268 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER 



FEB. 29, 1843. 



FOURTH AGRICULTURAAL MEETING AT 



THE STA'J'E HOUSE. 



Subject, Fruits and Fruit Trees. 



[Continued. 1 



Mr Cheever Newhall, of Dorchester, said he 

 would merely describe what he had done the past 

 season. 



In the springf, he received from Enrope 768 

 trees — pear, quince and cherry. The land where 

 lie intended to put them, had been tilled tlie year 

 before. He plowed and subsoil-plowed, niakinir 

 narrow furrows, and running the subsoil plow 18 

 or 19 inches deep. Set the trees soon after, and 

 never watered ; staked or put stones. All liis trees 

 lived but five, and did well, though they had a (iO 

 days' passage. lie ascribes Ids success in having 

 them live, to the good tilth and deep stirring his 

 soil. 



Mr Cole, Ed. Farmer's Journal, said it is diffi- 

 cult to determine what varieties may be worth cul- 

 tivating, because we want to know not merely how 

 an apple looks and tastes, but how the tree is in re- 

 spect to hardiness, thrift and bearing. 



He has collected many fine varieties and he ex- 

 hibited two — Jewell's Fine Red, and the Golden 

 Ball. Tliese he could recommend. The first ori- 

 ginated in Hollis, N. H., and flourishes far north; 

 in eating from October to March. The flavor fine ; 

 the tree hardy and thrifty ; a good bearer, espe- 

 cially in the even years. 



The Golden Ball — a thrifty tree ; fruit large and 

 fine. Another variety deserving notice is the Ta- 

 ble Greening. This is found in the western part 

 of iVIaine. It is the best good apple for keeping 

 that he is acquainted with. In April it has not 

 come to its eating state, but in summer it is very 

 good, and will keep well until September. The 

 tree, he thinks, is slow of growth. 



Mr French inquired of Mr Newhall, whether his 

 imported trees had done as well as those raised 

 from the seed here ? — saying, also, that he had 

 found American trees the best. 



Ans. "I never had any do better the first sea- 

 son than these imported ones." 



Mr French objected to staking trees. If large 

 wlien transplanted, he would lay a few stones 

 around them. He, too, objects to waterin". 



Mr Merriani thinks orcharding profitable ; and 

 instanced two orchards, one having the trees set 

 deep, the other having them on the surface or near- 

 ly so. The last did best. In low lands, it is well 

 to dig out a large hole, and fill with rocks, and 

 plant the tree above them. 



He repeated his recommendation of last year, to 

 cut all the limbs on old trees and engraft them. 

 This he would do on trees two feet in diameter; 

 and would never insert a scion where a limb was 

 more than an inch and an half in diameter. Trees 

 thus served do well. 



Mr Cole. How long since you began this pro- 

 cess ? 



Mr M. Four years. 



Mr JVench. Such trees may live a while, but 

 there is danger that in a few years they will die 

 from plethora — over fullness of sap. 



Mr Merriam. I do not get a good growth of 

 the scion, when I leave surrounding branches to 

 compete with it, and take away the sap. 



Mr Newhall. How many scions do you put in- 

 to a large tree ? 



Mr Merriam. An hundred or more. I work 

 upon it a day or a day and an half. 



The curl of the peach-tree leaf he had stopped 

 from extending, by sprinkling ashes over the tree 

 while! the dew was on. 



Salt and saltpetre around the trees — 2 or 3 oz. 

 per tree — was of much service. 



Mr Stone, of Watertown, had known the peach 

 tree to live 50 years, but vvhere it is well cultiva- 

 ted and pressed into bearing, it is not profitable to 

 try to get from a tree more than five or six crops. 



Dr. C. T. Jackson remarked, that an observing 

 farmer in New Hampshire had told him, that there, 

 the peach was liable to winter-kill in a southern 

 exposure, but much less so in a northern. Is it so 

 here .' 



Mr Stone. Trees do not often winter-kill here. 

 We want all the warmth on the peach tree we can 

 get ; therefore a southern exposure is best. 



PREMIUM CROPS OF N. Y. STATE AGRI- 

 CULTURAL SOCIETY. 

 There is generally some degree of gratification 

 in learning the size of the best crops obtained by 

 skillful agriculturists, even in sections of country 

 remote from us, and on soils difliering so much from 

 ours, that we have no reason to suppose that we, -by 

 similar cultivation, could reach like results. From 

 the Albany Cultivator, we collect the following 

 account of the size uf crops for which premiums 

 were awarded by the New York State Agricultural 

 Society : 

 Indian Corn — per acre : 



122 bush, by S. Phelps, of Ira, Cay- 

 uga CO. 

 " 89 do. by Wm. Ingalls,Volney,Os. 



wego CO. 

