318 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



July 



For the New England Fanner. 

 BEAUTY IN TREES. 



Mr. Editor: — I have been led to write under 

 the above heading, on observing treatment of a 

 beautiful promising grove in the cemetery of a 

 thrifty town not far from Boston. 



A young growth of white pines and white 

 birch, mixed, from 15 to 20 feet high, appeared 

 as though some wood choppers had been in- 

 structed to cut the birches clean and all the pine 

 limbs they could reach. If the birches had be- 

 gun to interfere with the pines, they should have 

 been cut in August, to prevent their starting 

 again. But the pines, with their fresh and vig- 

 orous branches, cut smooth to the butts, looked 

 as though they had fallen into the care of those 

 who could not find any beauty in trees. 



To say nothing of the check to the growth, 

 how their trunks will look ! For a year they 

 will present a mass of flowing turpentine, drip- 

 ping and oozing like a cancer. Live branches 

 should never be removed from pines, if it can be 

 helped ; but if the limbs must be cut, take them 

 off one foot from the butt, and let the stub die a 

 natural death — then trim close, and no turpentine 

 will run. One blow of an axe^can remove a love- 

 ly branch, but the wealth of the world cannot re- 

 place it if it proves a mistake. 



The white pine, when it stands at the best dis- 

 tances to make a good forest, keeps a live cone 

 about twenty-five years ; that is, the limbs live 

 about twenty-five years, and at that age it com- 

 mences to have limbs die at the bottom as new 

 ones form at the top. On cutting the tree across, 

 no matter whether one foot from the ground or for- 

 ty, if below the live cone, you will observe about 

 twenty-five large growths, from one-quarter to 

 one-half inch ; the largest Avhen the branches were 

 in their greatest vigor. Then at the death of the 

 branch a sudden reduction of the growth to per- 

 haps an eighth of an inch. By this beautiful ar- 

 rangement the tree rises to a great height, M'ith 

 but little taper to its trunk. 



I think the beauty in the white pine is, to let 

 its branches alone until they die. 



Kingston, March, 1859. Caleb Bates. 



OATS LODGING. 



Why do oats lodge ? We have sometimes 

 heard farmers boast that their ground was in 

 such excellent heart that the oats would lodge, 

 inferring therefore that the crop of oats was ex- 

 traordinarily large, so large that the straw could 

 not hold them up. We would argue that no real 

 practical farmer ever met with this difficulty. 

 The soil cannot be said to be in perfect heart, 

 merely because it contains an excessive quantity 

 of barn-yard manure. To be in heart, it should 

 be in such exact balance that every part of the 

 plant can appropriate what it requires to secure 

 its strength, as well as its quantit}'. The materi- 

 al which gives strengtli to the oat straw, is sili- 

 cate of potash, silex combined with potash. Who- 

 ever knew a crop of oats to lodge when grown on 

 soils containing a fair amount of wood ashes ? 

 Whoever knew any crop to show rust when grown 

 en a soil fairly charged with phosphates, of pot- 

 ash, soda, and lime ? Can a plant be in a healthy 

 condition when the silicious coating which gives 



it strength is deficient in quantity ? The plant 

 cannot avail of silex simply because it is sur- 

 rounded by sand. There must be some alkali 

 present to attach the surface of the particles of 

 the sand, and to render the silex soluble in wa- 

 ter. With that, the capillary action of the plant 

 may elevate this soluble silex, and deposit it in 

 such portions as require strength. This action 

 upon the particles of sand, at the same time frees 

 all the other constituents which go to make up 

 its mass to the depth of the removal of the silex, 

 the particles becoming smaller, and being so 

 roughened at their surfaces by the chemical ac- 

 tion of the alkali, as to prevent their settling by 

 rains and dews so as to be too compact. All this 

 is assisted in degree by the decay of roots in the 

 soil ; for these yield up among other constitu- 

 ents, alkalies, and of so progressed a kind as to 

 have superior chemical power in the disorgani- 

 zation of the pent-up inorganic materials contain- 

 ed in every particle of the soil. Let no practical 

 farmer then pride himself on having his land out 

 of condition, and thus losing his oats for want of 

 strength in the straw. — Working Fanner. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 EUTA BAGA AND COBN CROPS. 



Mr. Editor : — In your number for May, I 

 notice a communication from Mr. Cruickshank, 

 on the raising of ruta bagas, and he is pleased to 

 give us his name and place of residence at the 

 close of it. He thinks them a remunerating crop, 

 and asks the reason why I should be in doubt of 

 it. I have been requested by others to give my 

 experience in the cultivation of them. Influenced 

 by them, and respect due Mr. C. for his experi- 

 ence and location, I am induced to state the rea- 

 son for my doubts, for they are not removed, nor 

 do I see that my questions are answered. 



Thirty-five years ago, I planted as good a piece 

 of land as I had with ruta bagas, with the inten- 

 tion of satisfying myself as to profit of their cul- 

 ture. I had a fine and plentiful crop ; at the rate 

 of more than 1,000 bushels to the acre, worth in 

 our market 12A cts. per bushel. Corn was planted 

 beside on land as good, and all alike prepared, 

 and produce 75 bushels per acre, worth $1 per 

 bushel ; gr^ain and stover I put down at $75. 



Well, sir', this looks well for bagas ; $125 per 

 acre, and corn on like soil at $85 per acre, mak- 

 ing a difference in favor of bagas of $40 per acre. 

 But let the next crop speak. This was barley 

 and grass. Where corn had grown the barley 

 leaf was broad and green ; where the bagas had 

 grown, the leaf was sorrowfully weak and yellow, 

 and appeared to regret ever having made its ap- 

 pearance. The seedtime result was 35 bushels 

 of barley per acre where corn had grown, and 

 15 bushels where bagas had grown, worth in our 

 market 80 cts. per bushel. This I call $1G loss to 

 the bagas. The next crop M^as grass ; the hay 

 was not weighed, but would compare well with 

 the crop of barley, and so I charge the bagas 

 with $1(3 more. Here my estimates ended, but 

 not the effect of the bagas, for that is visible yet. 

 This experience is confkmed by yearly observa- 

 tion, and the experience of many in this region, 

 if not all, who have raised them. 



In conversation with the Hon. Mr. Brooks, of 



