386 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



JUKE 19, 1«33. 



cut out the large boughs niyselC. A ft;w of my 

 trees took to cankering, the Ribston Pippin par- 

 ticularly ; my only remedy was to dig them care- 

 fully, and plant them again in similar fresh soil ; 

 they never miss to recover and do well. My ex- 

 traordinary success has induced me to write this, 

 pro bono publico, as it has been the custom in this 

 country, and many others, to prepare a foundation 

 for fruit trees at vast expense, by flagging, paving 

 or gravelling in Mr. Harrison's manner, lest the 

 roots get into the bad soil and canker, as the say- 

 ing goes; but trees will never go into bad soil if 

 they will have plenty of good soil to go into, any 

 more than cattle will go into bad pasture if they 

 have plenty of a better quality. The roots of fruit 

 trees do not and should not run deep into the soil ; 

 the borders should be occasionally top-dressed with 

 good manure, and the alleys sonietiuies dug deep 

 and fresh manure ]>ut into them. My borders are 

 now full six feet broad, and the spaces between of 

 course a little curtailed. I used to grow five rows 

 of celery in the intervals, and now I grow hut 

 four, but the fruit trees pay well for the ground 

 they occupy." 



A very excellent paper on the ])riii)ing and 

 management of dwarf apple and i)ear trees, is 

 published in the seventh volume of the Transac- 

 tions of the Horticultural Society, in a letter ad- 

 dressed to the secretary, by Mr. W. Greenshields, 

 F. H. S. : — "I herewith send you (says Mr. G.) 

 a description of the method I have pursued in prun- 

 ing and managing my dwarf standard apple and 

 pear trees, and which I have practised fur several 

 years with success. 



The first subjects of the following remarks, 

 from their appearance, were planted six or seven 

 years previously to the commencement of any 

 pruning being given them. In consequence they 

 required to be very much thinned otit, so as to 

 get the branches clear of each other. For thinning 

 I always bore in mind to cutthe old wood ott' close 

 to the stem or branch it was attaclicd to ; this pre- 

 vented young wood springing afterwards. When 

 the trees were thinned of the old shoots, as above 

 stated, the young side shoots were what is generally 

 termed spurred in ; that is, they were so short- 

 ened, that only two or three buds were left on 

 them, and the leading top shoots were shortened 

 to half their length. 



The following and every succeeding year, the 

 trees were treated in the same manner, as respects 

 the young wood, till they had acquired the desired 

 height, when the leading shoots were shortened, as 

 the side shoots or spurs had been previously. 

 When the leading shoots show an indication to 

 grow very luxuriantly, which is ajjt to he the case 

 uuder this treatment, they should be prevented 

 doing so, by cutting off part of the old wood, 

 along with the young shoots immediately above a 

 flower bud. This will prevent the shoot so cut 

 from increasing in length. The spurs must be 

 treated in a similar manner, by cutting off a 

 small portion of the old wood along with the 

 young, when they are getting too long. I have 

 Jiever found tlie above treatment prevent the fruit 

 swelling, or in any way detrimental to it ; but on 

 the contrary, it was always improved. 



Young trees are to be treated in the following 

 manner : — If there are more than three shoots on 

 the plant, reduce them to that number, and shorten 

 each to three, four and six eyes, according to their 

 strength. The following season reduce the num- 

 l)er of leading shoots to six, and shorten them to 



three-fourths of their length, and spur in the re- 

 mainiiig shoots. The tree should be managed in 

 every respect in this manner until it has attained 

 the required size, which of course depends on the 

 convenience or fancy of the owner, or conductor 

 of the garden. 



I make a point of letting the trees take their 

 natural form of growth as far as the system de- 

 scribed will permit ; for I consider it of little con- 

 sequence what shape is given to the tree, provided 

 my end is attained ; that is, to make every branch 

 as it were a long spur, with bearing buds from the 

 base to the extremity. 



Two or three years' trial of this method only, 

 might possibly deter many from a continuance of 

 it, in consequence of the quantity of young wood 

 which will be produced yearly at first, and from 

 the apparent difficulty of getting rid of the super- 

 fluity. But the inconvenience will be ultimately 

 surmounted if the foregoing instructions are at- 

 tended to, and the continuance will be the posses- 

 sion of both healthy anil fruitful trees. To attenqit 

 to bring very old trees into this method of man- 

 agement would be attended with difficulty, unless 

 they were cut down short, and allowed to make 

 new heads, which I should recommend where 

 their produce can be S])ared for a time. In a few 

 years fine healthy heads would be formed, which 

 will yield fruit superior to any that could be ex- 

 pected from them, if left in their rude state. But 

 if the trees cannot be spared to be headed down, 

 they may he very much improved by thinning out 

 the spray, and cutting out a few old branches, 

 which will cause them to ihjow out young shoots, 

 and these, in a short time, will become bearing 

 wood. The remainderof the old branches may then 

 be thinned out with effect.' Even if this process 

 is only ]>erformed once in two or three years, and 

 the stems and branches well cleared of moss and 

 dead bark, it will be of great service to the trees, 

 and be a means of keeping them free from insects, 

 and give them a neat and clean appearance. 



