1855. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



571 



For the Netc England Farmer. 



LITTLE THINGS: 

 Or a AValk in My Gakdex No. 5. 



ONIONS. 



AVhile ofathering a few straggling onions from a 

 large bed sowti in the spring, I was led to inquire 

 what can he done to get rid of the onion maggot. 

 It is but seldom that a crop can be obtained in this 

 ■vicinity. I tried one experiment of tligging the 

 earth entirely away from the bulb and allowing the 

 stock to lie on the ground till the ravages of the 

 worm were over. The hot sun was too much for 

 them. But this is a techous i)rocess. When a 

 boy, I remember of seeing a succession of bounti- 

 ful crops of onions raised on a bed where charcoal 

 had been made. I want to wander a few moments 

 from the garden to say a word respecting 



CHARCOAL AS A M.\NUKE. 



The value of charcoal, in most cases, is usually set 

 too high, at the expense of other substances. The old 

 method of piling together twenty or thirty cords of 

 hard wood, and covering it with turf and trenching the 

 ground all around, not only furnishes charcoal, but 

 what is of more value, an abundance of potash, soda, 

 lime and phosphorus. Hence, great crops of wheat 

 may be raised under such circumstances. A recent 

 correspondent of the /^armer tells us how to burn up 

 pine stumps on the ground. I will tell him of a 

 method I once practised, from an article which I 

 read in my boyhood from the old jY. E. Farmer, 

 which was, to dig a hole under the body of the 

 stump and let it dry, put in some small wood, and 

 before the fall rains hank it up as a coal pit, and set 

 it on fire. It would coal out the body of the stump 

 and render it easy to remove the roots. We always 

 expected to raise huge potatoes on these spots. 

 Returning to the garden, I find myself looking at 



AN E^TERGREEN HEDGE. 



Thousands of evergi-eens ])erish for want of a little 

 knowledge in their management. The safest way 

 is to transplant, from an open j^asture, trees not 

 more than two feet in height. My method is this; 

 I take an old axe which I am not afraid to strike 

 into the ground, and cut a circle romid the tree, 

 striking two or three times in the same place if ne- 

 cessary, and at a distance of a foot or more from 

 the trunk ; let one person take hold of the trunk 

 close to the ground, and another higher up, and 

 remove earth and all. An evergi-een is Avorth 

 nothing after the earth is removed. With two 

 boys, I have in this way dug and carried in a cart 

 three-fourths of a mile, seventy-five trees, and 

 transplanted them in one half-day"; and all l)ut two 

 or three lived, and grew about as well the first 

 summer as if they had not ])een removed. There 

 is a little secret to lie learned in setting out a 

 hedge. Listead of maldng a long trench first, I 

 take off the turf and lay it one side, and then (lig 

 deep enough to set onetree, dig up the earth from 

 the spot where the next tree is to be planted and 

 use it to cover the roots of the ])receding one. In 

 this way there is no loss of earth in the grass, and 

 you have ready access to every part of the tree. 

 Evergreens will do better planted in grass land, or 

 in the shade of other trees, where the intense heat 

 of the sun is absorbed. It is almost imi)ossible to 

 make an evergreen live on the sunny-side of a 

 wliite house, or on a very dusty street. 



Persons from Massachusetts who A\ish for such 

 trees, should send to some friend in Elaine and re- 

 quest them to put them uj) in hogsheads, dug up 

 in the way I have projjosed, and the}- will nearly all 

 five. Fifty trees, perhaps, might be i)acked in a 

 hogshead at a trifling expense, and transjjorted to 

 any part of the State perfectly fresh. In regard 

 to the time of transplanting, late in the fall, or 

 early in the spring, are the only safe seasons. 

 Planting them in clumjjs, so that they will shade 

 each other, will ensure more complete success. The 

 effect is more pleasing as an ornament than from a 

 straight hedge. N. T. T. 



Bethel, Me., .Yov. 1, 1855. 



VALLEY OF THE YO-SEMITY, 



AND ITS STUPENDOUS WATERFALLS. 



The Mariposa (California) Gazette has published 

 a communication from a Mr. J, M. Ilutchings, who 

 visited this valley in company with Messrs. Ayres 

 and Millard, two gentlemen belonging in San Fran- 

 cisco, and Mr. Stair, of Coulterville. Assuming 

 that these gentlemen are known to the editors of 

 the Mariposa Gazette, and that the account is 

 therefore reliable, we cannot but regard with won- 

 der and admiration the scenery described. The 

 party appears to have sfcirted from an Indian \il- 

 lage on the Fresno with two Indian giudes, and the 

 writer says : — 



"From Mr. Hunt's store we kept an east-of- 

 north course up the divide between the Fresno and 

 Chowchillah valleys ; thence, descending toward 

 the south fork of the Merced river and winding 

 around a very rocky point, we climbed nearly to the 

 ridge of the middle or main fork of the Merced, 

 and, descending toward the Yo-Semity valley, came 

 upon a high point clear of trees, whence Ave had 

 our first Aiew of this singular and romantic valley ; 

 and as the scene opened in full view before us, Ave 

 were almost speechless Avith admiration at its Avild 

 and sublime grandeur. 



"On the noi'th side stands a bold perpendicular 

 mountain of granite, shaped like an immense tow- 

 er. Its lofty top is covered Avith great pines that, 

 in the distance, seem like shrubs. Our Indian 

 guides called this the 'Capitan.' It measures from 

 the valley to its summit two thousand eight hun- 

 dred feet. 



"Just opposite this, on the south side of the val- 

 ley, our attention Avas attracted by a magnificent 

 waterfall about seven hundred feet in height. It 

 looked like a long broad feather of silver depending 

 over a precij)ice ; and, as this feathery fciil of leap- 

 ing spray thus hung, a slight breeze moved it from 

 side to side, and, as the last rays of the setting sun 

 Avere tinging it Avith rainl)ow hues, the red Avould 

 mix Avith the jnn-ple, and tlie ])uri)le with the yel- 

 low, and the yellow Avith the green, and the green 

 Avith the silvery sheen of its Avliitened foam as it 

 danced in s])ace ! 



"Passing further up the valley, avc were struck 

 AAith the awful gi-andeur of the immense mounUiins 

 on either side, some jjerpendicular, andsomea little 

 sloping. One looks like a light-house, another like 

 a giant capital of immense dimensions ; all are sin- 

 gular and surmounted by j)ines. 



"We crossed the river, and, still advancing up 

 the A-alley, turned a ])oint, and Ijcfore us Avas an in- 

 descril)able sight — a Avaterfall two thdusand two 

 hundred feet in height, the liighest in the Avorld. 



