352 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Aug. 



think farmers can afford to use bars, though I 

 have them in some places. For posts 1 prefer 

 stone. I set the post on which I hang the 

 ^ate some five feet deep, to be sure to have 

 it beyond the effect of frost. The irons on 

 •which the gate hangs pass througli the post, 

 and also through the wooden upright of the 

 gate, and are held with nuts on both ends in 

 such a manner that the gate can be raised or 

 lowered by turning the nuts. I have two 

 other stone posts, in each of which I drill a 

 hole for an eye and hasp, one for holding' the 

 gate when shut and the other when open, with 

 corresponding staples in the gate post. The 

 post to hold the gate open may be made 

 shorter than the other. The wood part of the 

 gates is made of hemlock and red elm. 



I have now on my farm two gates that were 

 built twenty-six years ago. I do not mean to 

 be understood that all my gates wear as well, 

 for in some places I have had to make two 

 gates in twenty-six years. The durability of 

 gates as well as of every thing else depends 

 much upon the materials used and the manner 

 in which they are built. The secret of suc- 

 cess in all business is thoroughness. And the 

 rea?on that gates are so often unsatisfactory in 

 their operation and durability is that they are 

 not made strong and well. 



In passageways much used in winter, where 

 there is no danger of being troubled by ani- 

 imals, as there seldom is when the snow is 

 deep, I take the gates off the hinges and set 

 them up against the side of the fence. The 

 gates are again hung upon their hinges early 

 in the spring. The barn-yard and other gates 

 that are used during the winter are hung about 

 one foot from the ground, and when necessary 

 to shut out small animals, a board is put at the 

 bottom. O. Foster. 



Tunbridge, Vt., June 21, 1868. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 GIANT CACTI. 



In a late issue of the Evening Transcript 

 there was as an item of news, a statement that 

 in Arizona there had been discovered a variety 

 of the cactus, growing forty or fifty feet high. 



Of that extraordinary plant I have some 

 knowledge, as while engaged on the United 

 States and Mexican Boundary Survey, a few 

 years since, I traversed, in various directions, 

 the region where it grows and made the mo.-t 

 careful drawings of many of these plants. It 

 is the Cereus Giganteus, and is found along 

 the borders of the great desert regions which 

 run through the western parts of New Mexi- 

 co, Arizona and the State of Sonora in Mexico, 

 growing on dry gravelly lands, where there is 

 seldom any rain and no dew. It is found 

 sometimes of the size of a large tree, fifty 

 feet high and three feet in diameter, with 

 many branches. In cutting them open we find 

 about three inches of the outer part of crdi- 

 nary columnar cacti ; then comes a portion of 



hard, woody substance, in appearance and 

 (juality like white oak timber, occupying about 

 one-third of the diameter, and in the centre 

 is a hollow. 



The fruit is about two-and-ahalf to three 

 inches long, filled with a very sweet pulp like 

 that of a fig, and many very small shining 

 black seeds. The outside skin is not eatable. 

 The flowers are white, waxy, two and one-half 

 inches in diameter, with a deep calyx, making 

 the whole trumpet shaped. The fruit is gath- 

 ered by the Indians and Mexicans, and is con- 

 sidered a great delicacy. 



This cactus must have been well known to 

 the Spanish and Mexican people ever since 

 the settlement of the country, as we found it 

 around the old mission settlements, through 

 nearly the whole length of the State of Sono- 

 ra, and yet it had never been properly de- 

 scribed or illustrated until our party gave at- 

 tention to the subject. 



The Horticultural Society have a landscape, 

 painted by myself, and presented them by our 

 lamented friend, L. M. Sargent, Esq., com- 

 prising "A View of Magdalena in Sonora," 

 which affords a correct idea of this and other 

 cacti, as they are now growing in the vicinity 

 of that place. 



I have also at my studio a painting which 

 gives a poi trait of one growing on the Mari- 

 copa mountain near the Gila river, showing 

 the plant, the flowers and fruit, being painted 

 of the natural size and color, which, with other 

 western scenery, I am happy to show to any 

 persons who wish to see them, at Mo. 8 Brom- 

 field Street, over the new establishment of 

 Messrs. Williams & Everett. 



Boston, June 27, 1868. H. C. Pratt. 



North Carolina. — Mr. W, A. Sampson, 

 who is located at Bush Hill, N. C, writes as 

 follows to the Maine Farmer : — "The climate 

 here is delightful, and everything for the com- 

 fort of man can be successfully grown. I may 

 name figs, peaches — the finest in the United 

 States — apples, pears, plums, cherries, and all" 

 the small fruits, wheat, corn, and all cereals. 

 The only thing lacking is grass. No cultivat- 

 ed grass is to be seen, except upon the meadows 

 along the valleys of the many streams. The 

 water is the purest and the timber the finest of 

 any in the country. White oak and hickory 

 abound of the best quality ; also walnut, which 

 is largely used for furniture. The hard pine 

 is accessible at $15 per thousand. The peo- 

 ple are all ai^xious to see northern emigration. 

 Laud is very cheap ; from $2 to $15 per acre. 



— Tlie Devons are natives of Devonshire, Eng- 

 land, from which they take their name. Thifl 

 breed is one among, if not the oldest of the im- 

 proved English cattle, and until the pre.>-ent cen- 

 tury, was bred with greater purity than any other 

 breed. 



