INEW ENGLAND FAHMER. 



PUBLISHED BY .lOllN B. KUS'^KLl., UOGKUS' lU'll. DINGS, CONGRCSS STUKKT, BOSTON.— THOMAS G. PKS.SKNDK.N, KIMTOK. 



VOL. 11 f. 



FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 182r). 



No. 29. 



©rtgiiVRl (ContmuHicatious. 



TO THE EDITOK Of THE NEW EXGLiMJ FARMER. 



PRESERVATION OF MEAT. 



Mr EKSSfiNLiKN — I belifve sound philosophy 

 nnil a gooil laste cmciir to jirove lliiit meat is 

 most nutritive, wholesomo, ;ind (deiisaiit in its 

 fresh slate. Arv more pjiIi tlian to make it pal- 

 atable, deteriorates it, and (iiminishes its nutri- 

 tive qiiiiiilies. It i« therefore desiralile, espe- 

 cially in country towns u hich have not a mar- 

 ket, to preserve in a fre.^h state as much of our 

 meat as circumstances will allow. 



During the coldest part of the xvinler it may 

 be kept a considerable time, huna; up frozen in 

 an upper room. But the frequent occurrence 

 of thaws extracts the frost, the juices of the 

 meat r(m out, the outside becomes discoloured 

 and iVowy. 



For many years I packed my meat in snow. 

 This raetliod answers well in cold weather and 

 even in a moderate thaw. But when a long; 

 continuance of warm weather brings the snow 

 to the tem[)erature of Irerzing' water, and the 

 snow l)cgins to ^iiclt, the I'rost in the meat will 

 be extracted by the snow almost as readily as 

 by water ; the juices of the meat run out into 

 the snoi.-, turn putrid, and the snow in such 

 a state is worse than nothing. A better way is, 

 when the meat is frozen to pack it together in 

 n tight cask or box, and cover the top with sev- 

 eral thicknesses of woolen cloth, to^^', or »,! y 

 light substance that will eifectually e.xclude Ifie 

 warm air. In this state the meat will keep 

 frozen through the warmest seasons of the 

 winter, even to the last of March. 



But the best way is to pack it down in oats 

 or dry saw dust. These being bad conductors 

 of heat, will exclude the warm air, [ireserve 

 the iVost in the meat, and keep it jierfectly 

 sweet tar into April. Cut straw, dry swingling 

 tow, clean wool, and most other light substan- 

 ces would probably answer about the same pur- 

 pose. 



brewers and to families, so that it would be 

 cheaper to make beer from the bark than from 

 the essence. 



TO THE EDITOR OT THE NEW ENGLAKD FARMER. 



Mr Fessenden — I saw in a late number of the 

 Farmer a recommendation for making beer 

 from the boughs of the black spruce. This 1 

 practised formerly; but though it made a good 

 beer, I found it had an unpleasant bitter pungent 

 laste that was not in the beer made of the es- 

 sence. Suspecting this to arise from the leaves, 

 1 tried the bark of the tree and found it made 

 a beer perfectly pleasant, and that could not be 

 distinguished from that made of the best es- 

 sence. 



The bark may be procured at any season by 

 shaving from the small trees ; but the better 

 way is to procure it by peeling in June. A 

 year's stock may tben be obtained in a very 

 short time. 



The bark 1 should think might be sent to 

 cur targe towns and to parts of the country 

 where the tree does not grow, and sold to 



TO THE EDITOH OF TKF. NEW ENGLAND F.4RMEK. 



PRUNING FRUIT TREES. 



Mr Ffssenden — \'ery different opinions have 

 prevniled respecting the best season for trim- 

 ming [pruning] apple trees. I believe it to be 

 injurious to trim [prune] them much at any 

 season. 



Ten years ago I purchased a farm with a 

 large thrifty orchard, admitted to be one of 

 the best in town. It bad never been trimmed. 

 Thinking to improve it, 1 began with a very 

 abundant trimming. A judicious neighbour came 

 along, and observed that I should only hurt my 

 orchard by so close a trimming, and pointed to 

 several orchards which had been much trim- 

 med, and remarked that they were, at an early 

 period, in a state of decay. And ten years ob- 

 servation has [)rovcd to me the truth of the re- 

 mark. 



Trees that are set at proper distances, so as 

 not to interfere with each other, will not need 

 much trimming, except to cut off a few limbs 

 that cross and shale each other, dead limbs, and 

 limbs that droop by the weight of fruit, so as to 

 render passing under them difficult. If the 

 limbs become in any place too thick, the super- 

 fluous will die. !n that case the limb hardens 

 artii becomes very durable, and when cut off, 

 there is no danger of its rotting and leaving a 

 hole in the trunk. 



