158 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



NOVEMBER 88, 1833. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING. NOV, 28, 



We hope that tlie imiJioved appearance of this 

 day's impression of ihe New England Farmer will 

 meet with the api)rol)ation of the piihlir, and secure 

 us a continuance of that patronage which can alone 

 enable us to go on our way rejoicing. We wish to 

 be a worthy representative of the most important in- 

 terest in the community, and liope that no negli- 

 gence as to matter or manner will degrade us in the 

 estimation of the cidtivators, who compose the sin- 

 news of national power, and the essence of all that 

 gives strength and solidity to the pillars of civilized 

 society. 



■ We have rarely read a more facetious production 

 than that of the Committee of the Middlesex Hus- 

 bandmen and Manufacturei-s, on Swi.ne, of which 

 JosiAH Adams, Esq. was Chairman. The uses and 

 abuses of this important quadruped are set forth with 

 wisdom, as well as wit, and he who reads cannot fail 

 to be instructed as well as amused. 



THE PliAKTER'S GUIDE. 



Messrs. G. Thorbum & Sons, of New York, have 

 recently presented to the American pnlilic, a beauti- 

 ful edition of a work lately published in London and 

 Edinburgh, entitled The Planter's Guide, or a practi- 

 cal Essai/on the best method of giving immediate effect 

 to IVood by the removal of large Trees and Under- 

 wood ; being an attempt to place the .irt and that oj" 

 general Arboriculture, on fired and phytological princi- 

 ples ; interspersed with observations on general plant- 

 ing, and the improvement of real landscape. Orig- 

 inally intended for the climate of Scotland. By Sir 

 He.nry Steuart, Bart. L. L. D. F. R. S. E. etc. 

 In one large octavo volume, of 422 pages. 



In the Publisher's Advertisement to the Ameri- 

 can Edition, it is observed that, " In presenting 

 this valualjle work to the Auiericau public, the 

 publishers are actuated by an ardent desire to see 

 tlie useful principles so ably demonstrated by the 

 intelligent author, brought into successful opera- 

 tion in this country. On his own property in 

 Scotland, Sir Henry Steuart has accomplished the 

 most wonderful changes, which appear more like 

 the effects of magical hifluence, than the ordinary 

 application of means which many possess. His 

 park contains about one hundred and twenty acres, 

 of great diversity of surface, and of various soils, 

 and in 1820, the entire number of trees of ancient 

 stand'mg, did not exceed between sixty and seventy : 

 in that and the following year, by means of the 

 Transplanting Machine, he added to his domain 

 near seven hundred, which were scattered singly, 

 or arranged in clumps and masses of different 

 kinds, giving to the whole a rich and woody ap- 

 pearance. To produce tliese astonishing effects, 

 which at once convert the most uune and unin- 

 teresting situation into a picturesque and glowing 

 landscape, thereby anticipating forty years of a 

 man's existence, the expense can be hut a very 

 minor consideration : about thirty poimds sterling 



per acre, or two hundred dollars may be assumed 

 here as a fair estimation. 



" In Great Britain this art may be presumed to 

 be indis])ensable, and invaluable ; but in a great 

 proportion of the United States, the denuding pr<l- 

 peusities of the early settlers have so constant!? 

 maintained an extenninating war against thos ; 

 lioimdless and magnificent forests, which clothe 1 

 the land from the rising to the setting sun, and hi i 

 relentless axe has nearly swe])t away, in the neigl ■ 

 horhood of our towns and dwellings, those beaut 

 ful creations of nature, which, in otlier couutrie 

 are objects of affectionate interest, and cherished 

 with feelings bordering on veneration ; indeed, to 

 such a radical extent has this obliterating practice 

 been carried, that it might be a question whetheJ 

 this art, for pui-poses of ornament is not as ueces4 

 sary here as in England." 



This work is valuable not merely on account of 

 its directions for transplanting trees, and covering 

 at once nidced surfaces of earth with beautiful 

 groves, but for its scientific notices, an<I directions 

 relative to the culture of trees, and the manage- 

 ment of forests. We shall at present linut our 

 notice to the latter branch of the subject. 



" In adverting to heat as essential to vegetation, 

 it is particularly worthy of notice that the epideii 

 mis and bark of trees drawn up by shelter are 

 usually thin, the former often smooth and glossy. 

 The descending vessels, by consequence, as they 

 lie under it, never fail to suft'er severely, on being 

 exposed to a cold atmosphere. It is greatly on 

 this account as well as from scantiness of roots and 

 lateral boughs that plantations sustain such exten- 

 sive injury on being suildinly thinned. Where 

 that operation is pertiirmed in a gradual manner, 

 it gives time for nature to prepare the trees li>r 

 the change, by strengthening the coat of hark, and 

 likewise by multiplying the roots, and tliickening 

 the spray and branches ; and thus the pro])er ves- 

 ,sels are prevented from being chilled by untimely 

 exposure. The fact, though imiversally kmnvn, 

 is never referred to the true cause, by coininon 

 ohseners. 



