NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



187 



GARDEN ENGINE. 



This is a very useful machine, constructed on the 

 principle of the fire engine. It may be moved to 

 any part of the premises, and worked by one person ; 

 and some engines are so constructed as to conve- 

 niently admit of the aid of several persons. With a 

 good machine, water may be thrown fifty to sixty 

 feet, and it is very useful for watering gardens, 

 washing windows, &c., and for protecting buildings 

 against fire. It is also excellent for syringing trees 

 and shrubbery, with various kinds of liquid prepara- 

 tions, for the destruction of insects. These engines 

 are fitted with suction hose, to draw water from 

 wells, reservoirs, &c., which may be done while they 

 ai'e in operation in discharging water. The price of 

 good machines is from $S0 to $35. 



SHEPHERDIA. 



In regard to inquiries concerning the Shepherdia 

 or Buffalo berry, we remark that its native place is 

 the Rocky Mountains, and it is perfectly hardy and 

 fiourishcs well m ^Maine. The price is probably 

 about fifty to seventy- five cents each, according to 

 size. They should be set in pairs — one staminate, 

 the other pistillate — from six or eight feet apart, 

 which will alloAV them room to grow, to twelve or 

 fifteen feet. 



The two kinds can be distinguished by the leaf or 

 bud ; the pistillate having a long slender leaf, while 

 the staminate has a shorter leaf, approaching nearer 

 the oval form. The form of the buds corresponds 

 with that of the leaves. This is ornamental as a 

 plant, and the fruit, Avhich grows only on the pistil- 

 late tree, is very beautiful, and excellent also for 

 preserves. 



If these shrubs, of good size, are well transplanted 

 the last of September or the first of October, they 

 will grow the next season, as though they had not 

 been moved, and probably bear fruit also the first 

 year. It is propagated by seeds. Besides its utility 

 for ornament and fruit, as a shrub it makes a good 

 ornamental hedge. 



For the New England Farmer. 



ELEMENTS OF SCIENTIFIC AGRICUL- 

 TURE. 



Mr. Cole : An essay with this title, by Prof. 

 Norton, has found favor with the New York State 

 Agriciiltural Society, and will soon be given to the 

 public through the medium of their annual publi- 

 cation. If we do not mistake, it will bo found 

 admirably well adapted to instruct those who arc 

 inclined to learn. Sunplicity of language and dis- 

 tinctness of illustration are its prominent charac- 

 teristics. The author has, in a good measure, happily 

 avoided the use of technical and unusual terms. No 

 treatise of the kind, so well suited to form the 

 basis of agricultural instruction in our public schools, 

 has come to our knowledge. We trust it wiU be 

 found highly useful as a text-book for popular in- 

 struction. 



Many things are here stated as simple elements, 

 the demonstration of which has been the result of 

 much observation and labor. It not unfrcqucjitly 

 happens, that the most useful truths when known 

 and distinctly stated, awaken surprise, that they 

 should have so long passed without notice. One of 

 the greatest obstacles to the acquisition of agricultiu-al 

 science, has been the forbidding garb in which it has 

 been arrayed. But our object is not to write an 

 essay, but to call attention to one that has been 

 written. P. 



Danyers, May 30, 1850. 



CATTLE DESTROYED BY EATING WILD 

 CHERRY. 



Deacon Joseph Wadsworth, of North Becket, re- 

 cently had three cows and two steers poisoned by 

 eating the twigs of the black cherry. The first died 

 in two days, and the last lived eleven days after eat- 

 ing the cherry. 



We have been for years aware of the fact, that 

 there was abundance of poison in the cherry. It 

 contains considerable prussic acid, Avhich is among 

 the most deadly poisons. Many have supposed that 

 nothing but the wilted leaves were dangerous ; but 

 the poison is in the green leaf as well as the wilted. 

 In the summer, creatures will not ordinarily eat the 

 green leaf, but the wilted leaf is eaten readily.— 

 Berkshire CuUurist 



