1854. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



411 



tice, flit of any kind, animal or vegetable, is found 

 to be a profitable addition to the food of these ani- 

 mals when they are to be fattened off. — Johnston's 

 Ag. Chmislri/ and Geology. 



For the New England Farmer. 



TIME FOR BUDDING. 



Mr. Editor: — The nurseryman meets with but 

 few; if any, more difficult tasks than that of de- 

 ciding the best time for budding his young trees. 

 As no two seasons are alike, no particular time 

 can be establish'^d for performing the operation ; 

 but, if the seasons wei-e alike, the locations of 

 nurseries, and their treatment, are so various, 

 that while some would have advanced to a proper 

 stage of growth several weeks before the stated 

 time, othoi-s would be as many weeks after ; it 

 therefore depends, almost entirely, upon the 

 judgment of the cultivator, as to the best time to 

 commence budding. 



Experience has proved to me that there is a 

 certain stage of growth which is most preferable 

 to all others for setting buds -, many suppose that 

 any time will do, if the trees are in a thriving 

 condition. It is true, buds can be set whenever 

 the bark will peel, but it is equally true, that 

 there are but a few days that ttiey can be budded 

 to advantage -, if sot at the proper time, a skilful 

 operator will make 75 per cent. live. In your re- 

 marks upon the subject, you suggest whether it 

 would not be better to sot buds as early as the 

 bark will readily peel. 



Are we to understand by this, that you would 

 recommend spring budding? for the bark will 

 very freely peel soon after the leaves are formed in 

 the spring. If so, from your opinion I beg most 

 respectfully to differ, (a.) Trees budded early, 

 80 far as my experience teaches, do not take so 

 well as those budded later in the season. I have 

 invariably found that those trees which have 

 ceased to grow ten or twelve days after the buds 

 had been set, have done better than those budded 

 at any other time. Trees intended for budding 

 should bo kept in a good state of cultivation, and 

 well mulched previous to the commencement of 

 the dry weather in July, thus securing a good 

 August growth. For the pa.st ten years I have 

 budded apple trees from the 7th to the 20th of 

 August. He who fails to make his young trees 

 grow in August, will, ia my opinion, never make 

 a successful nui'seryman. (b.) 



The strings on trees budded at the right time 

 should not be removed until the following spring, 

 thus leaving a protection for buds during the win- 

 ter. I have found nothing better for strings than 

 cotton wicking ; the cost is but 25 cts. per thou- 

 sand buds. • E. Kersey. 



Hingham, July, 1854. 



Remarks. — (a.) We did not mean spring bud- 

 ding — though budding at thatseason is sometimes 

 crowned with success. 



(b.) Our correspondent says: — "I have invari- 

 ably found that those trees which have ceased to 

 grow ten or twelve da3's after the buds had been 

 set, have done better than those budded at any 

 other time. And then he who fails to make his 

 trees grow in August will never make a success- 



ful nurseryman." Does he mean that they shall 

 grow ten or twelve days and then cease 1 We do 

 not fully comprehend him. 



WEEDS ! WEEDS ! ! 



We observe in passing through the country, 

 the pastures of poor farmers crowded with armies 

 — not of Turks and Russians — hut of mullets, 

 horse thistles and other invaders, which not only 

 devour the strength of the land, and pay nothing 

 in return; but continually say, like impertinent 

 tell-tales, to every passing traveller, in the lan- 

 guage of a celebrated writer, "Behold the field of 

 the slothful, and the field of the man void of un- 

 derstanding !. For lo, it is all grown over with 

 burdocks, and Johnswort has covered the- face 

 thereof." 



We take it for granted that no reader of this 

 journal ever voluntarily allows weeds to grow on 

 his premises, but some, however, obtain stealthy 

 possession — and if some of our good friends of tliit, 

 class would go over their grounds, make a care- 

 ful observation, and estimate the amount of veg- 

 etable growth thus feeding on the strength of 

 their soil, which mignt as well be wheat, corn and 

 ruta bagas, they would certainly lie surprised at 

 the amount. It would be a curious question in 

 philosophy, W'hy so many will thus allow a year- 

 ly waste from weeds of some fifty or a hundred 

 dollars, with all quietness and submission, who 

 would be ready in a moment to bring an action at 

 law against a neighbor, whose cattle and swine 

 should devour a fifth part of that quantity. 



If we could only have all the value of the riches 

 of the country at large thus wasted, placed in our 

 hands for endowing agricultural schools, there 

 would be no necessity whatever of applying to na- 

 tional and state legislatures for heljJ. 



Now is the very point of time for thinking this 

 matter over, with a determination to act efficient- 

 ly in the premises ; and if any one is too busy or 

 "(/?-oi!c" to attend to it, he has certainly under- 

 taken the care of too much land, or else is pursu- 

 ing a system which may emphatically be compared 

 to "saving at the tap and wasting at the bung." 

 No one is ever too busy to turn his neighbor's cat- 

 tle out of his cornfield — and he ought to pursue 

 the same system towards other intruders. We 

 have known farms to be affected in market value 

 from five to ten dollars per acre, by being kept 

 neat and clean in one instance, and foul, weedy and 

 repulsive in the other. — Country Gcntlanan. 



Bristol County Agricultur.\l Society. — The 

 Bristol County Agricultural Society has issued a 

 most atti-active bill of premiums for their cattle 

 Show the present year, which is to take place on 

 the 27th and 28th of September. The New Bed- 

 ford Horticultural Society will unite its exhibition 

 with the other show. The officers of the Bristol 

 County Society are — 



J. II. W. Page, of New Bedford, President. 



John Daggett, of Attleboro', > Vice 

 Nathan Dcrfee, of Fall River, J Presidents. 



L. T. Taijiott, of Taunton, Secretary. 



Samuel A. Dean, Treasurer. 



