ISO 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



April 



tation of sugar cane cuttings, not of the new Chi- 

 nese sugar cane, but of the old varieties for the ex- 

 clusive benefit of the South, mainly of Louisiana and 

 Texas. 



A government vessel was sent out at public ex- 

 pense in addition to the $15,000 to procure the 

 cuttings, and the papers now state, that most of 

 the cuttings thus brought in are ruined in the pas- 

 sage. It is hoped this may prove untrue. I find no 

 fault with what has been done, but when we at the 

 North feel the want of any trifling aid from gov- 

 ernment to promote our agriculture, let us remem- 

 ber that so much has been done for another section, 

 and not be too modest in our requests. A portion 

 of the $7o,000 was to be expended, as was gener- 

 ally understood, in procuring analyses of grain and 

 the like, by Doctor Jackson of Boston ; in procur- 

 ing sets of models of apples, pears and other fruits, 

 by Mr. Glover, to be distributed throughout the 

 country; and for labor, by Mr. Lapham, in collect- 

 ing and publishing information about the grasses. 

 J3ut the same Secretary — peace to his ashes — took 

 the responsibility of vetoing the whole arrangement, 

 as I understand, and so thwarted the design of 

 Congress, and the wishes of the friends of Agricul- 

 ture. 



It should be understood that the agricultural ap- 

 propriations are entrusted to the Patent Office, and 

 that the Commissioner of Patents is subject to the 

 control of the Secretary of the Interior, at least so 

 the latter has contended, although the Commis- 

 sioner makes his reports directly to Congress. Thus, 

 although Judge Mason, the present Commissoner, 

 is friendly to the interests of agriculture, and will- 

 ing, in the most liberal spirit, to do all in his pow- 

 er, to promote the objects we all have at heart, 

 and has able and efficient aid in his officers to man- 

 age his appropriate affairs, his movements have 

 been embarrassed by this absurd accountability to 

 another officer, who, so far as I can learn, has done 

 nothing to aid, and much to hinder the progress of 

 agricultural science. 



Much was done the last year in obtaining and 

 distributing seeds of new and old varieties, and in 

 collecting and disseminating knowledge, especially 

 through the Agricultural report. Our friend, D. Jay 

 Browne, is one of the efficient powers in the Pa- 

 tent Office, and keq)s the Agricultural Committee 

 posted up about affairs. I think we shall get at 

 least $75,000 appropriated at this session, which 

 will enable the office to carry out its plans satisfac- 

 torily. 



The time should, and must come soon, when we 

 shall have a separate department of Agriculture, 

 and a system of agricultural investigations worthy 

 of the Republic. The fact is, that the farmers are 

 too modest to ask for their rights. The eight large 

 paintings in the rotunda cost eighty thousand dol- 

 lars, and a single door in the Capitol will cost, it is 



said, two thousand, yet farmers are made to be- 

 lieve that it is a fearful extravagance to expend 

 even a hundred thousand dollars to promote the 

 greatest interest of the country, the interest of ag- 

 riculture, which "pays for all." 



Yours, &c. H. F. French. 



For the New England Farmer, 



IROU FOS PEACH TREES— COAL 

 ASHES. 



Our good agricultural papers, besides being very 

 interesting as reading, are great sources of national 

 improvement, the results of experience are, through 

 them, so widely circulated. Some three or four 

 years since I planted some trees here, and about 

 that time I noticed the following from the Ohio 

 Farmer : "A man may as well live without breath, 

 as a peach tree without iroii. If the ground does 

 not naturally furnish it, the owner must, or be dis- 

 appointed in the hope of fruit ;" and in Cole's Amer- 

 ican Fruit Book, "From some experiments iron is 

 a good manure for the pear, but a little is sufficient." 

 I accordingly put a quantity of iron turnings around 

 my peach and pear trees ; but a few days since 

 reading in Loudon's Suburban Horticulturist, I 

 found, "When in consequence of saline substances, 

 in the soil or applied to it, a salt of iron is produc- 

 ed, the iron becomes soluble in water, is taken up 

 by the roots of plants, and is very injurious to 

 them." My trees have not fruited much yet, but 

 they grow rapidly, and look healthy, and I think 

 the iron has benefited them. Here are good au- 

 thorities disagreeing, and we want to know what 

 experience teaches. At the risk of trespassing upon 

 your time, I must tell you how near 1 came to los- 

 ing a fine mountain ash tree. Walking with a neigh- 

 bor past his house, he pointed lo the tree growing 

 beside his gate, and said he wanted the room for a 

 fruit tree. I told him I would gladly take it out of 

 his way, as I had room enough for some ornamental 

 trees. I had it removed, and the next day, looking 

 through the indices of the Farmer for instruc- 

 tion as to how I should dispose of my coal ashes, I 

 found, "ash, mountain, for pear stocks." The next 

 time I met my neighbor, I told him I should have 

 lost my tree, if 1 had deferred transplanting it a day 

 longer, that I should have felt bound to tell him I 

 had discovered that by grafting his mountain ash 

 with pear scions, he might in two or three years have 

 had a fine crop of Bartlett pears. o. 



Worcester Co., 1857. 



Our Exchanges. — We have an extended list of 

 agricultural exchange papers, coming from every 

 section of the Union, and there is not one among 

 them but we carefully look over. They present 

 many valuable facts and suggestions that we should 

 be glad to copy did our limits permit. But, during 

 the winter season especially, there are so many pet- 

 sons among our own readers who write, as Avell as 

 read, and who are willing to give the results of 

 their own experiments, that we find our columns 

 mostly occupied by them. There are now before 

 us articles from the Working Farmer, The Home- 

 stead, Rural N'ew-Yorker , Country Gentleman, a.nd 



