1854. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



351 



our hay -makers might have had the full henefit of 

 this season. By reference to the remarks whieli 

 we have made on this su')Ject he will see that we 

 l)elieve in the doctrines he has laid down in regard 

 to hay-making — indeed, a good portion of our 

 hay is put into the barn on the same day that it 

 is cut, and we have nut had a pound of musty 

 hay for years. This is really a matter of great 

 importance to tlie farmer, and he ought to give it 

 more attention. 



Tor the New England Farmer. 



THE WITCH HAZEL TEST. 



Friend Brown : — Noticing an incjuiry by R. 11. 

 II. in your March No., "What dependence can 

 be placed on the use of witch hazel for determining 

 water courses," &c., and some editorial remarks, 

 I am induced to give you some of my experience. 

 Some 5-3 years ago, my father, after erccii g a new 

 got of l)uildings, wished a well to accommodate the 

 barn, which v/as on pine plain land. A man 

 in the adjoining town of Harvard, professed abili- 

 ty to designate the situation and depth of springs 

 by means of hazel rods or whale-lione. Ho was 

 sent for, and came; I watched his operati«ms, and 

 found they would turn and point to the spring, 

 and by g.iing round he would estimate the depth. 

 He said there was no spring nearer than G rods to 

 the 'larn, where he decided water might he found 

 12 fiet from t!ie surface, wliich lie would warrant 

 for $2. It WIS paid. I took the hazel rods he 

 usdi (he had the whalebone, tlie end impregnated 

 I tiiink he said with quicksilver, and a green hazel 

 say 15 inches long, split half way) and found they 

 would work in my hands as well as his, either o! 

 thi'm, but not in another p^rsim's present (*iy (> or 

 8 of the tamily.) I was surprised to see and feci 

 their pov/^erful twisting. The man said "There is 

 not one in 500, in whose hands they will work. 

 You ought to give yourself wholly to this business, 

 it is so rare a favor, and would be an immense 

 8a\ing if generally known and av.iilablc." (Such 

 was my father's confidence that he started two 

 teams to draw stone, and put two men digging 

 early next morning, and strange to tell, hy 11 

 o'clock, tiiey got water, and made grog and drank 

 in tlie well — commenced stoning and the water 

 rose more than half way to tlie top, as fast as 

 they could lay the stone. I may add it was a nev- 

 er failing spring. 



Another more striking case came to my know- 

 Icdg' in East Williamstown, Vermont. A gen- 

 tleuian with whom I stoppi:d some time, said he 

 had often found springs in that way in many j)arts 

 of the 6tate. lie had occasion for a well in a lot 

 of his own. The rods indicated a powerful spring 

 15 Icet deep, it was in a liard pan, vciry hard. He 

 dug about 15 feet, and found no water. (Jot his 

 rods and went down; the rods strikingly indicated 

 the spring to be in the centre, at tlie very point 

 they had reached. He took the pick-axe struck 

 in, and raised a lump. He 8;i.w i\v. water running 

 in a course like a tulic, some ^ of an inch in diam- 

 eter, lie took a sm.ill piece of moss, and with 

 his linger pressed it into the hole closidy, so that 

 the water could not run oil", and it boiled up raji- 

 idly and steadily, till the well ran over, which it 

 has continued to do ever since ! I saw thivS pow- 



erful spring, and the large grass growing, irriga- 

 ted iiy its overflowing. 



Why the witcii bazel,and no other kind of wood, 

 should be attracted by running water, — in some 

 hands and not in others, is a problem that remains 

 to bo solved ; but that such is the fact, I have not 

 doubted for ha/j'a century. Bknjamin Willard. 



Lancaster, 1854. 



MULCHING. WITH WOOD SHAVINGS. 



Mr. l^DiTou : — Never having seen anything 

 written upon the subject of mulching fruit trece 

 with wood shavings, I venture to suggest to such 

 of your readers as have young orchards, the pro- 

 priety of trying the experiment. 



Having had but two years experience, I am not 

 prepared to say they are bettt^r than any other 

 material, but I am iree to confess they have thus 

 fiir surpassed anything I have ever tried. 



Having a few fruit trees set on a barren knoll, 

 which, although they had yearly received a li'wral 

 mulching with grass, assumed the appearance of 

 premature decay, and in fact had already taken 

 the dov,'n hill course, I resolved to try the effect 

 of mulching with shavings. Around eo-ch tree I 

 put two barrels of shavings, within a circle of 

 eight feet in diameter, leaving a small space be- 

 tween the shavings and the tree to )« filled with 

 fresh earth. To keep the shavings snug, a thm 

 coat of grass was spread over the whole. To fully 

 tj.^t the experiment, a part of the trees were ti-eat- 

 ed the same as they formerly had been. After the 

 lapse of one year, (which was last year.) those 

 trees mulched with shavings put oat vigorous 

 shoots, and by their dark green foliage could be 

 easily distinguished from the others at a great 

 distance. 8o well satisfied was I v/itii the result, 

 I last year used upwards of a hundred barrels 

 which have proved equally as lx!nefie?al to the 

 trees, while the first I mulched continue to thrive 

 even beyond my expecfcitions. 



If any of your readers have used the above 

 named material, 1 hope they will communi&ite 

 the fact, and state with what success. 



1 have found brush from evergreen trees to Ije 

 an excellent material for mulcning young or- 

 chards. E. Hersey. 



Hingham, 1854. 



For the New England Farmer. 



THE OAK PRUNER. 



Mh. Brown : — The oak primer Sietiocoru.'s (El- 

 aphn/ion) pu/atur has again made i's appe;irance 

 in great numbers ; I have seen some oaks as badly 

 used as tliey were two years ago, when many 

 were afraid that our oaks w'ere to be totally de- 

 stroyed. Some of our oaks present a ragged ap- 

 pearance, with numerous dead limbs iianging, 

 that have been sawed ofl", but not blown down. 

 They work other trees, — such as apple, walnut, 

 iuiii)le, Sec. — to some extent. The question may 

 he asked, "What can be done to prevent the rava- 

 ges of these insects?"' Dr. Harris suggests — and 

 a wise suggestion it. is — that the branches be gath- 

 ered up and burned, thereby destroying the grub. 

 L -t us all act on this advice, and next year wo 

 shall nut be s..) much troiiblt^ with this nuisiince. 



.1. y, c. H 



Newton Ctntrc, July 2lsi, 1S54. . 



