222 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



JAKfAKl 22, I«34. 



N I EW ENGLAND FARMER. 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, JAN. 22, 18S3. 



iVc have received the Report of the Committee 

 on Trees and Hedges. The Premium on H 

 was awarded to E. II. Derby, Esq. We shall pub- 

 lish the Report in our next. 



Petty Larceny. We are under no v ry great 

 obligations to some neighboring papers for taking 

 the trouble to republish our Price Current, without 

 giving us the trilling boon of crediting it to the N. 

 E. Farmer. We would also remark that we are 

 very careful that the price current is strictly correct 

 For every Tuesday. 



MAS AGEMEIST OP WOOD LAIDS. 

 Few persons have any adequate idea of the im- 

 portance of wood land to a country. Wood is not 

 only useful for fuel, timber, tools, &c; but with- 

 out it the continent of America would be as barren 

 as the deserts of Africa. Trees protect caul,- and 

 other useful animals from the burning rays of the 

 sun, prevent or moderate the effects of heat and 

 drought on the soil,- produce moisture and vital air 

 by transpiration of the" leaves, regulate and soften 

 the temperature of the climate, and are indispensi- 

 ble, not only to the comfort and civilization, but to 

 the existence of human beings. A world without 

 a sun, or an earth without an atmosphere, would 

 scarcely be more intolerable or uninhabitable, than 

 a country without trees. 



A farmer might almost as well be without a 

 wife, as without a wood lot. " In clearing farms 

 in a new country, due regard should be had to 

 preserving a perpetual forest. Some have mista- 

 ken their interest so much, as not to leave a suffi- 

 cient quantity of land uncleared ; so that they are 

 put to the disagreeable necessity, either of buying 

 their fire wood, or else of going, perhaps, some 

 miles after it. That part of "a farm should he set 

 apart for this purpose', which is least adapted by 

 nature for tillage or grass. Land which is swampy 

 with a very thin soil over a sandy bottom : lain! 

 that is rocky and mountainous, or which will but 

 poorly bear a dry season, or even the most sandy 

 or gravelly heights, or steep declivities which can- 

 not be ploughed, may answer well for a forest. 

 Forest trees having long roots, some of which pen- 

 etrate deeply, may find sufficient nourishment, in 

 places where corn and grass cannot be cultivated 

 to advantage. So that it is very bad economy, to 

 suffer any such place to be destitute of growing 

 trees. For if they do not produce wood, they are 

 in a manner useless. Or, if tie y produce grass, 

 trees will not hurt them for pasturage, but in some 

 cases make it better. 



" The quantity of ground that should be set 

 apart for this use, must vary according to the large- 

 ness of the farm it belongs to, and according to the 

 demand lor wood, the quality of the soil, and the 

 nature of the climate. If the climate be hot, the 

 forest may he smaller. 



"Some intelligent farmers in this country, have 

 thought they could make a lot of ten or a dozen 

 acres, answer the purpose; of supporting one con- 

 stant kitchen fire. Rut it certainly will not, unless 

 the soil he uncommonly fruitful, and the trees be 

 such as are of the quickest growth. If land be 

 poor and dry, it will require twenty acres or more, 

 to supply one single fire, and keep the stock of 

 trees undiminished."* It is, however, a very easy 



* Deane's New England Farmer. 



matter, by the use of sio\ es for cooking, ami wann- 

 ing rooms, to effect these objects witli one third of 

 the fuel generally used, when Dr. Deane wrote. 



In some cases, it may be found more profitable 

 to keep tolerably good land in wood, than in any 

 other cultivation. This wiil depend on the vicini- 

 ty to some market town, or some place where 

 wood can In' sold at a good price. 



To thicken a forest, or to prevent its becoming 

 too thin, cattle should be kept out of it at all sea- 

 sons. The seeds or cuttings of trees id' rapid 

 growth, should also be set or planted in every part, 

 which has become destitute of growing wood. It 

 woodland be allowed to become so thin that tic 

 snu can get in and cause the ground to be covered 

 with a sward of grass, this will prevent the further 

 growth of young timber; and in this way tin 

 ground eventually becomes stripped of all its 

 growth. 



• Loudon's Gardener's Magazine remarks in sub- 

 stance that the shoots from the stools or stumps of 

 forest trees may either become crooked branches 

 of little use except for fuel, or beautiful and 

 straight timber trees, according as the old trees 

 may be cut over close by the surface or one foot 

 above it. The closer the stump is cut to the ground, 

 the srraighter the suckers or sprouts. This im- 

 portant Fact ought to be familiar to every owner of 

 a wood lot, and constantly kept in mind by the 

 gardener in pruning fruit trees. 



In applying the axe to a wood lot, which the 

 owner would wish to perpetuate by a series of re- 

 productions, the best method is to cut down every 

 tree as far as you proceed. This will give the 

 sprouts from the stumps, and other young trees 

 the advantages of a free circulation of the air and 

 a fair exposure to the sun. Hut if some of the 

 /large trees are left, the shoots which spring up 

 from the stumps of the others will languish be- 

 neath their shade. 



