130 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



resembled their mother npple, and no Iwc were 

 like each other. Seven of them produceii very 

 small sour apples, some white, some yellow, 

 some early, others late. These seven trees I 

 marked for grafting. Of the other three, the 

 largest and most thrifty tree produced an excel- 

 lent, pleasant, long, striped apple of good size, 

 Tery mellow and juicy in autumn, neither sweet 

 nor sour. The next largest tree produced a 

 red, sweet apple, about the shape and size of 

 the flat pippin, and will keep in winter near as 

 •well. The other, the smallest tree of the ten, 

 which grew the longest before it produced, 

 bore large, yellow, flat, sweet apples, that weigh 

 about one pound, and fall off in due time for 

 drying or making cider. 



" I have estimated such parts of my orchard 

 as have been planted with trees without graft- 

 ing, to average about three good and valuable 

 tinds of apples from every ten trees. I disap- 

 prove of grafting the trees when small in the 

 nursery, as we may cut ofl better fruit than we 

 insert, and perhaps destroy some better and 

 larger kinds than are yet known." 



Mr Co.XE advises when trees are removed 

 from the seed bed into the nursery to plant them 

 in rows about 4 feet asunder, and about 12 or 

 18 inches apart in the rows "• In four years," 

 he observes, " from the time of planting in the 

 nursery, in a good soil, with good cultivation, 

 the trees will have attained the height of I'rom 

 7 to 8 teet ; those of vigorous kinds will he tal- 

 ler, and will be fit for transplanting into the or- 

 chard. The cultivation ol a nursery is cflectcd 

 by ploughing and harrowing", each operation 

 twice or thrice in the season, with ploughs and 

 harrows of a small size, with a single hoise : — 

 the earth is tirst thrown from the trees, and then 

 towards them, and the ground is also worked 

 with a hoe between the trees to destroy the 

 weeds; the more the earth is stirred, and the 

 clearer the ground is kept, the twister the trees 

 will grow in every stage oflheir progress, from 

 the seedling to the full grown tree. 



" In pruning trees in the nursery, care should 

 sbe used not to run them up too high ; this weak- 

 ens the stems, and throws the growth too much 

 into the branches, which must be thinned be- 

 fore their removal, at the risk ofchecking their 

 growth — as frequently the consequence of the 

 great size of the head, will be an irremediable 

 curve in the stem, while in the nursery. 



"Great attention is required to keep the 

 roots free from suckers, as neglect on this point 

 will produce in the tree a disposition to gene- 

 rate suckers, which will continue through the 

 subsecjuent stages of its growth, when removed 

 into the orchanl. In taking up the trees from 

 the nursery, no care should be spared to pre- 

 serve the roots uniojured and of a large size; 

 in the early years of my practice in the planting 

 of orchards, I frequently lost trees of fine and 

 vigorous growtii, from the injury sustained for 

 the want of care in digging them up, or, as it 

 sometimes happened, in grubbing them up, with 

 the loss of more than half their roots. To per- 

 sons desirous of possessing large trees, 1 would 

 recommend a mode which I have adopted to 

 considerable extent with great success, of trans- 

 planting them from the nursery to nn interme- 

 diate plantation in the garden or field, and there 

 cultivating them for two or three years at about 

 iburfeet apart, (danting a hill of potatoes with 

 manure in the space between every four trees, 



and paying attention during the whole time to 

 the formation of the stems and l)ranches. This 

 mode will be found to improve the growtli of 

 the roots, extending and strengthening the 

 feeding shoots, and increasing a rapid and 

 vigorous growth when transplanted a sec- 

 ond time into the orchard : the product of pota- 

 toes will repay the expense of manuring and 

 cultivation four fold." 



Great care is necessary in taking up trees for 

 transplanting. A writer for one of the first 

 numbers of the Massachusetts Agricultural 

 Repository says — " Dig a circle round the tree 

 you would remove, and loosen, with a pick, the 

 ground near the stem, so as to get up unhurt, 

 a spreading root, and its lateral shoots. The 

 tap-rout should he fairlij cut off" with a mattock. 



" By hacking, and wringing, and twisting the 

 trees in transplanting, they suffer an injury 

 which often makes them sicken and die, and it 

 they should not, keeps them some years droop- 

 ing without gaining any growth. Mr Biicknal, 

 an English writer, says — "in taking up the 

 trees trom the nursery, the roots should he pre- 

 served of the full length, if possible; the sur- 

 face earth should be removed, and the running 

 roots carefully traced and raised. If they must 

 be cut, let it be done with a sharp instrument, 

 and not hacked with a dull spade. The tap root, 

 or that which penetrates straight down, may he 

 shortened to the length of about one foot, and 

 all broken or bruised parts should be removed. 

