66 



Reply, Sfc. — Fruit and Fruit Trees. 



Vol. II. 



will be sufficient for the sustenance of one 

 head of cattle during a winter. Now it 

 would be very poor economy, to turn cattle 

 out in the deep snows of winter, to gather 

 their sustenance from the stalks of corn lefi 

 standing in the lield. But anotiier objection 

 still exists, which the writer is endeavoring, 

 by not cutting up corn, to obviate. If cattle 

 were turned into a lield to consume the ted- 

 der, they would make sad havoc of it by 

 breaking and tramping it down to the ground, 

 and ihus destroying a great portion of it be- 

 fore it would be consumed. 



4. "As materials for dung, stalks cannot 

 be disposed of to better advantage, than to be 

 allowed to remain where they grew, and 

 there be mixed with the soil as is usually 

 done by subsequent tillage." The question 

 might be asked, why are farmers so particu- 

 lar in collecting all the straw, weeds, and 

 rubbish into their barn yards ? It is because, 

 when they become incorporated with the ex- 

 crements and urine of cattle, their fertilizing 

 properties are increased an hundred per cent. 

 The same reason will equally apply to the 

 stalks of corn. Otherwise the dry straw, 

 and weeds, &c., might be spread over the 

 ground with equal advantage, to that ferment 

 ed in the barn yard. The stalks from every 

 two acres of corn when gathered to the barn 

 yard, will make at least two wagon loads of 

 good manure, after the blades and husks are 

 eaten off by the cattle. When the stalks are 

 taken off the field, the surface of the ground 

 may be prepared much smoother for taking 

 off the succeeding crop : and ploughing and 

 harrowing ground, with the stalks of a crop 

 of corn laying over the surface, conveys any 

 thing else but the idea of neatness in farming. 

 5. " Cutting up and securing a well grown 

 crop of corn, is a heavy and toilsome labor, 

 involving, together with the subsequent in- 

 gathering of the stalks, no trifling item of ex- 

 pense." That cutting up and securing a 

 well grown crop of corn is a heavy and toil- 

 some labor, I am willing to admit; but the 

 expense or the labor, I believe to be no more 

 than other ordinary kinds on a farm. Now, 

 while farmers are suflSciently recompensed 



tor any kinds of labor, as I believe they are 

 m cutting up their corn, I do not see why 

 they should avoid it. The advantages de- 

 rived from cutting up corn, when the fodder 

 IS used in an economicr.l manner, over that of 

 leaving it stand in the field— are, a greater 

 (|uantity and better quality of fodder for cat- 

 tle, an increase in the fertilizing matter for 

 the soil, and consequently, a greater gain in 

 the nett amount of the proceeds of the farm 



at large. A. 



Cliesti r enmity, September 27, lb37. 



The following excellent treatise we copy 

 from the Poughkeepsie New York Jour- 

 nal. It is one of the very best that we 



' have met with on the subject — plain, con- 

 cise, and worthy the atttnlive considera- 

 tion of all engaged in the propagation or 

 preservation of fruit trees. Messrs. Jack- 

 son and ScHRAM have our thanks for the 

 copy they forwarded us in pamphlet form. 



A Concise Treatise on the Growing and Propagating of 

 Fruii Trees, Slirubs and Vines. Founded on the 

 Theofies of approved Auihors, tes-ted by several years 

 practice, and improved by praciical experiments. 



Fruit and Fruit Trees. 



NO. I. 

 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 



Most fruit is in a great degree nutricious; 

 the best kinds are a pleasing luxury, and the 

 greater part, when ripe and in a perfect t^tate, 

 used with moderation, are not only inoflen- 

 sivo, but beneficial to health. 



The art of growing and propagating fruit 

 trees and good fruit, will be found to be plain, 

 simple and easy when rightly understood, 

 and in no wise difficult to attain; but it has 

 not received the attention it deserves, and 

 consequently fruit trees consist, in a great 

 measure, of casual growth, or such as are the 

 result of careless, unskilful management, and 

 are either stunted, or diseased, or both, and 

 bear fruit which is unsound or inferior in 

 quality, and the wood is of little value for 

 timber or fire wood. 



Trees, when stunted from the seed, or af- 

 terwards, can rarely be restored to that vigor 

 of growth which they have lost; and when 

 kept too long in nurseries in a crowded state, 

 which prevents their growing, they become 

 too old to transplant, and either die in the 

 operation, or continue dwarfs ever after. 



Trees are frequently grafted and budded, 

 not only when stunted or diseased, but when 

 too large and old, and a great number of 

 grafts stuck all over the trees without regard 

 to being placed in the leading and best placed 