To leave an orchard in this state, I know may 

 look slovenly. But too much trimming is like 

 too much doctoring. It is sure to destroy health, 

 if not life itself 



But if you trim, let it he in March or April, 

 agreeable to immemorial custom. That trim- 

 ming in summer injures trees, I infer (rom the 

 following facts. In the year 1817, several 

 white oaks stood scattered in a pasture that I 

 now own. The loiver limbs on these were cut 

 off in June, I suppose to prevent too much shade 

 to the pasture. About three years afterwards, 

 when the land came into my possession, 1 had 

 these trees cut down, and found every one ol 

 them in a state of decay from the heart to a 

 narrow ring on the outside, most of which had 

 grown after the trimming. These oaks were 

 from 8 to 12 inches in diameter, and the whole 

 centre of the body was filled with white spots, 

 which indicate an incipient rot, was brittle, and 

 evidently the trees would have become hollou 

 at no very distant period. The same facts I ob- 

 served in some trees of the sugsr maple, thai 

 1 trimmed myself; and I never observed such 

 effect! in trees that had not been trimmed at this" 

 season. 



These facts 1 account for in the following way. 

 The cutting off the limbs slops the ascent of 

 the sap, when it is flowing in the greatest 

 abundance, and it lies stagnant in the body at 

 the hottest season of the year, and causes a rot, 

 as stagnant blood in the animal system tends to 

 mortification. 



These trees were injured in their growth 

 as might be ex|iocled Irom the rotten state of 

 the heart. The external rings, that grew af- 

 ter the trimming, were not as large as thosp 

 that grew before. 



1 furthermore conclude that trimming trees 

 in summer is injurious, from the fact that bash- 

 es that are cut, and trees that are felled in Au- 

 gust, are alanost invariably killed, while those 

 that are cut in winter send up a very vigorous 

 growth of young shoots. Cut all the limbs off 

 an apple tree in March, and so far from killing 

 the stum[., you will find, in the proper season, 

 an abundance of new shoots. But perform the 

 the same operation in August, and^ou will find 

 a very different result. Now I believe that af- 

 ter the growth begins in the spring, the season 

 becomes more and more unfavourable for trim- 

 ming, till the vegetation of the tree begins to 

 mature in the tail, which is indicated by the 

 turning of the colour of the leaves from a deep 

 green to a russet. 



By the editor — It is a matter of great importance 

 to choose the proper time in the year for pruning fruit 

 trees; and, as observed by our correspondent, "very 

 different opinions have prevailed" on this subject. — 

 Dr Thacher remarks in The American Orckardist, 

 pagsB 92, 93, that " In March, tlie sap i.s retained in 

 the roots, and the bark adheres closely to the wood ; 

 consequently, the wounds occasioned by the amputa- 

 tion of br-.uches being exposed to the cold, penetrating 

 winds atMl^frosls, before the circulation of the sap, be- 

 coilie tJl-y, rotten, .tnd canktred, and nfien crack opeci 

 nearly to the main trunk." Ajain, pages 93, 94, 

 "The most proper season for pruning fruit trees, un- 

 questionably is when the sap juice is in active motion 

 toward the extreme branches. In our New England 

 climate, we have the clearest indications that the 

 sap commences its circulation about the 10th of April. 

 From this period to about the last of May, whether 

 the buds are just opening or the blossoms fully expand- 

 ed, the pruning should be accomplished." 



In Forsyth's Treatise on Fritil Trees, (page 48, Cob- 

 belt's Edition) it is asserted that " the best time to 

 prune a)>ple trees is in the month of April, or in May, 

 after the peaches, nectarines, and cherries are pruned." 

 The Farmer''s Guide says, " In New England the sap 

 commences its circulation about the 10th of April. — 

 From this period to the first of May the pruning should 

 be accomplished. If the work is done much later than 

 this, the bark is apt to peel, which is very injurious."— 

 Col. Pickering has informed us that his "practice has 

 been to prune in the spring, beginning when the buds 

 have scarcely began to swell, and ending before the ex- 

 pansion of the leaves.'''' We have likewise convened 

 with several respectable and intelligent cultivatori, 

 who inform ns that they have found the best time for 

 pruning trees to be when the buds are beginniny to 

 swell, but before the bark is jo, much loosened by the 

 opening spring as to cause it to peel readily. In short, 

 both winter and summer pruning are condemned sefar 

 as our observation has extended, by those who have 

 had the best means of information ; but instead of 

 March and April, they recommend April and May as 

 the proper months for performing the operation. It Sp- 



