NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



March 21, 1832. 



preservation of fruits, i\nd tlieir various prejiara- 

 tions in houseliokl econoiiiy, &c. 



By collecting together the practical knowledge 

 of our l)est farmers anJ gardeners, in tlieir respec- 

 tive brandies of labor, a very valuable fund of in- 

 furniation will be obtained, which, while it iiiipov- 

 frlshrs not the contributors, cannot fail to enrich, 

 very greatly, the community at large. Such con- 

 tributions, like the offerings of charity, are blessed 

 to the giver as well as the receiver. It is a satis- 

 ihctiou, perhaps somewhat peculiar to the philan- 

 thropic tiller of the soil, that while he is improv- 

 ing by intelligence, skill and industry, his own 

 temporal and moral condition, he is, by his exani- 

 ])le, benefitting those around him, and that his 

 benefactions, in this way, are co-e.xtensive with 

 the knowledge and importance of his improve- 

 ments. 



Your name has been inserted on the general 

 committee, under the impression that the society 

 would find in you an etficient co-operator in their 

 labors of usefidness. Should you, however, un- 

 expectedly decline the duties which the appoint- 

 ment imposes, I beg to be notified thereof as early 

 as nun iiiicnt, that the executive conmiittee may 

 apjiiiiul another in your stead. 



As the society propose to issue their first publi- 

 cation in the present year, it is desirable that com- 

 munications intended for the publication, the invi- 

 tation for which is intended to be general, should 

 be forwarded to me as early in the autumn as con- 

 venient. Very respectfully, 



J. BUEL, Cor. Sec'ij. 



should be made in .June, and in Jidy should be 

 (hank, &:c. It shoidd be made one mouth, at 

 least, before it is used, to give it time to ferment 

 and lose that quality which makes it deleterious 

 to many, while in a state of fermentation. I re- 

 conmiended to make it in .(une, that it may be 

 ready for July, when farmers and farmers' boys 

 (too many of them, at least,) think they must be- 

 gin to drink ruin, if they have not begun before; 

 a practice which cannot be too severely censured 

 or too quickly abandoned, as it has, in thousands 

 of instances, been the very nursery of intemper- 

 ance, that remorseless enemy of the farmer's hopes 

 and interests, whose very touch is pollution, whose 

 embrace is death. Yours very respectfully, 

 .INO.TOWNSEND. 

 Andover, Con. March, 1839. 



ON PUESERVIXG CABBAGES THROUGH 

 THE WINTER, &c. 



To those who are fond of fresh cabbages at this 

 season of the year, the following information may 

 be serviceable. To preseh'C theni, dig a trench 

 about six inches deep, in dry gro'und and wide 

 enough to admit the heads of the cabbage; lay two 

 sticks parallel with each other on the bottom of 

 the trench, for the heads to j-est on, to keep them 

 from the ground ; place the heads on the sticks 

 with the roots up, and surround them with straw ; 

 then cover them with earth six or eight inches 

 deep, having the ground sloping to carry oft" the 

 rains; they will come out in the spring sound, 

 fresh and tender, as they were when gathered. 



Is it known, generally, that the sap of the biit- 

 teruut tree is better and richer, than that of the 

 rock or sugar maple ? I confess I was ignorant 

 of the fact till withiu two days past. 



Two years ago last fall, I filled two flour bar- 

 rels with fine winter apples of diflerent varieties, 

 packed in sand previously dried with a good deal of 

 care in an oven, and set thein away in a di-y cool 

 room, designing to keep them till spring ; but long 

 before that time, I discovered to my mortification, 

 that my apples were nearly all rotten and spoiled. 

 Will gentlemen, who have been successful in |ue- 

 serving them in sand or otherwise, be so obliging 

 as to mform your readers of the precise method 

 to be pursued.' 



I fear your printer has seasoned my hop beer 

 rather too high with ginger, to make it a cooling 

 driiA for hot weather ; it may be thought, perhaps, 

 to be too nearly allied, in some of its projierties, 

 to that kind of drink for which it is recommended 

 as a substitute — (instead of 11 lb. I said i lb. 

 which gives it an agreeable flavor.) You make 

 nie intimate that there are but two months in 

 twelve, when it may be made. I said that it 



HORTICULTURAL PREMIUMS. 

 Mr Editor, 



Dear Sir — It is w-itli much reluctance, that I 

 again trespass upon the patience of your readers, 

 (for they undoubtedly wish for something more in- 

 structive,) in giving my views in full, upon the 

 first remarks I made, respecting premiums, &c. 

