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PUBLISHED BY J. B. RUSSELL, i\U. o2, iNOUlH MARKET STREET, (at the AtiKituLTURAi, Warkhousk.) — T. G. Fi;SSENDEN, EDITOR. 



vor^. X. 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, MAY 2, 1832. 



NO. 42. 



i®5Esa^srj:>.siiii!acDsrS9 



FOR TljE NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



INJURED FRUIT TREES. 



jMr Editor — Since tlie publication of Mr Low- 

 ell's remarks upon the destruction of fruit trees, J 

 liave been prevented by indisposition, from ascer- 

 taining tl)e extent of the cahimity in this quarter. 

 As far, however, as my own trees and a few ©tit- 

 ers ill tlie ■ neighborhood may be taken as speci- 

 mens, I am indticed to believe that much less 

 injury has been sustained in this, than iti other 

 places reported to you. 



The fact noted by several of your correspon- 

 dents, that the sap wood and inner bark have be- 

 come already discolored, and in some cases (piite 

 black, may be considered as a sufficient confirm- 

 ation of Mr Lowell's opinion, as to the time when 

 the mischief happened. Had it been occasioned 

 by sp^ng frosts, a circumstance of frequent occur- 

 rence iii this climate, no appearance of disease 

 would have been detected at this early day. We 

 may therefore, I think, infer, that when no disease 

 is now perceptible, no danger is to be apprehend- 

 ed. Where there is no separation of the bark 

 from the wood in large trees, nor discoloration of 

 the sliver in small trees, they are probably safe. 



If this conjecture be well founded, our lo.Ss is 

 limited, as far as I have seen, to small engrafted 

 pears in the nursery, which are entirely dead,'and 

 rto some partial injury to other very fast groviug 

 nursery trees. No injur)' has been discDiered 

 among bearing trees of any kind. 



Familiar as I have been with the loss of trees 

 by unseasonable heats followed by sudden and se- 

 vere cold, this is the first case of the kind within 

 my observation, clearly referable to tlie earliest 

 ■winter frosts ; and is the more alarming as being 

 less easily guarded against, than the dangers inci- 

 dent to the first a])proaches of warm weather.- — 

 In the latter case it is only necessary lo preserve 

 an uniforndy low temperature about tlie roots, so 

 as to prevent premature action of the sap vessels, 

 until all danger of severe frosts iiall have 

 passed away ; and this may be effected by heaping 

 about the tree, after the ground shall lave been 

 frozen, soi^ie non-conducting substance, such as 

 chip-manure, straw, saw-dust, shavings, turner's 

 chips, or the refuse of flax and hemp. 



In our open cold winters, the earth freezes deep 

 and our trees always come out well ; bit under a 

 covering of several feet of snow the earti does not 

 freeze, and if previously frozen the fnst is ex- 

 tracted and the soil kept warm. On theapproach 

 of spring, the snow is first dissolved immediately 

 about the trunk, forming a kind of tunnel in which 

 the solar heat is reflected and concentratfd, induc- 

 ing strong action in the vessels and drculatirig 

 fluids. Sudden and severe cold in sucl circum- 

 stances, is usually fatal to the tree. Not, perhaps, 

 ; merely by a rupture of the sap vessels; out possi- 

 bly by a more complicated process, in which the 

 wood is violently separated from the ban, and the 

 space filled with a pellicle of ice, which prevents 

 a re-union of the parts in time to repair the rup- 

 tured vessels ; and the dissolving frost is followed 

 by almost immediate putrefaction. But whatever 



may be the particular process, the death of the 

 tree is believed to be certain and past remedy. 

 Heading down, as suggested by Mr Wheeler, may 

 save the root ; but of the trunk there is no hope. 



The spring of 1839 was particularly disastrous 

 to the more delicate trees in' this vicinity. Of 

 more than fifty bearing plums of the finer kinds, 

 not one was' saved. Where the bark was wholly 

 detached from the trunk, I had the trees cut down 

 to the ground, and in many cases young and vig- 

 orous shoots were produced, liut a row of large 

 and fine green gages, having some stripes of ad- 

 hering bark about the trunk, and an encouraging 

 appearance of life in the branches, were saved 

 from the axe ; the loose bark was removed and 

 Forsyth's composition applied. The consequence 

 was, that a few sickly leaves came out which 

 withered almost immediately ; and before niid- 

 suriuner the trees were dead, root and branch. 



The following circumstanae struck me at the 

 time, as going to prove the utter destruction of 

 the tree from the first touch of the disease. Of 

 a large niiiiiber of scions taken from all the various 

 kinds, before any indications of disease were per- 

 ceptible, not one sncceeded. 



