INEW ENGLAND FARMER 



PUBLISHKD BY WILLIAM KICHOLS, UCXJl.RS- liUII.DINfJS. fONOHKSS 8TRF.KT, (FOURTH DOOR FROM STATK .STRKKT.^" 



Vol. H. 



BOSTOiN. SATURDAY, APRIL 10, 1^24. 



No. -M. 



crorrrsjJonTicncr. 



Worcester, March 30, 1851. 



Mt Pear Sir, — la the enclosed communication, 

 ncihaps I may appear too sensitive in the vindication of 

 j)T remarks on ornamenting the public roads ^rith use- 

 'ul trees. I know not the author of the strictures tn 

 which this is a reply- ' owe him, however, mu:h ronr- 

 esy for his personal notice ; and hope, that he will im- 



le my ardor to no other than the feelings of » parent 

 vhen his offspring are menaced with deslructioii. 

 Your friend, and obedient servant, 



0. nsKi; 



TItomas G. Fessenden, Esq. 



Had the remarks of " A Farmer,'' in your 

 aper of Feb. 28, been confined to your rend 

 rs, they would probably have been seen by 

 hose, principally, who could judge of thei 

 eariog upon the " ideas" contained in mj Ad- 

 ress — which has derived much of its celebrity 

 rom your republication — and would have re- 

 lired from me no reply. But as they have been 

 ipied into other jiapers, independent and 

 lone, you will favor me. Sir. with a portion of 

 le N. E. Farmer sufficient for :m attempt to 

 ndicate my position. The writer has not on- 

 misapprehended the spirit of mv remarks 

 it has deviated from the tetter. I said nothi/)? 

 " ornamental trees" merely as such. I oii- 

 Tved that ircb?., judiciomly chosen and (aslefnl- 

 arrang-ed, not only delight the senses by lh;'ii- 

 auty and soothing shade, but excite the [ lei-- 

 5 reflection that they may become more suh- 

 ■.iiiialhj useful iti some future emergency. The 

 nsideration of my agency in transplanting' 

 me in early life, gave me great sali'ifaction 

 m contemplating their value as well as bea:i- 

 I further stated, that in selecting trees for 

 blic roads, their use as well as beauty should 

 considered — and that with this view the 

 izzard cherry, the ash, the maple, and the 



would be preferred. 

 The trees which perhaps 1 too boastfully 

 tntiooed, composed a single row placed on 

 I! south side of the road, except in the ave-' 

 to the meeting-house, where there are two. 

 leshade from them is conlined to the high 

 U ; and their roots do not extend so fir as tn 

 re the cnntigunus enclosures. But were 

 ire two, the road is sufficiently wide to pre- 

 ■it any injurious effects from their roots or 

 ide. I agree with the writer " that most 

 ds of ornamental trees, wherever they 

 ad, have an unfavorable influence on the 

 lund in their immediate vicinity," but not 

 D tar as their shade extends." I should not 

 er " ornamental trees" to stand in a plnugh- 

 1 or a garden : but surel}' in pasture ground, 

 hould not, like the writer, restrict trees 

 cii are useful for fuel or limber to the mere 

 pose of shade. The best and inost durable 

 ber is produced on open land. If they are 

 omed, as Ihey should be, their rotarv shade 

 detriment to the pasture. The verdure 

 he vicinity of the maple and locust trees, 

 some other forest trees, and indcjed under 

 ir most dependent branches, is greater than 



elsewhere ; and the sweetness and succulence 

 of the herbage under them, skives no evidence 

 that " the land is poisoned by the destructive 

 influence of the free." But, as I said nothing 

 of trees in pastures, I shall no further contro- 

 vert the opinion and practice of the writer on 

 (his head. I cannot, however, dismiss the sub- 

 ject \yithout intimating my opinion, that, if he 

 has cut down all the scattering trees on his farm 

 with the rcserv.-.lion of here and there one to 

 accommodate his cattle in hot weather, as " a 

 Farmer" he has conducted unwisel)'. In some 

 future emergency^ he may need them for fuel if 

 not for timber. This is a matter however of 

 his own concern. But if^ as he avers, he has 

 transferred his work of destruction to the pub- 

 lic highway, and, to the extent he mentions, 

 has laid nn impious liand upoa large and splen: 

 did trees of tliirlij years^ gro~i'th, n'hosc loftt/ and 

 beautiful appearance excited remarks of auinira 

 tion from the passing traveller, he has done an 

 act which no other man would be willing pub- 

 licly to avow. Had he no gratitude for (he 

 comfort he had received from their protecting 

 shade ? Was liis the only eye uncharmed by 

 their majesty and splendor? Had he no sympa- 

 thy for his friends- and neighbors with whom 

 these obji'cls had been early and long associat- 

 ed with their happiest recollections? Had he 

 no compunctions. for such nn outrage upon pub- 

 lic feeling ? Had he nn misgivings at such a 

 vicdation of *pnblic law ? . Such an infatuation is 

 indei^d possible ; Imt as he has laid liis scene 

 in " Worcester," where such an act would not 

 have been suffered, or would have been follow- 

 ed by an indictment, I charitably suspect that 

 he has made a strong case for the sake of en- 

 forcing his argument. A man who would real- 

 ly do this without better reasons than are as- 

 signed, would subject himself to confinement as 

 a lunatic, lest he should be loft to pull down his 

 barn or his house to admit the " rays of the 

 sun" to a pumpkin vine ! 



