142 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



NOV. 8, 18 T. 



AND gardener's JOURNAL. 



Boston, Wednesday, Not. 8, 1837. 



PAKMER'S WORK. 



Buckthorn Hedgks — This is the right season for 

 propagating plants suitable for hedges ; and among tin; 

 variety of shrubs and trees recommended for tliat pur- 

 pose, the preference, by good judges, is, we believe, 

 given to the Buckthorn, Rhainnus Catharticus, We can- 

 not better e.^hibit proofs of this assertion, than by giv- 

 ing the following 



nEFORT ON LIVE HEDGES. 



Tkr Massachusetts Society for the Promotion of Jigrl- 

 cuitvre, in the view tlial it was their diitv to take of 

 those objects to ivhicli public Jitientioii miglit be benefi- 

 ciall^' invited, li:ive tliouglrt that in the progress of the 

 culture and iinproveineiit of the country, Live Hedges 

 would, in tnany places, become highly important, and 

 even nerescary, where stotie is not f* he had, and tim- 

 ber, as must soon be the case, shall become more valu- 

 able for other uses. The beauty, [lernianency and 

 efficacy of this titode of enclosure, is with foreigners 

 and many of our own countrymen, becoming a subieet 

 of taste and admiration. It is notoiir intention to deny 

 the efficacy or inpxpcdiency, in most places, at present, 

 of a good rail fence, or what is better, a strong stone 

 wall. But :is our ('ivisions of land innliiply, these ma- 

 terials, in many places, will become more scarce and 

 difficult to be had. .As this shall occur, the introduc- 

 ti(m of live hedges will come into use here, as they pre- 

 vail elsevvliern. A giadual introfluction of them must 

 h:: useful, and add a verdure and beamy to the face of 

 the country, as its cultivation increases. Under this 

 impressi(m, the Trustees of tlie .Vlassachuselts Society 

 were indm:cd to oiler a premium of $30, for the best 

 Hedge, not less than 100 rods, which shall be in the 

 most thriving ,«tate in 1S33. 



On this subji'ct, the Cojnmittee on Live Hedges h.ive 

 a pleasure in presenting to the public, the hdlowing 

 communifation of E. Hersey Derby, Esq. It will be 

 seen that he has, by well-tried (xperimenls, established 

 the perfect adaptation of the Buckthorn (Rhamnus Ca- 

 tharticus) to our climate, as well as its preference over 

 several other plants 



They therelbre unanimously award to E. Hersy Der- 

 by, Esq., the premium [uoposed of $30, for his hedge of 

 upwards jf](X) rods, and recommend that his detailed 

 and useful communication on this suhjei t be printed. 

 By order of the Committee. 



.John W'fi.le?, Chairman. 



S,\t.EM- Nov. 30, 1833. 

 The Commitlre on Fruits and Live HeU^es : 



■Gi-NTt.E;,(,F.N : Please consider me an nppliciint for the 

 j)remium ofi'ered by the Society, for the best Buckthorn 

 Hedge, not less than 100 rods, which shall he in the 

 inost thriving state in 1833. On mei.suring mine I find 

 1 have over 1 Ih roits of the Buckthorn Hedge, which I 

 liave reason to think v.'ould be cousidered at lejisl equal 

 io any 'i« -Ihie country. 



The Trustees Jiave generally ex^imined the stale of it 



the [iresent season. iShould it be thought proper, I will 



make afew observations on my exiierimpuls in hedging. 



1 have hi en for a great many years, t'ully convinced 



of the superiority of live hedges for efiic icy and econo- 



IT)y. I began by setting out my first hedge about thirty 



years since, of the Eiiglish hawthorn; the result was 



inr from satisfactory; the plant, being not adapted to 



our climate, le injured bv our summer droughts; fre- 



fliiently experi(uices hliglil curly in .August, ancl by the 



first of September, assumes a wintry ap[)earance. My 



next experiment was with the Three Thorned Acacia; 



