INEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



PUBLISHED r.Y WILLIAM NICHOLS, ROCrERS' BUILDINGS, C()NGIU:SS STREET, (FOURTH DOOR FROM STATE STREET.) 



Vol. 11. 



BOSTON, SATURDAY, MAY I, 1824. 



No. 40. 



Corrfisponticncr. 



CULTIVATION OF VINES. 

 To Ihe Editor of the .Xcw England Farmer, 



Sir, — Perh.Tps there is nothingreb.ting (o our 

 lommon gardening, in which jieople more ge- 

 erally err (han in the manner of cultivating 

 lelons, cucumbers, and other running vines. I 

 llude to tlie practice of having too many phinls 

 :row in a hill. As far as my observation has 

 xtended, it appears to be the common practice 



suffer as many as from four to ten or twelve 

 ines to grow in a hill. This, I believe, is an 

 rror. One good thrifty vine in a hill, I amsa- 

 sfied is generally enough. I have been con- 

 rmed in this opinion, by seeing within a year 

 r two, the effects of a few experiraentg on the 

 jbject. 



Sometime in August, 1822, ( visited a friend 



1 Salem, who had two considerable water-me- 

 n fields. One of them was cultivated the usu- 



way, that is in hills about three and a half 

 et distant, and with several vines in a hill, 

 he other was planted in hills eight feet ilis- 

 nt, each way, and but one vine in a hill ivas 

 ffered to grow. Both fields were well nia- 

 ired, and in good order : but the difference in 

 ° crop was as great as in the manner of their 

 llivation. In the first mentioned field the me- 

 ns were of an ordinary size and quality, nnd 

 e vines were much blighted. In the other 

 ^vhere the hills were eight feet apart, the 

 ii;id no appearance of I light upon them, 

 - :.c melons at that time, though they were 

 I t lully grown, were much the largest 1 ever 

 ' .V. When they were gathered, as I have 

 ! ce been informed, one of them weighed a- 

 Ive forty pounds, and several between thirty 

 5 il lorty pounds each.* 



I seldom succeed in raising good melons, ow- 

 i: as 1 have supposed to the imsuitableness of 

 ii soil, it being of a wet, cold nature' which 

 < ises them to blight. In consequence of this 

 <TicuIty in bringing them to perfection,! have 

 i quently wholly omitted planting them, altho' 

 I V are to me a real luxury. But the last sea- 

 ■■ 1 I was induced to plant a few similar to those 

 In in Salem. My water-melon hills 1 had 

 : Tilt eight feet apart ; my musk-melons four, 

 I 1 suffered but one vine to grow in a hill. 

 : itv\ it [islanding the season was very unfavora- 

 ii, having frequent sudden showers, accompa- 

 ' ;d with wind, which blew the vines in every 

 ection, yet my melons were very good, some 

 them the best I ever raised. 

 The advantage to be derived from having vines 

 w single, is I believe nearly as great, respect- 

 the cullivEtion of cucumbers as of melons. 

 \ neighbor of mine, who is very curious in 

 se things, last season, took me into his gar- 

 1 to see the effect of an experiment of his. 

 He had planted his cucumbers in two rows of 

 Is, manured alike. In a part of them he had 

 but one vine grow in a hill, in a part two, 

 1 in another part three or more vines in a hill. 



These were the melons noticed in the New Eng- 

 d Farmer, vol. !. page 63, and cultivated by Mr 

 lie. 



At that lime, where there was but one in a hill, 

 Ihe vines were very fbmrisbing, all the leaves 

 srreen, the cucumbers very fair, and he assured 

 me that he had gnlhered from them as many, as 

 from the same number of hills that had three 

 or more vines in a hill. That part containing 

 two vines in a hill ivas visibly different, they 

 appeared less luxuriant than those of but one ; 

 and in that part containing three or piore vines 

 in a hill, they were apparently on the decline, 

 the leaves had mostly become yellow and some 

 of them black. 



Perhaps it may be thought that eight feet 

 a part is a great distance for water-melon vines 

 to grow and singly too; but when it is consider 

 ed that a single vine, in a rich soil, will extend 

 over a rod or even more of ground, I think it 

 must appear rational that in a rich soil it is not 

 too great a distance. Doubtless in a light sandy 

 or gravelly soil, lightly manured, half that dis- 

 tance may be preferable. P r. 



Franklin, April 23, 1824. 



To Ihe Editor of the .Vc?c England Farmer, 



Sir, — Observing: in tlie New England Farmer seve- 

 ral pieces on raising; Fruit Trees, Grafting and Inocu- 

 lation, I take the liberty to make a few remarks, the 

 result of experience and observation, which, if you 

 think will promote the objects of your publication, 

 you will permit to occupy a corner of your paper. 



