NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



103 



destroyed, and without some compensation it cannot 

 live — at least it cannot grow for a long time to come. 

 The opening buds seek for nourishment, but after 

 the little stock laid up previously is exhausted, they 

 can find none, and perish they must. 



If a tree has attained a considerable size, and has 

 a branching head, these branches should be cut back 

 according to circumstances. A tree with large and 

 healthy roots, and abundance of fibres, will sustain 

 a much greater amount of head than a tree with 

 short, poor, or badly mutilated roots, and few fibres. 

 Apples, quinces, or peaches will bear more head 

 than pears or plums, and so on. Trees taken fresh 

 from the soil and replanted do not require the same 

 degree of cutting as those that have been transported 

 to a great distance. Trees that are planted in a light, 

 mellow, Avarm, soil, favorable to the formation of 

 roots, will require less cutting than those planted in 

 a colder, stilfer soil, where roots will be emitted 

 slowly. Trees taken up with the earth around the 

 roots, and evergreens are the only exceptions. These 

 are a few of the circumstances to be well considered 

 by every one who plants a tree. 



Pruning and cutting back, must not only be done, 

 but done well. It is next to manslaughter to cut 

 and slash the branches of a tree with an old rusty 

 saw-edged jackknife. It is nothing else than tree- 

 slaughter. A pruning knife should be as sharp and 

 smooth on the edge as a razor. "When a branch is 

 to be wholly removed, it should be done smoothly, 

 close to the trunk or limb on which it grows. If a 

 limb is merely to be shortened, it should be cut close 

 to a good plump and healthy looking bud, that 

 promises to make a -s-igorous shoot. If the future 

 shoot is desired to grow erect, the bud should of 

 course be on the upper side of the branch cut ; 

 and if desired to take a spreading or horizontal direc- 

 tion, the bud should be on the under side. The 

 object in cutting close to the bud (not so close as to 

 injure it, is to avoid the piece of dead wood that 

 must remain, Lf cut between two buds. Then the 

 balance of the tree must be thought of. If the 

 branches arc left longer on one side than on the 

 other, \he tree will inevitably grow one-sided ; the 

 shoots on one side will be more vigorous than on the 

 other, and this will be another disaster. This is as 

 plain as we can at present make the matter in a few 

 ■words. To sum it up, in short, we would say : — 



First. Place the roots of youi- trees in a soil favor- 

 able to the formation of roots. 



Second, licduce the heads in such a manner as to 

 correspond with the character of the tree, the condi- 

 tion it is in, and the season and situation in which it 

 is planted. 



Third. In every operation exercise reason and 

 care, for it Ls astonishing what even the unpractised 

 hand will do, if he will but think. — Genesee Fanner. 



HOMESTEAD EXEMPTION. 



The following arguments in favor of exempting a 

 man's homestead from liability, we find in one of our 

 western exchanges : — 



" There are two leading reasons which ought to 

 have great weight. The first is, that the direct 

 tendency of exempting the homestead from debt, is 

 to preserve the integrity of the family, both in society 

 and property. It will keep the family together by 

 keeping them at home — safe from all the storms of 

 adversity. Now, the state which legislates has a deep 

 interest in maintaining the unity and prosperity of the 

 family. The Avhole is made up of its parts. Society 

 is founded in the family. If no family is driven out 

 to seek a precarious support — the state will have no 

 paupers to maintain. In every state of society, no 

 matter what the laws, the solvent must maintain the 

 insolvent. In both the natural and Christian state 



of society it is the duty of the members of a family 

 to do this to one another. If, then, the family can be 

 kept united, and have a home to rely upon, it is 

 almost certain they will be able to do it. 



"There is another reason almost equally strong, 

 and which concerns the political health. There is 

 no independence, strictly speaking, to be relied upon 

 among people who have neither a' homestead nor the 

 means of getting one. ilany of our laborers do get 

 homesteads, saved from the profits of their labor. 

 This should be encouraged — the whole community 

 should be made independent, if possible." 



WONDERS OF GEOLOGY. 



More than nine thousand different kinds of animals 

 have been changed into stone. The races or genera of 

 more than half of these are now extinct, not being 

 at present known in a living state upon the earth. 

 From the remains of some of these animals, they 

 must have been larger than any living animals now 

 known upon the earth. The Megtherium, (large 

 beast,) says Buckland, from a skeleton nearly com- 

 pleted in the museum in Madrid, was perfectly 

 colossal. With a head and neck like a Sloth, its 

 legs and feet exhibit the Armadillo and Ant-eater. 

 Its fore feet were a yard in length, and more than 

 twelve inches wide, terminating by gigantic claws. 

 Its thigh bono was nearly three times as thick as 

 that of the elephant ; and its tail, nearest the body, 

 was six feet in circumference. Its tusks were ad- 

 mirably adapted to cutting vegetable substances, and 

 its structure and strength were intended to fit it for 

 digging in the ground for roots, on which it princi- 

 pally fed. 



FIELD AND GARDEN ROLLERS. 



These implements are coming to be considered 

 almost indisijcnsably necessary, in an improved state 

 of cultivation. They are most successfully used on 

 lands that are free from stones and stumps, to smooth 

 the uneven surface ; and not ordy so, but their utiUty 

 is also important in breaking the lumps of baked 

 earth which obtain in clayey soils ; also in smoothing 

 and levelling grounds that have been newly sown 

 with grain, or that are to be laid down with grass, 

 tending to the production of greater crops of grass 

 at a cost of much less than would otherwise be 

 necessary. 



The use of the roller on dry grounds sown with 

 grain, causes the mould to enclose the seed, whUe 

 it prevents the moisture from evaporating sooner than 

 it otherwise would. The rolling of land in tillage, 

 should be done when the ground is suSicicntly dry to 

 prevent it from adhering to the roller ; but where 

 grass lands are to be subjected to the process, it 

 should be early in the spring, and when the earth is 

 soft and wet. 



Hollers may be of various sizes, according to the 

 team by which they arc drawn, as the weight must 

 be increased in proportion to the size, consequently 

 requiring a proportionate power to move them. The 

 most suitable size for one horse, or for one yoke of 

 oxen, is from twenty to thirty inches in diameter ; 

 and the most perfect roller we know of, is made of 

 a scries of cast iron rings, or rather wheels running 

 on a large wrought iron shaft, which can be made 

 of any required length or size, from a single section 

 or ring, to use by hand on gravel Avalks, up to the 

 various dimensions required for field work wliich are 

 constructed with a frame or carriage, so as to form a 

 box, or trough, running the whole length of, and 

 both before and behind the roller, and intended to 

 carry any additional weight, such as stones, &c., 

 when it may be required. — Worcester Transcript. 



