148 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



March 



kept in view from the moment the thinnings com- 

 mence. The period when these thinnings should 

 begin, must depend on the forwardness of the 

 trees. ' ' 



In Germany, the management of wood and tim- 

 ber trees is under tlie direction of educated and 

 competent government agents. In making new 

 plantations there from seeds, broadcast sowing is 

 found the better method ; the plants being allowed 

 to grow, all together, a dozen or twenty years ; 

 when the weaker and pooi'er ones are removed ; 

 leaving the best and straightest to grow ; alwaj-s 

 careful, however, to leave enough to keep the 

 ground thoroughly shaded. The thinning and 

 trimming employ hundreds of the peasantry when 

 other labor is in less demand. The limbs and 

 twigs are made into faggots, and chiefly used by 

 bakers ; the trunks and larger branches are saved 

 for fuel and other purposes. 



About twenty-five years ago I came into posses- 

 sion of sevei-al acres of"pine plain land," covered 

 with a thick growth of white-yellow and Norway 

 pines ; the trees were then about twenty-five years 

 from the seed. (The land was burned over in a 

 very dry time about the year 1800.) Immediate- 

 ly after 1 came into possession I thinned out the 

 growth on about two acres, removing more than 

 half the number of trees, they being the smaller 

 portion. The wood thinned out much more than 

 paying the expense of thinning and drawing. 

 Soon after, I sold the land, since which nothing 

 has been done to it. I have, with the present 

 owner, recently examined the lot ; Ave were of the 

 opinion that the portion thinned some twenty- 

 five years ago, is now, from the superior size of 

 the trees worth 33 per cent, more per acre, than 

 that portion left to itself. Can any one doubt, 

 that the limbs and tops of the removed trees, and 

 the decaying stumps and roots of those cut out, 

 with a free access of sunlight and air, has not 

 very much increased the growth where thinned 

 out, over those "left to struggle, from the excess 

 of numbers, for the mastery, many of the van- 

 quished have died, while the victors have suffered 

 severely from the effects of the struggle." I sold 

 the land for ten dollars per acre, the present own- 

 er has recently refused one hundred dollars per 

 acre for it. Had he judiciously thinned out the 

 trees from tlie time he purchased it, till now, he 

 might have^(without injury to its present worth,) 

 taken from it enough to have paid the interest on 

 his purchase and taxes. I have thinned out the 

 growth of hao-d wood trees with results similar to 

 the above described. Levi B.^rtlett. 



Warner, A^. H., Feb. 6, 1865. 



Remarks. — It is pleasant to observe how old 

 notions are gradually yielding to a better knowl- 

 edge of the modes of rearing many crops. From 

 boyhood, the cry has been familiar to our cars — 

 "forests must not be thinned, nature will take 

 care of them" — "evergreens will be ruined by 

 thinning." Twelve years ago we saw a forest of 

 white pines thoroughly thinned and pruned, and 

 we have seldom seen a finer growth on any for- 

 est than on that. Mr. Bartlett will please ac- 

 cept our thanks for his valuable article. 



EXTRACTS AND REPLIES. 



WESTERN FARMERS. 



Dear Sir : — Will you be so kind as to inform 

 me from what paper a young man, intending to 

 go West, can obtain the best information relative 

 to farming in the Northern, Western States, or 

 Minnesota Territory. By so doing, you will 

 mucli oblige a constant reader of the New Eng- 

 land Farmer. c. 



Salem, Feb., 1855, 



Remarks. — We have directed two or three 

 Western agricultural papers to "C, Salem, Me." 

 Why do so many people withhold their names 

 when they Avrite us ? 



the new rochelle blackberry. 



Editor N. E. Farmer : — I notice some remarks 

 in the January number of the N. E. Farmer, in 

 regard to the price of the New Rochelle Blackberry. 

 The price at which they are sold is by no means 

 extravagant, as they are only propagated by 

 shoots from the roots, which, all must be aware, 

 is a slow process. The only two persons who 

 raise them for sale, — Mr. Lawton, of New Ro- 

 chelle, and Geo. Seymour & Co., of Norwalk, Ct. — 

 are trying to raise for their own transplanting ; 

 for, after the first or second years' transplanting, 

 they will raise more than a dollars' worth of 

 fruit, and the demand for the fruit is greater 

 than the supply, and will be for years to come. 



I exhibited last season, in New Haven, from 

 Messrs. Geo. Seymour & Co., at our Horticultural 

 Exhibition, very fine specimens. One of the 

 berries measured four by three and a half inches 

 in circumference, the size of a pullet's egg. Some 

 of the specimens were taken from a plant in a 

 Mr. Smith's private garden in Norwalk. I think 

 it had been planted out three or four years, and 

 should judge it had on it nearer one-half a bushel 

 than a peck of berries ; so that a dollar a plant 

 cannot be a very great price under these circum- 

 stances. F. Trowbridge. 



New Haven, Ct. 



millet. 



Will you give us, in the columns of your best 

 of all papers for the farmer, a chapter on millet ? 

 Will it do well on cold, clayey land? (a.) Can it be 

 sown like oats, in laying down ground to grass? (b.) 

 If not, what is the proper course, and what is 

 considered a fair yield 1 Any other information 

 on the subject would bo thankfully received. 



Raijnham, Feb., 1855. Subscriber. 



Remarks. — (a.) Millet will grow well on such 

 land as you describe, if it is well-drained and ma- 

 nured. 



(/;.) It is too rank and heavy a crop to set 

 grass with. 



See Vol. v.. New England Farmer,-^. 157, 203. 



VETCUES. 



Mr. Editor : — I wish to inquire, through your 

 columns, if you, or any of your subscribers, have 

 had any experience in cultivating the above 

 named grain ? If so, whether the seed or root 

 will remain in the ground and germinate in after 

 years ? l. w. s. 



New Haven, Vt., Jan. 30, 1855. 