to this hedge 1 devoted the most careful attention; but 



the result wasequally unsuccessful. 'I'lie plants ran up 



without itilerl. icing, and the thorns growing onlv "O 



the upper brandies, the stems below wi-re not thick 



enough 10 serve as a fence ; it was besides, too tender a 



plant to hear our severe winters. I also tried the cr.ib- 



Jipple with but little better success About IHDd, there 



WHS standing in the g rden of the venerable l)r Holy- 



oke, oC this town, which adjoined that of my brother, a 



large tree of the Buckthorn, or i{|iiiniiiUB Catharticus. — 



In digging the l:itter, tile gardener fiuind several young 



plants, which li id grown troin seed shed by this tree. — 



They \\ere given to me, and set out in a nur-ery; find- 

 ing they grew very rapidly, I was induced to set them 

 out for a hedge, soiuetime in 1809, and in this attempt 

 I was entirely successful. The length of this hedge is 

 about 20 rods; has been a good fence over 20 years, 

 and is at the present time in a fine healthy state, not a 

 single plant having failed since it was first set out. It 

 presents a mass of verdure from early spring until late 

 in the autumn, and is completely impervious, affording 

 entire protection to the land it encloses. It being my 

 first experiment with the plant, i did not head it down 

 so low when young, as I have since found it advisable 

 to do; the consequence is that it is not so thick at the, 

 bottom as any of my others set out since. Finding it so 

 hardy a plant, and so well adapted to heilges in our cli- 

 mate, I have been induced to cultivate it very exten- 

 sively, and have at different periods, extended my hedg- 

 es till tirey measure nearly 120 rods in length. 



The method I would recommend in setting a hedge, 

 would be to place the plants in a single row, about nine 

 inches afiari, either in the spring or fiJI ot' the year ; if 

 in the fdl, I should clip it the next spring, within six 

 inches of the ground, which will cause it to be quite 

 thick U-i^tH the bottom ; and after pruning, can he made 

 to suit the pleasure of the cultivaloi-, I have also tried 

 plashing ; it was recommended to me in 1SI3, or 19, by 

 my gardenei,(an Englishman) and I allowed him to try 

 upon a young hedge of crab-apple , but the hedge never 

 flourished afterwards, and I at List pruned away the 

 branches he had interwoven, and lost 4 years' growth 

 by the experiment. I have never fiiund plashing neces- 

 sary for the strength and beauty of a buckthorn hedge, 

 the natural growth of the branches being sufficiently in- 

 terlaced Three years careful management in the way 

 I have described, is sufficient to form a perfect hedge, 

 nearly as thick below as above. 



I am, gentlemen, very respectfully. 

 Yours, &c. 



E. Hkrsv Derby. 



We liave no doubt hut the Buckthorn is not only su- 

 perior to any oilier plant or shrub, as material for hedg- 

 es, in consequence of its possessing the good qualities 

 above mentioned, but its perfect freedom from the an- 

 noyance of insects, adds much to its value. The bit- 

 terness of the juices of this plant, preserves it from the 

 borer, worms, &.C., and it is always cleanly and a beau-- 

 tifiil object. We understand that Mr Derby has on 

 hand both seeds and slips fur propagating Buckthorn 

 Hodges. 



[For the New Eiigtaiiit Farnier.J 



Receipt for a White Wash. — Mr Editor: I here- 

 by send you a receipt for a White Wash, by way of 

 contributing my mite to your useful paper. I do not 

 know hutsorae of your intelligentsnbscribers may have 

 discovered my plan long ago, but if they have, I have 

 never heard of it. However, we will not dispute about 

 the priority of discoveries. My discovery is free for 

 any person to use ; there is no patent about it. 



iVly receipt is this : — 1 take three or four pounds of 

 what is commonly called tanner's scraps, and boil them 

 in water enough to cover them, till the scraps are freed 

 fiom their gelatine. Then mix your lime, or other ma- 

 terial, whi'e warm, and apply it also while warm. The 

 above quantity of scraps is sufficient for a house 20 by 

 30 feet Clue will answer instead of the scraps. 

 Yours, respectfully, 



Prarie Ronde Kalimazo ) r> i m <-• 



CO. Mich., Oct. ie, 1837 > ^- -f- "• C'"^*"'' 



IZO ) 



[ t'lir tile .New Eiigliuut farmer.] 

 Raised in Wobiirn, in the garden of John Symmcs, 

 (Vom three sm.dl potatoes, placed in one hill, at the dis- 



f ... , 



tance of about inches from each other, 21.5 potatoes, a 

 good proportion of them large size, measuring nearly a 

 [leck and a half. The seed was brought fioin Havre. 



