574 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Dec. 



up every worm and bug that came in their sight. 

 How did he know that they did not discriminate 

 picking up only such as suited their fancy ? 



"Aquihi" asserts that he has seen, this very 

 season, a robin fly from a fence, pick up worms 

 and swallow them, when a cherry tree was quite 

 as near. Was it a Tartarian, an Oxheart, a Reine 

 Hortense, or some Canadian cherry, a robin 

 proof fruit ? if so, it ought to be disseminated ; 

 a cherry, in reference to which robins will play 

 the Hottentot, and eat worms in preference, 

 would be a godsend to fruit-growers. 



Let us, in moulding the character of the rising 

 generation, inculcate a spirit of justice, aid and 

 protect each other, and the time will come when 

 every man can sit under his own vine and tree, 

 and enjoy the fruit of his labor, lawfully protect- 

 ed from freebooters and poachers. 



South Danvers, Mass. J. S. Needham. 



HOLBHOOK'S UNIVERSAL PLOW. 



We have several times spoken of this plow in 

 terms of commendation. The opinions formed 

 of it were gained by actual field trial, op several 

 occasions, and were in accordance with those of 

 some of the best plowmen in Middlesex county. 

 Quite recently we spent half a day in the field, 

 where several plowmen whom we had never seen 

 use it before, held it and used it with several of 

 its different mould-boards and cutters. 



The first experiment was with the interval 

 mould-board, which laid the furrows over flat in 

 a very handsome manner. The next was the 

 mould-board used for stubble plowing, with a 

 common cutter. This gave a furrow ten inches 

 deep and twelve inches wide, and when the team 

 was kept exact, the plow would pass along for 

 several rods together without any guiding. The 

 cutter being taken off, the skim plow was attached 

 to the beam, making what is called the double 

 ploiv ; by this arrangement the skim plow cut the 

 sward about two inches deep and laid it hand- 

 somely away on the bottom of preceding furrows, 

 while the stubble mould-board that followed, 

 rolled up the soil from below, breaking it into 

 thousands of pieces, and laying it into a seed- 

 bed, only needing the passage of a harrow to 

 prepare it for the reception of seeds as fine as 

 onion or carrot. We are confident that this mode 

 of plowing will save a very considerable amount 

 of labor in the after cultivation of the crop. The 

 next trial was in the use of the stubble mould- 

 board on stony land. This was a place in which 

 we had never seen the plow used before, and it 

 certainly accomplished what we had not expected 

 of it. The ground had not been plowed for 

 twenty years, was nearly as thick with stones as 

 they could lay, and flanked occasionally with the 

 roots of bushes. Yet we never saw a plow work 

 steadier or better. In passing over a large stone 

 it would catch in more readily, and work up to 



and away from the stone, with more ease and cer- 

 tainty than any s7i07't plow we ever saw. 



The last trial which we witnessed that day was 

 in a meadow. The plow was rigged with a wh^el 

 cutter and a very long, tapering mould-board. 

 Six stout oxen were attached to it, but the off-ox 

 of each pair was enabled to travel on the sward 

 — instead of the bottom of the furrow — by hav- 

 ing an iron rod start from about the centre of the 

 beam to the forward end of the same, and stand- 

 ing off from it about six inches in front. The 

 furrow slice was cut ten inches deep and sixteen 

 inches wide, and the meadow — three-quarters of 

 an acre — was completed without a baulk or bad 

 place in it, and a harrow passed over it twice 

 would have fitted it admirably for being laid 

 down to grass ! 



The furrows in all these trials were not laid 

 over by guess work, but were as scientifically 

 moved as is the locomotive, or printing press, or 

 power-loom. The most indifferent beholder 

 could see beauty, as well as utility, in the opera- 

 tion. We hope our plowing readers will look at 

 this new plow for themselves. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 GARDEN AND FIELD WORK. 

 TRANSPLANTING TREES. 

 Is the fall or spring the best season to trans- 

 plant trees? In replying to this question, I would 

 say that it depends upon the weather and state 

 of the ground. If, during the fall, we have warm 

 days accompanied with rain, extending the 

 growth to a late period, the wood being unripe and 

 succulent, I should rather hesitate in commend- 

 ing the fall ; on the other hand, if the ground is 

 dry, and the early frosts oeing sufficient to take 

 off the leaves, the wood of the last year is well 

 ripened, I should commend, in this latitude, to 

 set the pear, apple, cherry, currant and goose- 

 berry in the fall. The peach, apricot and necta- 

 rine, I should invariably set in spring. 



CURRANTS AND GOOSEBERRIES. 



Currants, (the White Dutch is the finest va- 

 riety for general culture,) gooseberry, (Hough- 

 ton's Seedling.) blackberry, (Dorchester Seed- 

 ling,) raspberry, (Franconia Red,) can be cul- 

 tivated with profit, and under circumstances as 

 described above, the fall is a good time to set 

 them. 



SEEDLING TREES. 



Trees that have been grown from seed the 

 past summer, such as the peach, pear, apple and 

 quince, that have not attained to a greater 

 growth than six or eight inches, had better be 

 taken up and laid in, as it is called, in a shady 

 place, covering them slightly with litter, suffi- 

 cient to keep them frozen through the winter, as 

 they are apt to be thrown out by the frost if suf- 

 fered to remain in the seed bed. 



HARDY GRAPES. 

 Grape vines trained upon a building or wall in 

 a warm exposure are exceedingly apt to be 



