1859. 



NEW ENGLAND FAR:MER. 



219 



For the New England Farmer. 

 PORTUGAL AGRICULTUBE. 



Mr. Editor: — I observed in Portugal, what 

 struck me as a peculiarity of the climate, that 

 the ground seemed never exhausted. It has been 

 cultivated in the same way near a thousand years, 

 and still produces, for aught I know, as much 

 now. The mode of culture is rude, and the quan- 

 tity of manure applied very small. Little manure 

 is made ; cattle are not housed in winter ; barns 

 are hardly known except in connection with inns 

 and in the towns. Feigns, brakes and leaves are 

 collected in wet places, and flocks of goats fold- 

 ed upon them at night, sometimes, or the mate- 

 rials are drawn into the middle of the road for 

 the travel to pass on them, and after about a 

 year carted to the field. Such a thing as a heap 

 of barn-yard manure I never saw there out of 

 the cities. The merest sprinkling is put upon 

 the land, and the surface barely smoothed over 

 with a plow, not much better than a sharp stick. 

 And yet pretty good wheat, really stout barley 

 and tolerable Lidian corn are grown every where. 

 Lidian corn is sown broadcast, and thinned to 

 about one plant a foot square, with the hoe. The 

 corn is perfectly ripened, though the ear is small. 

 Potatoes yield plentifully, and are of excellent 

 quality. 



And so the land is tilled year after year, and 

 century after century. The principal difference 

 of the climate from our own is, that the seasons 

 are reversed there. Summer is the winter of 

 vegetation. All nature sleeps in summer ; the 

 earth dries up ; every green thing withers. — 

 With the autumn rains vegetation revives, and 

 the earth looks green again. The barley and the 

 wheat harvest is over before the drought comes 

 on in June, and sometimes earlier. Indian corn 

 and potatoes, by means of artificial irrigation, 

 come forward at any time, in the south of Portu- 

 gal. Green peas are in market every day in the 

 year. The wonder to me is, how the fertility of 

 the land is preserved under such a system of cul- 

 tivation. H. 



West Lebanon, N. E. 



GRAFTING AND TRIMMING FRUIT 

 TREES. 



An experienced cultivator in Dutchess county, 

 N. Y., writes as follows on these subjects : — 



"Scions for grafting should be cut in February, 

 which is the right season to insure their living 

 and doing well ; tliey should then be housed in 

 a cellar until the time for inserting them arrives, 

 which, with you, might be by the last week of 

 April or the first of May, and during the latter 

 month. They should be put only into healthy, 

 vigorous branches, such as you would not care 

 to remove from the tree, and thus you will have 

 an artificial tree that will be ready for bearing 

 in about three years. 



By removing too many branches from a tree 

 injury may be done. Careful attention should 

 be given to this point in lopping the branches 

 preparatory to grafting, in order that the sap 

 may pass into the remaining branches and keep 

 the tree healthy and growing. I give you these 

 ideas, knowing that fruit trees are often injured 



by those who go about the country making it 

 their business to set grafts in April and May, set- 

 ting as many scions as they can, and getting pay 

 for those that live, thus doing great damage to 

 the trees. 



Many farmers in our county have, I think, a 

 wrong idea as to the time of pruning their apple 

 trees, saying it is of little consequence when the 

 tree is pruned, if it only needs pruning. This, 

 I am ready to say, is a sad mistake, for at all sea- 

 sons when the sap is down it is entirely wrong. 

 The first or second week in June is the only fit 

 season for pruning the apple tree. Then the sap 

 is in full (iow, and the wound made by cutting 

 off a bough begins to heal and grow over imme- 

 diately." 



For the New England Farmer 



LEGISLATION — LAND DRAINAGE COM- 

 PANIES. 



BY HENRY F. FRENCH. 



In the valuable treatise of Dr. Warder, of Cin- 

 cinnati, recently published in New York, upon 

 Hedges and Evergreens, an abstract is given of 

 the statutes of most of our States upon the sub- 

 ject of fences, and we know of no other book in 

 which so good an idea of the legislation on this 

 subject can be so readily obtained. 



By the statutes of Massachusetts, any person 

 may erect and maintain a water-mill and dam to 

 raise water for working it, upon and across any 

 stream that is not navigable, provided he does 

 not interfere with existing mills. Any person 

 whose land is overflowed, may, on complaint, 

 have a trial and a verdict of a jury, which may 

 fix the height of the dam, decide whether it shall 

 be left open any part of the year, and fix compen- 

 sation, either annual or in gross, for the injury. 

 All other remedies for such flowage are taken 

 away, and thus the land of the owner may be 

 converted into a mill-pond against his conseni. 



We find nothing in the Massachusetts statuses 

 which gives to land-owners desirous of improv- 

 ing their wet lands, any power to interfere in arv 

 way with the rights of mill-owners, for the drain- 

 age of lands. The statutes of the common- 

 wealth, however, make liberal and stringent pro- 

 visions for compelling unwilling owners to con- 

 tribute to the drainage of wet lands. 



For the convenience of those who may be de- 

 sirous of procuring legislation on this subject, 

 we will give a brief abstract of the leading stat- 

 ute of Massachusetts regarding this matter. It 

 maybe found in chapter 115 of the Revised Stat- 

 utes of 1836. The first section explains the gen- 

 eral object. 



"When any meadow, swamp, marsh, beach or 

 other low land shall be held by several proprie- 

 tors, and it shall be necessary or useful to drain 

 or flow the same, or to remove obstructions in 

 rivers or streams leading therefrom, such im- 

 provements may l»e efl'ected, under the direction 