RAISING TREES. Take a load or more, (ac- 

 cording to the size of your contemplated nurse- 

 ry) of fine barn yard dung ; spread it on a lev- 

 el place five or six inches thick; on this sow 

 your seeds. As soon as they are up in Ihe 

 spring, and are an inch or two high, which 

 will be about Ihe last of May, having brought 

 your nursery ground info fine tilth, pull 

 up your plants with j'our fingers, and throw 

 them into a pail of water. Line out your 

 nursery ground. Make holes with a stick, 

 or iron-bar, at proper distances. Set 3'our 

 plants and water each with a gill or half a pint 

 of water ; and water them again in three or 

 four days, should the weather prove dry. No 

 covering to the plants is necessary. Pulling 

 them up in this way, 3'ou break off the tap-root; 

 and when you wish to transplant them into 

 your orchard, you will find that they have an a- 

 bundance oflateral,or side roots, but no tap root. 



GRAFTING AND BUDDING. It is a maxim with 

 me in grafting and budding to do it as near 

 the root as the stock will allow. For this 

 practice I shall assign four reasons. The first 

 is your scion will be more likely to take, being 

 covered in part with earth. .Secondly, should 

 your tree, by any accident, be broken down, 

 you will, nearly always, save your scion. — 

 ThirdI}', your scion being partly underground. 

 will frequently push out roots ; and fourthly, the 

 less you have of the old stock, the nearer will 

 the fruit of the scion approach to the fruit of 

 the tree from which it was taken. On stocks 

 of less than an inch, I esteem tongue-grafting 

 much the best. On larger limbs or stocks, 

 what 1 call bark grafting; on still larger side 

 grafting, on the large limbs not far from the bo- 

 |dy. Should some of t^m fail of uniting, you 



preserve your limbs for future operation.s. If 

 they taks, some time in June, Ihe year after, 

 saw off the limb close, and give it a' good coat 

 of paint, which should be renewed from year to 

 year till it is out of danger from exposure to 

 the weather. If your tree has gotten to a con- 

 siderable bigness, in order to make sure work 

 if you can find a good sprout, which grows to 

 the tree, or rather to the root, under ground, 

 graft thai, but if you cannot have a sprout, take 

 a long scion, cut a slice of bark and wood 

 from one side eight or ten inches from the butt 

 — thrust it into the ground — cut a slice from 

 your slock to match it. Join them nicely, bind 

 them together, and, as usual apply Ihe clay. It 

 is said that a scion is more likely to do well, if 

 part of the branches are left above it. If so I 

 should suppose that side grafting would bo best. 



I will now endeavor to point out the methods 

 of grafting, several ways. 



Tongue-Grafting. — Clear away all the earth 

 down to the root. — Take off the stock with a 

 keen, smooth knife, aslant from one to two in- 

 ches, according to its size. Split it down Ihe 

 middle of the slant, Ihe same way you cut it off. 

 Then slant off your scion the same length of 

 your stock. Split that in the s:ime way. The 

 short side of your scion is called the tongue. 

 Slip this into the cleft in your stock, bringing 

 the edges of both carefully together, where 

 you intend they shall unite, bind them close to- 

 gether with bark, apply your clay, and bring 

 the earth round the scion, leaving two or three 

 buds above ground. 



Side grafting. — Cut a gash across your stock, 

 through the bark, then let in your knife above, 

 say an inch, bring it down in such a manner 

 that a straight cut will bring the knife to the 

 wood at Ihe cross-cut, which take out ; then 

 cut a slit down from your cross cut half an inch, 

 and with the point of your knife, carefully raise 

 the bark a little at the cross-cut. Cut your 

 scion aslant, at the heel of which cut round 

 through the bark, but not so as to injure the 

 wood. Take off the bark thus cut from the low- 

 er end of your scion, and insert the flat side of 

 the wood, .and press it down, till Ihe square 

 edges of both barks meet. Bind round with 

 bark, then apply your clay. 



Bark Grafting supposes your limb cut off 

 square, and smoothed with your knife. Slit and 

 raise the bark, as in side grafting — then cut 

 down your scion, two thirds off, on on side with 

 a square shoulder. From this shoulder taper it 

 off to a point on the wood side. — Then cut the 

 remainder of the bark at the shoulder. Take 

 it off with the point of your knife. Insert the 

 point between the bark and wood, with the flat 

 side to the stock, and bring the shoulders to- 

 gether, and bind round with bark, and put oq 

 your clay. 



FEEDING BEES. Take a slice of good new 

 brown bread, lay it in a plate, and pour on it 

 some wort or new beer, well sweetened with 

 honey and molasses. Set it into your hive in the 

 morning, and yon will find at night that your bees 

 have made a good meal. Repeat this as occasion 

 requires. 



Maine, April 17, 1824. 



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