260 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



FEBRUARY 37, 1S33. 



From the Albmuj Argus. 

 HINTS TO P,\RMERS. NO. IV. 



The planting of Trees, for oraamcnt and profit, 



for fruit, fuel and thiiber, lias for a long time 



engaged the aotive attention of tlie cultivators, 

 and even the governments of Europe. The ex- 

 isting forests of England are said to have been all 

 planted by the hand of man. The highlands of 

 Scotland, after having been, by a reckless policy, 

 stripped of their timber, have again been re-clothed 

 ■witi) wood and beauty, by the indefatigable labors 

 of the present and last generations. And to such 

 a pitch has the taste for planting been carried in 

 Germany, that the public highways, for hundreds 

 of miles, present continuous avenues of fruit and 

 ornamental trees, from which the traveller regales 

 himself with freedom, and which contribute to 

 tlie comfort and wealth of the inhabitants. The 

 press has been enforcing the duty of planting, and 

 furnishing directions for rearing of forests, and 

 beautifying parks and ornamental grounds. A re- 

 cent Plantir'/; (lidle, hy Sir Henry Steuart, has 

 just been repulilished by the Messrs. Thorburns, 

 at New York, and excited much public attention. 

 I have not seen the work ; but the extracts from 

 it, which I have read, seem but illy adapted to 

 our practice. They relate principally to an ex- 

 pensive mode of removing large trees from the 

 forest to the |)ark ; an operation suited neither to 

 our habits nor our means. It undoubtedly con- 

 tains, however, useful instructions for planting, re- 

 moving and pruning forest trees ; and 1 hope it 

 may be the means of awakening in our country- 

 men a more provident care of at least the trees we 

 have left. For our taste has hitherto run coimter 

 to that of Europe. While they have studied to 

 increase, we have been wantonly lavish in destroy- 

 ing, these lords of the forest. But we begin to 

 perceive our error, and evince a disposition to cor- 

 rect it ; the first evidence of which that I remember 

 to have witnessed, was in the" county of Berkshire 

 — where the Jirst Agricultural society of practical 

 fanners, tvas established in our country, and where 

 it yet continues to disperse unnumbered blessings. 

 One of the early acts of that society was to 

 encourage the )>lanlingthe sugar maple, particu- 

 larly by the road sides; and the wise foresight 

 which prompted the imirovemeut has now become 

 apparent to all. I was acquainted with the valley 

 of the Housatonic more than forty years ago. 1 

 knew it when its Agricultural Society was estab- 

 lished ; and I have traversed it with delight with- 

 in the last few months. I know no district which 

 has surpassed it in the measure of its improveineiu 

 during the last twenty years. Its agricultural 

 features, — its flocks and its herds; — its moral 

 condition, — the intelligence and enterprise, the in- 

 dustry and happiness, of its population, surpassed, 

 in my mind, any thing I saw in joui-neying five 

 hundred miles. And most of this prosperity and 

 improvement, I ascribe, emphatically, to the 

 benign influence of its agricultural society. How 

 gratifying, to the Fathers of this society, must 

 be the reflection, that they have been thus instru 

 mental in increasing the measure of human hap 

 piness, and of liuman virtue. I would not ex 

 change the honor which belongs to them for the 

 pageantry of a court, or the renown of a saugnina 

 ry victor. 



Instead of adopting Sir Henry Steuart's system 

 of removing large trees, we would do well to pre- 

 serve them, wherever they are not likely to inter- 

 fere with the econonjy of the farm ; and to plant 



small trees whenever they will conduce to orna- 

 ment or use. In retaining, however, the second 

 growth is preferable to the first. The habits of 

 the first, like the habits of the aborigines, are bet- 

 ter adapted to the forest than to the field, and 

 when their tall forms are bared, by the labors of 

 cultivation, they are apt to be prostrated by the 

 winds. The second growth or small trees, grow 

 up with more strength and beauty, and soon adapt 

 their habits to their security. There are many 

 grounds that are not profitable in tillage, which 

 may grow trees without prejudice, and even to ad- 

 vantage, as pasture lands. A growth of forest or 

 fruit trees is highly beneficial, upon the north and 

 west side of farm buildings, in breaking off the 

 cold winds in winter, and affording refreshing 

 shade in summer. The borders of enclosures and 

 highways, aftbrd also the means of at once en- 

 hancing the value, and beautifying the scenery of 

 our farms. Besides, planting trees is a sacred 

 debt which we all owe to posterity. B. 



cows in the fall and purchasing in the spring 

 equal to the difference between driving a cow or 

 trans|)orting two tons of hay the same distance, 

 dlowing the prices of both were regulated by the 

 same market? 



• From the Genesee Farmer. 

 ON FODDER. 

 There are none of the farming operations that 

 require more attention than feeding cattle through 

 the winter, and yet by many no one thing is more 

 neglected. We do not mean that farmers neglect 

 to feed their cattle, but that they neglect making 

 calculations as to the profit and loss attending it. 

 We have remarked that in this vicinity a good 

 milch cow bears the same price as two tons of hay. 

