VOL. XII. NO. 40. 



AND HORTICULTURAL JOURNAL 



31. 



and successful effort to advance the objects of pub- 

 lic usefulness for which we have associated, and 

 for which we have met on this occasion. 



COMMUNICATIONS. 



For the New England Farmer, 

 SOWING AND TRANSPLANTING. 



Mr. Editor, One of the principal causes of the 

 failure of many seeds, is the hardening of the sur- 

 face of the ground by rains or watering, so that the 



young plant is unable to rise through the soil. 

 Last spring it occurred to me that this might ea- 

 sily be prevented by the use of a little sand. 1 

 first covered my delicate flower seeds, &C. very 

 slightly, or not at all, with the common earth of 

 the garden, thru strewed fine sand upon them, 

 about an inch deep, and watered heavily and fre- 

 quently upon the sand. ( found it to entirely an- 

 swer my expectations. Out of forty kinds of flow- 

 er seeds I had lost very many every season. 



Transplanting Implements. Several complica- 

 ted transplanting instruments, consisting of sever- 

 al pieces, are described in the books, but I believe 

 that one which I made and used last summer will 

 be found to answer almost every purpose. It con- 

 sists of a simple cylinder of tin plate equal through- 

 out, the top edge being turned over so as not to 

 cut the hand. They may be made of any size, 

 hut the best for ordinary purposes are about 8 or 

 10 inches high, and 4 or 5 in diameter. It is plac- 

 ed over the young plant about to be removed, and 

 pushed down a few inches into the soil, nearly or 

 quite to the bottom of the roots ; it is then taken 

 up, bringing the earth and plant with it. Being 

 then carried to the place where it is wished to set 

 the plant, and the bole being previously made to 

 receive it, it is set in the hole, and a few strokes 

 from the digger on the outside loosens it, and 

 leaves the plant erect in its place, with all the 

 earth in a circular mass about it, when the trans- 

 planter is removed. The ease and neatness with 

 which the operation is performed is very striking. 

 A plant may be kept in the transplanter for sever- 

 al days uninjured, and carried to almost any dis- 

 tance. I have sent to Mr. Barrelt three transplan- 

 ters of different sizes, which will perhaps explain 

 themselves better than my description. 



William Oakes. 



Ipswich, April 8, 1834. 



By the Editor. Mr. Oakes lias much obliged 

 us, and we believe conferred a favor on practical 

 cultivators by the above valuable communication. 

 The Transplanters are received, and may be in- 

 spected at the Agricultural Warehouse, No. 52 

 North Market street. 



M ASS. HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.' 



Saturday, .ipril 12th, 1834. 



The following letter was read to the Society. 

 Gen. Dearborn, Pres. of the Mass. Hor. Society: 



Dear Sir, More than a year since some seeds 

 of the Deodana, which came to me from England 

 were sent to the Horticultural Society, and to oth- 

 er persons, but as far as 1 have heard none of them 

 came up. Through the kindness of Dr. Wallich 

 I have just received others direct from Calcutta, 

 by the Tuscany, of which Dr. VV. says in a letter 

 accompanying them " you will find perfectly fresh 

 and gooil seeds of the Deodana or Himalayah Ce- 

 dar, (Finns Deodana Rex) one of the noblest trees 

 in the wo*'ld, fully equal in beauty ami size to the 

 cedar of Lebanon, and far exceeding it in the fra- 



grance of its wood. 1 should imagine the trees 

 woidd grow well in your Boston Climate." I 

 take the liberty of sending- yon a few of these seeds, 

 and have no doubt from their still fresh appear- 

 ance that, if they should be committed to the care 

 of the Society's intelligent gardener, most of them 

 will grow. 



I am respectfully your ob't servant, 



Jrr. \V. Boott. 



At the meeting of the Society, held at their 

 room on Saturday April 12th, 1834, the following 

 business was transacted. 



Voted. That the individuals chosen as a com- 

 mitteeof Finance at a former meeting, shall consti- 

 lute the same committee for the residue ofthe year. 



Voted. That the thanks of this Society he pre- 

 sented to Captain Charles Sumner for his valua- 

 ble donation of seeds. 



Voted. That the thanks of the Society be pre- 

 sented to John \V. Boott, Esq. for a donation of 

 seeds, ofthe Pinus deodana, just received by him 

 from Calcutta. 



Voted. That the seeds be placed in the hands 

 ofthe gardener at Mount Auburn. 



J. T. Wheelwright elected a subscription mem- 

 ber. — adjourned, 



Chas. M. Hovey, Sec. pro tern. 



FRUITS EXHIBITED. 



Apples. Golden Kussett, from the farm of Ad- 

 miral Sir Isaac Coffin, Brighton, by the Messrs. 

 Winships. 



1\ nnock's Red Winter, from Mr. R. Manning, 



Salem. 



Borne de Api or Lady Apple, from Mr. E. M. 

 Richards, Dedham. 



