292 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



June 



fection, and then to keep off the striped bug, al- 

 so to keep off the stinking pumpkin bug, which 

 it is sure to do. I put on a small quantity after 

 every rain and every hoeing and when they be- 

 gin to put forth runners, I put about a table- 

 spoon ul around the root, and in all cases, where 

 it has been used properly, it has insured a good 

 crop. 



Be sure and get that which is good ; there has 

 been a great quantity of poor stuff in the market 

 which has disappointed the expectation of the 

 consumer. I have used it on tomatoes with great 

 success. It should not be put on melons nor 

 cucumbers, it is too caustic for them, and kills 

 the tender plants. 



Farmer James, by the use of the superphos- 

 phate of lime, raised acres of fine marrow squash- 

 es where he had totally failed for years, before 

 he knew of this infallible remedy. Farmers try 

 it. S. A. Shurtleff. 



Spring Grove, April 13, 1859. 



LIVE FOB SOMETHING. 



Live for something, be not idle, 



Look about thee for employ ; 

 Sit not down to useless dreaming — 



Labor is the sweetest joy. 

 Folded hands are ever weary. 



Selfish hearts are never gay ; 

 Life for thee hath many duties — 



Active be, then, while you may. 



Scatter blessings in their pathway 1 



Gentle words and cheering smiles 

 Better are than gold and silver, 



With their grief dispelling wiles. 

 As the pleasant sunshine falleth, 



As the dew descends on earth, 

 So let thy sympathy and kindness, 



Gladden well the darkened hearth. 



Hearts there are oppressed and weary ; 



Drop the tear of sympathy — 

 Whisper words of hope and comfort — 



Give, and thy reward shall be 

 Joy untj the sou! returning 



From this perfect fountain head. 

 Freely, as thou freely givest ; 



Shall the grateful light be shed. 



For the New Enand Farmer. 

 HOAAT TO TKEAT A YOUNG ORCHABD. 



Mr. Editor : — I have read your remarks in 

 the last Farmer, (weekly,) with much interest, 

 on the manner of treating a young orchard. If 

 manured sufficiently to protluce two crops of 

 clover and a crop of rowen to turn in after the 

 second year's cutting is remo\ed, a fine growth 

 of the trees may be expected. 



But let us suppose the soil is very gravelly and 

 poor ; the orchard large, and only manure enough 

 for a very moderate dressing can possibly be 

 scraped together, might not the ti ees be kept in 

 a growing condition by applying lo each tree, of 

 eight or ten years' growth, say one-eighth of an 

 ox-cart load of a good compost manure ? Let 

 this manure be spread at some distance from the 

 body of the tree ; little or none of it coming with- 

 in 3 or 4 feet of it, but the main part of it above 

 and a little beyond the extremities of the roots. 



Let the ground between the trees be plowed, 

 cultivated with cultivator, and harrowed to keep 

 down the weeds. No crops taken off until more 

 manure can be spared. 



Might not such tieatment as this be more eco- 

 nomical than purchasing manure enough to fill a 

 very i)oor soil with clover roots ? In very poor 

 soils, by digging holes 7 feet in diameter and 2 

 feet deep, and filling with loam and meadow mud, 

 trees may be kept in good condition two or three 

 years, with no other application than a little 

 coarse, straw, yard manure, put around the body 

 at setting, (if set in the spring,) and dug in next 

 season. If then, after that, a moderate quantity 

 of manure is spread near the trees, each year, to- 

 gether with a liberal supply of swamp muck, 

 plowing and harrowing without cropping, and an 

 occasional liberal supply of manure with crop- 

 ping ; I say, if by these means, trees can be kept 

 growing, might not much land, especially in the 

 vicinity of villages, now comparatively useless, 

 be profitably turned to orcharding, thus increas- 

 ing its value, improving its appearance, inviting 

 new settlers, and paving the way for a plentiful 

 supply of fruit ? 



One question more : Would occasionally turn- 

 ing in a green crop of oats or buckwheat be eco- 

 nomical where a yearly supply of manure is with 

 difficulty obtained ? K. 



Framingham, March, 15, 1859. 



Remarks. — The suggestions of our corres- 

 pondent are valuable, and do not seem to require 

 any special comments or replies from us. If he 

 plows in a crop of oats or buckwheat, he will de- 

 rive much more benefit from it by mowing the 

 crop and allowing it to partly dry before plowing 

 it under. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 EXPERIMENT "WITH POTATOES. 



Mr. Brown : — Nothing at the Lunenburg 

 Cattle Show, last year, interested me so much as 

 the exhibition of fine specimens of potatoes. 

 And nothing in this department seemed so val- 

 uable as an account of an experiment in raising 

 them, given by Daniel Putnam, Esq., a mem- 

 ber of the Lunenburg Farmers' Club. The fol- 

 lowing is the result of the experiment: 



Lot 1.— 8 large potatoes, weighing 2 lbs. 12 ozs. Whole po- 

 tatoes in the hill; product of 8 hills, 36^ lbs. 



Lot 2.-8 large potatoes wtipliing 2 lbs. 12 ozs. Cut 4 pieces 

 each, 4 pieces to a hill ; produce, 42 lbs. 



],ot 3. — 4 large potatoes, weighing 1 lb. 6 ozs. Cut 4 pieces 

 each, 2 pieces to a hill ; produce, 32 lbs. 



I^ot 4. — 2 large potatoes weighing 11 ozs. Cut 4 pieces each, 

 1 piece to a hill ; produce, 25 lbs. 



Lot 5. — 8 small potatoes weighing 13 ozs. Whole potatoes in 

 the hill ; produce, 25 lbs. 



Lot 6. — 8 small potatoes weighingl3 ozs. Cut2 pieces, 2 pieces 

 in a hill ; produce 33 lbs. 



lots 7 and 8 — Planted with the eyes cut ouf, proved failures. 



Kind of potatoes used, Jenny Linds. 



This experiment needs to be analyzed, in or- 

 der to communicate fully its valuable lessons. 



In lot No. 1, 44 ozs. produce 584 ozs., equal to 

 13 bushels for one ; rather a small yield. An 

 acre, planted in rows 3 feet, and hill 2k feet 

 apart, would produce 470 bushels, requiring 36 

 bushels of seed. 



In lot 2, 44 ozs. produce 672 ozs., equal to 15 



