1859. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



311 



his services longer. I kept him two years, and 

 after six or eight weeks he scarcely scarred his 

 crib by biting it. 



Four years ago I bought a five-year old mare, 

 that had been brought from New Hampshire and 

 stabled in Boston six months for sale. When 

 I got her she would eat an apple tree limb as 

 long and large as an ox goad, and I saw her strip 

 a piece off a sleigh back, eighteen inches long and 

 as thick as my thumb, and eat it, paint, varnish 

 and all. I led her out two or three times a 

 week, and held her by the halter while she 

 rolled, and then hitched her to the fence, for I 

 had no better chance, and treated her to as much 

 old frozen grass and ground as she could reach. 

 It entirely cured her gnawing in two weeks. So 

 I have treated four horses within six years with 

 perfect success, and I think if stable keepers 

 should provide a soft place, 30 feet square if they 

 could not get larger, for their horses to roll, three 

 or four times a week, (for it is natural to a horse 

 to roll and it rests them when tired,) and keep a 

 barrel of fresh earth for them to eat when they 

 want, their horses would be much more healthy, 

 and they would have no cribbers. 



Blinkers and check reins also deserve an ar- 

 ticle, but from some one more capable of express- 

 ing his thoughts on paper than 



Maiden, Mass. A. S. Hall. 



within the past twenty-five years is truly aston- 

 ishing. It is mere pastime to labor with these 

 improved implements, compared with that of 

 wielding the old-fashioned tools used by our 

 fathers. I have recently obtained one of Nourse, 

 Mason & Co.'s "Universal Plows," with its series 

 of mould-boards. I think it must soon become 

 a general favorite with our progressive farmers. 

 I am just getting ready to give it a fair trial. 

 As yet I have only used it as a stubble plow, 

 and find it A. No. 1. The team is ready to 

 hitch on to my new plow, and I must exchange 

 the pen for the plow-handles. 



Yours, most respectfully, 



Levi Bartlett. 



Ho!(. H. F. Feehoh, Exetbr, N. H. 



Remarks. — Your remarks, friend Hall, are prac- 

 tical, and will undoubtedly be extensively useful. 

 Now give us some as good on those useless and 

 cruel tormentors, blinkers an(J check reins, and 

 you will do the community a good service. 



DRAINAGE— WHEAT.QROWING-- 

 UNIVERSAL PLOW. 



LETTER TEOM LEVI BARTLETT, OF WARNER, V. H. 



Warner, MayU, 1859. 



My Dear Sir: — With much satisfaction I 

 have perused your new work on "Drainage." 

 Such a book was greatly needed, and I hope it 

 may be largely patronized by our New Hamp- 

 shire farmers. 



It is now more than twenty years since I com- 

 menced underdraining my naturally wet farm, 

 and I have done more or less at it every year, 

 during that period. I have mostly used stone 

 for the purpose, but in some instances they have 

 failed by the burrowing of field mice and moles. 

 I trust the time is not far distant when di-ain tile 

 can be had at reasonable cost by the farmers in 

 the interior of our State. There is a vast amount 

 of valuable land in the State that needs draining, 

 which, if properly done, would add tens of thou- 

 sands of dollars to the agricultural interests of 

 •'the old Granite State." 



I have succeeded in growing fine crops of win- 

 ter wheat on underdrained land. From five years' 

 experience in growing winter wheat I am full in 

 the faith that it can be successfully grown in New 

 England. There was a large amount sown in 

 this town, last fall, and it is looking splendidly 

 now. But to grow wheat successfully here, our 

 farmers must better understand the true princi- 

 ples of preparing and manuring the land for the 

 crop. 



The improvement in agricultural implements 



For the New England Farmer, 

 CRACKING OP APPLE TREES. 



Mr. Editor: — Your correspondent, S. D. M., 

 of Mansfield, states that he has lost a number of 

 apple trees the last winter, by the bursting and 

 splitting of the bark, and asks if there is any i-em- 

 edy. I am afraid there is none but to dig up the 

 trees and replace them. My own loss has been 

 severe. I had two rows of fine, thrifty apple 

 trees, planted in the spring of 1850. They had 

 grown vigorously, were from twelve to eighteen 

 inches in eircumference, and had commenced 

 bearing. Of these, I have lost ten, that I cer- 

 tainly would not have sold for two hundred dol- 

 lars. One pair, especially, of Baldwins, so hand- 

 some as to be the admiration of all my visitors, 

 was well worth a hundred dollars. 



I discovered the injury some time in January; 

 the bark was split from the lower branches to 

 the ground, some five or six feet. The split was 

 sometimes on one side of the tree and sometimes 

 on the other ; and before I finally dug them up, 

 this spring, I satisfied myself that there was no 

 hope of saving the trees, for I was able to pass 

 my hands under the bark, on either side, and 

 meet my fingers behind. One which stood near 

 the barn cellar will survive, the split being only 

 about eighteen inches long and the rest of the 

 bark sound. 



What was the cause of this mischief? These 

 trees grew on a heavy, strong loam, resting on 

 a hard, firm subsoil, retentive of moisture. The 

 last summer was cold and wet, followed by a very 

 mild and pleasa-nt fall. So remarkably mild was 

 the season, that I had dahlias in flower until 

 November 10th, or three weeks later than ever 

 before, and on that day gathered from my gar- 

 den bouquets of flowers. The consequence was, 

 the trees made a late and vigorous growth, and 

 had not matured and ripened their wood. On 

 the night of the 10th of November the tempera- 

 ture changed suddenly ; on the morning of the 

 11th the ground was frozen hard, and ice made 

 in small pools, strong enough to bear a man. 

 Two days afterwards, on the 13th, my son was 

 skating on a neighboring pond ! The change 

 from a summer to a winter temperature, so sud- 

 den and almost instantaneous, caught the trees 

 full of sap, which froze and burst the bark as 

 soon as milder weather thawed it. This, in my 

 opiaion, is the cause of the trouble ; if any of 

 your correspondents have a diff'erent solution, I 

 hope to hear it. 



