174 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



FRIDAY, DECEMBER 24, 1824. 



*^* We shall soon have the pleasure of presenting to 

 our readers, the Address of the Hon. Mr Hodges be- 

 fore the Bristol Agricultural Society — the communi- 

 cations of "Good Old Times"— " Worcester County" 

 — &c. We should be glad to hear from our Corres- 

 pondents oftener. 



iFarmcv's (iffalcnliar. 



If your ground is not too much frozen, you 

 may find this as good a time as the year afl'ords 

 for transplanting fruit trees, according to direc- 

 tions already given in pages 130, 138, of the 

 present rolume of the New Enghind Farmer. 

 If you wish to set out either fruit trees, .«hrubs, 

 or forest trees, especially in a light soil, you 

 may find this to be the season to lake opportuni- 

 ty by the foretop. There is tjothing in which 

 a cultivator is more liable to err than in being 

 in too much of a hurry in planling trees. If you 

 stick your plants into the ground with the roots 

 cramped, broken, the earth about them as hard 

 as granitei, and no proper provision for the 

 extension of the roots, you doom them to de- 

 atruction, and incur a loss of time, labour, and 

 the use of your soil, which will prove alike 

 ruinous to your property and to your reputation 

 as an agriculturist. We have already given 

 ample directions relative to planting trees in pa- 

 ges above referrd to. You will plep^e to adopt 

 such of those directionsasm.iy appearreasonablc, 

 and make as many imprvemenls upon them as 

 you can elicit from your own observations and 

 eKperience on the subject. There is one fact, 

 however, relative to planting trees, which may 

 be of importance, and which we do not remem- 

 ber to have touched upon, or alluded to in the 

 course of our editorial labours. If you take 

 up young trees for transplanting, when the 

 srround about the roots is so far frozen as to 



o 



give tenacity to the whole mass, they will be 

 s'lre to live; and if the soil is proporly pre- 

 pared for their reception, and is of a suita- 

 ble quality, they can hardly fail to flourish. — 

 In this way the arrangement of the particles of 

 earth about the roots of the trees is not altered, 

 and the trees hardly feel the alteration conse- 

 quent on their removal. This is almost the on- 

 ly method by which evergreens can be trans- 

 planted with success. 



Mr Coxe says, " in whatever season an orch- 

 ard may be planted, too much attention cannot be 

 given to extend the roots in every direction; — 

 to cut off all wounded parts, and more especial- 

 ly not lo plant too deep ; this I believe to be the 

 common errour of inexperienced planters ; as 

 a general rule, I would recommend that the 

 tree be placed in the orchard with about three 

 inches of earth over the upper tier of roots 



which will make it about two inches deeper 

 than it stood in the nursery; that the tree after 

 being partially covered should be well shaken, 

 to admit the finer particles of the earth among 

 the fibrous roots, and that it be well settled, by 

 treading the earth around it — with these pre- 

 cautions I have never found the necessity of 

 stakes. The tops of young trees should never 

 be shortened, lest it should produce a growth 

 of suckers : I would recommend in preference 

 that they be thinned, if found too heavy ; if 

 the trees have been long in the ground, and 

 the roots become shrivelled at the time of 

 planting, the labour of pouring a pailful of wa- 

 ter round each tree, will be amply repaid by 

 the success it will ensure in their growth." 



Look to vour bee-hivf.s. An English writer 

 says, it is the principle of many persons, but 

 it is founded on erroneous ideas, that Bees ought 

 to be kept warm during the winter, and the 

 " gude wives" of the country bestow particu- 

 lar pains in seeking out from their old hoards 

 all the bits of old blankets and flannel, where- 

 with to decorate the hives, and keep the " poor 

 insects"' warm, during the inclemency of win- 

 ter: this is all very humane and good hearted, 

 and I will grant the validity of the mode of 

 management, when the hive has a superabun 

 dance of food ; but as in case of deprivation, 

 that portion only is left in the hive, which on 

 a proper calculation ought to serve lor its sup- 

 port, it cannot, as far as my experience extends, 

 be kept too cold. As an instance of the truth of 

 this opinion, I will mention a particular exper- 

 iment, which I made on two hives of equal 

 weight; one 1 placed in a green house, subject 

 to a moderate temperature ; the other I left ex- 

 posed to all the influence of the weather; the 

 former 1 enveloped in blankets — to the latter I 

 gave no covering at all, excepting what was 

 necessary to protect it from the etTect of snow : 

