338 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



aiitiiiiin tlic larva' of tlje moth were first noticed 

 amongst the comb, but lew people had ever heard 

 of them. Three years ago, I heard of their ap- 

 pearing amongst bees, thirty miles above Marietta, 

 on the Virginia side of the river ; so that they 

 have been three years in travelling that distance 

 But Mrs Griffith's hives with careful attention, I 

 trust, may yet preserve to us some of this indus- 

 trious race, whose labors aftbrd so much profit 

 and satisfaction. 



The canker worm, so destructive to your or- 

 chards, has not yet found its way west of the Al- 

 leghanies ; at least, I have not heard of any on this 

 side the mountains. 



* Very respectfully, your ob't serv't, 



S. P. HILDRETH. 



Marietta, Ohio, April 16, 1832. 



T. G. Fessenden, Esq. — In the New England 

 Farmer of the 2d inst. is a note from Mr Adams 

 of Fraininghani, on the subject of treatment of 

 apple trees injured by mice eating the bark near 

 the ground. I think his method of using the 

 scions whole is not so good as the one first recom- 

 mended by the late Luther Richardson, Esq. of 

 Roxbury, in June, 1810, and published in the me- 

 moirs of the Massachusetts Agricultural Society of 

 that year, and which I now send you, rccommend- 

 iug its republication in your next number, as now 

 is the season for attending to it. I have for some 

 years tried the method with full success. 



Having suffered much the past winter in losing 

 very many trees, particularly some new sorts of 

 pears which were planted in the fall of 1630, and 

 made but little growth last year; the bodies are 

 killed from a few inches above the ground for 

 three or fom- feet ; the tops are alive and pushing 

 out to appearance, but kiiowing they Could not 

 live, and the roots being perfectly good, I have cut 

 them oflf just below the surface of the earth, and '. 

 taften scions from their own tops and grafted them, 

 covering them nearly over with earth. As the 

 trees are well fixed in the ground, I shall save 

 some years rather than planting new trees, besides 

 saving the sorts. In haste. Yours, very trulv, 

 JOHN PRINCE. * 



Jamaica Plain, May 5, i8S7. 



To the Hon. John Lowell, Esq.— 



Sir — The very grc.it destruction of fruit trees, 

 occasioned by mice and moles, during the winters 

 of the two or three last years, has made it an ob- 

 ject of the utmost importance to discover the best 

 means of preventing the mischief, or to invent a 

 remedy for the evil after it has taken place. So 

 ])rodigiously have these pernicious vermin multi- 

 plied of late, in some places, as to , threaten the 

 destruction, not oidy of fruit trees, but also of for- 

 est trees and the grass of our best mowing fields.- 

 During the winter of 1808 and 1809, they were 

 known in some places'jo. attack a whole copse of 

 small trees, leaving scarcely one ungirdled ; and ! 

 in many mowing fields to gutter almost the whole I 

 surface of the ground, for many acres together, [ 

 with their burrows and paths. Instead of molest- ! 

 ing only the small trees in our orchards, as usual, 

 they have of late completely girdled apple trees, 

 in some instances, of nearly three feet in circum- 

 ference, and destroyed them. 



As this mischief is seldom done hut in the se- 

 verity of winter, when these vermin are driven to 

 the roots of trees for shelter, and are deprived of 

 their ordinary subsistence bv the frost and snow 



the most effectual way to prevent this injury is, in 

 the mouth of November, just before the winter 

 sets in, to clear away all the rubbish and furze 

 from around the roots of young trees, leaving the 

 ground bare, and then to put a coat of dry ashes 

 all around. The roots of the tree then affording 

 them no shelter above ground, and they having a 

 natural aversion to burrowing in ashes, they will 

 be driven for shelter to some other place, and your 

 trees will thereby in a great measure be preserved 

 from their mischief. The ashes, also, will abun- 

 dantly compensate you for the trouble and expense, 

 causing your trees the year following to thrive and 

 flourish exceedingly. 



Another method of some use is, in the early 

 part of winter after the first snow, to shovel snow 

 around the roots of trees and then tread it down 

 hard, by which it will freeze and become solid like 

 ice, through which they cannot easily penetrate. 

 But this method is by no means sure, as they will 

 frequently burrow under the ice and sometimes 

 injure the roots underneath, and in the least thaw 

 pass up and injure the tree. 



But after the injury has been done, and youi-l 

 tree is completely girdled, and all the bark eaten 

 off round the tree to the hard wood, I know of bu| 

 one remedy to preserve the tree alive, altbougl| 

 many e.xperiments have been tried. A tree gird- 

 led in this manner; having no means of conveyina 

 the sap and nourishment from the roots up into 

 the body and branches above, must wither ant' 

 die. The usual way among farmers is, in sucli 

 j cases, to dig uji the trees and set out new ones; 

 I Sometimes they are cut ofl' and headed down be- 

 low the place eaten, and new wood in length of 

 time will shoot out and make a second tree. 

