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NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Arc. 



mer. We have a high regard for each and every 

 member composing it, and feel, and have often ex- 

 pressed, an earnest desire to co-operate with them, 

 and promote the objects of their association, both 

 as an individual, and through these columns. 



If there have been criticisms of our correspond- 

 ents upon the operations of the Board, they have 

 come from some of its warmest friends and sup- 

 porters, and have been made in a spirit of fairness 

 and candor, and have never been complained of, to 

 our knowledge, by any member of the Board. 



We make this simple statement merely to place 

 the members of the Board on their guard against 

 any insinuations of the character we have men- 

 tioned. They need no assurances of our personal 

 regard, or of the desire of the JV. E. Farmer to 

 aid them in their commendable efforts whenever it 

 is in our power. 



To the individual who makes himself a little ner- 

 vous on our account, we have only to say, J^osce 

 teipsum. 



For the New England Farmer. 



PEAES ON aUINCE. 



From my present experience in the cultivation 

 of pears on the quince, I should not plant them 

 where there is room for standards. It is true they 

 generally bear earlier than standards, although 

 there are some varieties of pears, which if worked 

 on their own roots, bear nearly as early as others 

 on quince, besides insuring the owner with certain- 

 ty and permanency. These early bearing kinds are 

 the Bartlett, in particular ; the Flemish Beauty, 

 the Seckel, the Winter Nelis, and others. But af- 

 ter planting all the standards the lot will admit of, 

 pears on quince are interesting, ornamental and 

 valuable. 



It is said that dwarf pear trees will last twenty 

 or twenty-five years. If they are set as cultivators 

 now recommend, they may last five or ten times 

 that number of years. But to do this, they must 

 acquire pear roots, which they will, if planted deep- 

 ly, below their junction. Unless they are thus 

 planted they are more likely to die, and in all ca- 

 ses they need the best of culture, and a very deep 

 soil. When a person has a peculiarly mellow spot 

 in his garden, it might be well to devote it to dwarf 

 trees to the exclusion of standards, as the latter 

 will do well in soil more ordinary. One objection 

 to dwarf trees is the fact that borers prey upon 

 their roots ; but a standard pear tree gives its own- 

 er as little trouble, if not less than any other of 

 his trees. 



The pears on quince imported from France, grow- 

 ing in very rich soil (as their appearance indicates,) 

 if placed in an ordinary soil here, their growth is 

 greatly checked, and near the junction the bark 

 will begin to die in patches, and the trees will lin- 

 ger in feebleness, and finally perish, to the disap- 

 pointment of the owner. Yet so they are treated 

 by many -who set them. 



There are some kinds, also, which do not seem 

 to do well on the quince. The English Jargonelle 

 is the only one I wish to allude to at present. The 

 French propagate a great many of this variety as 

 dwarfs, because, perhaps, it is a great grower, and 



throws out a vigorous and handsome leaf. Thrt e 

 of this kind which I have set, have all nearly per- 

 ished, while other sorts have donr; well. 



The dwarf tree, cultivators have said, may be 

 planted within eight feet of each other ; but if they 

 are to be set favorable to re-rooting, so that they 

 will gradually pass into standards, this space seems 

 hardly sufficient. Discretion in this matter should 

 be exercised. 



Respecting the success of and profits from dwarfs, 

 under proper cultivation, I forbear saying anything, 

 but refer the reader to the admirable reply of Col. 

 Wilder to Mr. Stoms, touching this subject. 

 West Medford, June 15. u. w. L. 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOEING. 



Hoeing is that minor operation in tillage of 

 which plowing may be considered the foundation, 

 and which is to be followed up and be completed 

 by the cultivator, the roller, and the harrow. The 

 two great objects to be attained are the most per- 

 fect sub-division of the soil, and the truest cleanli- 

 ness. In the one case it can only for the most part 

 be accomplished before the crop is sown ; but in the 

 other, it can be proceeded with while the crop is 

 growing, and with the greatest prospective advan- 

 tage to it. 



The true principles of hoeing consist in the min- 

 ute sub-division of the soil, the aeration of the soil, 

 and the extirpation of weeds from the surface. 



Jethro Tull says that "as soon as the plowman 

 has done his work of plowing and harrowing, the 

 soil begins to undo it, inclining towards and endeav- 

 oring to regain its natural specific gravity ; the 

 broken parts by little and little condense, unite, 

 and lose some of their surfaces; many of the pores 

 and interstices close up during the seed's incuba- 

 tion and hatching in the ground ; and, as the 

 plants grow up, they require an increase of food 

 proportionable to their increasing bulk ; but, on the 

 contrary, instead thereof, that internal superfices 

 which is their artificial pasture gradually decreases. 

 The earth is so unjust to plants, her own offspring, 

 as to shut up her stores in proportion to their 

 wants ; that is, to give them less nourishment when 

 they have need of more ; therefore man for whose 

 use they are chiefly designed, ought to bring in his 

 reasonable aid for their relief, and force open her 

 magazines with the hoe, which will thence procure 

 them at all times provisions in abundance, and also 

 free them from intruders, I mean their spurious kin- 

 dred, the weeds, that robbed them of their too 

 scanty allowance." Thus wrote Tull one hundred 

 and twenty-five years ago ; and those quaint and 

 homely phrases contain the pith of the whole sub- 

 ject. Hoeing — deep continuous hoeing, judiciously 

 applied — does surprisingly advance the growth of 

 plants. It prevents the soil regaining its natural 

 solidity. It keeps open the soil, and by breaking 

 and sub-dividing it, causes it to present innumera- 

 ble surfaces, or crevices, into which the young root- 

 lets will penetrate, and extract their daily food as it 

 is required ; Avhereas if no new surfaces, interstices, 

 are presented, the plant has to force its own unaid- 

 ed way in search of this food, which much retards 

 its progress by exhausting its powers upon a given 

 spot too long. But if the soil is constantly stirred, 

 sub-division goes on, and new particles of soil are 

 brought into contact with the searching rootlets; 

 besides this, the very tread of either man or horse 