 I cannot but think it of great importance to the fu- 

 ture success of horticulture, that all difference of 

 opinion, esp(>cially with those who are most par- 

 ticularly interested, should be as nearly as possible 

 adjusted. It is only by the combined efforts of 

 many, that our transactions can be brought to any 

 good effect. But I am now induced to mak(^ the 

 following remarks, on reading in your No. of the 

 22d inst. the communcaition of "A Cultivator," in 

 answer to my first essay. As your correspondent 

 says, he dissented very far from me in some |)oints 

 of facts, he has given it quite a thorough review, 

 in the form of an examination. I am heartily 

 glad he has ; for I wrote, or at least it was not my 

 intention to write, anything which would not bear 

 the most severe scrutiny ; and who is there better 

 able to review such a communication, than " A 

 Cultivator." I feed myself amply comiiensiited for 

 the little lime I have spent ; and certainly, I can- 

 not but feel highly flattered, in receiving the early 

 attention of " A Practical Horticulturist," and "A 

 Cultivator," in answer to the few hints and sug 

 gestions which I advanced. Your correspondent 

 admits, that he has no doubt I "was influenced by 

 tlie best motives," and most as.suredly I had no 

 other ; yet he says, that such " sweeping censure" 

 is not particularly acceptable, to those upon whom 

 he fhinks it directly reflects ; and accuses me of 

 not proposing a " remedy " for the defects I dis- 

 cover — where, he says, in fact, there are none. 

 After a long quotation from my communication, in 

 regard to cucumbers, &c, he goes on to " deduce 

 his inferences " and give us his objections. 



All ])remiums, he says, " are but means to an 

 end." First — to increase " certain skill " in the 

 competitors, and produce an ultimate result. I 

 admit it. But what is /lis ultimate result ? The 

 object of the articles enumerated on the premium 

 list, he immediately says, is precocity of growth 

 And is this the result of " certain skill " in com 

 petitors ? Is it the result of any skill ? certainlv 

 not. " Precocity of season," is one thing intended 

 undoubtedly ; but I would ask, if a person were to 

 cultivate a cucumber, and ])roduce it on the first 

 Saturday in July, and it should be perhaps a small, 

 half-grown, premature fruit of no flavor; would 

 he be entitled to the " certain skill " of the one, 

 who should present one on the second Saturday, 



lidl grin\ii, f)f good size and flavor, and beautiful 

 culor ? VVoidd the precocity of growth of the 

 first, predominate over the " certain skill " of the 

 other, who perhaps planted his seed quite as early, 

 but w as not favored with a jiiece of land particu- 

 larly fitted for the growth of early vegetables? 

 N(Uie would hesitate to say, he would not. The 

 very quotation he has taken from a periodical, an- 

 swers this question much more satisfaclorily than 

 lean. "The best dish of cherries gathered in 

 July, perhaps, liom standard trees planted twenty 

 years ago, may imply but slender merit in the 

 person who produced them." The good qualities 

 of fruits and vegetables are what is mostly to be 

 considered. As to bringing cucumber plants for- 

 ward under a hand glass, so as to make a week's 

 diftereiice, it is a fallacy ; they may be used to 

 cover plants in chilly nights, or a few hoops with 

 a cloth and a little straw covered over, may be 

 used for the same purpose ; but no other. The 

 heat of the sun through the glass upon the plants, 

 is of very little use, so early in the season, if there 

 is not heat underneath. The idea is not in keep- 

 ing with vegetable or animal nature. Would an- 

 imal (or vegetable) existence be kept in good 

 health, would perspiration go on in its proper 

 course, would not the whole system be vitiated, 

 were one half of the body situated in the temper- 

 ature of an ice cellar and the other in that of the 

 torrid zone ? I leave this for your correspondent 

 to solve. 



Perhaps I have been led from a proper course ;■ 

 and 1 shall go back to the first jiart of this com- 

 munication. He says, that "although it is no very 

 difficult matter to grow a beet, or a carrot, yet a 

 novice would fiuil s<unething to do, to insure an 

 early crop ; and if pursued as an object of field 

 culture," &e. Who is there who doubts that as 

 ,111 object of field culture for insuring large crops, 

 and cultivating them as articles of fi.od for horses, 

 cattle, hogs, &c ; who doubts the propriety of a 

 premium? Who doubts the propriety of a very 

 large jiremiimi ? It is in this manner we find out 

 who tills his land to the most advantage, and who 

 is the most industrious fiirmer. But the Agricul- 

 tural Society, if I recollect right, sjiecifies no pre- 

 cocity of growth. 



I come now to the most important part of your 

 corresponileirt's comnmnicntion ; the part which, 

 in fiict, almost alone ealle<l forth iny remarks at 

 this time. That is, to show his love and desire 

 (or the future advancement of the distinguished 

 science of horticulture. I could not have suppo- 

 sed, that there was to be found an individual who 

 has any regard for that science, who wishes for its 

 best interests and success, that would have indulg- 

 ed in such sentiments as "A Cultivator." We 

 should soon go back to the primitive age from: 

 which we have been so rapidly emerging. If, by 

 the beneficence of a Divine Providence, we live in 

 a country blessed with health, wealth, and pros- 

 perity ; if we live in a land where we never knew 

 want, and have the assurance, that "seed-time'and 

 harvest shall never cease," where the beauties of 

 spring revive in new splendor after bursting the 

 icy fetters of winter, and the warm days of sum- 

 mer clothe our fields and forests with green, and 

 scatter over the pastures a profusion of flowers ot 

 endless hues ; where the fruits rijien in such 

 abundance, nurtured without the hand of man > 

 where we have all these in plenty in the natural seaj 

 son; can we say that we should dispense with all lux- 

 uries ; can we say it is useless to have ripe niel- 



