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NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



June 



For the New England Farmer. 

 DISEASES OP HORSES, 

 I have a very sick colt which was in good order 

 when attacked. The first symptom of disease, I 

 noticed about six weeks since, when he seemed 

 to lose his balance in the stable and f^ll. He 

 was a little stiff in the hind parts, and gradually 

 eeemed to lose the free use of his limbs, stag- 

 gering some, but quite frolicsome when out with 

 other colts. He grew worse until three weeks 

 ago, when he would lie down in the stable and 

 groan. When on his feet he acted like a poi- 

 soned lamb, except frothing at the mouth ; three 

 weeks ago, I bled him in the mouth, and phys- 

 icked thoroughly, but to no purpose. He still 

 lies in his bed of straw perfectly comfortable. 

 But whea I get him up, he suffers exceedingly, 

 breathing like a wind-broken horse. After ac- 

 tive exercise his bowels are in a good state, and 

 have been all the time. His food during the win- 

 ter has been poor hay and corn stalks, with occa- 

 sionally a swill mess, I have rowelled him, and 

 for the past three weeks have fed him nothing 

 but bran mash and new milk to drink, from 

 eight to twelve quarts per day. It is a horse colt 

 twenty-one months old. He has appeared to me 

 through the whole time as if his spine was af- 

 fected. It is very difficult for him to use his 

 limbs. I think he will live some time yet, if the 

 new milk holds out. There have been a number 

 of horses sick in town similar to this, and most 

 have died. W. D. Searl. 



Remarks. — We publish the above in hopes to 

 draw out some remedy for this disease, and to 

 learn whether it prevails in other places. It is 

 always difficult to suggest remedies to patients 

 that are not seen. We can think of nothing to 

 suggest in this case. 



APPLES FOR EXPORTATION. 

 We believe that apples are to become a more 

 staple article for exportation than they have ever 

 yet been in New England. Our soil and climate 

 are, we apprehend, better adapted for the perma- 

 nent cultivation of this fruit than the deep allu- 

 vial soils of the South and West. We find that 

 there, particularly in the West, they are more 

 subject to what has been denominated frozen sap 

 blight or canker, which we think may be attrib- 

 utable to their deep soils, the roots running be- 

 low the action of the eun and air, so necessary 

 for the health and longevity of trees ; we find 

 here, on the contrary, apple trees in a healthy 

 state, that are half a century in age. In New 

 England we have a more shallow soil ; hence 

 trees grow slower, the wood ripening better than 

 upon rich, deep soils, where they are forced to 

 grow later, the wood being succulent, the leaves 

 remaining long upon the trees, rendering them 

 liable to be overtaken by the winter, before the 

 sap is sufficiently elaborated to stand a severe 

 freezing. Hence we believe, that as Massachu- 

 setts can never be made a grazing or grain-grow- 



ing region, compared with the South and West, 

 and as the apples here are equal, if not superior, 

 on the whole, to those of any other section, we 

 would recommend to the farmers of Massachu- 

 setts to cultivate the best keeping varieties of 

 good winter apples, as a source of income more 

 sure of a safe return than that of Indian corn ; 

 for while the South cannot compete with us in 

 the cultivation of the former, neither can we with 

 them, in the production of the latter. One gen- 

 tleman in the city of Salem exported during a 

 few weeks last fall, four thousand barrels of win- 

 ter apples, all grown in the county of Essex, 

 principally in the town of Danvers. 



For the New England Fanner. 



RINGING, SUMMER PRUNING, AND TKfl 

 TRUE SAP OP TREES. 



The Isabella Grape may be accelarated in ri- 

 pening, and produce larger berries, by a process 

 of ringing the shoots in June and July. Vines 

 treated in this manner produce fruit nearly twice 

 the usual size when girdled an inch in width ; 

 the shoot operated upon to this extent, dies of 

 course, the following winter ; but on the contrary, 

 when the ring of bark is taken off, only one-half an 

 inch in width, the fruit grows larger, l)ut the 

 bark coming together before the winter, a con- 

 nection is formed, and the shoot is not thus de- 

 stroyed. In explanation of this effect we would 

 say that the crude sap of the vine, after passing 

 up through the Alburnum or sap wood to the 

 leaves, where it is concentrated, returns through 

 the nerves of the leaves, to the base of the leaf 

 stock, and then downward between the bark and 

 young wood called Cambium. This is the true 

 sap of trees ; it is wholly generated in the leaves, 

 descending to the extremities of their roots, de- 

 positing in its course the matter which is succes- 

 sively added to the tree. When the enlarge- 

 ment and more early maturity of the fruit be the 

 object, the operation of ringing may be per- 

 formed as above; but if made on the small branch- 

 es of the new wood, the fruit does not acquire a 

 proper state of maturity ; it should be done on 

 the previous year's shoots. The effects of ring- 

 ing are more obvious on the grape, pear and ap- 

 ])le than upon soma fruits ; we nave attempted 

 it on the peach tree without any seeming effect. 

 If, by the agency of leaves, the gases extracted 

 from the atmosphere by these organs, and the 

 juices drawn from the earth by the roota are 

 mixed, assimilated and rendered subservient to 

 the tree, thereby increasing its growth and per- 

 fecting its fruit, the question arises, Is summer 

 pruning beneficial or injurious ? We apprehend 

 that it is improper ; for by this process, we di- 

 minish the resources of the tree, in thus remov- 

 ing so many leaves, as we must, of necessity, in 

 this operation. The above, if true, shows the 

 folly of takuig off the leaves of any fruit tree, 

 to accelarate the ripening of its fruit. 



The Alburnum is the outer coating of young 

 wood, often called sap-wond. The Cambium is 

 mucilaginous matter found between the bark and 

 young wood. J. M. IVES. 



Salem, Mass., 1859. 