 The small matted fibres should be cut off, as 

 they are apt to moulder and decay, and pre- 

 vent new ones from shooting. The remaining 

 side roots shoul<l be spread out to give thorn a 

 horizontal direction under the surface, that they 

 may be more immediately intliienccd by the 

 sun, and their sap will become richer, and pro- 

 duce the sweetest and most beautiful fruit. — 

 Some well rotted manure, mixed uith nuuM, 

 may be advantageously placed round the .ools, 

 the earth carefully pressed down, so as to come 

 in contact with every part, and the trees )laced 

 the same siile to the sun as they stood 'lelbre. 

 In transplanting trees, it may be observal, that 

 they should not be replanted deep in tae soil, 

 since the most nutritive or salubrious parts of 

 the earth are those within reach of the sun's 

 warmth, of the descending moisture, and of 

 the air." 



I\Ir Marshall, an old English writer, lias giv- 

 en very copious, and we think judicious direc- 

 tions relative to transplantmg fruit tree?, which 

 are published in our paper, vol. i. page 318. 

 \To he continued.^ 



^flrfcultural ^nnflirrscirics. 



OFFICIAL REPORT 

 Of the Executive Committee of the Hampshire, Fianlc- 

 liQ and Hampden Agricultural Society, at the 

 Seventii annual Cattle Show and Fair, holdeu at 

 Nortr.ampton on the 20th day of October, 182-1. 



The committee take this opportunity to con- 

 gratulate the membeis of the Society and their 

 fellow citizens generally tliat the bensfiis resul- 

 ting from this " farmer's holiday," begin to be 

 more justly anprecinted by all agriculturists with- 

 in the boundaries of the Society. It b^ing^ to- 

 gether the wisdom and experience of our farm- 

 ers; their animals and household manufactures; 

 and it is imposoible that the weighing of differ- 



ent opinions and experiments in agriculture, 

 and crmparingthe different products of the ma- 

 nufiicljring community, should not result in miTt! 

 thrift) husbandry — more perfect animals — and 

 better fiibrics. A comparison of the first show 

 and t'a r in 1810, with the present, clearly evin- 

 ces the necessity and usefulness of such an in- 

 stitution. The improvements have been great 

 and general. 



The Society assembled at the Court house at 

 9 o'clock. Messrs. Strong and Colt were intro- 

 duced to the Society as the delegates from the 

 Berkshire Agricultural Society; the delegation 

 from Worcester were prevented iVom attending 

 by business, .\fter hearing the reports and rep- 

 resenlalinns of the committees of delegation to 

 the si'ler. institutions of Worcester and Berk- 

 shire, [he Society made choice of ofEcers for the 

 currei t year. 



The Society then adjourned, and the several 

 view.ng committees proceeded to the business 

 of fh'ir appointment. 



At 12 o'clock the Society assembled at Mr 

 Lyman's Inn, and were escorted to the Meelin''- 

 hiiuseby the Northampton Light Infantry, un- 

 der tlie command of Capt. L. Cla[)p. The pro- 

 ce.ssioi was larger than we remember to have 

 seen ipon any former anniversary. 



T>'ii services at the meeting-house were com- 

 mennd by singing, after which a fervent Prav- 

 er "iS offered up by Rev. Mr Tucker. The 

 choirtben jierformed the set piece. Lord of all 

 po'eci, <S-c. 



Till Hon. George Grennei.i, jr. of Greenfield, 

 delivered an Address upon the occasion, well 

 calculiled to stir up the minds of our farmers to 

 a mn e thorough examination of the objects 

 pioprscd to be acce.mplished by this Society. — 

 Tlie committee hope to procure a copy for the 

 press. 



The choir then sung " Sanctus,^'' and the be- 

 nediction was pronounced by Rev. Mr Williams. 



The following report of the committee on 

 manufactures was then read by the Correspond- 

 ing Secretary; after which the premiums were 

 declared. 



REPORT. 



The committee would observe that there has 

 been great improvement since the laSt year in 

 the important articles of FiW/'i/ Cloth and Flan- 

 nels for fulling, h\it they would recommend more 

 attention to the carding of wool, and that 

 there be less twist in the yarn, and then they 

 are confident the same labor in the other bran- 

 ches will produce perfect goods. 



In no article of manufacture has lliere been 

 so great an improvement aa in that of Domestic 

 Flannels. A number of pieces were superior to 

 any before offered for premiums. 



We notice with much pleasure a beautiful 

 piece of flannel, presented for exhibition by the 

 Ware Manufacturing Com|)any, which gives 

 evidence that we have not to go fiir from our 

 homes to obtain the best of that necessary arti- 

 cle.. 



In awarding the premiums on Carpeting, youv 

 committee were not a little perplexed to do equal 

 justice to the unusual number of claimants, there 

 being 17 pieces entered for premiums, all of 

 which were very superior, and coming within 

 the regulations of the Society ; but as your 

 committee could award but six premiums, many 

 very deserving applicants must go unreward 

 by the Society. 