MANWFACTDRE OP EARTHENAVARE KV 

 STAFFORDSHIRE. 



In the year 16S6, when Dr. Plot published a 

 Natural History of Staffordshire, its traffic in ear- 

 thenware was very unimportant; being carried on 

 only by the workmen themselves, or by pedlcrs 

 who conveyed the pieces in baskets on their hacks 

 through the adjoining counties. About the time 

 just mentioned, (1690) two brothers, named Elers, 

 came from Nuremburg, in Holland, and settled at 

 Brad well, where they made an improved kind of 

 red ware, and introduced the art of glazing the 

 vessels by throwing common salt into the oven at 

 a certain period of the baking. Every precaution 

 was used by the brothers to keep their processes 

 secret; and it is probable that this circumstance, 

 joined to the success of the strangers, excited the 

 enmity and jealousy of their neighbors to the 

 degree which obliged them to leave the country. 

 The pretext assigned for this persecution was the 

 alarm occasioned by the fumes from their kilns at 

 the time of glazing. These fears subsided, however, 

 when the process was continued by their succes- 

 sor. This man, whose name was Asthury — had 

 it is said, become master of their secrets by a sin- 

 gular stratagem. Feigning to be of weak intellect, 

 and assuming an appropriate vacuity of counte- 

 nance, he obtained employment in the Bradwell 

 works, and submitted to all the drudgery and con- 

 tumely which was drawn upon him by his sup- 



posed imbecility. By Ibis course of proceeding 

 he was enabled, unsuspected, to acquire a know! 

 edge of all that was done in the manufactory, and 

 to make models for his own use of all the utensils. 

 The advantages of this method of glazing with 

 salt were so apparent, that in a short lime it was 

 very generally adopted ; and on Satnrdny, the day 

 appropriated to this process, the thick fumes from 

 nearly sixty potteries filled the towns to a degree 

 which darkened the atmosphere, and covered the 

 hills of the surrounding district. — Dr. Lardner's 

 Cabinet CydojtCEdia. 



From the Kemiebtc Farmer, 

 ■WHEAT AND FLOVR. 



Mr. Holmes, In the Kennebec Farmer of Jan- 

 28th, I noticed the following Query, viz. " Which 

 is the most economical, for family use, to buy 

 wheat at eight shillings per bushel, or superfine 

 flour at eight dollars per barrel .'" followed by a 

 request that some one, acquainted with the subject, 

 or liaving experience in the thing, would give ex- 

 act information, &c. 



I shall not attempt to make a perfect statement 

 of the experiment that I tried upon the subject, 

 as I (lid not carry it to perfection, but you may 

 have the result of it as far as it was carried. 



From five bushels of wheat, I obtained 181 lbs. 

 sn|)crfine flour — 28 lbs. second sort — 12 1-2 ca- 

 nal — bran not weighed — but without doubt, there 

 was 50 lbs. and probably more — say 50 lbs. 

 Now one barrel of superfine flour, 



containing 196 lbs. of flour worth $8,00 

 Barrel worth 25 



leaving worth of flour 



$7,75 



$7,75 



Five bushels of wheat worth $6,67 



Deduct 28 lbs. second sort flour, worth 75 

 12 1-2 lbs. third sort flour, worth 25 



50 lbs. hran, worth one cent per pound • 



when oats are worth two shillings per 

 bushel, or say 63 



Leaving worth of 181 lbs. superfine 



domestic flour $5,04 



If 196 lbs. superfine flour cost $7,75 



Then 181 will cost at the same price 7,16 



59 

 The result appears to be, that ISUbs. superfine 

 southern or western flour eosts $7,16, while the 

 same quantity of domestic flour costs $5,04 — dif- 

 ference $2,12. The estimate of the bran I have 

 made from the price at which it has been sold at 

 the mills in this place in times past. The millers 

 have sold it here, and also carried it to Hallowell, 

 and sold it for the price per pound above stated. 

 In great haste, I am, &c. 



D. Baldwin. 



CLEANSIKG CLOTHS. 



Method of Cleaning Silks, ff'oollens, and Cottons 

 xvithoid damage to their texture (tnd color. Grate 

 raw potatoes to a fine pulp in clean water, and 

 (lass the liquid matter tlu'ough a coarse sieve, into 

 another vessel of water ; let the mixture stand till 

 the white particles of the potatoes are precipitated ; 

 then pour the mucilaginous liquor from the fecula, 

 !ind preserve the liquor for use. The article to 

 be cleaned should then be laid upon a linen cloth 

 on a table, and having provided a clean sponge. 



