1859. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



371 



of an antelope. All that you have to do to catch 

 the dog that has killed your sheep, is to construct 

 the trap, where a dead sheep is left, as directed, 

 as soon as possible after an attack has been 

 made on your flock, put a part or the whole of a 

 sheep that has been killed, in it, and remove the 

 balance to some other field. In a majority of 

 cases, the rogue and murderer will return the 

 succeeding night, or perhaps the next, and you 

 will have the gratification next morning of find- 

 ing him securely imprisoned. — Southern Planter. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 CAUSE OP LOSS OP APPLB TREES. 



l^EAR Sir : — Will you allow me to say a word 

 in answer to an article in your paper of the 21st 

 of May, written by C. A. Hewins, West Roxbury ? 

 Mr. Hewins and yourself come to the conclusion 

 that the underdraining of the land saved the ap- 

 ple trees. I believe the underdraining, if it proves 

 anything, proves that the trees made a more vig- 

 orous growth where the land was not under- 

 drained. 



The occasion of the injury to the trees was, 

 the land being too rich and the trees growing too 

 fast. The fall of 1830 I suppose to be the warm- 

 est that ever was known in this country. Pump- 

 kins and other vines were growing all October 

 and into November, and we had no frost to stop 

 the growth of anything until Wednesday or 

 Thursday after Thanksgiving, and then winter 

 set in, in earnest. I thought nothing of it until 

 March, 1831. 



Jdhn Lowd, who was then living, and engaged 

 in cultivating trees, and a distinguished horticul- 

 turist, living in Roxbury, wrote an article in the 

 New England Farmer, saying we shall have no 

 more fruit for ten years to come. On reading 

 the article I went into the nursery where I had 

 peach, cherry and apple trees, and I believed, 

 on examination, that it was true. 



The result was, that trees that were growing 

 fast were killed, thousands and thousands of 

 them, while those that were making but little 

 growth were not injured. 



I was then in the nursery business. I took up 

 two hundred handsome Baldwin apple trees, as 

 fine trees as you will see, that were dead. I had 

 sold to Joshua Staver, of West Roxbury, I think, 

 a lot of nice Baldwin trees, which he nursed fine- 

 ly, and every one was killed. It will, therefore, 

 be seen that there is danger of making trees grow 

 too fast. In the case before us the frost that 

 came on the 10th of November did the injury. 



The question then is, is there any remedy ? In 

 ^831 the injury was not half as serious as I ex- 

 pected at first. I went to many trees and found 

 the bark started from the tree, but where it did 

 not crack open to let in the air, the sap went up ; 

 but where the bark cracked open and let in the 

 air, it was hindered, and did not get up. Trees 

 have been dying from that day to this, as I now 

 see trees almost dead that were injured that win- 

 ter. I believe that had Mr. Hewins, if he saw it 

 in January, taken a piece of old oil cloth and 

 covered the crack, and wound it with rope yarn, 

 so that the air would have been kept out, the 

 trees would have lived. I draw this conclusion 

 from what I saw in 1831. 



Again, I have saved trees injured by the mice, 

 by covering early with clay mortar, made soft so 

 as to fit close to the tree, and then cover with 

 earth to prevent the air from dryifig the tree. 

 There are within forty rods of me three or four 

 large trees capable of bearing four or five barrels 

 each, that are spoiled and partly dead, and the 

 remainder will die, by being driven too fast. 

 Daniel Leland. 



East HoUiston, June 14, 1859. 



Remarks. — Apple trees, as well as men, are 

 quite often ruined by feeding them too fast. 

 They become purient, gouty, burst, and die. We 

 have often cautioned our readers against over- 

 feeding fruit trees. The safe way with apple 

 orchards is to manure highly, cultivate thorough- 

 ly, and take off a crop from the land every year, 

 during the first fifteen years' growth of the 

 trees. Such trees will not have the gout. We 

 have seen an entire orchard of the finest trees, 

 entirely ruined by high manuring and cultivation 

 without cropping the land. 



For the New Eytgland Farmer. 

 MOWING MACHINES. 



Mr. Editor : — I have noticed an article cop- 

 ied from the Flouglimaii, on farm work for June, 

 in which the venerable editor of that paper says 

 that it is but one-third of the labor of haying to 

 cut the grass, and if the machine saves half the 

 labor of cutting, it does not save but one-sixth 

 of the whole labor. I think he has never had 

 a good machine in practical operation on his own 

 farm, or he would have mentioned another im- 

 portant item in hay-making, Miiich is saved by 

 the machine ; that is, spreading the swaths and 

 turning the grass once. 



From my experience with a machine, I think 

 that grass, where there are two tons to the acre, 

 cut with a machine after the dew is partly oflT, 

 will be as dry at two o'clock, P. M., as that 

 Avhich was cut with the scythe early in the morn- 

 ing, and the swaths spread at ten o'clock, and 

 turned again at noon ; here is a saving of labor 

 just at the time when it is of the most value in 

 the whole year. 



He speaks of those who are bred on a farm, 

 as delighting in mowing. I know there is some- 

 thing pleasing and exciting on a dewy morn in 

 swinging the well-ground scythe through the 

 well-grown timothy, and see the pollen rise at 

 each stroke, and scatter its fragrance in all di- 

 rection ; but with me, the poetry is all gone, long 

 before the field is mowed. Then comes the dull 

 prose, and the sweating and sighing for some 

 easier mode, and tired nature yields to the hot 

 sun, and I like to hang my scythe where the 

 farmer of Marshfield hung his, when in his boy- 

 hood his father told him to go and hang it to 

 suit himself! 



But the inquiry arises, can the small farmer 

 afford to buy a machine ? If to secure his hay, 

 and do his other work upon the farm, he annually 

 hires fifteen days' work extra in July, which will 

 cost him in this county twenty-five dollars, bv 

 using the machine he can do his haying as well, 



