174 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



DECBMBBH la, issa. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, DEC. 12, 1832. 



On Preserving Young IVees in Nurseries, Sfc. from 

 Rabbits, Mice, Moles, ifc. 



We have heard repeated complaints of damage 

 done to young fruit trees, and other trees by field 

 mice, especially in winter ; and have recommend- 

 ed treading down new fallen snow about their 

 stems, &c. The following from the Transactions 

 of the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, by 

 William Patterson, may supply additional hints 

 leading to useful results. 



" Hares, rabbits, and rats, have a natural an- 

 tipathy to tar; but tar, though fluid, contracts 

 (when exposed to tlie sun and air for some time) 

 a great dryness, and a very binding quality ; and 

 if applied to trees in its natural state, will occasion 

 them to be bound. To remove this difliculty, tar 

 is of so strong a savor that a small quantity, mi.\ed 

 with other tilings in their nature loose and open, 

 will give tlie whole mixture such a degree of its 

 own taste and smell as will prevent hares, rabbits, 

 &c. from touching what it is applied to. 



"Take any quantity of tar, and six or seven times 

 as much grease, stirring and mixing them well 

 together ; with this compo.sition bru.'^li the stems 

 of young trees as high as hares, &c. reach, and it 

 will effectually ])revent tlieir being liarked. I be- 

 lieve, if a plantation of ash (of which they are very 

 fond) were made iu a rabbit warren, this mixture 

 would certainly preserve it. These animals do 

 great mischief amongst flowering shruba, aud are 

 particularly fond of Spanish broom, scorpion sen- 

 na, and evergreen cytisus. I have ltd tliose 

 shrubs eaten doNvn to a stump ; but as the mixture 

 cannot be so well applied to them, I lave en 

 closed their branches with new tarred twini putting 

 it several times round the shrub, which lias had 

 the desired effect. The twine by being exposed 

 to the air aud rain, will lose tlie smeill conse 

 quently must be removed as occasion rlquucs ; 

 but the mixture is always to be preferred where it 

 can be used." 



Ditching. When bushy ground full of JBtroug 

 roots, is to be ditched, the Rev. Mr. Elliot Wisely 

 recommends begmning the ditch in the vlinter, 

 when the ground is frozen two or tliree niches 

 deep. The surface may then be chopped! into 

 pieces by a broad axe with a long helve, antt the 

 sods pulled out with a pronged hoe. The fqiiicr 

 may perhaps be favored with a good time to peitonii 

 tliis work in December, when there happens to be 

 no snow, and when it will not interfere with (jtlicr 

 farming concerns. The lower part of the 4itcli 

 may be done in the following summer or autlmu. 

 In a free and firm soil, a ditch may be begun with 

 a plough drawn by an orderly team that will keep 

 to the line. This saves labor. 



To make a ditch straight and equal in all its 

 parts, it is recommended that the work be regu- 

 iated by a frame of light wood, nailed together to 



the exact size of tlie proposed ditch. It may be 

 a rod or more in length, and as wide as it is 

 wished to make the ditch. 



Plugging Trees icith Sulphur. A writer in the 

 Genesee Farmer, with the signature " A Practical 

 Gardener" says, that "A friend of mine, a few years 

 ago, tried sulphur on some hundreds of peach 

 trees, which were infested by the common worm, 

 and the experiment proved an entire failure. In 

 the present season I plugged two apple trees, 

 which were infested by the common aphis, with 

 sulphur, and soon after those ijisects all disappeared. 

 But this is not tlie whole of the story. Another 

 tree at the distance of a few rods, which was also 

 infested at the same time, and to which sulphur 

 was apjilied also became cleared of its inhabitants. 

 On one of the apple trees, after the lapse of a few- 

 weeks, the aphis appeared again, although on re- 

 moving the plug I found the sulphur still remain- 

 ing in the hole. Had I observed more closely, I 

 should probably have detected the cause of their 

 disappearance ; but I have ascribed it to a visit 

 from some of those devourers of the aphis, eitlier 

 the syrphus or the hemerobius. 



" My pear trees have been remarkably infected 

 this season, by another species of aphis many of 

 them winged, which blackens the bark and leaves, 

 !Uid attracts swarms of flies, wasps, and hornets, 

 which come to feed on the sugw, which the aphis 

 deposits. Into eight or ten of these trees, — for I 

 wished to try the experiment fully and fairly, — I 

 ])Ut a considerable (juiuitity of sulphur, carefully 

 sealing up the orifice with grafting wax. No 

 diminution of these insects was observed, howewr, 

 and the trees both plugged and unplugged contiu- 

 ued to be infected. 



