28 



NEW EiN GLAND FARMER, 



ATIGIJST 5, 1835. 



CANADA THISTIiES. 



The suggestions of our correspondent, in the 

 following communication, tliat frequent ploughing 

 will destroy the Canada thistles, is in confirmation 

 of the jiractice of Mr Hillhouse.as related in the 

 May number of the Cultivator. The object of 

 both gentlemen was the same— to prevent the 

 plant from vegetating ; whilst tlie one used the 

 plough, the other subst tuted the hoe for that pur- 

 jiose, and both, it appears were eftectual ; these 

 communications contain important suggestions, 

 and we have no doubt they will be acted ujion by 

 some of our farmers the coming season. 



We have this moment been called upon by a 

 neighbor to the gentleman who sent us the com- 

 munication, who says the j^ractice of killing the 

 thistle in'the above instance, as related by our cor- 

 respondent, was so completely successful, that 

 where any are now left, this plan to subdue 

 them is invariably resorted to — that a small farm 

 in the vicinity was sold a few years ago at the 

 moderate price of not more thau $25,00 per acre, 

 because the ground was almost covered with the 

 thistle, that the metliod of frequent ploughing 

 was adopted by the purchaser, and the thistles 

 were so perfectly subdued that hardly a single one 

 can now be seen, and this same farm would now 

 readily sell at double the original price. We can- 

 not for a moment doubt the correctness of the 

 above statements ; and if frequent ploughing is 

 the remedy to destroy the thistle, a knowledge of 

 the fact ought to be most extensively diftused. 



A. 



[FromUieCuUivator.] 

 1 am happy to perceive the attention of a sub- 

 scriber is drawn to the destruction of the Canada 

 thistle. What he writes is from actual experier.ce, 

 the best school extant. The gentleman's mode 

 of destroying the most noxious of all weeds, (the 

 Canada thistle,) I consider to be based upon just 

 principles, viz. that of totally depriving it of a top 

 through one summer. This is one effectual mode 

 of eradicating them ; but I think we may pursue 

 a system of management, where there are large 

 quantities of this thistle, in a more sure and ef- 

 fectual way, than the one in your May number of 

 the Cukivator signed a Subscriber. What I here 

 state is also from actual experience. For the last 

 four years I had two farms which were harassed 

 more or less with the above named thistle, one of 

 them being a small farm was almost overrun 'with 

 it, so much so, as to almost ruin both the grass 

 and grain crops. My mode of treatment is, to 

 plant the field one year. That will subdue the 

 sod. The next year commence as soon as the 

 thistles come up in the spring, to plough them, 

 say once in two or three weeks, or as often as 

 they come up or appear, until it is time to sow 

 the field with winter grain. By this time the 

 thistles, if attended to as directed, will be totally 

 destroyed. I have killed, last season, full ten 

 acres in this way ; the season before, as many 

 more, and three years ago, from one to two acres. 

 Small spots may be wholly kept down, in pasture 

 fields, by salting stock upon tbein, and at the 

 same time see to them as often as once a week, 

 that there are no tops left. If there are, strong 

 brine, when the ground is moist, poured on them, 

 will kill them, but if you kill all there are in 

 sight today, in one week examine and you will 

 find more, so that it requires attention or else you 

 will lose your labor ; there is no half way work 

 about it ; when they are bad in a stone wall, the 



best way is to remove it to some other place not 

 infested with them. The number of times of 

 ploughing required to kill mine, has varied from 

 five to ten times, and Avhen the ground is bare 

 you can plainly see whether you have destroyed 

 them or not. 



If the above article shouid be the means of as- 

 sisting the destruction of one square rod of ground 

 covered with the Canada thistle, the writer will 

 be fully recompensed. A Subscriber. 



Remarks by the Editor of the Yankee Farmer. 

 We had a few patches of Canada thistles in our 

 garden ; one was in a beet bed and another in a 

 piece which we nsually planted in jiotatocs and 

 cabbages; as the soil was rich and well cultivat- 

 ed, they came up very thick and grew rapidly 

 and for a year or two they were very troublesome. 

 We cut them off as they appeared above the sur- 

 fiiee, and they would soon start again very vigor- 

 ously, but we continued to cultivate the ground 

 and cut them up as they appeared, and in about 

 two years they were completely destroyed. 



#» 



PIiOUaHING UNBER GREEN CROPS FOR 

 MANURE. 



Being the owner of a small farm, most of 

 which was in a low state of cultivation at the 

 time I commenced making experiments, aad feel- 

 ing desirous of enriching it faster than I could 

 with stable and barn yard maniwe, the quantity 

 made being small, I therefore resolved to try the 

 effect of ploughing under green crops. The piece 

 upon which I tried my ex|ieriment contains near- 

 ly four acres, and is of a hazle-nut colored loam, 

 lying near the Connecticut river. 



