22G 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



May 



TWELFTH AGRICULTURAL MEETING, 



At the Statk IIoi-sk, Tiesday Kvesiso, April 4, 1851. 



Subject, — Grain crops — wheat, rye, barley and 

 oats — thexr vahic as compared with Indian corn, 

 and as preparations/or grass. 



Tlie lueeting was called to order by Mr. Simon 

 Brown, and lion. Mr. Brooks, of Princeton, was 

 invited to preside. 



Mr. CoPELAND, of Roxbury, at the suggestion, 

 as he said, of the Executive Committee, spoke at 

 some length on the treatment of fruit and forest 

 trees at this season of the year. Trees should not 

 be scraped, as has been done to the trees on Bos- 

 ton Common this spring. It is argued that Scrap- 

 ing ornamental and fruit trees, destroys noxious 

 insecls which cluster in the bark ; but insects will 

 be found on but few varieties of trees, among 

 which are the apple and the pear, and in these 

 cases they should be removed with soap suds, made 

 just strong enough to kill the vermin and not in- 

 jure the tree. Neither scraping nor washing with 

 any caustic preparation should be pursued. The 

 insects most injurious to trees, as the borer and 

 trimbex cohrinba, go through the bark into the 

 wood, and of course neither scraping the tree nor 

 washing it with caustics will reach the evil. — 

 Scraping is an unnatural pi-ocess, and besides a 

 very disfiguring one, greatly impaiinng the beau- 

 ty of the tree. Another objection is that by re- 

 moving the outer bark, the inner bark is exposed, 

 and evaporation ensues, which is sure to sap the 

 life of the tree. In cases where old orchards have 

 been reclaimed, the trees being scraped, it is ow- 

 ing to the cultivation, the manuring, &c.,and not 

 to the scraping that the revivification is to be as- 

 signed ; the trees would have recovered without 

 the scraping. 



< Mr. BucKMiNSTER, of the Plowman, controvert- 

 ed Mr. Copeland's views in regard to washing 

 trees. He was decidedly in favor of caustic wash- 

 ing on some kinds of fruit trees, especially apple. 

 There is nothing like caustic ley for destroying 

 all moss, parasites, &c., on trees, and he could 

 recommend no better treatment. 



Mr. Brook.s, the cliairman, mentioned the case 

 of a gentleman who was greatly troubled by the 

 apples dropping from his trees. To remedy the 

 evil; he adopted the expedient of stripping the 

 trees of their bark between the 10th and 20th of 

 June, and the most successful results followed, 

 the apples remaining on the trees, and a new bark 

 growing in one season. 



Rev. Mr, Sanger, of Dover, inquired of Mr. 

 CoPELAND if he considered trimming trees injuri- 

 ous 1 



Mr. Copeland said he did not. In regard to the 

 case cited by the chairman, the explanation is 

 this. The sap which runs up a tree comes down 

 in the bark, and if that bark is removed from the 

 trunk of the tree, the sap will go no further than 



the edge of the bark, and flow back into the 

 branches, increasing the number of buds, the 

 sweetness of the fruit, and adding to the amount 

 of its nutrition and improving its general quali- 

 ties. As to parasites and lichens on trees, it could 

 be proved that they did not irtjure a tree in the 

 least. 



Mr. Sanger, of Dover, recurring to the subject 

 proper for the evening, said he had sufficient ex- 

 perience as chairman of the committee on grains 

 in the Norfolk Society, to change his opinion in 

 regard to the profitableness of the grain crops. 

 He considered them all profitable — wheat, rye,, 

 barley and oats — the least profitable to his knowl- 

 edge having netted a profit of about 50 per cent. 

 He had known instances of 25, 28 and even 30 

 bushels of wheat per acre in Norfolk county. 



Mr. Russell, of Pittsfield, was of the opinion 

 that New ^England farmers could not compete 

 with the West in raising grain. Corn is the best 

 food for animals. Good heavy barley is worth 

 about three times as much as corn. 



Mr. FiSKE, of Framingham, did not think that 

 small grains could be raised in Massachusetts, 

 without very high manuring, but corn can be 

 raised almost anywhere. Tlie great enemy to 

 corn, the drought, he avoided by deep plowing. 

 On a piece of poor land where corn had failed for 

 two years, he plowed thoroughly the third year, 

 used no manure, but put a shovel-full of mud in- 

 to each hill. In plowing among his corn, he 

 plowed two furrows, turning from the corn. This 

 he followed with a harrow with fine teeth which 

 he permitted to run through the hills, as it did 

 not destroy corn enough to do any injury. When 

 the hot season came on, and his neighbors' corn, 

 on land better manured, was rolling up, not a leaf 

 in this lot was curled, and the ground was moist" 

 from the surface to the depth of four feet. He 

 obtained 40 bushels per acre, from it. He believed 

 that we needed not to look to the West for grain . 

 Mr. FisKE entirely disapproved of the use of cul- 

 tivators, as they merely scratch the surface, and 

 are "old fogy" implements, altogether. 



Mr. Brown, of the Farmer, said the cultivation 

 of winter wheat was being introduced in New 

 England of late years, and had proved quite suc- 

 cessful, particularly the blue stem variety, which 

 is said to make the finest of flour. He believed 

 that the corn crop was the best that could be raised. 

 It can be grown for 50 cents per bushel, and almost 

 any one could raise it at a cost not exceeding 75 

 cents per bushel. To raise the comparative value 

 of grain crops, he recommended the drill system 

 of cultivation pursued in England, by which 

 the profits can be largely increased, by an en- 

 hanced yield, and a saving of one-third in the 

 amount of seed sown. The machine for drilling 

 carries and plants the seed at the same time, 

 dropping it in a straight lino, and all at the same 



