168 



newnengland farmer. 



April 



■winter-killing than the cultivated kinds. Among 

 the latter was the Red Antwerp, commonly cul- 

 tivated in New England, (which was a little ten- 

 der in winter ;) also the Fastolff, Knevetfs Giant, 

 and a more recent, and in his estimation, a bet- 

 ter one, viz. : Brinckle's Orange. This was a val- 

 uable acquisition to our list of small fruits. It 

 was of a fine orange color, semi-transparent, clear 

 and juicy, with a saccharine quality that seemed 

 to satisfy everybody, and it was an excellent pro- 

 ducer, besides. 



Raspberries should be planted in the spring. 

 In preparing the vines the old wood ought to be 

 cut down to the ground, and no more than three 

 canes or sprouts left, as a greater number would 

 be less productive. The tops of the canes should 

 be cut off, also, when they were about four feet 

 high, at which time they should be tied to a hor- 

 izontal board, fastened to standards, to keep 

 them from damage from storms, &c. The rows 

 ought to be planted four feet asunder, and the 

 hills in the rows three feet apart ; and under rea- 

 sonable conditions of soil and management they 

 would produce bountifully. No more care was 

 demanded by them than that requisite to grow a 

 fair crop of potatoes. The soil ought to be what 

 would constitute a good corn soil ; and a require- 

 ment would be such exposure as would conduce 

 to natural warmth, without any undue restriction. 



Blackberries. — The blackberry, Mr. Brown 

 said, was known through fewer varieties than the 

 raspberry; and the most common descriptions 

 yielded liberally to cultivation. He had grown 

 the common high blackberry, taken wild from 

 the fields, for ten years, and with care in its man- 

 agement had found it wonderfully prolific. It had 

 always a tendency to over-productiveness ; and 

 unless the cultivator was careful in denuding it of 

 two-thirds, at least, of the fruit it would strive to 

 set, it would perfect but a small portion of the 

 whole. One-third was as much as the vine could 

 bring to maturity. He had cultivated the New 

 Rochelle or Lawton blackberry, but had not suc- 

 ceeded in ripening it. In extenuation of this, it 

 had been urged that the unripe berry would make 

 the best of wine ; but in that respect, Mr. Brown 

 said he had no experience. The Dorchester variety 

 he had not cultivated, but report spoke well of it. 

 The common black or M'hite Thimhleberry he had 

 tried, and found it prolific, and the fruit good — 

 none better than this for the tea-ta'ile. Its cul- 

 tivation would well repay very common care, and 

 it could be grown profitably on any good corn 

 ftoil. 



Cranberries. — The great demand for this fine, 

 healthy fruit, made its cultivation a matter of 

 much importance. There were several varieties 

 grown ; but the oblong description, which fre- 

 quently grew an inch in length, in size and fla- 



vor, was, in Mr. Brown's estimation, the best. 

 The other most prominent variety was round. 

 On meadows that could be flooded at wilt, the 

 fruit could be grown profitably, after due prepa- 

 ration. By irrigating the soil the bushes, weeds 

 and aquatic grasses obnoxious to its growth 

 could be killed, when the plants could be put in by 

 the use of the hoe. Attempts made to scarify and 

 burn the surface of a meadow had not proved suc- 

 cessful. But the most desirable thing was in the 

 first place to find out on what kinds of soils cran- 

 berries could be most profitably grown. Where 

 white sand was found as the subsoil, success- 

 ful cultivation was the most certain — and this 

 fact ought to bear its suggestive value. Mr. 

 Brown said he had grown the cranberry on high 

 grounds, but owing to the trouble arising from 

 weeds, the removal of which fatally disturbed 

 the tender roots of the plants, they dwindled and 

 died. He described an attempt to cultivate the 

 cranberry along the edge of a meadow, through 

 the use of gravel, sand and mud, as an artificial 

 soil, and as far as he had gone, with very good 

 success A want of the advantages of irrigation, 

 and a too liberal use of it in some instances, had 

 militated against the production of a sufiicient 

 crop to meet the demand, and now the price had 

 increased a dollar or two per bushel as compared 

 with what it was five years ago. From flowages 

 by reservoirs and dams, which destroyed the vi- 

 tality of the plants, he spoke of a single town 

 which had formerly produced $5000 worth of 

 cranberries annually, but which at the present 

 time did not produce a single dollar's worth per 

 acre. 



Apples and pruning. — Mr. Brown next pro- 

 ceeded to speak of the apprehension of some 

 that too much attention was given to the culti- 

 vation of apples ; but this charge he thought 

 wrong, as, through carelessness and maltreat- 

 ment not more than twenty-five out of every 

 hundred apple trees planted ever bore fruit! 

 One great cause of this was the time of prun- 

 ing as recommended and followed by some. 

 All spring pruning was imprudent — the months 

 of March, April and May being the worst for 

 that process. The physical reasons for this state- 

 ment were advanced, but want of room hinders 

 their enumeration. The import of the argu- 

 ment was that when the sap is ascending, the 

 pores of the sap wood are enlarged and filled 

 with a thin watery fluid, ready to flow out at 

 every incision made into them; but that after 

 the sap has reached the leaves, it becomes, 

 through their agency, a new article — is thicker, 

 and returns down the tree between the bark and 

 that soft whitish substance next to the wood, 

 and is called the laburnum. This retur!iing sap 

 is what is laid on and increases the size of the 