 :Most good farmers we believe will allow, that a 

 cow, fed u])on hay alone, will consume two tons 

 during the winter, or from the time when they 

 connnence feeding them until they are turned out 

 to grass in the spring. The inquiry then arises, 

 s not the loss equal to the worth of the cow in the 

 fall, when so fed .' We answer yes, together will' 

 the trouble of feeding them. In the neighborhoo I 

 of large towns, where hay commands a large prici, 

 we consider it a bad policy for farmers to kcfp 

 more cows than they can winter upon such kinls 

 of food as are produced from the farm, and vill 

 not connnand ready cash. This observation vill 

 not always apply to farms distant from niarkft, 

 nor to the keeping of dairies near large towns "or 

 the purpose of supplying them with milk. Thtre 

 are many kinds of feed which may be prepand, 

 both for horses and cows, by labor during tie 

 winter, wherewith they may be fed at less expense, 

 or will consume less of the merchantable produ'e 

 of the farm, than when fed on hay, by which tke 

 labor of winter becomes more valuable than whui 

 this is omitted. Straw, when chopped fine an I 

 soaked or boiled with a small quantity of meal, 

 potatoes, pumpkins, carrots or cabbage, makes an 

 excellent feed for cattle or horses, and milch cowi 

 fed with such food will give more milk than when 

 fed with hay alone. 



In our long northern winters, sheep require 

 some food of the kind, otherwise they are apt t<. 

 become costive and feverish, which never fails to 

 give their wool that yeUow cotted appearance, 

 which is commonly called the effects of being hide 

 liound. We call the attention of farmers to this 

 subject, wishing them to pursue that course whicl 

 shall he found profitable. From the price hav 

 bears in the country, it cannot be transjiorted l>) 

 land to any considerable distance to market with- 

 out loss, but the same amount of property may be 

 driven at a small expense. We would ask, why 

 is there not a sure profit attending the selling ol 



F.IT CATTLE. 



It has been dull times with the cattle feeders 

 for some weeks past, but the prospect has recently 

 brightened a little, and there is now some nniinar 

 tioii among them. There are purchasers in this 

 vioiiiity for three markets — New York, Boston and 

 Providence. A drove of 78 excellent cattle, iiur- 

 chascd in Hatfield and Deerfield for the New York 

 market, passed through this town last week. The 

 New Yorkers represented that they paid only 6 

 dolars per hundred for them (estimated Brighton 

 we.ght ;) but some of those who sold them intend- 

 ed to get, and think they have got, over 6 dollars. 



A drove of o.xen started from this place for 

 Brghtou on Monday. A pair fattened by Thad- 

 deis Clapp, Esq. of Eastliampton, weighed 4135 

 pounds — said to be the heaviest pair fed in this 

 vicinity the jiresent season. Another pair belong- 

 ing to Mr. Clapp weighed 3880 jiounds. — JVorth- 

 amjtun Gazette. 



From the National J^^s. 

 TROUT. 



The wise men of our State have seen fit to pro- 

 vide sundry laws for the iirotcction of fish and 

 fo.vl of various kinds within the limits of this 

 C«iiimonwealth, but with all this careful legisla- 

 tiig to prevent fish being taken in an improper 

 iruiiner and at wrong seasons of the year, trout, 

 tlie best fish by far in our streams, have been much 

 ncj;lected. Those persons who are conversant with 

 the nature and habits of this delicious fish know 

 that it is best at certain seasons of the year, being 

 then fat and as anglers say "in season." During 

 the winter the trout is usually found most abun- 

 dant in ponds ; they resort to the brooks at the 

 coming on of warm wcaUier in the sjiring and 

 continue in tliem during the summer for the pur- 

 pose of feeding and spawning. In the winter the 

 trout may readily be taken in large numbers iu 

 ponds where they resort, hut they are of little value. 

 Isaac Walton who published a treatise on angling 

 in the reign of Charles the 2d, of England, which 

 work is more highly esteemed than any other that 

 lias ever been published, as well for the cAcellence 

 of the instructions it contains for angling as fur its 

 simple and unaffected style and the p.urily of senti- 

 ment pervading the work, says in speaking of the 

 trout, " and next you are to note, that till the sun 

 gets to such a height as to warm the earth and the 

 water, the trout is sick and lean and lousy and 

 unwholesome ; for you shall, in winter, find him to 

 have a big head, and,' then, to be lank and thin 

 and lean ; at which time many of them have stick- 

 ing on them sugs, or trout lice, which is a kind of 

 worm, in shape like a clove, or pin with a big 

 head, and sticks close to him, and sucks his mois- 

 ture; those, I think, the trout breeds himself: and 

 never thrives till he free himself from them, which 

 is when warm wtather comes; and, then as he 

 "rows str</nger, he gets from the dead still water 

 into the sharp streams and the gravel, and there 

 rubs oft" these worms or lice, and then as he grows 

 stronger, so he gets hhn into switter and swifter 

 streams, and their lies at the watch for any fly or 

 minnows that come near to him, and he especially 



