370 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



tflde 42 (Jeg. and on the bank of the Delaware 

 where it is from 100 to 200 yards wide. 



As this severe frost came with a sudden squall 

 with a dark cloud and some sprinkling of rain 

 from the north, I wish to hear from the seve- 

 ral parts of New England and Vermont. Has 

 the frost been generally so severe or are we to 

 suppose that the winds in passing some high 

 lands mounted those clouds so high in the 

 cold atmosphere as to generate the frost, as hail 

 storms are frequently generated in hot weather 

 — and that as the cloud was driven with the 

 wind it scattered its contents that were perhaps 

 also attracted by the water in the river. 



The observations of any gentleman on this 

 Subject will be very acceptable. 



SAMUEL PRESTON. 



Stockport, Pa. June 5, 1821. 



BEST TIME FOR CUTTING TIMBER. 

 To the Editor of the Mw England Farmer, 



Sir, — Learning from a late number of your 

 paper, that the month of June is the most pro- 

 per time for cutting timber, with diffidence I 

 would ask permission to make a few observa- 

 tions on that subject, without wishing to enter 

 into controversy with any, but rather to pro- 

 mote enquiry. 



The arguments adduced in favour of felling 

 limber in June are not conclusive. From thir- 

 ty years personal observation, 1 find it depends, 

 in a great measure, on the quality of the tim- 

 ber. Some young growing timber, will perish 

 sooner than that which is older and more ripe ; 

 and secondly it depends much on the use it is 

 put to. We will suppose timber of the same 

 quality wrought into two waggons, one of them 

 when used is loaded with wet loading, the oth- 

 er with dry, it is obvious which will perish 

 first. 1 trust I shall not be charged with egotism, 

 bv those who know me, when 1 say that I have 

 wrought more kinds of timber than most men 

 Jiave, aiul for more uses than any I know of, 

 and it has been my endeavour to determine 

 what lime for felling and what kind of timber is 

 best for the use desired. And from the many 

 observations 1 have made from both, I am satis- 

 lied and ready to say, without hesitation, that 

 September is the best time, although 1 believe, 

 that if the bark of timber trees could be taken 

 off in June, without feUiagthe tree or injury to 

 Ihe wood, and then let stand until September, 

 the timber would be stronger and more durable. 

 1 have seen this done lo elm, walnut, and ma- 

 ple. (1 have made use of the common name of 

 timber without giving their class, order or ge- 

 nus, because we should be less liable to mis- 

 take.) All these are considered of Ihe most 

 perishable kinds that are made use of for tim- 

 ber. — All of them proved to be more firm and 

 lasting. 1 have seen white oak limber felled in 

 February and March, Ihe sap of Ihe wood was 

 ferished September on one side of the logs. J 

 have seen wood, cut in May and June, in which 

 more than the sap of the wood was perished in 

 one year. 1 have seen timber that was cut in 

 Septcuber that the sap was perfectly sound and 

 bright two years afterwards. I have used white 

 maple for hoops to buckets that was cut in Sep- 

 tember that lasted 21 years in constant use, the 

 hrst ten yeSrs for water, Ihe remainder for feed- 

 ing of swine. I have one now that was boojied 

 ivilh maple that was blown down in the Sep- 

 'cmber gale 1815, which is perfectly sound. I 



have one other that 1 put but one maple hoop 

 on of the same kind, the others were of wal- 

 nut cut in the winter; the latter I have had to 

 replace three times, once with walnut, once 

 with white ash, and once with red ash. The 

 maple is perfectly sound now. Many reasons 

 may be offered why September is the best time 

 for felling of timber, but one general reason must 

 suffice for this time. When 1 have more leisure 

 it maybe that 1 will discuss it at greater length. 

 The one reason I shall now offer is, the timber 

 is more ripe in September than at any other 

 time. I have thought that making these sug- 

 gestions at this lime, might induce some to try 

 the experiment this season of removing the bark 

 from trees designed for timber. 



Yours, &c. PHINEAS STEVENS. 



Andovcr, June 4, 1824. 



THE BORER IN APPLE TREES. 

 To Ihe Editor of the uVtw England Farmer, 



cific or discriminating language. If we are toWi 

 that a certain remedy will cure fever, it sho'uldll 

 be deemed worse than quackery unless we in,| 

 formed in precise language the species, the 

 type, and particular stage of the disease in which 

 it will prove efficacious. The terms, caterpil. 

 lar and worms, are not unfrequently employed 

 synonymously, although, of both species, there 

 are numerous varieties. They differ very 

 essentially in their physical peculiarities, and an 

 antidote which will prove fatal to one descrip- 

 tion, will be found altogether innoxious when 

 applied to others. When therefore a new pro- 

 cess is recommended, it is undeserving of confi- 

 dence as it imparts to us no practical instruc- 

 tion unless the particular species of reptiles it 

 designated. If it be desiriible to combat tha' 

 unfounded aversion which our farmers manifes 

 to all information derived from books and news 

 papers, we should be extremely cautious hofl 

 we shake their confidence by seducing am 



£, ,, ,,-,,, r,, • .u , • fallacious statements instead of substantial facts 



niR, — if you think the lollOTving, worttiy a place in ,. , , ., , . , 



, , .„ ,. r -It has been recently announced in several pa 



your useful paper, you will confer a lavor on one of' - - ■ 



your readers, by inserting it. AGRtCOLA. 



