108 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



OCT. 11, ISiT. 





[I'rom the Mnine farmer.] 

 ENTOMOLOGY, &.C. 



Mr Holmes: — My ntli'iition has been drawn 

 witliiii a lew days to lliis siil)ject, as oue more in- 

 teresting to ffiriueis timn people are generally 

 aware of. The discovery of an enemy to our 

 wheat, and perhaps other grain erops, new to me, 

 has satisfied me tiiat this study ought to be pur- 

 sued with untiring zeal anil diligeiu'e. It haseon- 

 vinecd me that our greatest difficulty in raising 

 grain proceeds from our ignorance of many tribes 

 of insects, and of their habits and modes of exis- 

 tence. 1 allude now particularly to one fact, to 

 which I alluded in my last connnhnication on the 

 subject of "rust in wheat." I find, on further ex- 

 amination, that 1 liave one piece of wheal which 

 will undoubtedly he cut shcnt considerably from 

 this cause, should it escape injury from other cau- 

 ses. The leaves are turning yellow, and many 

 of them aie drying up, and are entirely withered 

 and dead ; and yet on a superficial examination, 

 one would not mistrust the cause. These leaves 

 appear whole as the others, and 1 have Irequently 

 seen them in dry weather, when I bad no suspi- 

 cion but it was the eficct of drought. A closer 

 search- however, has satisfied wie that it must be 

 produced by the attack ot' some trilie of animal-" 

 culas. No enemy was indeed visible at first, but 

 seating myself a few moments to search in order 

 if possible to detect the cause of tie ndscliicf, and 

 parting away the grain, T noticed soniething wliicb 

 at first I took to be the dust frojn the blossoms. 

 I soon, however, tuund my mistake. It was ani- 

 inalculoe. They were so minute I could but just 

 see thetn. and their movements so rapid, I could 

 not follow them with the eye among the grain to 

 their lurking places. Their object appeared to be 

 to hide tliomselves among the leaves of the grain 

 and grass ; for on moving the grain where they 

 disappeared, the process was repeated over again. 

 Whether these did the mischief is unknown. It 

 is however an interesting fact, ami deserves atten- 

 tion. I took also another view of the injured 

 leaves, and found my former observations fully 

 verified. Where the leaves were thus decayed 

 and decaying, the outside coat of the leaves was 

 eaten off, and the fibres or ribs, (if I may so speak) 

 were left bare. In some few instances, holes were 

 eaten quite through the leaf; but this was seldom 

 the case. 



There is also another fact coimected with this 

 subject, worthy o( notice. As seed wheat was 

 .scarce, I took a small sheaf of wheat I found 

 among my straw not threshed, and carried it to 

 the field, and heat it out near a pair of bars. — 

 Here I found the greatest injury done to the 

 grain ; and though this was the richest part of the 

 land, the grain is smaller than on poorer parts of 

 the field. 



It is certain the appearance of the leaves I no- 

 ticed, cannot bo owing to the dry weather, for it is 

 not a dry piece of land. Nor can it be attributed 

 .to excess of moisture, for the driest parts of the 

 tield are as much afi'ecteil as any. Besides, I find 

 the same appearajices, though less iu degree, in 

 other fields in the neighborbobd. In one other 

 field I discovered the sanu; appearance of those 

 minute insects I have mentioned, but the injury 

 was not so manifest; and as the grain was very 

 thick and rank, the sim, &c. might have less ef- 

 fect in changing the color of the leaves I found 

 numerous instances very distinctly visible, where 

 the coating of the leaves had been eaten off. 



My venerable friend, Elijah Wood, of Win- 

 throp, has stated some interesting facts, and made 

 remarks thereon, in a late comnmnication of his 

 on the subject of the grain worm or weevil ; and 

 his suggestions as to their being spread by ma- 

 nure, &c., iU-H worthy of consideration. 1 hope 

 my friend Wood will still continue his laudable 

 efforts to [iromote the raising of bread stuffs in 

 Maine ; and as we can never expect Indian corn 

 to be a certain crop vvith us, we ought to direct 

 oiu- undivided efforts to the cultivation af grain. 

 That we have a soil adaiited to the culture of 

 wheat, we can have no doubt. We also liave 

 abtrntlaiice of lime, which it would seem must 

 prove a powerliil and indispensable auxiliary in 

 this business. 



1 trust I have a clue to some other interesting 

 fac:s on this suliject, which, if they prove as 1 

 suspect, I will certainly communicate for the Far- 

 mer, A very rainy day has afforded me an op- 

 portunity to resume the delightful employment of 

 writing for the Fanner, and of communing witii 

 kindred minds on the subject of agriculture ; and 

 I hope if any of my friends feel the interest in 

 my productions, which they appear so frankly to 

 ex|uess, they will avail themselves of some such 

 opportmiity to repay the same. There are many 

 who in limes p;ist, have communicated important 

 i.u-Afi, and who arc still acquainted with numerous 

 others which would b.Mntensely interesting to me 

 atid others, I have no doubt; perhaps these facts 

 may be well known iu their own neighborhood ; 

 ami for that reason they may think every one 

 knows them — but this is uncert 

 it is the case, it wilj do no harm to establish 

 truths. 



