90 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



March 28, 1832. 



to increase the <iiMntity of manure. Every blade 

 mid stalk wliich a farm pioduees and is not con- 

 sumed by some animal, should be returned to it 

 ao-ain in shape of ntanure. Our oat and barley 

 straw are eaten by some portion of the stock, in- 

 stead of hay. Some of our rye straw we cut to 

 mix with other provender, and the remainder is 

 all wanted for littering stalls. We must find some 

 substance with which to litter our yards, for which 

 purpose potato vines and the weeds growing among 

 them, if their seeds are green, must not be forgot- 

 ten. Instead of caning in loam and having the 

 trouble of carting it out again, 1 only use dry veg- 

 etable substances, as the loam can be added in the 

 compost bed. The sides of fences, where sheep 

 have lain about the farm, and under trees, in sit- 

 uations which would not benefit any crop, may be 

 ploughed up, drawn into heaps with a hoe or 

 shovel and left to ferment till the grass roots are 

 dead, and then spread on grass lands inunediatcly 

 after mowing ; or carried immediately to the com- 

 post bed, together with similar scrajjings of turf 

 and wear from the roadside, with peat and pond 

 mud. Mix as much yard dung with these scrap- 

 ings, &c, as will ferment and ripen, whit-li Mr 

 Phiitney says, and I think, correctly, "sliould be 

 one lo-rtd of dung to two loads of the othe.- mate- 

 rials. The difterent kinds should be dropi)ed from 

 the cart, as near together as convenient, and mixed 

 together as they are shovelled into the l)cd, four 

 feet thick and covered over level, or hollowing, 

 with another foot thick of mould. From many 

 pasture grounds, three or four ox-ctrt loads of 

 mullens might be pulled while iu bloom and full 

 leaf, with thistles and poke weed in full growth, 

 and worked into the com|)ost heap at its first tm-n 

 ing, in June. I had it done last year, and four 

 \veeks afterwaj-d, such was the hect of the half 

 decayed stalks, that they burnt the hands of the 

 person who was turning them. B. 



BridgOfjort, Con March, I«32. 



THE LATE WrXTER. 



Mr Fesse.nden — The past winter has been long 

 and cold. It commenced the last of Novenfijer. 

 December was colder, in the aggregate, than any 

 previous one within the recollection of any man 

 with whom I liave conversed on the subject. 

 From the first to the last of the month, excepting 

 the 24th, there was a continued frost. On the 

 24tb, the thermometer stood, at sunrise, at 25 de- 

 grees above zero, and at 12 o'clock a little thawing 

 took place for two or three hours, and some rain 

 fell in the meantime. According to my thcrmo- 

 metrical register, there was, during this month. 



1832, Jan. 2 



ie:31, Dec. 1(), 5 A.M. 64 degrees below zero ;' the case when the limbs are green and fresh. I 



wish to inquire, if it would not be advisable where 

 trees are young, to cut them down to the groimd 

 and train up new shoots ? If the-trees are suffer- 

 ed to stand and the sap should ascend in the sap 

 wood, as the bark' being dea<l, it would ]>ossess 

 no cliannel to return to the root, whether the tree 

 would not die, root and branch ? I have not ex- 

 amined any old trees that have come to their 

 crowth, and feel encouraged that they are not 

 injured ; but if the winter has been as fatal to frnit 

 trees in all parts of the country, as it has in 

 this vicinity, the injiu-y is incalculable ; and those 



Feb. 



18, sunrise 



22, 9 P. M. 5 



23, sunrise 2 

 31, " say lOJ. 



2 

 23, « OJ. 



26, 10 P. M. 7' 



27, sunrise 12J. 

 sav 10 



4i. 







sav 



28, 



t>. 



11, 



17, 



It has been said, that the latent fruit of the j who have sptnt the morning of their lives in 



leach, cannot endure the cold so intense as to sink L-uhivating trees, in hopes of rca|)ing the fruit in 



the mercury eight degrees below zero. Although 'hP'r <!eclining years, have met with a loss which 



my peach trees promised much last autunm, yet, ' can never be rejilaced. Yoin-s, with lespect. 



Peaches, none 

 Peaches, none 



Framinghaii 



B. WHEELER. 



Marrh 24, 1832. 



From tlie Gc 



; Farmer. 



as far as I have examined, the fruit is completely 

 destroyed. 



For several years past, the greatest degree of 

 cold in this vicinity, was as follows : — 



In 1828, 1 degree above zero. Peaches abun- 

 dant and fine quality. 



In 1829, (i^ deg. below zero. 



In 18-30, 10 deg. below zero. 



In 1831, 6 deg. below zero. 



, I-., ■ imv ideas of tlie correct mode. Having 



and poor quality. -* , ,, • , o i-,, • , 1 • 



, ,. 1 r ,1 ■ r> „ 1 number of vears in the ctate ol (jteorgia, and being 



A few days of warm weather in Decenber or ■ . , , , . ,. ? ,. 



T .111. 1 ., „o- . . conversant with the cuUivation ot that vegetable, 



January, may cause the buds to make an effort to ,, , . , , 



.,■•11 1 1 r 11 • 1 . experiinenta ly, 1 am induced to give you some 



evolve^ in which case, a less degree of cold might I .' . • , , . ,. ... ,. , 



(hstrny this delicate and delicious fruit. 



THE SWEET POTATO. 

 Mr Goodsell — 1 have noticed in several num- 

 bers of your paper, some observations on the cul- 



Peaches vcrv few i*'^ '"'""'*'' ^''® *"^^' potato, none of which meet 

 j mv ideas of the correct mode. Having lived a 



Mansfield, March 10, 1832. 