A valuable paper on the subject of Forest Trees, 

 written by the Hon. J. Welles, published originally 

 in the Mass. Agr. Repos. may be found in the N. 

 E. Farmer, vol. i. p. 329. 



PLAJf. 

 Qupre respecting Flax. A correspondent of New 

 Brunswick, inquires as follows: " Can von inform 

 me, by the paper, whether land that has been re- 

 cently limed, is congenial to the growth and seeding 

 of Flu.r .-' ! have heard it asserted that it will grow- 

 well, but will not produce seed. As the seed with 

 us is the most valuable part of the crop, I am de- 

 sirous of information on the subject." 



We have never witnessed, and rarely read of 

 the application of lime to this particular crop; nor 

 till we received the above, had we any intimation 

 thai lime would prevent Max from producing good 

 seed. In Essays on the Culture of Flax, by J. 

 W. Pomeroy, Esq. published in the N. E. Farmer, 

 vol. ii. pages 26, 36, 4-4, the following passage oc- 

 curs : 



"No dung should be applied to the land when 

 the flax is sown, but may be put on bountifully with 

 the previous crop. The objection is that dung 

 forces the growth so rapidly, that the plants draw 

 up weak, have a thin bark, and are more liable to 

 lodge. Lime, marie, shells, &c. do not produce 

 such effects. Top dressing, soon after the plants 

 appear, of plaster, ashes, soot, &c. are highly 

 beneficial, as they not only encourage the growth, 



but are a protection against worms, which some- 

 times attack the young plants," &c. 



Again, " It is not unfrequent in Ireland to ob- 

 tain crops of (lax From green sward, on which they 

 put lime, shells, limestone, gravel. \e. 



LEGISLATIVE liOlSTIEU TO AGRICULTURAL. 

 SOCIETIES. 



Wr. are apprehensive lest, in the midst of our 

 political disputes, ami the agital ii ns which are cur- 

 rent among dealers in currency, the mainspring of 

 nal and individual prosperity, will not receive 

 the attention which is necessary to ensure us any 

 thing worth contending about. Let us not while 

 snatching at shadows, lose the substances of which 

 the former are hut typical ; ami while we disagree 

 about deposits, neglect the great source of every 

 thing worth depositing. 



It is a fact of primary importance to all, who 

 are not sufficiently ethereal to live without food or 

 raiment, that the bounty heretofore granted for the 

 encouragement of Agricultural Societies by the 

 Commonwealth of Massachusetts, will cease after 

 the 20th of February next, unless something is ef- 

 fected to continue the same. The benefits which 

 have resulted from this well bestowed premium are 

 too obvious and too generally acknowledged, to 

 need any thing more than " a word to the wise." 



ITEMS OF IJVTELLIGEKCE. 



Black Tongue. A gentleman who has horses recov- 

 ering from this disease, informs us that Pepper, Salt and 

 Vinegar mixed, arid used as a wash for the mouth, has 

 had the most beneficial results — that one horse who had 

 refused food and water for four da} r s, immediately upon 

 washing the mouth with this mixture, and after swallow- 

 ing a small quantity, drank heartily, and upon placing 

 hay before him, fell to eating eagerly. lie states that 

 his horses are rapidly recovering under this treatment. — 

 JV. H. Spectator. 



Gypsum. — We learn from the Ithaca Journal, that an 

 extensive bed of gypsum has been discovered upon the 

 land of Mr. T. M. Ecker, on the Cascadilla creek, one 

 mile east of the village of Ithaca. The quantity is said 

 to be inexhaustible, an analysis proves the quality to be 

 excellent. It resembles the blue variety of Nova Scotia 

 It has been tested by several farmers, who certify to ite 

 utility. 



The N. Y. Gazette states, that Dr. Smith of Washing- 

 ton, having devoted 2(1 years to perfecting the Mariner's 

 Compass, has succeeded in making one proof against the 

 attraction of iron on shipboard. The value of his inven- 

 tion has been tested in the Navy for three years, and ap- 

 proved of by the Secretary of the Navy, and the several 

 commanders who have tried it; and they are now offered 

 for general use. 



A distressing disease of a very fatal character, says the 

 New Haven Herald, exists at Killing worth, Conn. Elev- 

 en persons have died in a few weeks, and none who are 

 attacked with it recover. 



Very complete arrangements have been made within 

 the past year to establish a new Cattle Market, in Gam- 

 bridge, Mass. on the spot where formerly stood the old 

 1 Davenport Tavern,' well known to all who have driv- 

 en cattle to Brighton for the last fifty years. Very spa- 

 cious yards have been hud out, and extensive buildings 

 erected. The new Market will meet, we think, the 

 wishes of the drovers and butchers, who have loudly com- 

 plained of the inconvenience attending the present state 

 of things. — Brattieboro'' Inquirer. 



The Haverhill Gazette states that the disease of black 

 orburnt tongue prevails to a great extent in that vicinity, 

 and that several valuable horses have died of it. 