Having been recently employed, in the exa- 

 mination of a considerable number cf apple 

 trees, for the purpose of exterminatingthat de- 

 structive insect, known by the name of the 

 " Borer," 1 was surprised to tind it apparently 

 in so many different stages of existence. I dis- 

 covered first, a small substance on the bark of 

 the tree, scarcely possessing the power of mo- 

 tion; second a small grub, or worm between 

 the bark and wood, generally, very near I'ae 

 surface of the earth ; third, a larger worm com- 

 pletely incased in the wood of the tree, from 

 one to lour inches from the surface of the earth ; 

 fourth, an insect about one inch and an half in 

 length, with many legs, and apparently a pair 

 of wings, from four to six inches from the surface 

 of the earlh, and near the inside of the bark of 

 the tree. 1 indulge the hope that some of the 

 correspondents of the New England Farmer,may 

 be able, and willing, to answer satisfactorily, the 

 following queries, viz.: — Does the borer spring 

 from an egg deposited on the bark ofthe tree " 



pers that successful experiments have beet 

 made by the introduction of sulphur into thi 

 trunks of trees for Ihe destruction ofcalerpillnrs 

 and a writer has cited an instance of an eln 

 tree in the city of Albany. When greatly an 

 noyed and decayed an auger hole was bored in 

 to it and being tilled with sulphur the reptile 

 were in forty-eight hours all destroyed, 

 the writer avers, that when fruit trees werj 

 the subjects of the experiment it was attendei | 

 with the same result. There is in the las | 

 number of the New England Farmer an articlt 

 copied from the Hartford Mercury, assertin; 

 that when sulphur is introduced into trees, th 

 vorms will in forty-eight hours leave Ihe rera( 

 tost branches, and adds that the process wi 

 prove infallible. What were the particula 

 species of ■ao/v/is thus destroyed we are left t 

 conjecture, and the mystery of the novel proces 

 innaljre is a subject for philosophical investigt 

 lion. The sulphur being introduced into th 

 trunk of the tree must be absorbed by the sa 

 vessels, and its fumes be diffused through tb 

 numerous nmitications until the leaves becom 



(if this is the case) what insect deposits the egg ? i so strongly inipregnated with noxious qualilie 

 and at what season of the year ? How long is | as to noison the insects which feed on them, o 

 Ihe egg in hatching? How many months or they must.be destroyed by the sulphurous fume 



years, does the insect live in the tree ? and does 

 it leave it in any particular month ? Has any 

 method been discovered, to destroy this mis- 

 chievous insect except liy cutting it from the 

 tree ? The writer is confident that if an}- per- 

 son possesses the means of answering the above 

 queries, by so doing, he will confer a great be 



exuding through the pores of the bark when eve- 

 exposed to the purifying influence of the atmof 

 pherical air. It will require repeated ocular de 

 monsf ration to enforce conviction ofthe reality t 

 such phenomenon. Accordingly 1 have lately ha 

 recourse lo Ihe following experiment. Early f 

 May, when caterpillars had attained to about OD 



nefit on all those who cultivate the apple tree, third their natural size, 1 selected a nest on 



R y, J tine 8, 1804. 



From the Ol J Colony Memorial. 



MORE RESPECTING FRUIT TP^EES. 

 In the perusal of the New England Farmer, 

 for weeks past, my attention has been particular- 

 ly arrested by numerous cnmmunicalions and 

 remarks on the subject of fruit trees, and the 

 various tribes of insects by which they are 

 infested : The subject is far from being exhaust- 

 ed we are still deficient in many particulars in 

 which the cultivator of fruit is peculiarly inte- 

 rested. It is mailer of regret that those who 

 undertake lo communicate information, should 

 disappoint e.fpectalion through u wont of spe- 



branch of an apple tree and eight feet bel 

 Ihe nest I bored a hole about two thirds throu] 

 the main branch being about 5 inches, 

 which I crowded more than a spoonful of floi 

 of sulphur and plugged up the hole. In forlf 

 eight hours after, I visited the object ot' my ci 

 riosity and found that not a single reptile ha 

 received its quietus. I left them to the in 

 lluence ofthe drug four days longer when find 

 ing the whole tribe in their active gambol 

 increasing in size in defiance of my experi 

 meni, I opened the nest and dispatched th- 

 inhabitants. A few days after I observed tha. 

 a new nest had been constructed on the sanai 

 branch by a lew of the tribe which had escape< 

 my vigilance- In about 16 days I bored ou 



