]^EW 



VOL. X. 



PUBLISHED BY J. B. RUSSELL^N0^52^INORTH MARKET STREET, (at thk Aoriculturai. Wa«7^k.)-T. G. FESSENDENy EDITOR 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, MARCH 7, 1833. 



NO. 34. 



ORIGINAL AGRICULTURAL KSSAVS. 



DWARFING TREES. 



The art of dwarfing trees, consists in grafting 

 or budding the desired fruit, upon dwarf varieties 

 of the same genera. Thus the apple is dwarfed 

 by putting it on the paradise stocit, aiid partially 

 by working it on the wild crab ; the pear is dwarf- 

 ed by working it on the quince, or the hawthorn, 

 or wild thorn ; the cherry, by grafting on a dwiirf 

 variety termed the beach or sand cherry. Friiif 

 trees are also rendered comparatively dwarf riid 

 early bearers, by permitting the first side shoots to 

 remain at proper distances to become hearing 

 wood. By annually cutting off the lower hr^u- 

 ches, to produce standards or high tops, we pro- 

 portionally delay the season of fruiting. Van 

 Mons, in his successful experiments in producing 

 new varieties of the pear, loft the first branches to 

 grow, and thus often obtained iiuit in from four to 

 six years from the seed. In this way dwarf plums, 

 peaches, and nectarines, are produced on the stock 

 of the muscle plum. Whatever retards the 

 growth of wood, in a tree of beating age, induces 

 the production of fruit; and a tree seldom maives 

 much new wood while sustaining ^ heavy croi> of 

 fruit. The precocity of dwarfs is owing to the 

 diminished circulation of sap, consccjient upon the 

 sap vessels of the stock being moi<» limited or 

 contracted than those of the graft ; or by the ma- 

 turity of the branches which are sufFft-ed to re- 

 main near the ground. 



It ;ipriii, -ja> loiiiafk, i"„„, „i.'Vearri <Jrtli uott^e 

 or do well upon the quince. The words pear, pear 

 and quince, in the table you published, although 

 not understood, and sent to you by mistake, indi- 

 cate the stock upon which the kinds may be work- 

 ed with advantage. Those with quince, in the 

 column of ripening, produce better on the quince 

 than on the pear. The breaking pears are gener- 

 ally best on the pear stock. I have liec6me so 

 sensible of the advantage of dwarfs for early 

 bearing, that we have sent an order to France for 

 three or four hundred of the best varieties of the 

 pear upon the quince, to supply customers to our 

 nursery. It should also be borne in mind, that in 

 dwarfs, the scion overgrows the stock ; and tliat 

 hence it is necessary to graft near the surface of 

 the ground, or under it. I have several pears 

 now growing upon the hawthorn, which were 

 grafted in 1827 ; but they have not produced, nor 

 do they promise much. Dwarfs upon the quince 

 should be planted in a quince soil ; that is, one 

 that is moist, and rather stiff than sandy. 



Mbamj Mirseri/, Feb. 21, 1832. J. B. 



the manure, that 1 have anywhere witnessed. I 

 saw it at the farm of Dr liosack, at Hyde Park. 

 The Doctor is nice in everything he undertakes ; 

 and my oiily fear is, that farmers will be deterred 

 fiom imitatiiig his example, from a fear that they 

 cannot equal it. 



The Doctor's cattle yard is nearly a square, sur- 

 rounded by an extensive barn on the north, cattle 

 sheds on the east and west, the two latter termin- 

 ating on the south in two more elevated structures, 

 wliich serve for farm carriages, implements and 

 work-shops. The whole has a gentle slope to the 

 centre, which is puddled and gravelled so as to 

 become impervious and firm. Over this he has 

 a cheap octagon cover erected, about fortyfive feet 

 in diameter, supported by the centi-al and exterior 

 Jiarts and covered with boards. Poles extending 

 under this roof, constitute a comfortable roost for 

 his fowls. This centre forms a reservoir, |)rotect- 

 ed from the storms and the sun, for all the manure 

 ofthe yard and stables, including urine and hen- 

 dung, into which it is daily collected, when prac- 

 ticable. His stables are dcHible, that is, they ad- 

 mit two rows of cattle, their heads turned from 

 each other ; they are paved and sloped to the cen- 

 tre, from whence a paved gutter leads to the 

 stereorai-y, or central deposit. At a proper ele- 

 ration in the stercorary, a grate is fixed, opening 

 into a drain, into which the liquids ofthe sterco- 

 rary pass, and by which they are conducted to a 

 large«tank or cistern in the kitchen garden, which 

 is lower than the cattle yards. This cistern is 

 famished' with a ptitrip, fey tvhicli this liquidliia- 

 nure is afterwards raised into spouts which con- 

 duct it through the garden, pr it is taken from the 

 cistern to other grounds. In this way, the Doctor 

 has increased, probably one third, the quantity of 

 his vegetable food. J. B. 



^Utamj JVursery, Feb. 23, 1832. 



