364 



NEW ENGLAND FARRIER. 



Aug. 



EXTRACTS AISTD REPLIES. 



HOOP POLES AND RAISING FOREST TREES. 



In your reply to Mr. Fletcher, relative to raising 

 forest trees from s;ccd, you very kindly referred to 

 my little work on that subject. Now every such 

 notice brings nic scores of letters asking for infor- 

 mation about the price of the young trees, seeds, 

 &c. All such questions I am liajjpy to answer. 

 Still, I wish it distinctly undcr.-tood, that I have 

 no trees or seeds tor sale ; and, furtlicr, that my 

 l)Ooks are not written for the purpose of tulvertis- 

 ing nurserj' stock of anj' kind. ' 



You say in your remarks that the subject is a 

 very iinpoitanr one for the West; but allow me 

 to add, to the East, as well. 



I believe — in fact know — that there are thousands 

 of acres of rock}' hillsides in Mass.achusetts, and 

 the other new England States, that should be 

 planted with f n-est trees. Maple trees, particularly 

 the sugar maple, slunild be extensively planted in 

 such places. Any little ci-evice where a small one 

 year old seedling cnn find root, should be occupied 

 with a tree. We all know how thrifty and healthy 

 the trees grow among the lime-stone and gi'auite 

 rocks. 



If I were a farmer among the rocks, or even 

 upon the rich lands of New England, and wished 

 to leave a fortune to my heirs, I would plant seeds 

 that would grow into money while I was growing 

 old. 



Will any of the young men who read the Far- 

 MEB, plant one or more acres of suitable soil to 

 hickory trees, and let us know, intive or ten years 

 from now, the result ? Plant them for hoop poles. 

 In my little book alluded to, are the following di- 

 rections: The yiung, one or two-year-old plants, 

 or even the nuts, nuxy be put in rows four feet 

 apart, and the I'lants one foot apart in the row; 

 this will give 10,890 to the acre. At this distance 

 thev can be allowed to remain until they are six 

 to eight feet high and one or two inches in diame 

 ter. They should reach this size in five to eight 

 years, according to the soil and the care they re- 

 ceive. Then they should be thinned, by taking 

 out every alternate tree; this should be done by 

 cutting tliem otf near the t^round. We therefore 

 take out 5,44.5 trees suitable for lioop-poles. Their 

 value will of course depend upon the market, but 

 we will say four cents each, or ^40 per 1,000, which 

 Mould be a low price in New York; this would 

 give $217.80 (two hundred and seventeen dollars 

 and eighty cents) as the return for the acre's tirst 

 crop. In three or four years they will need thin- 

 ning again, and we take out, as before, one-half, or 

 2 722; these will, of course, l)e much larger; and 

 if they will reach ten feet, and are of good thick- 

 ness, "they will readily bring ten cents each, or 

 §^272.20 for the second crop. In a few years more 

 they will require thinning again, and each lime 

 the trees, being larger, will bring an increased 

 price. .But we are not by this means exhausting 

 our stock— far from it, for those we cut (AY at first 

 have been producing sprouts which have grown 

 mudi more rapidly than the originals; and if a 

 little care has been given tliem so that they shall 

 not grow so thickly as to be injured thereby, we 

 can begin to cut small hoop-poles from the sprouts 

 of the lirst cutting before we have cut our third or 

 fourth thinnings ^of the first crop; conscquehtly 

 we have a jierpetnal crop, which requires no cul- 

 tivation after the first few years. As soon as the 

 leaves become numerous enough to sh.rde the 

 ground, no weeds will crow among them, and tlie 

 annual crop of leaves that fall will keep the soil 

 rich and moist. The time to cut trees which it is 

 desirous to have produce sprouts, is in winter or 

 very early spring ; if cut in simimer, i* is likely to 

 kill the roots. ♦ 



How many acres of young thrifty, white ash 

 trees are wanted in Boston every year for agricul- 

 tural implements ? Is there any one in the vicin- 

 ity making preparations to supjily the demand in 

 the future ? 1 fear not. But there is one thing 

 which I am quite certain of, and that is, the time 

 will soon come when many a land owner in New 

 England, and el- ewhcre, will sii.y. What a fool 1 was 

 in not attending to this tree planting in time, for I 

 might have known that there would be a great 

 scarcity and high prices in consequence. 



A. S. Fuller. 



Ridgewood, N. J., June 7, 18G8. 



rheumatism in the horse. 



I have a mare ten years old. I have owned her 

 five years. Last winter she was lame in one fore 

 foot (or rather ankle). I doctored it with spirit, 

 saltpetre and gum camphor. It soon got better. 

 Soon after she began to be stiff in her fore lcg.», — 

 sometimes one, sometimes the other and some- 

 times neither. I could drive her one and a half 

 miles and back; and she would be l)ut a little 

 lame, perhaps not at all. I found by driving her 

 sometimes in breastplate harness, and sometimes 

 in liames, that she travelled much the best in the 

 hames. She has not been driven hard, nor worked 

 hard, nor fed high. She has had no grain this win- 

 ter, and till quite late but a few carrots. She 

 raised a colt last year, which at six months old 

 weighed 526 pounds ; at ten months, 620 pounds. 

 She is to foal again in about five weeks. Has this 

 anything to di with"her lameness ? I have had a 

 goodly number of men look at her, and no one can 

 tell me what ails her, nor what to do for her. Now 

 if you or any of your correspondents can tell me, 

 through your paper, what is the cause of her lame- 

 ness, and what will help her, you will much oblige 

 A Subscriber. 



Westfield, Vt., May 25, 1868. 



Rem.\rks. — We should think from your descrip- 

 tion that it is probable your horse has the rheuma- 

 tism. In the horse, as in man, this is a ditlicult 

 disease to manage. Though every neighborhood 

 may have plenty of "cure-alls," both men and ani- 

 mals suffer on for months and years uncured. In- 

 stead of attempting to prescribe any particular 

 treatment as adapted to your horse, we copy from 

 Youatt the following general remarks: — "In the 

 treatment of rheumatism attention should be paid 

 to the probable nature and causes producing it. 

 When it follows pneumonia, influenza, or other 

 debilitating causes, our first object should be tore- 

 store the general health of the animal by the judi- 

 cious administration of tonic medicines and nutri- 

 tious foods ; an occasional diuretic may also be 

 given. Our local applications should consist in 

 the acute stage of warm fomentations, to be soon 

 followed by some stimulating liniment, such as the 

 compound soap liniment or the vinegar of can- 

 Ihimdes. By these means this form of the disease 

 will generally quickly disappear. When rheuma- 

 tism suddenly attacks an animal in apparent health 

 much more active means must be resorted to. Wo 

 must endeavor to arouse the excretory organs, as 

 the liver and kidncj's, into increased action. Half 

 a drachm of calomel and opium combined with 

 three drachms of aloes should l)e at once admiuis- 

 tered, followed in a day or two by active diuretics. 

 Warm fomentations should be applied to the parts, 