" I am therefore inclined to believe that sulphur, 

 jcften applied in this mamier, has no effect whatircr 

 on insects." 



The practice of boring holes into trees, intro- 

 ducing sulphur, and plugging the orifices, lias 

 often been condemne<l by writers for the .Yew 

 England Farmer, as entirely inefficient as regards 

 the destruction of insects. Dr. Thacher, the 

 author of The American Orchardist, Treatise on 

 Bees, and other useful publications, made experi- 

 ments with sulphur, similar to those mentioned 

 above, and their results were like\vise similar. 

 He also found tliat the introduction of flour of 

 sulphur into caterpillar's nests, while the insects 

 were at home, appeared to give thera no special 

 annoyance. 



A substantiaij gift. 



John L. Botlston, Esq. of Princeton, Mass., 

 has presented the Editor of the New England 

 Fanner, with a fine cheese. This, though not ex- 

 actly such a " Mammoth," as respects size, (viz. a 

 wagon load) as one which was formerly presented 

 to Mr. Jefferso:*, is, nevertlieless, of very respec- 

 table dimensions, (weighing 25 lbs.) is of an ex- 

 cellent quality, and we hope appropriately be- 

 stowed. We are much obliged to Mr. Boylston, 



and shall be happy, whenever iu our power, to re- 

 ciprocate the favor by such articles as Editors can. 

 furnish for the use of Cultivators. 



IMPROVED RA-\V SUGAR. 



We are indebted to a correspondent, (says the 

 ^thcnseum) for the following notice, and submit it 

 without at all pledging ourselves for its accuracy. 



A sample of native raw sugar, prepai-ed by the 

 improved process of concentrating tlie cane juice 

 in vacuo, has been introduced into market and 

 jas excited great interest in every person con- 

 hected with this important branch of our conimer- 

 eial and colonial prosperity. It is raw sugar, ob- 



tined in perfect pure, transparent granular clirys- 

 Is, developing the form of the clirystal of the 

 lugar, and being wholly free from any portion 

 «f unchrystalizable sugar, molasses, or coloring 

 matter. The application of this improved and 

 aciontific ])roccss of manufacturing, whilst it has 

 supplied an important desideratum, in tlie prepa- 

 mtion of ))ure sugar direct from tlie cane juice, 

 without any subsequent process of discolorization 

 or refining, has established the important fact, 

 Ihat molasses was but a product of the former op- 

 eration, from the intense and long continued 

 degree of heat employed in tlie process, ratlier 

 llian a direct product from the cane. This ini- 

 ^ortiuit saving from the extensive waste in the 

 pruduction of molasses and imchrvstalizable sugar, 

 anil the deteriorated state of the sugar from the 

 a.xt''Msive partial decomposition in which it has 

 always before been transmitted to our hands, is 

 of the first consequence to the planter." 

 Liverpool, (Eng.) Aug. 4, 1832. 



As this is the season for killing Hogs, the fol- 

 lowing observation may be useful to Farmers and 

 otiicrs ill this country : — 



Scalding Hogs. — A gentleman of experience 

 and observation desires us to make known, for the 

 benefit of Farmers, a mode practised by him of 

 scalding hogs. Instead of putting cold water or 

 ashes into the hot water, as is the general prac- 

 tice, he washes tlie hog in cold water previous to 

 scalding it. It matters not how hot the water may 

 be witli which the hog is scalded, if cold water is 

 first used in the way prescribed, the hair can be 

 taken off" with ease and neatness. No danger need 

 be apprehended of the hair becoming set, as is 

 often the case when this mode is not resorted to, 

 owing to a particular temperature of the water. 



The gentleman who communicated to us this 

 mode, says he has practised it for more than twen- 

 ty years, and has not during that time, experienced 

 any difliculty in scalding hogs. 



In dressing a yoimg pig for roasting, he first 

 dips it in cold water, and then in hot, by which 

 process he is enabled to remove the hair with tlie 

 least possible trouble. — Jf'yoming Herald. 



Potatoes. — We have a specimen of a new variety 

 of potatoes, called the Red Eye, brought from 

 New Hampshire. We bought a few bushels of 

 Moses French, 2d, of Chesterville. They are of a 

 good size, equal in flavor to the Butmau potato, 

 but much larger, skin smooth, and said to yield 

 well. They are of a rich yellow and white, fine 

 grain, mealy and not hollow like the Philadelphias. 

 Nicely baked brown, aud buttered, they are a 

 luxury equal to the " jewels " of Connaught or 

 MuDSter. — Kennebec Journal. 



