1858. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



443 



cherry trees are left to grow without manure or 

 culture, they do not grow faster than Indian corn 

 treated in the same M'ay. Weeds, grasses and 

 oushes take away the moisture and nutritious 

 particles of the soil, just as they do from corn 

 and rye. In a word, their growth is blasted. 



Nothing is more common than for one tree or 

 plant to blast another by abstracting its moisture 

 and nourishment, and by obstructing its light. 

 Notice the little trees growing in the vicinity and 

 shade of larger ones. We all know how quickly 

 weeds and grasses blast Indian corn by absorbing 

 the moisture and manure of the surrounding soil. 

 If we wish, therefore, to raise an orchard in the 

 shortest possible time, we iiave only to treat it 

 precisely as we do a cornfield. The trees must 

 have a nursery-treatment until they attain to a 

 middling size. Neither weeds, grass, nor any 

 other plants, should be allowed to grow near them 

 or in the same field. The trees should every year 

 be manured with rich compost, and kept well 

 plowed and hoed. They will then have nothing 

 to impede their growth, and \\'ill rapidly attain to 

 a large size. An orchai'd treated like an Indian 

 cornfield, where fifty bushels to the acre are ex- 

 pected, would be none too well to experience the 

 full benefit of the agricultural art, as it may be 

 known at the present time. Under such a treat- 

 ment they will attain to a greater size in seven 

 years than in twenty, v/here they are left to them- 

 selves in an ordinary soil, to contend with weeds, 

 grasses and bushes of all descriptions. Mind it 

 where you will, those apple trees which grow 

 near houses and barns, where the soil is the rich- 

 est of any part of the farm, always grow rapidly, 

 5'ield fruit abundantly, and of the largest size. 

 Never be afraid of making the soil too rich ; the 

 richest new land has never been found too much 

 so for fruit trees. Any Land which is good for 

 Indian corn, rye and wheat, is good for an orch- 

 ard of apple trees. But avoid low, wet, clayey 

 land, or land adapted to marsh grasses. It is 

 neither congenial to the tree nor the fruit. Peo- 

 ple are so much accustomed to seeing orchards 

 grow in a slow way, without manure or cultiva- 

 tion, that they are discouraged from planting 

 them. Their patience is taxed too severely. In 

 general they see the trees growing, or rather ex- 

 isting, twenty or twenty-five years, before they 

 attain even to a middling size, whereas thrifty 

 nursery trees three years of age, set in a genial 

 soil, may easily be made to yield fruit in good 

 quantity in four years more. Many trees in a 

 genial soil grow as rapidly as Indian corn. They 

 will show as great a length of stem, in the same 

 time. If you wish to raise a large tree in a short 

 space of time, you must give it as much food and 

 drink as it wants, in the same way that you raise 

 a large calf or a large turkey. Drink, especial- 

 ly, is everything to a tree, and, nothing else should 

 absorb ic. To serve them rightly, they should, 

 in a dry time, be watered artificially. 



Rural Arts. 



Providence, R. I., July 1, 1858. 



White Winter Flint Wheat. — A specimen 

 before us from Mr. Edwin Tower is very fine 

 indeed ; the berries are large, plump and clear. 

 It was raised on his grounds at South Hingham, 



and at the rate of tJmiy-two bushels per acre. 

 Such wheat is well worth $2,50 a bushel for seed. 

 Fifty-Jive dollars an acre, beside the straw, is a 

 good product. We are quite confident that our 

 people do not yet fully appreciate the value of 

 this crop. A single acre of wheat like this on 

 one of our small New England farms is an item 

 of importance to the family, as it would leave the 

 cash usually expended for flour to pay taxes or 

 grocery bills. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 MOVING FOWBB. OF MO"WEHS. 



An "old subscriber" asks whether oxen can be 

 advantageously used in the mowing field for the 

 cutting of grass ? I think not, when horses can 

 be had, because horses are more conveniently 

 guided, and are more expeditious in their move- 

 ments. On a neighbor's farm I have seen a 

 Kdcliwii's Moiaer operated for several years by 

 ox-power, and my impression has been, it wa.s 

 not the best of power for this purpose. It will 

 do when no better can be had, but it is not a 

 power to be recommended. So habituated are 

 many of our farmers to the labor of the ox, that 

 they seem to have no idea of anything being 

 done without them. It is fair to say, that a pair 

 of horses will move one-third faster than oxen, 

 and that the driver can be better accommodated, 

 when sitting upon the machine, than by being on 

 foot by the side of the oxen. When thus on the 

 machine, he can better adapt it to unevenness of 

 surface or any obstruction that may be in the 

 way ; for very few of our fields are so completely 

 even and smooth, as not to need ttiese precau- 

 tions. 



The best mowing I have witnessed has been 

 done by Alleii's Machine. This moves with com- 

 parative ease of draft and without clogging. It 

 will cut a swath full four feet wide, and when the 

 team moves at the rate of three and a half miles 

 an hour, it is easy to show that an acre an hour 

 can be completed, leaving sufficient time for rest 

 and repairs. I do not mean to say that other 

 machines will not do equally well — I only speak 

 of what I have actually witnessed. *. 



Sept. 4, 1858. 



ESSEX AGKlCULTUBAIi SOCIETY. 

 The records of this time-honored Association 

 show that the office of President has been holden 

 as follows : by 



T. Pickering, from 1818 to 1828 10 years. 



F. Howes, from 1828 to 1831 3 " 



E. Moseiy, from 1831 to 1836 5 " 



J. H. Duncan, from 1836 to 1839 3 " 



J. Kittr>as?e, from 1839 to 1841 2 " 



L. Saltonstall, from 1841 to 1845 4 " 



J. W. Proctor, from 1845 to 1852 7 " 



M. Newell, from 1852 to 1856 4 " 



R. S. Fay, from 1856 to 1858 2 " 



40 years. 



Of whom Messrs. Duncan, Proctor and Fay 

 still live. Its vested fund exceeds $10,000, and 

 it has an experimental farm, valued at $6,000. 

 Few societies have been more faithful to theii 

 trust — long may it prosper. 



