1855. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



147 



of course, injured the fruit more or less. This 

 insect eats the leaves as voraciously as the canker- 

 worm, and at about the same season, viz., June 

 They did not appear again this year. 



Very much fruit, it is believed, was destroyed 

 this year by a severe frost that occurred on the 

 first 'Sunday night in May, the effects of which 

 were more noticed than the cause ; which fact 

 can only be accounted for by the habit people 

 have, in these parts, of lying late Sunday morn- 

 ings. The morning was bright and clear, and 

 the ground where it had been broken up, frozen 

 hard enough to bear up a man of common size. 

 Plum trees, cherry, and perhaps some others, 

 were in profuse bloom at the time, but failed 

 almost entirely of producing fruit. Apple and 

 pear buds generally were also much injured. 

 One fact, in this connection, is worthy of notice : 

 many pear trees, on quince roots, were at this 

 time entirely killod, as appeared afterwards, while 

 those on their own roots were not injured beyond 

 the destruction of fruit. About one dozen vigor- 

 ous looking trees were killed in my own garden, 

 many of them having borne fruit several seasons ; 

 showing very conclusively that pear trees, on 

 quince roots, are liable ta a calamity which 

 those, on their own roots, are not. The trees, in 

 this instance, were forward, the buds nearly 

 ready to open, and the sap, of course, in free 

 circulation, making it most probable that the 

 sap vessels were destroyed by freezing of the sap. 

 If this be true, there is one objection to trees 

 thus worked, which we have not seen noticed. 



REPORT FROM NEW YORK. 



Mr. JouN B. Eaton said — Fruit culture iu the 

 vicinity has rapidly advanced within the past ten 

 years. Up to that period it had attracted com- 

 paratively little attention, and (except in the 

 nurseries) the varieties cultivated were few, and 

 many of them such as would now be considered 

 worthless. The apple was almost the only fruit 

 I cultivated for market, except a few of the most 

 common pears and cherries. There were several 

 pretty large apple orcliards, composed chiefly of 

 Rhode Island Greenings, Spitzenburg, the various 

 Russets, and a few others, which, at that time, 

 comprised the bulk of the varieties under culti- 

 vation. 



Many thousands of trees have since been 

 planted, and nearly all the finest apples, pears, 

 cherries, plums, etc., have fruited. The smaller 

 fruits have also largely increased, both in number 

 of varieties and quantity. The strawberry, in 

 particular, has of late received much attention, 

 and a considerable extent of land is devoted to its 

 cultivation. 



TO COREESPONDENTS. 



Communications have recently been received up- 

 on the following subjects, which we sliall insert as 

 we can make room for them, viz. : — Plows and 

 Stones ; Articles in Season ; Springs — Live and 

 Dead Weight of Beef Cattle ; Stone for Building ; 

 Shaping Cattle Horns ; A New Building Material ; 

 Plows and Plowing ; Gas Lime ; Profit of Hens ; 

 Propagating Apple Trees ; Quinces, Cliina I'eacli, 

 Pear Trees, Strawberries; Mixing Varietitss of 

 Corn; Lunar Influence, No. 2; liaising Apple 



Trees; Waste of Manures, Muck, Hops ; Worms 

 in Cornstalks; Draining, two articles ; Hard Times, 

 and price of Labor ; Turnips fo r Pigs ; Profits of 

 Farming; Bethel (Me.) Farmers' Club; Short 

 Horn Cattle; Inquiries about Hops, and several 

 articles in relation to the Basket Willow. In re- 

 gard to the latter articles, if we find anything in 

 them that we have not already given, we shall be 

 glad to publish it. 



Now is the time to write. Soon the fields will 

 invite the farmer to their care, when the pen will 

 be resigned for the plow. If your communica- 

 tions are sent us, we will see that they are pre- 

 sented to the world in good season and in good 

 form. 



For the New England Farmer. 



THINNING FORESTS. 



!Mr. Editor : — In your January numbei* of the 

 monthly you have an article on "Thinning For- 

 est Trees." The subject is one of vast impor- 

 tance to the future interests of New England. 

 The writer of that article says, "The question is 

 often asked whether woodlots should be thinned ? 

 He is convinced, after no limited reflection and ob- 

 servation, that they should not." Perhaps I do 

 not fully understand M'hat he means by woodlots. 

 A woodlot of large trees is one thing, and a thick 

 young growth of trees, intended for a wood and 

 timber lot, is another. That the last-named may 

 be advantageously thinned out, I am now con- 

 vinced, after no limited reflection and observa- 

 tion, tested by more than twenty years' experi- 

 ence. 



I am aware that many farmers object to thin- 

 ning out a young growth, if it be ever so thickly 

 set with trees. Their doctrine is — nature will 

 perform tliis operation better than man can. But 

 says the author of an able work on forest trees, 

 (Richard S. Fay, Esq., Essex County Transac- 

 tions, 1848,) "To cultivate a wood plantation 

 successfully, requires the same degree of care and 

 attention in thinning out, as an onion, carrot or 

 beet bed. If the trees are left to struggle with 

 each other for the mastery, the vanquished will 

 die, wliile the victors will suffer severely from the 

 effects of the struggle." "The object to be at- 

 tained by thinning, is so to regulate the distance 

 of the plants, that tliey will not interfere with 

 each other's growth ; and for this purpose it is 

 necessary that each plant has sufficient space of 

 ground and air, for the sj^read of its roots and 

 branches, proportionate to its size at any stage of 

 its growth. To accomplish this properly, re- 

 quires constant attention. It is highly injurious 

 to thin so much at one time as to have the trees 

 remaining exposed to a greatly increased degree 

 of heat and cold ; it is like suddenly removing the 

 plantation a lew degrees fartlier north or soutli. 

 So it is equally injudicious to allow the plants to 

 become crowded and interlaced, as thereby they 

 exclude too much the light and air, and m'rve to 

 weaken cacli otiier. In retiring a plantation for 

 timber, the approved rule for hard wood trees is, 

 to have a space between each tree equal to one- 

 half its height; and for reeinors trees, a space 

 equal to oue-tliird the hoigl;t ; tiiis should be 



