1855. 



NEW ENGLAND FAEMER. 



279 



vigorougly than the rest, may be shortened, and 

 when two limbs are chafing each other, one may 

 be removed. Shoots that grow from the trunk, 

 will generally die or cease to grow, when nature 

 has no further service for them to perform. The 

 idea of cutting oat the whole central portion of an 

 apple tree, to let in the sun, is wholly erroneous. 

 The tree is thus deprived of a large portion of its 

 Iungs,as well as of many of its Ijcst bearing branch- 

 es. In our climate the fruit, so far from requir- 

 ing the direct rays of the scorching sun in mid- 

 summer, requires to be protected from its rays by 

 the foliage which nature has provided. The di- 

 rections given in English books for the cultiva- 

 tion of fruit, are adapted to the moist and cloudy 

 atmosphere of England. The attempt to apply 

 them to the cultivation of fruit in our climate, 

 has led to the adoption of much erroneous j)rac- 

 tice. 



The best time for general pruning is a mooted 

 question among intelligent men. But my own 

 belief is that the proper time, in this climate at 

 least, is in June and July, when the leaves have 

 attained their full size, and are in full health and 

 vigor, and are elaborating an abundance of sap. 

 In this state, a fresh wound will commence heal- 

 ing at once. New bark is rapidly formed to cov- 

 er the wound. It is the descending sap from 

 which the new bark as well as all the other tis- 

 sues of the tree is formed. When this sap, prop- 

 erly elaborated in the leaves, is not furnished to 

 the formative vessels, no new growth of any kind 

 is effected. Hence it is only whan the leaves are 

 in a condition to perform their proper office, that 

 the new growth necessary to effect the healing of 

 a wound can be accomplished. j. k. 



Concord. 



For the New England Farmer. 



HARD AITD STONY LAND. 



Mr. Brown : — There was an article in your 

 last week's paper, over the signature of "A Tiller 

 of Hard and Stony Soil," and, as I happen to be 

 located on such soil, I thought I would say a 

 few words to encourage my brother to labor with 

 patience and perseverance to overcome those nat- 

 ural defects. If there is a more hard and stony 

 place in Massachusetts than Cape Ann, I hope 

 never to see it. The writer complains that the 

 improved agricultural implements are not adapted 

 to such soils, and of plows in particular. He 

 says the plows forty or fifty years ago would do 

 the work better tiian the present ones. I cannot 

 tell how good the plows were in his section of the 

 country, but I can well remember the one that 

 my father made use of fifty-five years ago. It 

 was from nine to ten feet long ; the mould board 

 was covered with old hoes, iron hoops, and a few 

 old ox-shoes, to fill up the vacant places. It re- 

 quired four yoke of oxen to draw it, two men to 

 drive, and one to assist in managing it; and 

 when it was thrown out by a stone, it required 

 at least four feet to get it in again. Now my 

 neplicw can take one yoke of oxen, and one of 

 Buggies, Nourse & Mason's No. 2 Eagle plows, 

 and perform far better work alone on the same 

 land. 



There is great injLprovement in other agricul- 

 tural implements, hay and manure forks in par- 

 ticular, that we can make use of, as well as those 



who are located on a better soil. If we are lo- 

 cated on a hard and stony soil, we can improve it 

 by clearing off the small stones, and depositing 

 them in the Tow and springy places, in the shape 

 of bliud drains. I have made use of all my 

 small stones in this way for twenty years past, 

 and find it to be my best land that used to be 

 principally covered with bulrushes. 



It is true that I cannot make use of a mowing- 

 machine, nor have I attempted, as yet, to try a 

 horse-rake ; but hope that, if I should live, I 

 shall get the stone cleared so that I can use one. 



I am fully convinced, from my own experi- 

 ence, that, by diligence, economy, patience and 

 perseverance, we mav live comfbrta))]y on the 

 roughness of Massachusetts soil. And I feel glad 

 that I am a farmer, although I am located on 

 the spot where my ancestors have been from the 

 first settlement of the country. I give my name 

 in full, so that, if my, brother thinks 1 have made 

 any exaggeration, he can make me a visit, and I 

 will produce living witnesses of all I have said. 

 TuoMAS Haskell. 



Gloucester, April 14, 1855. 



FISH AS FOOD. 



There is much nourishment in fish, little less 

 than in butcher's meat, weight for weight ; and 

 in effect it may be more nourishing, considering 

 how, from its softer fibre, fish is more easily di- 

 gested. Moreover, there is, I find, in fish — a sub- 

 stanee which does not exist in the flesh of land 

 animals, viz., iodine — a substance which may 

 have a beneficial effect on the health, and tend to 

 prevent the production of scrofulous and tuber- 

 cular disease, the latter in the form of pulmonary 

 consumption, one of the most cruel and fatal 

 with which civilized society, and the highly edu- 

 cated and refined, are afflicted. Comparative tri- 

 als preve that, in the majority of fish, tlie propor- 

 tion of solid matter — that is, the matter which 

 remains after perfect desiccation, or the expulsion 

 of the aqueous part — is little inferior to that of 

 the several kinds of butcher's meat, game or 

 poultry. And, if we give our attention to 

 classes of people — classed as to qualitj^ of food 

 they principally subsist on — we find that the 

 ichthyophagous class are especially strong, healthy 

 and prolific. In no class than that of fishers do 

 we see larger families, handsomer women, or 

 more robust and active men, or a greater exemp- 

 tion from the maladies just alluded to. — Dr. 

 Davy's Angler and his Friend. 



A Stare. — "Father, I hate that Mr. Smith," 

 said a beauty, the other day, to her honored pa- 

 rent. 



"Why so, my daughter?" 



"Because he always stares at me so, when he 

 meets me in the street." 



"But, my child, how do jou know that ^Mr. 

 Smith stares at you!" 



"Why, father, because I have repeatedly seen 

 him do it." 



"Well, Sarah, don't you look at tlie impudent 

 man again when you meet him, and then he may 

 stare his eyes out without annoying you in the 

 least. Remember that it always takes two pairs 

 of eyes to make a stare." 