MANURES 



Manures are to the vegetable, what grain and 

 forage are to the animal products ofthe farm — 

 the food which sustains and brings them to per- 

 fection. 1 do not see, therefore, wliy Swift's com- 

 mendation will not a])ply as well to him, who in- 

 creases the food of vegetables, as to him who 

 increases the food of animals, by causing a new 

 blade of grass to grow. Without, however, mean- 

 ing to raise a question upon this point, I jm 

 anxious to communicate to your readers, one of 

 the best contrivances for saving manure, andall 



AGRICULTURE, HARVESTING CORN, &c. 



Mr Editor — The science of agriculture is not 

 yet well understood in New England ; although 

 many intelligent farmers are beginning to devote 

 much of their attention to it ; and many valuable 

 improvements and discoveries have been made. 

 Farmers have much to learn, and much more than 

 they are generally willing to admit. To advance 

 this most important science and spread light among 

 farmers, the pid)licatiou of the "jVeio England 

 Farmer " has already exerted the most salutary in- 

 fluence, and we trust that the great variety of the- 

 ories, experiments, and useful remarks which 

 enlightened agriculturists may communicate for 

 your paper, will have a certain tendency to dissi- 

 pate the clouds of mental darkness, which still 

 hang over the prospects ofthe most useful class 

 of citizens in the community. After the lapse of 

 half a century, those who may then till the soil, 

 will probably look back with deep regret and as- 

 tonishment, at the gross ignorance under which 

 we now labor, in om- agricultural pursuits. 



Those who have had an opportunity to examine 

 the fertile, fruitful fields in England,"France, and 

 some other countries, will not feel disposed to take 

 offence at my remarks. There the state of agri- 

 culture is, perhaps, half a century in advance of 

 its state in this country. The science of agricul- 



ture is not of easy attainment— it embraces much 

 practical and theoretical knowledge, and the 

 knowledge of a great variety of subjects having an 

 intiniiilB connexion whh it; and much study, clds^ 

 rillcctiim, and long experience are necessary 1o- 

 its ac(i/iisition. • In respect to myself, Sir, Iain 

 ready ^> confesS.my ignorance of this science ; and 

 the few years jn which I have been engaged in 

 agriculjiral pursuits, and the mformation acquired 

 in prof s.-',ionaJ studies, tend to force upon my 

 mind tje conviction of this ignorance ; and at the 

 same tjne I must admit that I can acquire but 

 very l^i'iled information, from mere practical 

 farmerij, who are resolved to follow the old beaten 

 IJath ill which their fathers trod. New experi- 

 ments^Mic best kinds of seeds, improved breeds of 

 cattle^ new- methods of obtaining manures, &c, 

 they generally aonsider silly notions of mere theo- 

 risis, and some even ridicule Agricultural Socie- 

 ties -H^ich have been attended with the most 

 auspicious results, in this as well as in other coun- 

 tries. I 



Th*e, however, who make useful experiments 

 may, iossibly, by giving the same publicity, do 

 some/ienefit even to that class of farmers. 



I (herefore, at this time, communicate to you 

 but two experimerits (new in this quarter, biitnot 

 so ii some of the southern and middle Slates,) 

 made on my farm in this vicinity. 



I noticed a statement in the N. E. Parmer, by 

 which it appeared that the early topjiing or cutting 

 corn .);^-» Iks, proved, upon fair experiment, to b& 

 injtlViolfe to the ears of com, and that the com 

 not topped at all was heavier than that which was 

 topped. All tjie farmers in New Hampshire, I 

 believe, are in Uie habit of cutting the stalks while 

 the corn is. in the milk, or before the inner part of 

 the kernel is hard. A little reflection convinced 

 me that this practice is wrong. I this year raised 

 between two and three hundred bushels, and suf- 

 fered no part ofthe corn to be topped. After the 

 corn was fully ripe, I commenced by having the 

 corn cut close to the ground, tied in small bundles 

 and put into small shocks by the side ofthe corn 

 field, to dry, and thence conveyed to the barn ; a 

 practice which in common seasons will be benefi- 

 cial—but afterwards I found the com so ftdly ripe 

 and dry, standing in the field, that I had it cut 

 close to the ground and conveyed in small loads 

 to the barn, husked immediately and put into a 

 granary made for the purpose, standing on posts, 

 jiroperly ventilated. The result was that my corn 

 was very heavy, large, perfectly sound, and » as 

 sweet as a nut." Many cars were found from 

 twelve to fourteen inches in length. But I plant 

 a large kind of yellow corn ; the kernel is very 

 large. Many have expressed an opinion that they 

 never tasted bread, made of it, so sweet and of 

 such fine flavor. I have never known any com 

 equal to it, although it is well known that we 

 never had a season more favorable to corn. The 

 cattle appear to relish the stalks as well as those 

 cut green— there is no lofes in this particular— but 

 a gain, in respect to the under stalks, often left 

 exposed in the field after the corn is gathered. 



There can scarcely be a doubt but what the 

 corn will ripen earlier and be heavier, by suffering 

 ' the tops to remain until the corn is fultt/ ripe. It 