MASSACHUSETTS IIORTlCrLI ITRAl. SOCIETY. 



EXHIBITION OF FRUITS. 



Saturday, Nov. 4, 1837.- 



Pears. — From S. Downer, Dorchester, — Duchesse D' 

 Angonleine, Beurre Diel, Blessire jean, Urbaniste, Dix, 

 Bleaker's Meadow, and Catalac. 



From J Clapp, South Reading, — Piatt's Bergamotte, 

 and a kind without name. 



From E. Vose,. Dorchester, — Duchesse D'Angou- 

 leme. 



From Mr Coolidgo's Garden, Boston, — St. Michael. 



From E. M. Kichards, Dedham, — Warden. 



Jlpplcs — From S. Downer, — Pominc DeNeige. 



From Gardnet Brown, — Sweet apple, from Medfield, 

 called there Fomme Water. 



For the Committee. 



L. P. GROSVENOR. 



Feeoing Ammai.s for Fattening. — There are wo 

 think, few processes conducted by the farmer with le.ss 

 economy or profit to himself than that of fattening ani- 

 mals ; and this it seems to us arises from the neglect of 

 a few plain principles. In the first place, they are only 

 fed so as to make them grow finely, instead of taking on 

 fat; and in the second, their food is given to them un- 

 ground or uncooked, neither of which conditions ought 

 to exist, where it is desirable to fafen aniinas quickly, 

 and of course, cheap and well. The experiments of Mr 

 Colman, show clearly the astonishing diiFerence in fa- 

 vor of cooking corn meal for hogs, and it is scarcely less 

 conspicuous in other things. Swine should never have 

 more at a time tlnm they can eat, but they should have 

 just as much as they will eat, and have it fed to them 

 so often, that there shall not be a pretence for a single 

 squeal. A good dry bed, plenty of cooked food, and a 

 little brimstone or pounded charcoal, occasionally thrown 

 into their trough, seem to be requisite to fatten pork 

 rapidly. Some farmers feed their apples and potatoes 

 to their pigs raw ; we are confident they would not do 

 this, if they would once fairly test the two methods of 

 feeding in that state, or cooked. Snur apples, when 

 cooked, are as good lor swine as sweet ones; but raw, 

 are as decidedly inferior, making the teeth sore, and 

 furnishing loo much acid to the stomach, for the pur- 

 pose of rapid nutrition. It is necessary to have good 

 leef and pork, but tliey should not in the making, oc- 

 casion a loss to the maker. Care and skill will jirevent 

 this. — Gen. Farmer. 



Yankee Hominv. — C. B., a writer in the Cultivator 

 for Oct. 1837, gives the billowing as his method of pre- 

 paring this wholesome and palatable article : 



" I send the corn to mill, and have it cracked, or ra- 

 tlier ground as coarse as possible in the mill. This dis- 

 engages the hulls, so that the cook can wash them off, 

 and the meal by grinding, is also woiked out, and used 

 for culinary put poses. When I was a boy, and no mill 

 was near where we resided, we used to prepare homi- 

 ny in a mortar, as stati'd by your friend ; and the old 

 hominy mortar has descended, and still belong s to me. 

 But preferring the less tedious process, we have little 

 use for the mortar. As to hominy being a good substi> 

 tute for rice, I would re\erse Ihnt, and call rice a pretty 

 good substitute for hominy." 



To DESTROY Insects — A writer in a Southern paper 

 gives the following receipt, which he says, he has tried 

 with success : 

 ■ To destroy insects on trees. 

 2 o2. nux vomica, 

 2,oz. soft soap, " 

 1 lb. tobacco, 

 i pt. spirits of turpentine, 

 8 gallons of water. 

 Roil them all together, ikiwn to 6 gallons and use it 

 milk warm; the t.ees are to be carefully dressed with 

 it, by daubing it on with a sponge. 



I 



last fall. 



October 13,. 1837. 



To Correspondents. — A communication on the rais- 

 ing of Wheat, Queries relative to Canker-worms, &i;., 

 necessarily deferred to our next. 



Wheat, when cut green, shrivels more than barley, 

 and the latter more than oats. Oats will retain their 

 plumpness when cut quite green. 



