AMMONIA A FERTILIZER? 



Mr. Editor : — Judging from the writings of ag- 

 1 iculturists, it would seem to be a well ascertained 

 fact that ammonia is the principal fertilizing agent 

 of manures. The subscriber having never met with 

 the proofs of this fact, you would confer a favor up- 

 on him, and perhaps upon others, by giving a state- 

 ment of them in your valuable paper. A, \v. 



Stephentown, JV. Y., 1856, 



Remarks. — The "proofs of this fact," ])robably, 

 may be found in every load of dung that is used. 

 It is stated by all chemists, we believe, that ammo- 

 nia is one of the most valuable fertilizing substan- 

 ces contained in farm-yard manure, and it is usual- 

 ly present in greater proportion in the liquid than 

 in the solid contents of the farm-yard. We have 

 many particular instances of its efficacy before us 

 in the books. A case is mentioned of a field in 

 England being mamu-ed for wheat, m part with or- 

 dinary farm-yard manure, and in p?.rt with one 

 hundred and fifty pounds of sulphate of ammonia, 

 costing $5 50 — when the produce of the manure 

 was 24 bushels, and that of the ammonia, 33 bush- 

 els per imperial acre. Seeds steeped in the sahs 

 of ammonia, have been hastened in germination, 

 and in the after luxuriance of the crop. In one ex- 

 [leriment, seeds of wheat, steeped in the sulphate of 

 ammonia on the 5th of July, had, by the lOlh of 

 August, tillered into nine, ten, and eleven stems of 

 nearly equal vigor, while unprepared seed had not 

 tillered into more than two, three or four stems. 

 In Uj^per India sal ammoniac is prepared by heat- 

 ing together camel's dung and sea-salt, and is used 

 for plants, and for the keeping of seeds. Plenty 

 of experiments are detailed in the books, to which 

 we refer "A. W.," such as Liebeg, Johnston's Ele- 

 ments, Thaer, Shaw, &c, 



THE PLUM AND CURCULIO, 



Mr, Brown : — I recently read an in the Farmer 

 by J, T, W, upon these subjects which I liked. I 

 last year made a solution of salt, sulphur and urine, 

 which proved a preventive of the curculio slugs. Af- 

 ter diluting the mixture with water, I ap[)lied it to 

 the trees and young fruit with a syringe, and my 

 fruit was preserved. 



THE GROUND CHERRY. 



We would inform "O. L. K." that there is noth- 

 ing particularly remarkable about this fruit, or 

 which should cause a demand o? ffUj cents each 

 for it. We have only eaten it as a preserve, and 

 in this form found it pleasant. 



AVHITE BLINT WHEAT. 



Mr. George W. ^Maynard, of Berlin, has left 

 with us some fine specimens of this wheat, the pro- 

 duct of his farm. 