 • But it occiMTe<l to me, that if any artificial way 

 could be discovered, to renew or make a commu- 

 ;nication of the circulating vessels of the lower 

 I sections of the bark and sap eaten off, with the up- 

 per, so as to convey up the juices and nourishment 

 from the roots into the branches, the tree miglit 

 be made to live and flourish. 



Accordingly, choosing a fine thrifty tree about 

 twelve inches in circumferenc*, as soon as the 

 snow was ofl' the ground in the spring, which had 

 been completely girdled by the mice and the 

 bark eaten off all roimd to the hard wood, more 

 than four inches wide, like a belt ; I took a sharj) 

 knife and evened the edges of the lower and upper 

 circle of the hark eaten off; then took a scion 

 from the tree, about the bigness of a pipe stem, and 

 an inch longer at each end than the space where 

 the bark had been eaten off around the tree, .s|)lit 

 the scion lengthwise, and shaved the split side 

 down so as to fit to the body of the tree, being 

 very careful not to disturb the bark of the scion ; 

 then cutting away the lower circle until it came 

 to fresh bark, made a perpendicular slit One inch 

 down towards the root of tlie tree, then crossed 

 this at the bottom with a horizontal slit, half an 

 inch on each side, as in budding ; then gently peeled 

 up the bark on each side, and fitted the lower end 

 of the scion in and scjueezed the bark down around 

 it; then fitted the upper end of the scion into the 

 ujipor circle of the bark eaten off, in all respects 

 as I had done the lower. In this manner Iplaccd 

 six scions all round the body of the tree ; then 

 covered it over, an inch ormore thick, with Forsyth's 

 composition, and hoed the dirt up all around the 

 roots of the tree to keep it moist. ' 



The tree did not put out its leaves so soon nor 

 so vio-iiously at first, as the othef trees; but by 



May 9, 183'^. 



tiie middle of summer it flourished very well, and 

 ill the fall there was no apparent ditl'erenre be- 

 (vvcen it and the surrounding trees. It bore some 

 fruit the last year, and is now covered with young 

 tuit, and appears as healthy and flourishing as any 

 |rce in the garden. 



In the fall of the year, after this operation, I 

 Opened the roots of this tree and tore away th« 

 plaster, and to my sm])rise, I found that four of 

 the six scions had taken and grown to the size of 

 toearly an inch in diameter. The other two did 

 pot take, by which means the tree is a little flat on 

 bne side. I lately opened the tree again, and have 

 found that it will soon be covered with bark again, 

 (xcept the side where the scions did not take. — 

 fhis experiment I have known to have been tried 

 $veral times since, with equal success. Mr Isaac 

 Javis, of Roxbury, a very intelligent and and re- 

 fjjectable farmei-, in the spring of the year 1809, 

 Ireated in the same manner a large apple tree of 

 hiore than twentyseven inches in circumference, 

 which had been eaten off all round, for a space of 

 more than four inches. The tree flourished and 

 bore fruit the last year, and is now covered with 

 a great abundance of fruit ; and is extremely thrif- 

 ty, having recently examined it for the purpose of 

 ascertaining its present state. IMr Davis made 

 use of common claj' mortar in his experiment, in- 

 stead of Forsyth's composition, which he thinks, 

 answers as good a purpose. 



Knowing, Sir, the interest you feel in everything 

 that tends to improvement in agriculture and hus- 

 biuidry, I have taken the liberty to address to you 

 the aforegoing experiments and observations, 

 which, if in your opinion should be deemed of 

 pidjlic utility, you are requested to communicate 

 in any manner you think most useful to societjr. 

 I am, with the highest sentiments of respect. 

 Your most obechent and very humble serv't, 

 LUTHER RICHARDSON. 

 Roxbury, June 10, 1810. 



DIRECTIONS 



For soicing the seed and rearing the plants of the 

 White Mtdbcrry Tree. Prepared in pursuance of 

 a Resolution of the A'cw York State .IgricultitraC 

 Society. 



1. Prepare a piece of good garden soil, by dig- 

 ging and pulverizing it. Lay it out into beds 

 three or four feet broad, and rake it off smooth — 

 do this eiirly in May. 



2. With a hoe, stick, or other instrun)cnt, pro- 

 ceed to make shallow drills across the bed thus 

 prepared, from twelve to fifteen inches apart, and 

 scatter the seerl in the drills as thick as you would 

 onion or parsnip seed, then cover half an inch 

 with fine mold and press it moderately down with 

 a hoe ; or, when the first drill is sown and cover- 

 ed, place upon it a narrow strip of board and stand 

 upon this board to sow the second drill, upon 

 which, when sown,j)lace the board in like manner 

 and sow the third drill, and proceed thus until the 

 whole is coni|)leted. The pressure of the earth 

 u])on the seeds is to bring it in close contact with 

 them, that they may be kept moist and germinate 

 readily. If the weather be diy or the soil very 

 light, an occasional watering at evening will be 

 beneficial. 



3. The only further carerefjuired the first seo- 

 soD, will be to keep the ground free from weeds 

 and the soil niodcratelv loose. 



