NEW ENGLAND FARM 



PUBLlSHr.D BY .lOIIN J3. RUSSELL, ROGF.RP' nUlI.UlNGP, CONGRESS STREET, ROSTON'.— THOMAS G. FEfi-ENDEN, EUITOR. 



VOL. 111. 



FRIDAY, MARCH 2r>, 182.0. 



No. 35. 



<^rtQ{naI (Sommuntcnttons. 



T. G. FtSSF.NDEfJ, Esq. 



KJilor of I he .Vew England Farmey. 



EARLY POTATOES. 



Boston, March 17, Hi25. 



5jh — Id reply to your inquiry for enrly pot;v 



1oes, I beg- leiive to stale : — That last sprin^T I 



Bent lliree li.-impprs of" the Lancashire Pink Eye. 



to a friend in Worcester Coiinlv, '15 miles from 



ro THE EDITOR OF THE NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



ON PRUNING TREES. 



Essex County, March 15, 1825. 

 Sir, — I perceive there is great variety in the 

 opinions of your correspondents on the subject | 

 oi' pruning trees, both in respect to the manner I 

 and the time. A.id when farmers disagree on 

 this subject, who shnii decide 1 When a person ' 

 comes in possessioii of an orchard, already ad- | 

 vr.nccd in asre and in the size of the trees which' 



Boston. They were planted on the side of a ; i,.,,,g (,een neglected, there may be some difficul- 

 pravrlly hill, with tresh burn yard manure, a j ,^, perhaps in deciding when he shall and how he 



shall [iroceed. But as a general rule, I believe 



fortnight later than any other [lolatocs. They 

 were ripe a fortnight earlier than any other. 

 'I'hoy prove equally mealy with the original 

 potaloe, but have not so much t]:\vour. They 

 require little boiling, and when rightly boiled, 

 serve up very while and dry. A small qiiaiili- 

 Iv remaining, will be planted this season at the 

 City Farm. They are very iVuiltul. They 

 were sold to several gentlemen in the noigli- 

 bourhood last si)ring. — Some of them may be 

 able to communicate the result. 



I am. Sir, with the best wisiies 



tor the success of your labours, 



Your obedidcnt servant, 

 F. WILBY. 



TO THE EDITOR OF THE NEW EXGLA.VD FARMER. 



SHEARING SHEEP. 

 DristoU {r.. J.) March 11, 1825 

 Mr F-ESSENDEN, — Tlie following observations 

 op the Early Shearing of Sheep, were communi- 

 cated to me by Mr Rouse Potter of Prudence 

 Island, Narraganset Bay, in this state ; and as 

 his practice is different from the common one 

 in general use, you are at liberty, if you jilease, 

 to publish it in your useful paper. 



Mr Potter begins to shear his sheep by the 

 1st of May, if the weather is favourable ; and 

 continues daily until he completes his shearing. 

 For the iirst week, he puts those sheared under 

 cover, or in close yaids every night, and if the 

 weather should prove untavourably cold, or 

 stormy, he keeps them up day and night. By 

 that time the wool will start and grow so as to 

 give them a sufficient covering. By this prac- 

 tice of early shearing, he gains much wool, 

 which formerly, when he put off shearing un- 

 til the middle of June, the sheep would shed; 

 and further, when thus early sheared, the viool 

 immediately atterwards begins to start, and 

 grows much quicker than when shearing is de- 

 layed to the usual time. He says, formerly be- 

 ing exposed immediately afterwards to the rays 

 of the sun, their bare hacks would frequently 

 become sore and scaby, where no wool will grow 

 until healed, and then what does grow Irom 

 these scars is thinner and coarser. 



It may be observed that Mr Potter has, at 

 present, 950 sheep, which is his stock; and 

 says that he has lost but two the last winter. 

 Mr Potter does not wash his sheep previous to 

 shearing. With great regard, 



Yours, &,c. 



LEMUEL W. BRIGGS. 



1 could give sufficient history to convince any 

 one that excepting extreme cases, large branch- 

 es should not he taken off. If the top of the tree 

 is too thick, it mu*t b > remedied hy thinning it in 

 the small branclip'. If the tree be miwhapen, it 

 must be borne v\i!h as what cannot, in many 

 cases, be remf'dicd without great ultimate injury 

 (o the tree. But uhen a man commences with 

 an orchard, I am disposed to believe, occasion 

 should never be given for asking the question, 

 in what month or season of the year the pruning 

 should bo performed. Nor will it, as I suppose, 

 be of any importance when it is done. It is a 

 kind of every day work, to he attended to when 

 a man is among his trees, and to be performed 

 as often as (here is discovered a superfluous or 

 ill shaped branch starting forth. 