U. GREEN. 



observations adapted to this clilnate, which, if 

 followed, I am persuaded will be attended with 

 full success. 



About the 20th of March, make a liotbed in the 

 usual form, about four feet square, in which plant 

 your sweet potatoes about three inches apart ; let 

 them be treated as hot-bed plants during the month 

 of Ajiril, keeping on the sash, and no matter how 

 (irregularly comijrcsscd within the frame, provided 



Since the above was written, I have seen the 

 alarming account of the damage done by frost to 

 liuit trv'es, by the Hon. Mr Lowell, whose obsr- 

 vations arc always correct, and to whom we aie 

 greatly indebted for his liberality and e,\ertioB»i 

 to extend useful information. I much regret his; 



, ^ ■ .■ T c 1 .1 . .1 1 7 , 1 they are kept warm and in a growing state, 



loss. On examination, I find that the last years {, .' . „ ,. .^ . " ,. , 



., .- 1.1 •,-. /• ■. . 1.1 1 About the first of May, take a Tiiece ot ground 



growth of invvoung and thrifty fruit trees, althoiigh ,, •" ""^ "■ ■• J' i s 



£ . ■ "' . 1 1 1.1 . 1 ! we 1 pout; K^il and prepared, make hills about three 



at first view appear to be healthy, yet, are seriously ^ '^ " . , ' ' ,' , ,_..,_ 



injured, if not completely destroyed. On »omo^- 



ing the cuticle, the true bark is found, more or less 



black and dead. Those trees, whether peach, 



cherry, pear, or apple, which were the most thrifty 



and promising, have suffered the most severely. 



Apide trees have suffered less and peach trees 



more, than those of the cherry or pear. Two jicar 



trees, trunks two inches in diameter, are . , ,, , , . , . , ■ , 1 



, ,111/- r..i 1 .1 ,- r middle about three inches deep, leaving tlie ends 

 nearly killed from a tittle above tlie surface ot , . , , , , l 1 n 

 , " .1 . .1 ]• I 11 .1- r> about two inches aliove the ground, to each hill 

 the earth to the limbs, winch are yet alive. One , . ^ . ^ . . ., :„ _, . 



of these, last year, was veiy thrifty and has re- 

 ceived the greatest injury. I observed one verj 

 sound and thrifty tree, trunk five inches in diameter, 



feet apart in the row, and the rows about three 

 and a half or tour feet ajiart ; then take off your 

 sash from the hot-bed, and cut the vines about 

 twelve inches from the root, leaving the root in 

 the bed; remove the vines to your prepared ground, 

 and cut them into lengths about fifteen inches long; 

 take one ])iece of the vine, wind the middle about 

 the fingers so as to leave both ends out, ])lant the 



more severely cold weathcT, in the whole, than in . , ,. , , , . . , 



1000 If III i.„.., .,„ .,,. seriously split by the frost and probably ruined 



any winter since 1823, before which, I kept no ac- 1 J 1 .' i .' 



curate account of heat or cold, January was a 



cold month. February was comparativily mild. 

 March commenced cold, but soon moderated. 

 During the winter, snows were frequent but small. 

 From November 28th, 1831 , to Fe'iiruaiy the 28ih, 

 we liad twentyfour snows, say from one inch to 

 six inches in depth ; one in November, nine in 

 December, six in January, and eigh', iu February. 

 Whenever the mercury stands at ir below zero, 

 the weather may be considered sererely cold. — 

 The following table will show the very cold days 

 during the past winter, and the coldest part of the 

 day observed : — 

 1831, Dec. 8, sunrise 2 degrees below zero ; 



]1,. « 2 « 



13, " 4J 



15, 10 P. M. G " " 



Several valuable plants which have withstood tl 

 severity of fro-sts in former winters, in open ground 

 appear now to be dead. Rose-bushes appear to 

 be more injured, than at any previous time within 

 my recollection. R. GREEN. 



'March 20, 1832. 



INJURY TO FRUIT TREES. 



Mr Rdssell — On examination of the fruit trees 

 in this vicinity, I find the injury murh more seri- 

 ous than was anticipated, in 3Ir Lowell's commu- 

 nication. Not only the last year's growth is dead, 

 of young trees, but a great part of the bearing 

 trees in this vicinity, appear to have no life ir, 

 them. On cutting into the inner bark, on the 

 trunk of the tree, I find the greater part of the 

 alburnum has turned black, in some places this is 



about five |)ieces of vine in ojien order ; in about 

 ten days they will have taken root, and about the 

 first of November will have filled the hills with 

 large potatoes. 



Then take the seed [lotatoes out of the hot-betl 

 and ])laiit one or two in the middle of each hill, 

 not in the same hills where the vines are planted, 

 but in separate hills. About the middle of June 

 the vines will have run a consirlerable distance, 

 when they may be cut again and planted in a sim- 

 ilar manner, in hills freshly pre|)ared, for seed for 

 the next year. By this method, the southern jilant- 

 ers bften raise from four to five hundred bushels 

 to the acre, from the first planting, of large and 

 fine potatoes for use ; and from the last planting, 

 which is usually done by them about the first of 

 August, they get plenty of small ones for seed, 

 which they call slips. It is very rare they plant 

 more than a quarter of an acre with seed, dejiend- 

 ing chiefly on planting the vine, which if done by 

 the ICth of June, is pretty certain to yield a large 



