452 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Oct. 



people. New York is a republic with three mil 

 lions, and a territory which though not quite half 

 as larire, is richer and better situated, with means 

 of transportation incomparably superior. Prussia 

 has seventy-one public establishments to instruct 

 the people in farming, the science of sciences and 

 the art of arts. New York has not one ; and the 

 proposition to esta1)lish a single Agricultural Col- 

 lege has again and again been voted down in her 

 Tjcgislature. Ought so shameful a contrast to ex- 

 ist between that monarchy and this republic? — 

 N. Y. Tribune. 



VERSES FOR THE YEAR 1900. 



Tell John to set the kettle on, 



I want to take a drive — 

 I only want to go to Rome, 



And shall be back at five ; 

 Teil cook to dress those humming birds 



I shot in Mexico ; 

 They've now been killed at least two days, 



They'll soon be un peu haut. 



And Tom, take you the gold-leaf wings. 



And start for Spain at three — 

 I want some Seville oranges, 



'Twixt dinner-time and tea ; 

 Fly round by France and bring a new 



Perpetual motion gun, 

 To-morrow with some friends I go 



A hunting in the sun. 



The trip I took the other day, 



To breakfast in the moon, 

 Thunks to my Lord Bellair, he 



Spoiled my new balloon ; 

 For, steering through the milky way, 



He ran against a star. 

 And turning round again too soon, 



Come jolt against my car. 



But Tom, you get the car repaired. 



And then let Dan and Dick 

 Inflate with ten square miles of gas, 



I mean to travel quick ; 

 My steam is surely up by now, — 



Put the high pressure on. 

 Give me the breath-bag for the way — 



All right — hey — whiz — I'm gone. 



FALL AND SPRING TRANSPLANTING. 



A correspondent olijects to the practice of those 

 "who still continue in the old delusion that fall is 

 the best time for transplanting trees" — stating 

 that '-some slirubs, and almost all plants, removed 

 in the fall, when the sap, the great supporter of 

 their life, has gone down into their roots, vegeta- 

 tion ceases in them, and tiiey, consigned to a new 

 cold soil, perhaps not a single fibre of the roots 

 taking hold until spring, if, indeed, detached al- 

 most, if not entirely, from all nourishment, any 

 life remains, any destroyed by fall transportation. 

 Fruit trees, being more hardy, bear up, but they 

 are forever stricken,'" &c. in the spring, " if the 

 ilirt is wet, and jiacked solid round the roots, be 

 fore they are dug, touching or injuring as few of 

 the fibres and roots as possible, and carefully set 

 ting in their new bed, vegetation goes straight 

 on," &c. 



We give this quotation for the sake of pointing 

 out a very common error, namely, that the sap 

 goes down into the roots to winter. Instead of 

 this, the sap pervades usually all parts of a tree 

 alike, and while covered with leaves, these keep up 



a constant drain or escape. When the leaves fall, 

 although vegetation has ceased, the roots still ab- 

 sorb a small quantity, and as there is no escape 

 through the leaves, the vessels of the tree gradu- 

 ally become filled or distended, so that on the ap- 

 proach of warm weather, stimulating activity, the 

 least wound is followed by a flow of the sap. As 

 soon as the new leaves expand, as a general rule, 

 this flow from incisions ceases, in consequence of 

 the drain afforded in another direction. 



Now it usually happens that removing the tree 

 in the spring, cuts off in a measure the supply 

 from the roots at the very moment it is most want- 

 ed, — an evil quite as great as that resulting from 

 any diminished supply in consequence of fall plant- 

 ing. Our correspondent speaks of the evil'of ^*Sk 

 new cold soil ;" — are we to understand from this 

 that the plant has warmed the bed in which it 

 stood, and that it is chilled, like a human being, 

 by removal to a fresh bed 1 Is not the "new soil" 

 as relatively cold in spring as in autumn ] He 

 speaks of life being "destroyed by transportation" 

 — this must refer to long distances ; yet trees may 

 be sent thousands of miles \^ well packed, with near- 

 ly or quite the safety attending their removal to 

 the next farm. Ample experience has proved this 

 to be true. Why are we not all allowed to take 

 the same pains in saving the roots and carrying 

 the earth upon them, for autumn as well as for 

 spring transplanting? 



But throwing theory aside, — we have in the 

 course of our practice set out many ten thousands 

 of trees of various sizes, both in autumn and in 

 spring, and we are satisfied that more, by at least 

 twenty-fold, depends on a good soil, careful work, 

 and especially on the subsequent culture, than on 

 the season of the year ; nevertheless, if it were 

 not for the liability to be thrown out or raised by 

 frost, and the danger to half tender sorts from the 

 cold of winter, we think the advantages would de- 

 cidedly preponderate in favor of autumn, more es- 

 pecially because it is not accompanied with the 

 check we have already spoken of, at the viiry mo- 

 ment the trees should commence to grow vigorous- 

 ly. We have never found hardy trees to succeed 

 better, if as well, o^Aer things being the sa/nc,a,s 

 when carefully dug up in autumn and well laid in 

 till spring, Avhen they were set out, without the 

 above mentioned check. 



Shrubs and small plants, if inclining to be ten- 

 der, are always made more tender the first winter 

 by transplanting ; hence they should be cither 

 protected, or the work is done in spring. Hardy, 

 early starting perennials, asp^'onias, pie- plant, &c., 

 should always be set out in the fall ; while tulipB 

 and many other bulbs require setting a month or 

 two earlier. The practice must be moditicd by 

 circumstances, climate, and the habits of the va- 

 rious plants. — Cotintry Gentleman. 



Runaway Pond. — Fifty ladies and gentlemen, 

 belonging to Barton, Vt., celebrated the Fourth 

 of July by a picnic in tlie basin of the celebrated 

 "Runaway Pond," near that village, the Iras- 

 burg Gazette gives the following description of 

 the spot, as measured by some of the enginecre 

 of the Passumpsic Railroad, who Avere of the pay- 



"The water before its escape covered over 

 100 acres of land being one mile long and 70 

 rods wide for one-half its length. The greatest 



