210 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Mav 



drawn from the spring, one may be raised 25 

 feet, or half a gallon 50 feet. Or with 10 feet 

 fall applied to the machine of every 14 gallons 

 drawn from the spring, one gallon may be raised 

 to the height of 100 feet above the machine, and 

 so in like proportion, as the fall or rise is in- 

 creased or diminished. 



A year's experience with a hydraulic ram has 

 enabled me to give further suggestions for which 

 you may find room another week. 



I have written the above without the slightest 

 interest in the sale of the ram, and wholly to 

 recommend a truly deserving invention. 



Concord, Mass. w. D. B. 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



"A Subscriber," of Salem, will probably ob- 

 tain the eggs he wants of George Cruickshanlc, of 

 Whitinsville, Mass. 



We have many favors from correspondents on 

 hand, most of which will have a place. Some of 

 them are more appropriate for another season of 

 the year, and will be preserved — such, for in- 

 stance, as two or three upon the subject of top- 

 ping and harvesting corn, and one upon making 

 maple sugar, which came when the season had 

 nearly closed. We would inform "G. F. N." 

 that we do not preserve manuscripts, whether we 

 use them or not. The one to which he refers 

 contained a pleasant anecdote, but matter more 

 to our purpose crowded it out. 



We have several articles on the turnip discus- 

 sion which we shall mingle in with others as we 

 have room — one from Mr. Joslin, of Waitsfield, 

 Vt., in our next paper ; and also one on the cul- 

 tivation and use of the beet. 



We have another article on pruning from Mr. 

 Putnam, of Danvers, but as no new points are 

 introduced, and as so much has already been 

 said on the subject, we will postpone its publica- 

 tion for the present. AVe would say to Mr. P., 

 however, that the gentleman whom he quotes in 

 support of his theory has probably sometime 

 since considerably modified his opinions. 



"E. L.," New Bedford, will find it difficult to 

 seed the land to grass he speaks of without the 

 use of manure. Better manure a portion of it 

 and seed it down. The orchard having been cul- 

 tivated and manured for several years, may be 

 laid to grass for two or three years — especially if 

 sowed to clover — and not injure the trees. It 

 should then be plowed and cultivated again. 



Information by Letter. — A correspondent from 



L e, Mass., wishes to put three acres into 



grapes, currants and gooseberries, and desires us 

 to write him what it will cost per acre, and give 

 such other information as will promote his en- 

 terprise. All this would afford us pleasure if it 

 were in our power to comply with his request, 

 especially as his letter is accompanied with a 

 stamp for the return letter, and an expression of 



willingness to pay for all trouble. Let us call 

 his particular attention, and that of other corres- 

 pondents, to our position for a moment. We 

 have from three hundred to six hundred letters 

 a week, and many of them of a character similar 

 to the one before us. Now, how many clerks 

 would it require to answer their queries of this 

 nature, and answer them considerately, so that 

 they would not mislead, rather than be benefi- 

 cial ? Our correspondent must see that we can 

 not reply to him, although we have every disposi- 

 tion to do so if it were in our power. 



We will state to him that we do not keep the 

 articles for sale which he wants, nor any others, 

 excepting a few agricultural books, but he may 

 find them among the persons who advertise in 

 our columns. 



Ring Bone. — We cannot inform "N. P. S., 

 North Prospect, Me.," how to apply the medi- 

 cine he speaks of. He must write to G. H. Dadd, 

 Vet. Surgeon, Boston. 



CRANBERRY ON UPLAND. 



We have thought that our Agricultural Socie- 

 ties have heretofore been rather premature in 

 their recommendation of the upland culture of 

 this fine fruit. As "one swallow does not make 

 a summer," neither will one experiment justify 

 us in commending this method. All know that 

 the cranberry is natural to the meadow, and al- 

 though the covering with water maybe injurious 

 at the time of flowering and setting of its fruit, 

 still the flooding of the vines in winter, and the 

 covering with litter or evergreens to protect the 

 roots from a severe freezing, as is practised in 

 the upland culture, will prevent this culture to 

 any extent. In order to be remunerative, these 

 beds or patches must be made on the meadow, 

 or upon a springy soil. The owner of a consid- 

 erable patch in Essex county recently stated that 

 it would xe(\\nxe Jive times the labor to keep the 

 same amount of land well weeded out, devoted to 

 cranberries, that it would to keep clear of weeds 

 an equal extent in strawberries. This, with the 

 whole process, from the first preparation of the 

 land — the placing of meadow or swamp mud be- 

 tween the rows in mid-summer and the covering 

 with evergreens in winter — must bring all to the 

 conclusion that the upland culture of cranberries, 

 so called, ought not to be recommended to our 

 farmers. 



We gave the matter a pretty thorough trial for 

 several years, and became satisfied that the best 

 way is to select a piece of land, either on the 

 meadow, or its margin, where it its naturally 

 moist, cover the grass entirely with sand or gravel, 

 say to the depth of three or four inches, and set 

 the vines in it, within six or eight inches of each 

 other, and keep them entirely free from weeds. 