If an orchard is not large, all will be pcrform- 

 led in this way. without an induslnuus individ- 

 ual's knowing that he has really [la^^^ed a day in 

 this work. If large, it may be neces-ary, once 

 a fortnight or so, to make it a real snt business 

 for which arrangements must be made in the 

 plan of work. And a person, who will do this, 

 will find just as much occasion to enter into all 

 the discussions betbre the public, as he would 

 to know what monlh or season of the year his 

 cattle should be curried, or his own head comb- 

 ed or beard trimmed. And he would have 

 just as much need of a remedy to heal the 

 wounds caused by the cutting off the branches, 

 as he would to heal the places from which the 

 few hairs this operation would take Irom him- 

 self or cattle ; and I venture to say but little 

 more. I speak not from theory only, but from 

 practice. 



I prune, indifferently, at all seasons of the 

 year, whenever I see occasion, and feel dispos- 

 ed ; and as most of my trees are where i can 

 see them frequently, the manner and time of 

 their healing is a frequent and often every day 

 subject of observation. And I mu.^t say that I 

 think it of very smsll consequence at what time 

 a limb ii taken off. But 1 cannot say the same 

 in respect to the manner. This, if the branch 

 is no longer than the finger, is of great impor- 

 lance. The smoother the better. It is easy 

 to perceive a great difference, at the time of 

 healing, between one left as cut with the saw, 

 and one made smooth with some sharp instru- 

 ment. The greatest difficulty lies in the upper 

 part of the liranch from which the limb cut 

 off is taken. It is no easy thing, in many ca- 

 ses, to gel the wood removed there sutficiently 



low and deep as to permit the bark to form 

 readily and quickly over it ; and yet if this be 

 not done, it is next to impossible to prevent the 

 tree from suffering injury, when the branch re- 

 moved is of any considerable size. I Inst sev- 

 eral very fiuo trees before 1 observed this, and 

 had more f^reatly injur-«d. Time spent in 

 guarding au^iinst these evils is well spent. But 

 enough. — Yi'U will do with this as your own 

 judgment directs. 



Yours, with great regard, P. 



TO THE editor OF THK NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



t 



Fra.7iklin, March 4, 1825. 

 Mr Fessenhen, — In a late paper (page 241) 

 your respi f ted correspondent, Dr, Peabody, 

 describes a liisoase, which is of frequent occur- 

 rence. Not only 'Jiorkhig oxen, but heifers and 

 cows are frequently affiicted with it. From this 

 circumstance, tiiai it is not confined to oxen, may 

 it not be inferred tii.it it does not generuUy,\\^ your 

 correspondent seems to suppose, originate in the 

 cruelty of icamslers ? the supposition that it 

 does, is a rffleclion on a )iorlion of our yeoman- 

 ry, whicli I i ope few, very few of them are de- 

 serving. Crufclly to animals is truly ro|)rehen- 

 sible : and si]rely if there"are such " brutes" in 

 human form as the Dr. says he has seen, they 

 are dortbly deserving the severity he has bestow- 

 ed upon llKUii. But admitting, what is perhaps 

 probable, thr>t this flis.ease has its origin in " ex- 

 trrnai vi-slv^ikc,'" > leel unwilling to believe that 

 this TioicTi'ce is generally •'•inliicted by cruel 

 teamsters." How often do we see cattle, some- 

 times ajiparonlly in sport, sometimes in imitation 

 of the more noble animal man, exert (heir ut- 

 most strength, and iutlict upon their fellows, 

 blows ot sufficient violence, to bt if not the im- 

 mediate, the distant cause of deatin ? "Render 

 every one their due,'" is a maxim thall -im wil- 

 ling to extend even to the brute creation. Now 

 if cattle do sometimes, under the influence of a 

 kind of a martial spirit, engage in that honoura- 

 ble calling, of destroying their own species — 

 why not let them have the reputation of it? — 

 Why should we rob them of that glory which is 

 justly their due ? 



1 am, Sir, Y^ours, &c. P. 



American Starch. — We have received from 

 the manufactory, a very fine specimen of starch 

 made from potatoes, under the superintendence 

 of Dr William Perry, of Exeter, N. H. It is 

 remarkably white and brilliant, and has the ap- 

 pearance of a substance which has been chrys- 

 (allized and then reduced to fine powder. Ladies, 

 to whose trial and judgment we have submitted 

 it, have pronounced it equal to the common 

 starch now in use. A sample may he seen 

 by calling at the office of the New England 

 Farmer. Dr Perry informs us that he intends 

 working up 4000 bnshels of starch the present 

 year. 



