AND HORTICULTURAL REGISTER. 



PUBLISHRD BY JOSEPH BRECK & CO., NO. 52 NORTH MARKET STREET, (AomoutTOHAt Wabehoo8b.)-ALLEN PUTNAM, EDITOR. 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVKNING, NOVEMBER 2.3, 184'>. 



[NO. 31. 



N. E. F ARMER. 



REPORT ON farms: &c. 

 We copy from the Lowell Journal the following 

 xt roots from the Report of the Committee of the 

 fiddlcscx Co. Agricultural Society on Farms: 



»9pple Orchards. 



Of the apple orchard of Mr Zaccheus Road, Jr., 



Weslford, the Committe sny : 



" Mr Read'^s troe.-i are in n thrifty state, remarka- 

 y well trimmed, and some of them now in full 

 ariny. He sets his trees 40 feet apart, and keeps 

 e land, which is hilly and rocky, in grass part of 

 e tinie, but when in grass he digs around the 



es and manures them. He certainly has a re- 

 arkable faculty for makinir his trees look well and 

 arwell. . Kverythincj in the shape of a tree that 



touches, thrives. A farmer would be well paid 

 rjgoing 20 miles fur the sake of seeing his or- 

 ards, some of which have received the Society's 

 emiums before. 



The Committee award to Zaccheus Read, Jr., 

 • his young orchard, the 3d premium of $8. 



The orchard of Jonas Viles, of Waltham, was 

 ipected by the Committee. Mr Viles has over 

 e hundred trees, which have been set out within 



I years. His treatment of orchards is somewhat 

 ^uliar. He keeps no regular nursery, and never 

 ught any trees from a nursery, but sets out any 

 id, crooked as well as straight, that may happen 

 come up about his farm, and in two years after 

 nsplantiiig, he engrafts them. He insists upon 

 that trees taken up in this way, ' which have had 

 ■nrd time to begin tvith,' will do better and bear 

 ter, than those forced in a nursery. However 

 3 may be, the Committee will not say ; but cer- 

 a it is that his trees do present a remarkably 

 } appearance, and many of them are now full of 



When trees grow slow, the wood is more 

 n, compact, mature and ripe, than it is when 

 y have a more rapid growth ; and if they make 

 ch wood, they will not, on the succeeding year, 

 likely to make much fruit. Hence a dr;j sea- 



, so dry that trees grow but little, is generally 

 owed by a fruilj'ul season. The English or- 

 irdists undei^tatid this principle, and hfnce, if 

 ir trees grow so fast as not to bear well, they 

 ledy the evil by pruning the roots. Perhaps 



Viles arrives at the -same result, though in a 

 'erent way. 



V!r Viles haying once taken th.e second premium 

 this orchard, of course ia not entitled to any 

 V, unless it be the first. 



The orchard of Aaron Foster, Jr., of South Read- 

 ■, was nc.\t examined. This orchard is situated 

 lut one mile north of the village, and contains 

 htyiinc trees, chiefly Baldwins, fiftyfour of tlicm 

 re set out in 1831. and the remainder in 1838. 

 ese trees were taken from a nursery when about 

 ee years old, and set out in rows two rods apart. 



Foster keeps his land plowed part of the time, 

 . when not plowed, he digs up round the trees, 

 pureg and plants potatoes. These trees are 



II shaped, well trimmed, have a remarkably 



healthy looking bark, and present a very thrifty 

 appear.ince. 



The Comiiiittee award to Aaron Foster, Jr., of S. 

 Reading, the Qd premium of $12. 



The next orchard examined was that of John 

 White, Jr., of South Reading. This orchard con- 

 tains ninetytwo tribes, eighty of which wore snt out 

 in 1837, and twelve in 183(1. It has been treated 

 and appears Tuch like that of Mr Foster's, near to 

 which it is situated, and what has been said con- 

 cerning that, will apply equally well to thi". 



The Committee award to John White, Jr., of S. 

 Reading, the 1st premium of $1.5. 



The attention of the Committee was also called 

 to the pear orchard of James Eustis, of South Read- 

 ing. Mr Eustis has thirty pear trees, set out about 

 five years ago, some of which bear and some do 

 not. Having already received the second premium 

 on this orchard, the Committee are not authorized 

 to award him any further premium, until he is en- 

 titled to {he first. . 



The Committee cannot but express the hope that 

 more attenticm will be given to the subject of or- 

 chards, by farmers uenerally. Hitherto our or- 

 chards have been altogether too much neglected. 

