348 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Aug. 



MAELBOEO', MASS. 



This ancient town is one of the most beautiful 

 in tlie Commonwealth. Its people are intelli- 

 gent, enterprising and industrious, who main- 

 tain excellent schools and the ordinances of re- 

 ligion, and in their political predilections are ac- 

 tuated more by the principles of humanity than 

 by a course of policy mcrel}^ calculated to sus- 

 tain a party rule, or share in the general lionors 

 and emoluments of olBce. 



A portion of the town is quite attractive, from 

 its varied surface, and its excellent and highly- 

 cultivited lands ; its sweet pasturage on the hills 

 and its rich grasses that clothe the sweeping 

 meadows. In past times the cultivated lands 

 have been so admirably managed, and the crops 

 produced so abundant, as to entitle her to the 

 credit of the second best agricultural town in the 

 State ! This was a compliment, not only to the 

 industry and skill of her people, but, as we have 

 never known a high degree of agricultural success 

 attained in a licentious or indolent community, 

 it was as much a commendation of the morals 

 and manners of the people. But Marlboro' has 

 other attractions, in the well-arranged and well- 

 finished dwellings of her homesteads — in the fine 

 barns that shelter her ample crops, her noble 

 oxen and prolific cows, and in the productive or 

 chards that covered the slopes of her moist and 

 rich hill-sides. Next to her gi-ass-fields, these 

 orchards loere the beautiful features which at 

 tracted tlie attention of the traveller, both from 

 our own people, as well as those from more dis- 

 tant lands. Marlboro', then, has been as nearly 

 a perfect little republic as could be found. Adam 

 Smith might have pointed to it as a model. But 

 Marlboro' now, must look well to her laurels or 

 they will be wrested from her ! 



In visiting the State Farm at TVestboro' dur- 

 ing the last two or three years, we have had oc- 

 casion repeatedly to pass through this town, and 

 to notice with some care the evidences of thrift 

 or decline which might meet the eye of the trav- 

 eller. And the indications of either thrift or de- 

 cline are obvious to a casual observer ; thrift in 

 a fluctuating and uncertain business, which may 

 excite competition between, and bring profit to a 

 few. and decline, in that noble art underlying 

 and sustaining all others, which fosters virtue, 

 strengthens the afibctions, rears the school-house 

 and the church, and embellishes and beautifies 

 the country. The attention and care of her peo- 

 ple are evidently divided. Whctlier they are 

 generally afi"ected, or mostly those living upon the 

 line of the great roads, we are not able to say. 



There is probably no laud in New England 

 more favorable to the cultivation of fruit than 

 the hills and broad swells of Marlboro', and none! 

 Trhieh has produced more profit under a liberal 



and judicious cultivation. What has been our 

 surprise, then, for two or three years past, to 

 see these noble old orchards defoliated, poisoned, 

 and become loathsome to the sight, by allowing 

 caterpillars to fatten upon their foliage, and per- 

 petuate their millions to plague and prey upon 

 them again ! How short-sighted must be the no- 

 tions of economy of any man, who thus suffers a 

 whole crop to be torn from his possession, after 

 tlie labor and care of many successive years have 

 nearly completed it, to drop in bountiful fruition 

 into his open hands ! It is a policy at once discred- 

 itable to the noble art in which he is engaged, 

 and to his own judgment. 



The labor of an active man for two days, divi- 

 ded into periods of two hours each at the proper 

 time, would entirely destroy the caterpillars from 

 an orchard of two hundred trees, and thus leave 

 them free to gladden the heart of their owner 

 and the eye of the traveller, and to perfect the 

 crop of fruit. Two poles of unequal length, with 

 a spiral brush on one, and a bunch of rags on 

 the other, and a bucket of soapsuds, are all that 

 is needed. Ply these industriously, morning and 

 evening, for a short time, and the orchard and 

 fruit is safe, at least from the common caterpil- 

 lar. Yet in the beautiful town of which we have 

 spoken, whole orchards are, to-day, as barren of 

 leaves as they were in March, while their limbs 

 are covered with the web, the exuvice and rotten 

 carcasses of legions of caterpillars, until they 

 taint the air and become an offence to the nos- 

 trils. 



Of course, nothing but a crop of sorrow and 

 regrets can be reaped there. If the loss of the 

 present year's crop were all, the evil would be 

 less — but it is not so. The tree loses a year's 

 grovv'th, and the ugly race is perpetuated to come 

 again and torment their propagators. 



For the New England Farmer. 



GHEAT YIELD OF POTATOES FEOM 

 ONE BUSHEL OF SEED. 



Mr. Editok : — It seems a matter yet undeter- 

 mined, notwithstanding all the talk, and even all 

 the various experiments that have been made, 

 whether it is wisest to plant large potatoes or 

 small potatoes, cut or uncut, and whether we 

 should "seed light" or "seed heavy." A fact 

 tliat lately came to my knowledge in regard to 

 the subject of "seeding," and of a very large 

 yield of potatoes for the amount planted, may 

 not be uninteresting to your readers, and, per- 

 haps, may also shed some light on this matter. 



As I Nvas visiting, a few days since, the beau- 

 tiful grounds and very rich and extensive nur- 

 series of my friend, B. M. Watsox, Esq., of Ply- 

 mouth, a fact was communicated to me in regard 

 to a yield of potatoes the last season of severe 

 drought, tliat struck me as being very extraor- 

 dinary and worthy of notice. Mr. Elias Teomas, 