 " 8G do. by A. Van Bergen, Green Co. 



Barley — per acre : 



53 bush, by N. S. Wright, Vernon, Onei- 

 da CO. 



" 40 1-4 do. by T. J. Vandeveer, Amster- 

 dam, Monroe co. 

 Rye — per acre : 



32 1-2 bush, by J. S. Goodwin, Westmore- 



land, Oneid:\ co. 

 " 29 do. by T. J. J. Vandeveen. 



Oats — per acre : 



102 bush, by Samuel Phelps, Ira. 

 97 do. by William A. Russell, Salem, 



Washington co. 

 81 do. by J. S. Goodwin. 

 871 1-4 bushels on 9 1-2 acres, or 91 3-4 per 

 acre, by Geo. ShefFer, Wheatland, Monroe co. 

 Peas — per acre : 



33 34 bush, by Geo. White, Rutland, Jef- 



ferson co. 

 Potatoes — per acre : 



417 bush, by Geo. White, '' 

 400 do. by Geo. Sheflfer. 

 Ruta bagas — per acre : 



855 1-2 bush, by J. M. Connel, Can- 

 andaigua. 

 Beets — per acre: 



955 bush, by Geo. Sheffer. 



Carrots — per acre : 



985 1 -2 Wm. Risley, Fredonia, Chau- 

 tauquo CO. 



This list shows very good crops, generally, but 

 they are no larger than would be expected, where 

 competition is open for all farmers in that large 

 and fertile State. The oat crop seems to us the 



most remarkable ; and next to that the carrot. Mr 

 Sheffer must either possess very fine lands, or he 

 must be unusually skillful as a cultivalor. We do 

 not remember any account of crops, in any part of 

 the country, which seems to show greater success 

 than Mr Sheffer's. True, others have obtained 

 greater crops of each kind — oats, potatoes, and 

 beets — than these ; but when we find on a single 

 farm, in the same season, 871 1-4 bushels of oats 

 from 9 1-2 acres, 400 bushels of potatoes and 955 

 bushels of beets per acre, and when we remember 

 the different habits of these plants, and the diffe- 

 rent treatment they reiiuire, the inference is una- 

 voidable that either the soil or the cultivator's 

 skill is uncommonly good. 



Mr Phelps obtained 122 bushels of shelled corn 

 and 102 of oats per acre. This s-peaks well for 

 him as a grain grower. 



The same article in the Cultivator mentions that 

 Willis Gaylord (Editor of the Cultivator,) obtained 

 two premiums for essays — one on the General Man- 

 agement of the Farm, the other on the Manage- 

 ment and Application of Manures Ed. N. E. F. 



ON THE BREEDING OF CATTLE AND 

 SHEEP. 



Many farmers consider as matter of indifference 

 that on which the profitable nature of their occu- 

 pation mainly depends. The worse breed the fe- 

 male is, the more this will be the case when she is 

 put to a well bred male. Now, it is known to gra- 

 ziers, that the attempt to fatten an animal that pos- 

 sesses no feeding propensities, produces loss in- 

 stead of profit. The feeding propensities descend 

 from the sire — and therefore it is quite just to say. 

 that a breeder of cattle or sheep, who considers it 

 a matter of indifference what sort of a male animal 

 he uses, does consider it a matter of indifference 

 whether he gains profit or incurs loss. 



The first thing to be considered in the selection 

 of a male, are the indications by which it may be 

 possible to form a judgment as to his constitution. 

 In all animals, a wide chest indicates a strength of 

 constitution, and there can be no doubt that this is 

 the point of shape to which it is most material to 

 any breeder to look, in the selection of either a 

 bull or a ram. The animal, also, should exhibit 

 great muscular power, or rather his muscles should 

 be large. This is a usual accompaniment of a 

 strong constitution, but it likewise shows that there 

 will be a good proportionate mixture of lean and 

 fat in the meat produced by the animal ; the mus- 

 cles being that part of which the meat is lean. A 

 thick neck is, both in bulls and rams, a proof of 

 the muscles being large, and there can hardly be a 

 greater fault in the shape of a male animal, of 

 either sort, than his having a thin neck. 



In a bull there ought to be a full muscle on each 

 side of the back bone, just behind the top of the 

 shoulder-blades. He ought also to have the mus- 

 cles on the outside of the thigh, and extending 

 down nearly to the hough. It is sufficient to say, 

 therefore, that no male animal is fit to be used at 

 all as a sire, whose handling is not good, and that 

 the more perfect his shape is, the better. 



A man can only look at the general qualities of 

 females he possesses, and observe what are the 

 faults most prevalent among them : these he should 

 be particularly careful to avoid in the male which 

 he intends to use. Ail that a man can do is to 

 avoid putting a male and female together, whose 

 imperfections are the same, thereby increasing the 