 Our rocky hilli, which now afford but very poor 

 pasturage, are peculiarly adapted to fruit trees, and 

 could, by a little e.xpense, be converted into or- 

 charding, that would pay a large and certain profit 

 The orchards of Messrs. Read and Viles are both 

 on land of this description, and the proportion of 

 this kind of land in the county of Middiese.x is 

 very large. Good and intelligent farmers always 

 turn their attention to the things to which their 

 land is best adapted. Do any wish to know wheth- 

 er orchards are really profitable and practicable in 

 our climate? Surely our farmers in West Cam- 

 bridge and its vicinitv, who, during the present 

 season, will put up tlieir^ue hundred, their thousand, 

 and their two thousand barrels of choice apples 

 each, will not lose money by the operation; nor 

 could they be easily induced to abandon their or. 

 chards. Apples that grow in this vicinity, without 

 being inferior in any other respect, will keep better 

 than those raised south or west of us, and for that 

 reason are preferred for exportation. These will 

 always ensure a good price. There is but little 

 danger that too many will go into the business and 

 thus spoil the market, since cmr home consumption 

 of good apples is constantly increasing, and they 

 can be exported to an almost indefinite extent. Be- 

 sides, apples are worth nearly as much as potatoes 

 to boil and feed out to hogs and stock. This fact 

 has been demonstrated. It ia now well known to 

 the few, and should be known to the nuiny. 



Recl,..imed Peat and Bog Meadows. 

 Abiel H. Wheeler, of Concord, offered one acre 

 of reclaimed meadow, situated back of his house. 

 This is on a mud foundation, from two to eight 

 feet deep, and was reclaimed in 1837. It was .^o 

 miry that it could not be plowed. His metliod of 

 reclaiming was this. The land in the fall was 

 turned over by hand into long beds, thirty feet in 

 width, crowning eighteen inches in the centre, 



with a drain between the beds. In the winter 

 he carried on fifteen loads of rotten loam, but his 

 statement does nut set forth the particular quali- 

 ties of this rotten loam, or whether it contained 

 any manure or not. In May, this loam was spread, 

 and oats and grass seed sowed and raked in with a 

 hand rake. He has spread on fifteen loads of simi- 

 lar loam every year since. 'I'he cost of reclaim- 

 ing the acre ho estimates at $'28 H.'). The crop of 

 oats the first year he estiuiates at $3.'). Each year 

 since then he has taken off four and a half tons of 

 hay at two cuttings, which ho values at .S7.1 per 

 year. The annual expense has been the loam and 

 the cost of getting the crop. 



Joseph Merriam, of Concord, olTered one acre 

 and a half of reclaimed meadow, situated in front 

 of his house. The foundation is peat, probably 

 from eight to ten fi'Ot deep. It was reclaimed last 

 year, and the method >vas this. It was first laid 

 out into four beds, having ditches all round them. 

 In August 1841, it beiiiir then very dry, he set fire 

 to three of the beds. The fire ran ail over them, 

 and continued burning about tliree weeks. The 

 other bed he tried to plow, but he could only loose.T 

 the surfacca little. Ho then cut up the hnssocks, 

 roots and all, (in this lieil,) and piled thein up in 

 heaps, to M hich ho set fire. After the fires went 

 out, he spread the ashes. In the Intter part of 

 September, or early i.i October, he harrowed all 

 the beds, sowed grass seed and brushed it in well. 

 In the second week in July last he got his hay. 

 He measured off four rods, no better than the ave- 

 rage, and tlie h.iy that grew rm them, after being 

 well cut and dried, weighed 143 pounds, making 

 5720 pounds to the acre. The expense of reclaim- 

 ing is S'8 30 fur the acre and a half, being $.5 .54 

 per acre. No inontion is made of the expense of 

 draining the meiiuow, he.-auso the peat taken out 

 of the ditches more tli:iu p:iys for cutting them. 

 The value of lln' first crop cm one acre (being .5720 

 pounds of hay at $15 per ton) is $42 90. This 

 does not include the rowen. a he.-ivy crop of which 

 is now on the land, nor the oxpense of getting thu 

 hay. 



The Committee award to Jos. Merriam, of Con- 

 cord, the 2d premium of .$1.5. 



Mark Fay, of Marlboro' offered one acre of re- 

 claimed mc'Pilow. This meado.v has a mud foun- 

 dation, and was formerly a swatnp, covered with 

 bii.slies and brakos. It was reclaimed in 1838. 

 His method Was this. He first cut up the bushes 

 and loas and burnt them, and then he smoothed 

 down the surface and sowed rye and grass seed. 

 The cost of reclaimine and getting in the first crop 

 of rye and grass is $17. The whole cost up to 

 the piesent time, including the land at $6 per acre, 

 which it actually cost in 18.57, is $41. No men- 

 tion, however, is made of the expense of draining^ 

 the land and getting off the crops. The whole in- 

 come of the land uplo the present time is $100 — 

 estimated present value of the land $7,5 — making 

 in all .$17.5. Mr Fay, in his statement, says that 

 from exj.erience, ho thinks that planting potatoes 

 for two years, and by tint means ftling the top 

 sward, /is preferable to liurning. 