Malmsey Wine, made from the native grape, by 

 Mr. J. F. Strut, Saugus, presented by Dr. S. A. 

 Shurtlefij Boston. 



Scions of the Dix Pear were presented bv Mr. E. 

 Bartlett, Roxbury, and distributed to the members. 

 For the Committee, B. V. French. 



EXHIBITION OF FLOWERS. 



By Thomas Mason, Charlestown Vineyard, Poe- 

 onia moutan, rosea; Ixia crocata ; Nerium splen- 

 den; Pittosporem tohira; Tea and other roses, and 

 fourteen varieties of Geraniums. 



By order ofthe Committee, 



Jona. Winship, Chairman. 



GRAFTING. 



Grafting is a mode of propagating varieties 

 of fruit of esteemed quality. Grafts may be cut 

 at any time after the fall of the leaf in autumn, 

 and before the buds begin to swell in spring. 

 They should be of the preceding year's growth, 

 are best from bearing trees and exterior limbs. 

 They may be preserved by imbedding their larger 

 ends in clay, a potato, or in moist earth in a cel- 

 lar in winter, or in the open ground, partially or 

 wholly covered in the spring. Grafts are annual- 

 ly sent across the Atlantic. The great care should 

 be, that they are not kept too warm or too moist, 

 so that the buds swell before they are wanted for 

 use. The rationale of grafting will suggest the 

 time and the manner in which it should be done. 

 The scion and graft are to be so adjusted that the 

 sap wood ofthe stock, by which the sap ascends 

 from the roots, comes in contact with the sap 

 wood ofthe scion ; and a like adjustment must be 

 observed between the inner hark of both through 

 which the sap descends from the graft to the stock, 

 after it has been elaborated in the leaves. With- 



out the first precaution, the sap will not reach the 

 graft, which will consequently shrivel and die. 

 Without the last, the graft cannot knit or unite to 

 the stock ; for it is the descending sap which 

 forms the new wood, and which indeed causes the 

 graft to send its roots down into the earth, upon 

 the outside of the wood, but under the hark of 

 the stock. The union can only tfike place after 

 the sap has begun to circulate in the stock which 

 is when the buds are bursting. The clay or com- 

 position is applied to exclude the drying influence 

 ofthe air, and sun, and also rain from the wound 

 until a complete union has taken place. The 

 graft does not become injured by bring somewhat 

 shrivelled before it is inserted ; but if it appears 

 too much so, it may be buried r few hours in 

 moist earth before it is used. The compositions 

 used as substitutes for clay are many. A good 

 one is one part tallow, two parts beeswax, and four 

 parts rosin, melted and incorporated like shoema- 

 ker's wax. If the weather is cold this will require 

 to be softened by immersing it a time in warm 

 water. A thin layer of this covering the end of 

 the stock, and the slit will suffice. With the ad- 

 dition of a little more tallow, the composition may 

 be spread upon linen or cotton cloth, when warm, 

 and the cloth cut to the required size for a graft, 

 and applied with less trouble in the form of a pre- 

 pared plaster. The different processes of grafting 

 are so generally known that we need not detail 

 them ; our object being only to throw out such 

 suggestions as may tend to render the success of 

 the operation more certain. — Cultivator. 



REARING CALVES. 



The following is the general method of rearing 

 calves in Britain, and differs not materially from 

 that followed by Bakewell, the great cattle breeder. 



" The calves sucked for a week or fortnight, ac- 

 cording to their strength ; new milk in a pail was 

 then given a few meals; next new milk and skim- 

 milk mixed, a few meals more; then skim-milk 

 alone, or porridge made with milk, water, ground 

 oats, &c. and sometimes oil cake, until cheese- 

 making commenced, if it was a dairy farm ; after 

 which, whey porridge, or sweet whey, in the field, 

 being careful to house them in the night, until the 

 warm weather was confirmed. Bull calves, and 

 high-bred heifers, however, were suffered to re- 

 main at the tile until they were six, nine, or per- 

 haps twelve months old, letting them run with 

 their dams, or more frequently less valuable cows 

 or heifers." 



It is to be remarked, that they have no Indian 

 meal in Britain. This is substituted with us, for 

 oatmeal, and even oil cake. A handful put into 

 skim-milk or whey, for calves, improves their con- 

 dition greatly. — Genesee Farmer. 



RATS IN JAMAICA. 



In no country is there a creature so destructive 

 of properly as the rat is in Jamaica; their ravages 

 are inconceivable. One year with another, it is 

 supposed that they destroy at least about a twen- 

 tieth part of the sugar-canes throughout the island, 

 amounting to little short of half a million of dollars 

 currency per annum. The sugar-cane is their 

 favorite food ; but they also prey upon the Indian 

 corn, on all the fruits thai are accessible to them, 

 and on many of the roots. Some idea will be 

 formed of the immense swarms of these destructive 

 animals that infest these islands, from the fact, that 

 on a single plantation 38,000 vvere destroyed in 

 one year. 



