220 



TEE GENESEE FARMEE. 



also for covering seed, than most others in use. — 

 Various revolving harrows have been lately pat- 

 ented, but owing to their complexity of structiire, 

 and liability to get out of repair, as well as their 

 extra expense, cannot very generally come into use, 

 although they may be in some respects superior. 

 We think a good harrow is much needed, and farm- 

 ers should agitate the question through the agricul- 

 tural press, and draw out the opinions and experi- 

 ence of each other on the subject. A good harrow 

 is next in importance to a good plow, and can not 

 well be dispensed with, either for pulverising the 

 soil or covering seeds. 



There are many different opinions concerning the 

 proper mode of harrowing, — some contending that 

 the soil should only be cut fine, without much stir- 

 ring ; others consider the usual form of the drag- 

 tooth injurious and working on a wrong principle, 

 and that tlie form of the cultivator tooth is better 

 adapted to tlie thorough pulverization of the soil — 

 lifting iast-ead of compacting — and leaving it in 

 better condition for a crop. Both methods have 

 their advantages, in their proper places. The com- 

 mon harrow must in many cases precede the culti- 

 vator; both instruments are useful, and can not 

 'well be dispensed with. We do not think the cul- 

 tivator so well calculated to cover seed as the hai'- 

 row, as it draws the eartli and seed into ridges, and 

 the rains often wash the grain out, and also cover- 

 ing some of it too deep ; while the harrow, if drawn 

 lengthwise of the furrows, (as it generally should 

 be,) will cover the seed at a more equal depth, and 

 it is less liable to be washed out. Some will per- 

 haps say that grain should be drilled in ; but drills 

 cannot always be had, nor are they always advisa- 

 •ble, and a large majority will continue to use the 

 .harrow for some time to come. 



Lyons, JV. i'. ***** 



ON PASTURING SHEEP IN ORCHARDS. 



I KNOW not what others may think, but I am 

 convinced that, were I to have an orchard contain- 

 ing a thousand trees, my policy would be adverse 

 to allowing sheep to run in it. It is true that they 

 will keep down weeds, kill thistles for the time 

 being, and gnaw the grass Ioav in the soil ; but is it 

 not equally true, on the other hand, that they will 

 also gnaw your apple, pear, peach, and other trees ? 



The sheep is an industrious, gnawing animal. 

 For instance. Last season I turned a flock into the 

 orchard for two or three da^'s only, but found out 

 at an early hour that the animals had gnawed the 

 bark olf of the apple trees, and materially injured 

 the peach trees. I immediately turned them out. 

 It cannot be said that sheep cultivate the ground, 

 as do hogs. The nature of the sheep forbids that 

 animal from working over the soil with his nose, as 

 does the hog. The only argument then, in my 

 opinion, in favor of allowing sheep to take posses- 

 sion of your orchard, is, that they keep down the 

 weeds when there is nothing else for them to sub- 

 sist upon ; that they gnaw down the grass very low 

 in the root; that tliey give to an orchard a cleanly 

 appearance ; and that, on the whole, they furnisli 

 the soil manure for its enrichment. The fact that 

 grass is short does not prove that sod does not exist 

 on, the soil. The roots of apple trees cannot do as 

 well boimd down by a tough sod, as they could 

 were they to be rooted among by swine. Allow 



me, therefore, to turn my attention briefly to the 

 advantages of turning hogs, in preference to sheep, 

 into orchards. 



1. For twenty-five years we have allowed our 

 hogs to run in our orchard, with great success and 

 entire advantage to the trees, — turning them out 

 usually before the apples begin to fall. The hog is 

 a worker with his nose. He picks up worms, and 

 destroys all small apples that fall on the ground, 

 containing the grub which afterwards seems to 

 change into some destructive insect. 



2. The hog enriches an orchard equal to any 

 other animal, though he may not eat dock and this- 

 tles. Fruit that grows on orchards where hogs run 

 during the summer is not apt to be knotty, wormy 

 and worm-eaten, as is the case where you mow 

 your fruit-yards. This we have learned from ex- 

 perience. If you want indilFerent, worm-eaten 

 apples, mow your orchards, and allow ants to build 

 nests around the trunks of the trees. Straw, put 

 around the bodies of fruit-trees, is an excellent 

 thing to make large apples and keep down the grass. 



3. I prefer hogs in an orchard to any other ani- 

 mal. They are ever active with their snouts, and 

 seem to be almost equal to a sub-soil plow in work- 

 ing over the soil around the trunks of apple and 

 other trees. We have always had excellent apples 

 in our orchard, and it never fails to produce. The 

 soil and sods are literally torn up by the hogs in 

 almost all parts of the orchard. We never plow it, 

 for by so doing the spongioles (absorbent vessels of 

 fruit trees) are injured. Our orchard has become 

 very fertile, and its yields of fine fruit are, as 

 a consequence, very large. I therefore, from 

 these very brief considerations, recommend hogs for 

 orchards, in preference to sheep or other animals. 



Bald'winsville, N, Y. T. 



STEALING FEinT-HOW TO PREVENT IT. 



DorBTLESS some of your numerous readers would 

 like to know how to prevent having their fruit ' 

 stolen, as very often is the case in a thickly settled 

 country, especially near a village or larger town, 

 where too often numerous idle boys and sometimes 

 not a few knavish customers take the opportunity 

 of helping themselves to your fruit in your absence, 

 or while you are passing the midniglit hours in 

 peaceful slumber. When I first commenced fruit- 

 growing, I was occasionally annoyed by such intru- 

 ders, not only in carrying away my fruit with them, 

 but destroying much that they did not take, by 

 shaking to the ground a quantity much bruised and 

 handled, so as to be of little or no use to any one. 

 Being aware of the fact that this mischief would 

 only increase if I did not take some measures to 

 remedy it, I adopted the following plan, which has 

 proved in my case very satisfactory. 



When I have conversation or dealings with per- 

 sons whom I suspect of fruit-stealing, I treat them, 

 as all other men, in the most respectful manner, — 

 giving no chance for offence, as some do ; and when 

 I find fruit has been taken, I am not hasty to report 

 that I think certain individuals are guilty of it, but 

 keep still as to what has been taken, and look out 

 for the future ; in the meantime I may chance to 

 find out the guilty, or be enabled to catch the thief 

 in his next attempt. I act not rashly in announcing 

 to tlie inquiring community how I will prevent my 

 fruit from being stolen, but calmly assert, as in all 