" These considerations furnish ample ground 

 to admire the wise provision of nature, in bestDw. 

 ing a much thicker, coarser, and more indmiited 

 covering of bark upon all trees in open exposures: 

 for in vain might they possess every other pro- 

 perty, if the sap-vessels were not sufficiently |iro- 

 tccted and enabled to do their office. Were that 

 to happen, through the tlnnness of the bark, there 

 cannot be a doubt hut that the ])lants would be- 

 come stunted and sickly, and both branches and 

 s])ray would suffer in consequence, as we see hiip- 

 pen to the generality of transplanted trees, which 

 do not possess this protecting property. Fnim all 

 which it appears tliat the health and ijrotectinii ol 

 the proper vessels, by means of a due thickness 

 and induration of bark, is an indispensable prc- 

 reijuisite in all subjects meant for removal, and 

 that it is deserving of the rank here assigned to 

 it." 



As before intimated, this work is exhibited in 

 a beautiful form. It is truly an honor to the 

 American press. The paper, type, cuts, and 

 binding, are highly creditable to American art, 

 and G. Thorburn & Sons, have done the public 

 much benefit, and themselves much honor, by 

 their elegant edition of a book of such merit. 



STEAM CARRIAGES IN ENGLAND. 



It apiiears by late English publh-ations that 

 <tcam coaches are about to be as coumiou in that 

 'oiintry, as other and more ordinary carriages. 

 Bell's Weekly Messenger of Oct. 23, tells of a 

 •each, the invention of Messrs. Oyle & Sununers, 

 of Southanqjton, who have obtained a moving 

 power, by which carriages can be ])ropelled on 

 the connnon roads of the country, with speed and 

 lafety, and without smoke. The first attemjit 

 was accompanied with difficidty in regidatiug the 

 speed down hill, the machme having in one in- 

 slance hurried down a declivity at the rate of 50 

 miles an hoin\ This, however, has been amended 

 and the vehicle made to ])roceed downhill at the 

 rate of seven miles an hour. 



ADAPTING PLANTS TO SOILS. 



(Concluded from page 146.) 



Some time since a gentleman brought me some 

 turnip roots that had failed for several years; and 

 the potatoes had equally been vitiated the preced- 

 ing year. When I dissected the plant, I found 

 the wood or sap vessels of the root were rotted 

 off, and in their staad a number of large bladders 

 if putrid water remained as a sort of swelled and 

 listorted root. But almost all nourishment from 

 llie earth was suspended, and the leaves alone re- 

 t.iined a sort of life, from the nutriment they re- 

 ciived from the atmos|)liere. The potatoes were 

 nearly in the same condition, the roots all decayed, 

 not forming any bidbs ; but when peas and vetches 

 were placed in the same ground, they grew re- 

 markably well. Now this is certainly a proof that 

 u plant can be destroyed by a decided aversion to 

 the soil in which it is placed; which will notwith- 

 standing, agree with many other vegetables ; and 

 tliat the plants of a poor soil can be as n'mch hurt 

 ID a rich one, as the plant of a rich in a poor soil. 



I have also known the samedi.sorder seize trees, 

 on being put into groimd too rich for them. A 

 friend of mine having just made a garden, which 

 was not yet walled in Icfl a row of the salis caprea, 

 [a species of willow,] in a hedge to shade a walk. 

 l$eing desirous of having very good vegetables he 

 manured the ground to the most excessive degree, 

 even to the edge of the trees. In two or three years 

 the trees began to decline, and at last got so bad that 

 he considted me what he should do with them. I 

 advised the taking one for examination. I found 

 most of the wood of the root decaying, while the 

 side radicles were turned into putrid bulbs. We im- 

 covered all the rest of the trees, and flung dry sand 

 on them, mixing it with the earth that surrounded 

 the roots : we saved all but three. 



In tracing the various expedients necessary to a 

 plant put out of its natural earth, I shall fu'st mention 

 manure as the most considerable. In proportion as 

 the ground is adverse to the plant, so much more 

 does the farmer load it with the only remedy he is 

 acquainted with "dressing" to enable tlie plant to 

 shoot. If the manure do not afford the juices it re- 

 quires, and which its natural earth would certainly 

 have bestowed, the crop fails ; then the quantity of 

 seeds must be more than doubled, which creates a 

 second expense. 



One of the principal parts of farming should be 

 thoroughly to understand the soil of each field, and 

 its subsoil, and the sorts of plant that suits that pecu- 

 liar ground, that the farmer may be able to adapt 