There is, I apprehend, a very important fact 

 connected with this subject, which I do not re- 

 collect to have seen distinctly alluded to by either 

 of your correspondents ; and that is, that trees and 

 even young grafts, raised in a similar or more 

 northern climate, suffer much less than those of 

 the same variety from farther south. And least 

 of all, those grown from seeds on the same farm, 

 and even in the same field. 



The same remark is believed to be equally ap- 

 plicable to many other diseases and accidents in- 

 cident to fruit trees, and so fully am I persuaded 

 of its importance, that I place little value upon 

 southern trees otherwise than as producing scions, 

 which, when engrafted on native stocks and car- 

 ried safely through two or three winters; may be 

 so far acclimated as to deserve a place among the 

 fruits of the country. 



Fine cherries from Kenrick's nursery are sickly 

 and short-lived. The same varieties from Hallow-* 

 ell are less so ; and scions from the latter, engraft- 

 ed on the native stock, are as healthy as our ordi- 

 nary forest trees. 



In the severe season of 1829, several thousand 

 scions from New York and Pennsylvania, set the 

 ])receding Jlay, all perished ; while those from 

 Montreal and from my own orchard, all came out 

 well, not a bud was injured. 



Trees carried from north to ■Bouth grow slow 

 and ripen their wood early in autumn, which, as 

 well as their hereditary habits, prepares them to 

 encounter all the rigors of their native winter; 

 wliile precisely the reverse of all this happens to 

 such as are removed from south to north. And 

 hence the diSa])pointmei\t and vexation which 

 have usually rewarded the most judiciously con- 

 ducted enterprises of the kind. 



I would not be understood as contending, that 

 any precautionary measures will protect us from 

 the recurrence of so unusual a ciilaiiiity, as that 

 described by Mr Lowell. But I cannot doubt that 

 much may be done to lessen its effects, to guard 

 against many minor accidents and diseases, and to 



fill our orchards and gardens with more hardy, 

 healthy, productive, and durable trees. 



Most respectfully, I am. Sir, 



Your ob't serv't, JED'II HERRICK. 



Hampden, April, 1832. 



MOLES. 



Mr Fessenden— Will you or some of your cor- 

 respondents inform me through the medium of 

 your paper, the most effectual reiixedy to prevent 

 mal,es injuring fruit trees. Also, if there be any 

 r^Bedy for a tree, whose bark has 1)een entirely 

 taken off by those troublesome animals. 



Youis,- G. D. 



Hampton Falls, 1832. ■ 



Willich's Domestic Encyclopedia observes, that 

 " Various means have been contrived for extirpa- 

 ting moles, such as irrigating the fields infested 

 with them, &c ; but the most effectual is that de- 

 scribed by Dr Darwin, in his Phytologia, and deri- 

 ved from the experience of a successful mole catch- 

 er. This man commenced operations before theris- 

 ing of the sun, when he carefully watched their situ- 

 ation ; frequently observing the motion of the earth 

 above their walks, he struck a S])ade into the ground 

 behind them, cut off their retreat and dug them up. 



" It is, however, in our opinion, an undecided 

 point, whether these little quadrupeds that live 

 entirely on worms and insects, of which they con- 

 sume incalculable numbers, are not to be consid- 

 ered as harmless, nay, useful instead of noxious ; 

 especially as they have their formidable natural 

 enemies in foxes, martins, weasels, hedge-liogs, 

 serpents, and cats. Farther, it has been observed, 

 that fields and gardens where all the moles have 

 been caught, abounded with vermin and insects. 

 But if these burrowing creatures become too nu- 

 merous, and hurtful to the vegetation of plants or 

 dangerous to dykes and banks, the most easy meth- 

 od of destroying them is to expose a few living 

 lobsters in a deep glazed earthern vessel, the top 

 of which is somewhat narrower than its basis, so 

 that they cannot escape ; such a pot must be buri- 

 ed several inches deep in the ground and covered 

 with green sods, so as to be accessible to the mole 

 which is remarkably partial to that shell fish. No 

 sooner has one of the former entered the pot, than 

 others from the vicinity will hasten to the fatal 

 receptacle, in consequence of the noise made by 

 the cajnive ; and thus meet with inevitable de- 

 struction." 



An English Magazine says, that " Moles are 

 such enemies to the smell of garlic, that in order 

 to get rid of these troublesome and destructive 

 guests, it is sufiicient to introduce a few heads of 

 garlic into their subterranean walks. It is like- 

 wise employed with success against grubs and 

 snails." 



Some have advised, in order to preserve trees 

 in nurseries, &c, to tread down the snow as fast as 

 it falls or soon after each snow storm, Sbout the 

 stems of trees in nurseries, &c, so as to prevent 

 the vermin from forming their paths or avenues 

 under the snow, for their mischievous purposes. 

 This miglit answer on a small scale, but would be, 

 perhaps, too troublesome to be put in practice in 

 large collections of fruit trees, &c. It has been 

 likewise advised to smear the steins with Forsyth '• 