If the road through his farm is unusually nar- 

 row, one of the rows would undoubtedly be pre- 

 judicial: but it is scarcely a possible case that 

 Ijoth could be detrimental in proportion to 

 their value. If " the ball wood or button 

 wood" aie too predominant, he would do 

 wisely to cut them down and substitute a more 

 usefd kind. The button wood is neither good 

 for fuel nor timber, and is not found on the list 

 1 proposed. Another tree the writer has men- 

 tioned, which I have not recommended. No 

 one has a greater antipathy to the poplar than 

 myself 1 was the first to introduce this modern 

 ind fashionable u/?a.? into this neighborhood ; and 

 among the first to extirpate the deadly pest. 



The trees i recommended (combining orna- 

 ment and use, and from their hardiness and clean- 

 liness) I judjied the best adapted for a public 

 highway. The}' are not mentioned as the most 

 table for front yards and enclosures about our 

 dwellings. Here I should also prefer the cher- 

 ry and pear " and other valuable fruit trees to 



* See an Act for more etfectually Preventing of Tre 

 passes in divers cases. — Mass. Laws, last edition, vol.i 

 r?. S:04.— 1785, chap. 23. 



the poplar and elm and oti-.er useless shruli.-." 

 But after we have obtained a competent supply 

 of fruit trees, are all others however heautifnl, 

 useful or ancient to l-.e cut down, and their places 

 left desolate ; or are they to be replaced bv the 

 cherry and the pear? The " English," or'ma/- 

 zard cherry, from its form and foliage, is an (u- 

 namental tree but beyond a competent ni:mbri- 

 for use and to decoy the birds and boys from br i- 

 ter kinds it is liot sufficiently,valuable for exlen 

 sive cultivation. It is liril>tF[p injuries and di^ 

 case ; and to be infested vVirfi injects. It makes 

 indifrercnt fuel ; and when mature, its fissurt s 

 render it unfit for timber. Every man who hai 

 land suQicient for the ptirfiose, should cullivato 

 the varieties of the cherry :::ii\ pear and oIIk r 

 good fruit ; and protect and i>ourish lliem with 

 care : but until he will taketiie trouble to pre- 

 vent those in his enclosures from being disfigur- 

 ed and destroyed by the hosts of ciitcrpillars 

 which infest them, kt him refrain from annoy- 

 ing and disgusting the traveller by their specta- 

 tacle in (he highway. 



Editor of the .Vctc England Fanner, 



Sir, — You request of me " further commiini' 

 cations for your paper"; and had 1 knowledge, 

 commensurate with my zeal lor the agricultural 

 interest, it would afford me the highest pleasure 

 '■ to communicate and do good." But the limit- 

 ed sphere in which I now move, and most pro- 

 bably ever shall, will debar me from ever at- 

 tempting to write much. But whenever any lit- 

 tle incident shall occur worth remarking, 1 shall 

 most cheerfully contribute my mite. 



In the spring of 1822, S.B. a neighbor of mine, 

 lost by casually a lamb of eight or ten weeks 

 old. He split it through from the shoulder to 

 the rump, with an axe, and fastened it on the 

 limb of an apple tree, by a withe. The tree 

 was a thrifty and healthy one, but the limb, on 

 which the lamb was fastened, produced apples 

 a third larger and fairer than the other part of 

 the tree. Although the above is not a matter of 

 much consequence in itself, yet I think it may 

 be received as evidence that the aimighty has 

 prepared trees and other vegetation to receive 

 nourishment by other means than through the 

 roots.* L. 



BT THE EDITOR. It is a fact stated by philosophers, 

 and pioved by numberless experiments that the effluvia, 

 or gases, which are evolved by the putrefaction of ani- 

 mal or vegetable substances constitute manure, or feed 

 for plants. Such gases, however, are not only offensive 

 to the senses, but noxious to the health of animals. la 

 other words the volatile products of putrefaction are life 

 to vegetables but death to animals. The leores of ve- 

 t^i tables are analagous, and answer similar purposes to 

 the /i«igj of animals. r>y the leaves plants ?n/ia/e such 

 e«, (particularly carbonic acid gas or fixed air,) as 

 are beneficial to them, and at the same time, and by the 

 arae means they exhale, or give out oxygene gas, dr vi- 

 tal air, which is wholesome when breathed by animals. 

 ■Sir Humphrey Davy says animals produce a substance 

 which appears to be a necessary food for vegetables ; 



See New England Farmer, vol. ii. page 259, article 

 on the management of Fruit Trees. By U. W. Jun. 



i 