 i weighed these two hives regularly every 

 month, and in the month of February I found 

 that the hive which had been kept warm, had 

 consumed eight pounds of food more than the 

 hive which had been exposed to all the inclem- 

 ency of the season. It must, however, be al- 

 lowed that the hive which had been so kindly 

 nursed, swarmed ten days sooner than that 

 which bad been fully exposed; no objection, 

 therefore, can exist to the keeping of a hive 

 warm, provided a certainty exists of a supera- 

 bundance of food being in store ; but to a poor 

 hive it is only intreasing the evil, and hasten- 

 ing its destruction. 



We are told that the bee flourishes in Siberia, 

 and lhro\ighoul Russia where the winters are 

 much longer and colder than in our climate. A 

 Swedish officer, who accompanied the French 

 Academicians who went out to measure the 

 length of a degree at the Pole, states that " in 



those countries contiguous to the Pole, there 

 are three months continual night in the winter 

 and the cold is so intense that spirits of wine 

 will freeze in the thermometer; when the door 

 of a room is opened the exteriour air converts 

 the vapour immediately into snow. In summer 

 there are three months perpetual day, and we I 

 were so annoyed with bees and flies of all kinds 

 that we were obliged to burn green wood to oc- 

 casion a smoke to drive them away." 



It has been remarked that the light of the 

 snow, in a clear d.iy, often invites bees abroad, 

 and a chill causes them to light on the snow, 

 where they all perish. It is, therefore, best in 

 winter, and as long as the snow lies on the 

 ground in the spring, to close the mouth of the 

 hive with gauze or some other material, which 

 will conline the bees, without excluding the air. 

 The bees should never be molested or disturb- 

 ed in cold weather, and the snow should never 

 be suffered to rest on the hive. 



Frovi the JV". E. Farmer's .Umanad: 



DECEMBER. 

 You have now, I trust, nearly or q-ile com- 

 pleted the heavy and im|)ortant »vork of the 

 season, and have leisure to enjoy the fruits of 

 your labours. But still there is no enjoyment 

 of idleness, and when your hands are not em- 

 ployed, yotu mind should be diligent in some 

 useful pursuit. If your hou.^e is vvelf furnished 

 your barn and granary well filled, and your (arm 

 well storked, still if your mind is a blank, and 

 yourtiead a vacuum, you are in truth afSicted 

 with the very worst kind of poverty, viz. pov- 

 erty of intellect. Let not these long evenings 

 pass without mental improvement. Such valu- 

 ble books as I>rDeane's JVew England Farmer 

 The Farmer's Assistant, Farmer's Guide, Dr 

 Thacher's Orchardist, &.c. &,c. ought not lo rot 

 upon the bookseller's shelves. Have you sub- 

 scribed for the New Engla.nd Farmer? Ifyoa 

 have not you cannot do it too soon for your own 

 mterest. Send your children to school. If you 

 do not intend they shall be drudges you will do 

 all in your power to prevent their being dimcM. 



FARMER 



SUMMARY OF NEWS. 



CONGRESS. 



SenAtk. — Dec. 14. After referring the President's 

 Message to the proper Committees, a petition from Mis- 

 souri on the subject of trade and inleicourse with the 

 internal provinces of Mexico, was referred to the Com- 

 mittfe on Indian Affairs. 



The Committee on Finance was instructed to inquire 

 into the expediency of providing for the more eifectual 

 protection of the revenue of the frontier of the United 

 States. A number of other motions for referring dif- 

 |< rent subjects to different Committees were carried, 

 which will be noticed when such subjects are decid- 

 ed oil. 



l)i c. IS. So much of the President's Message as re- 

 lates to the provision of Gen. La layette, was referred 

 to a select Committee. 



HnrSF.. — Dec. 10. A petition was presented from 

 \ew York praying the House to take some steps for 

 tlie prevention of piracy. 



In pursuance of previous arrangements, at 1 o'clock 

 Gen. La Fayette entered (he House, and was aJdres*- 



