NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Jaw. 



serfc, but that some do, I am fully convinced by ac- 

 tual experience. That bee-hives should be as well 

 ventilated as our dwelling-houses I have not a 

 doubt; in fact, I am fuUysatisfied that a hive should 

 never set within three-fourths of an inch of the 

 bottom board, though I think it may ]je well to 

 place a cellar loosely round, during the winter 

 months, to keep the winds from driving directly 

 through the hive. T. 



TREES ON FARMS. 



Another point of some importance, as connected 

 with British farming, is thac of scattering trees in 

 the hedges and open fields. On lands devoted 

 exclusively to pasturing, such are needed for their 

 shade ; and, scattered generally over a country, 

 they add much to its beauty and picturesqueness. 

 Especially is this the case in this country, where, 

 owing to a damp atmosphere, the falling leaves 

 Boon decay and mingle with the soil, instead of be- 

 coming dry and littering the land and highways, 

 as with us. Englishmen are jultly proud of their 

 old, spreading trees. Landlords often enter it in 

 their leases, that no tree shall be cut down. Still, 

 in those parts of the "empire, where the fai'ming 

 is best, the trees are going. You now see but few 

 trees in the wheat-fields of the low-lands of Scot- 

 land, for instance ; and very few in the fields of 

 such farmers as Mr. Pusey and Mr. Mechi. These 

 men do not sacrifice their love for the beautiful in 

 nature. They cultivate treesin their proper place. 

 They are the. last men, I suppose, who would 

 leave a country naked and bald ; but trees have no 

 longer a place among their wheat and barley. 



In our land of scorching summers, let there be 

 trees. It would be barbarous to root them out 

 from our cultivated fields, where they are injurious, 

 without, at the same time, securing their growth 

 in other places, where they are not only harmless, 

 but pleasing to the eye, conducive to health, and 

 often more profitable than anything else the soil 

 will grow. Let them stud our pasture lands, as 

 gems of beauty and of comfort. Our cattle need 

 the means of coolness in summer, and warmth in 

 winter. Only by attending to this matter, shall 

 we ever approach that excellence in this depart- 

 ment, which our British brethren have attained. 

 More depends upon cherishing the breeds we have, 

 than upon importing new. Let trees line our 

 highways. Their roots and tops will be a little 

 injurious to the bordering lands, but not much ; 

 the weary traveller and his beast will rest under 

 their shade ; our children will delight the palate 

 from their produce ; and our grand-children build 

 their houses with the timber they grow. If our 

 road-sides were adorned with a tree once in five 

 rods, the rows alternating with each other, as for 

 as convenient, the roads, with the exception of 

 here and there a wet place, which might be inter- 

 mitted if thought desirable, would not be a whit 

 worse, and in many soils would be far better. If 

 one-fourth of these trees were rock maples, they 

 would furnish sugar for the population, whenever 

 it should be cheaper to manufacture than to buy ; 

 and no one knows what future times will be. Ru- 

 ral dwellings should be adorned by shade trees. 

 An American farm-house, under a sun shining 

 intensely at least two hundred and fifty whole 

 days in a year, is a very difierent thing from an 

 English country residence, where the sun scarcely 

 shines as many hours, and that mainly morn- 



ing and evening. Yet the Englishman' tal<es ca 

 to provide his residence with trees ; the breeze 

 that enter his windows come purified by a previous 

 passage through dense foliage : while too often the 

 American neglects to surround himself with these 

 conservators of health and comfort ; so that he and 

 his family breathe air, not only scorching hot, but 

 often surcharged with carbon and ammonia. An 

 American fasra-house, without trees at a little 

 distance, (not so near as to produce injurious 

 dampness,) is out of all taste, is unfavorable to 

 health and comfort, and in utter disregard of the 

 great law of adaptation to circumstances of situa- 

 tion and climate. — Albany Cultivator. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 LOW-LIMBED, VS. TALL TREES. 



Oak, elm, maple, pine and most other trees, 

 which, in a dense forest, send up smooth, bare 

 trunks, that may be measured by tens of feet, will 

 in an open field, if left to themselves, limb out 

 near or quite to the ground. Analogy seems to 

 suggest the propriety of allowing apple trees, in 

 similar circumstances and in our climate, to fellow 

 their own modest instincts in this respect, instead 

 of compelling them to Bloomerize, without even a 

 leaf to protect their spindle-shanks from the direct 

 rays of an August sun. 



On this theory, confirmed by some little ob- 

 servation, I planted an orchard of over one hun- 

 dred trees in the spring of 1850. After consider- 

 able inquiry among nursery-men, I bargained with 

 the Messrs. Lake, of Topsfield, who said they 

 could furnish just what 1 wanted — trees not tall 

 enough to sell well ! They were to be two years 

 from the bud ; consequently small at best, and still 

 smaller for being "stunts." Some were however 

 three or four years old — less attention being paid 

 to age than to the required form of the trees. 

 When they were delivered, Mr. L. pointed to a 

 slim, lank-bodied, small-topped tree, and remark- 

 ed, "there is a fine one— sold it for 75 cents ; but, 

 as it is not taken away, you may have it for 50' 

 cents." I replied, "I would like to see it grow 

 with the low-limbed trees I have bought of you for 

 a shilling each, and will promise to set it out well." 



Now for the result of four seasons' growth. 



The tall tree was put in the garden, and in a soil 

 in which a Louise Bonne de Jersey pear, planted " 

 near by and at the same time, has added full six 

 feet to its stature ; while the twigs of the apple 

 have shot out one, two, sometimes six inches a 

 season ; but not enough in the four years to change 

 its original forlorn appearance. The trunk, a foot 

 from the ground, measures six and a half inches in 

 circumference, and is now, as it was when planted, 

 nearly of the same size all the way from the 

 ground to the limbs, which branch out 5 feet high. 



The small trees were set in a light, sandy and 

 gravelly soil, from which wood had been previously 

 cut ; was cleared ofiF and plowed in the fall pre- 

 vious, when a compost of meadow mud, lime, 

 ashes and leaves, was made into piles, convenient 

 for use in setting the trees in the spring. This is 

 all the "manure" they have had, except what they 

 may have stolen from corn and potatoes, lightly 

 manured in the hill, that have annually been 

 planted among the trees, and one mulching of 

 coarse meadow hay. I have measured a row of 

 14 trees, which I think a fair average of the or- 