I cannot let the present opportunity pass with- 

 out ex|)ressing my gratification at the pains you 

 Mr Editor and Publisher, are taking to make the 

 Maine Farmer useful and entertaining to us. The 

 legal information you are giving us is very use- 

 ful, and 1 hope you will be renuinerated/or the 

 additional expense. I believe Maine has reason 

 to !)'; proud of the Maine Farnjer ; and I find, by 

 reading some of the b.-st Agricultural Papers in 

 the U.S., that they quote largely from its col- 

 umns. But it wants a little more energy among 

 its friends generally, to increase its patronage, so 

 that you might give us some cuts, or pictures, to 

 elucidate some subjects which cannot be so well 

 done by words. 



Finally, brother farmers, you can, if you take 

 hold in earnest, make the Maine Farmer equal to 

 any agriculturid ]iaper in the Uiiited States ; and 

 the State itself, like the Garden of Eden, for its 

 vegetable beauty, worthy the visits and ailmira- 

 tion of the most curious, as well as the best of 

 mankind. '• "• •' 



Ptrn, Ausr. 10, 1837. 



ON PRINIAG ORCHARDS. 



'i here is no branch of the management of or- 

 chards less understood, or more unskilfully per- 

 formed, than the operation of pruning ; a belief 

 of iis necessity is so geneial, that even the most 

 careless will seldom omit it— such, however, is 

 the want of skill in many of the operators, that 

 total neclect would be less prejudicial than their 

 performance of it. If judiciously done, pruning 

 promotes health and early fruitfulness ; and will 

 eontinuo a tree in vigor, long after the common 

 perioil of its duration. Nothing has contributed 

 more to the imperfect knowledge of this opera- 



tion, than the wordy and unintelligible systems 

 which have been published respecting it ; in a 

 mere practical system, it is unnecessary to lay 

 tTiUch stiess on wood brunches ai\i] fruit brandies ; 

 which, however well understood by an observing 

 intelligent gardener, can scarcely be comprehen.. 

 ded by the laborer, employed in the business of 

 pruning an orchard — from the rapidity of vegeta- 

 tion, which is generally ascribed to the nature of 

 our climate, excessive pruning is very apt to gen- 

 erate an infinite number of suckers from the limba 

 of apple trees'; which, if suffered to grow, are 

 )nore injurious to the production of fruit, than the 

 woody branches which are removed ; our great 

 heat, and dry atmosphere, render close jiruning 

 less necessary here than in England, whence we 

 derive most of our instruction on this point. A 

 gocd general rule is, never to shorten tlie branch. 

 e.s, unless to improve the figure of the tree ; and 

 then to take them off at the separation, very close 

 so that the wound may heal well and soon : th( 

 branches should shoot as much as possible in in. 

 creasing distances, as they proceed from the com 

 mon centre, inclining a little upwards, by whicl 

 means the sap will be more evenly impelled, ant 

 better distributed ; the ranges should not approaci 

 too near to each other; for the admission of tin 

 rays of the sun is necessary to the production am 

 perfect maturity of fine flavored fruit — in cuttin, 

 off a branch, it should le dof.e as close as possi 

 ble, never leaving a stump, for the bark eannc 

 grow over it, and disease in the wood will inev 

 tably follow. If the wound produced by the sef 



ain and even if|aration be very large, cover it with tar or thic 



paint; if small, fresh cow dung will be the bei 

 idaster ; I have healed very large wounds, froi 

 the gnawing of calves, horses and sheep, by a lil 

 eral ap(ilication of this plaster, secured by a bai 

 dage of paper or linen. 



When trees are much pruned, they are apt I 

 throw out numerous suckers from the boughs i 

 the following summer ; these should be rubbed o 

 when they first appear, or they may be easily bn 

 ken off while young and brittle — cutting is apt i 

 increase their number. Trees differ much in the 

 form, and require very different treatment in prui 

 ing ; it may not be necessary in our uartvi cl 

 mate to trim quite so close as in England ; bi 

 great care should be observed, to take off evei 

 limb which crosses another, or is likely to do i 

 at a future time ; those who can conveniently t 

 it, will find a benefit from fm-ming the hcails 

 their trees in the nursery, the year before th( 

 remove them — when transplanted, they will tliri' 

 more rapidly from not having been pruned at tl 

 time of reinovtd, which, in some measure exhaiiil 

 and weakens the tree ; I have been latterly in tl 

 habit of giving the principal pinning to my c 

 chards, after tliey had been planted out about fi 

 or six years ; their growth, with proper cnltiVf 

 tion, is then so vigorous, as to permit any nattu 



■ ■ ■ fell 



defects in their forms to be corrected with sa 

 by free pruning, and fi)rmiiig their branches ; < 

 peculiarity of growth which characteriezes a 

 kind in then visible, and uniformity of shape ill 

 be more easily attained. 



Apple trees shouhl be so formed, as to allow 

 man and horse to pass under them in ploughif 

 this elevation of the branches, while it prote 

 them from cattle, opens the ground to the saluU 

 influence of the sun, on the crops of grain « 

 grass. 



No error is more universal, than an anxiety 