In 1831, the lot above mentioned had wheat 

 and rye reaped from it; about 18-4 were of 

 wheat and produced 17 bushels, yielding 9 5-7 

 bushels to the acre. The 2 1-4 acres of rye yield- 

 ed about 27 bushels, being 12 bushels to the acre 

 —total of wheat and rye, 44 bushels. The ground 

 for the wheat was ploughed three times and had 

 the same number of harrowings. That for rye 

 was ploughed but twice, with two harrowings; 

 clover and herds grass were sown on the whole 

 piece. At the time of raising the grain, I did not 

 intend trying any experiment ; but the grass seed 

 not having come up well, the lot was ploughed 

 once in August, 1832, and sown with rye, was fed 

 down with sheep in the fall and also in the spring, 

 until about May; thus affording sufficient feed 

 to pay the expense of the seed for the first crop. 

 After the sheep were taken from the grain, it 

 was left to grow until about the time it blossom- 

 ed, when it was ploughed under, and the ground 

 sown with buckwheat— 1-2 bushel of seed to the 

 xcre. \Vhen the buckwheat was in blossom, that 

 was a'so ploughed under ; after which the ground 

 was suffered to remain luitil a short time before it 

 was sown, when it was again ploughed once, 

 sown with wheat and rye, October, 3d. Previous 

 to sowing the wheat, the seed was soaked about 

 twentyfour hours in brine, and afterwards rolled 

 in ])lastcr, where it remained in a body twelve or 

 sixteen hours. My object in treating it in this 

 manner was to prevent smut, and the ravages of 

 the Hessian fly, which has .several times destroyed 

 some of my wheat; but fortunately the crops the 

 presentyear were uninjured by them. The rye 

 was sown in its natural state. 



In the spring of 1834 the whole piece was 

 plastered with about two bushels to the acre, it 



was sown for the purpose of benefitting the young 

 grass, and it has now (spring of 1835) come ufl 

 well, and bids fair to produce nearly twice tha 

 quantity of feed usually obtained from it in a sea-, 

 sou. The quantity of grain which the piece pro* 

 duced the past season is as follows : About onii 

 acre was sown with whitQ flint wheat and yielded 

 16 bushels — 2 3-8 acres were sowed whh reft 

 boarded wheat, and produced 33 bushels, makingi 

 in all 49 bushels or 14 1-2 to the acre — 5-8 of an 

 acre was sown with rye and yielded about twelv« 

 bushels, being at the rate of 19 1-5 bushels to th< jj, 

 acre. The increase of the wheat crop, according ^^^ 

 to the above estimate, was more than 49 per centi ^^^^ 

 and that of the rye more than 59 per cent. Hafl ^^^ 

 the past season been favorable for wheat crops, ] 

 doubt not that H should have obtained eight or .ten ^ 

 bushels more. Perhaps some may think the plaw ^j,, 

 ter caused the last crop to be better than the pre' ^y^ 

 ceding one ; but 1 do not think it was, as I sowv ^■ 

 ed some on a piece of rye the past season, i ^^ 

 jjart of which was left unplastered, and it coulo ^^ 

 not be discovered that the plaster benefitted eithen ^,, 

 ryo or land — the soil was the same as that oil . 

 which the wheat was sown. — Northampton Cour- 

 ier. 



[From ihe New Vi rk Farmer.) 

 PEACH TREES. 



Peach trees may be preserved, by good mana^ 

 ment, twenty, and probably fifty years. Th 

 are destroyed from north latitude forty to thirty 

 six degrees, by a worm which feeds on the innj 

 bark of the tree, at its root. This worm is sai. 

 to be the offspring of a fly of the wasp kinj 

 which deposits its eggs in the bark of the re 

 of the tree while it is young and tender. T 

 remedy consists in searching for the -openings 

 the bark at the root, and taking them out. 

 this operation is repeated three or four springs 

 worm never after can make a lodgement th 

 The bark of the tree by this time becomes so hi 

 that the fly cannot make the puncture, in order 

 deposit the egg, or if deposited it perishes. A 

 the worm is cut out in the spring, draw the e 

 up around the body six or eight inches above 

 other ground. 



Of all the fruit trees produced in this cli 

 none bears pruning so freely as the peach t 

 deed, it should be treated very much as the vine 

 All those branches which have borne fi 

 should be cut out, if there is young wood 

 supply their places. Proof— take a limb wh 

 has borne two or three crops of fruit, and 

 tice its produce ; take another on the same tr 

 which has never borne at all, and the fruit on 

 the last will be twice the size of the former, 

 fairer, and less liable to rot. In pruning, the 

 branches should be taken or cut out of the 

 middle of the free: thus giving more air and 

 sun to the fruit on the outer linibs. 



The peach tree produces best fruit when the 

 ground is not stirred about it while the fruit is on. 

 When it has no fruit, it should be cultivated as 

 carefully as a cabbage, or any other plant. 



The above comprises the most important points 

 in the rearing of peach trees, and good fruit ; if 

 attended to, I have never known them to fail, 



and my experience has not been very limited. 



I repeat what may, perhaps, be doubted, that 

 the peach tree, if the worm is kept out of the 

 root, wjll live, at least, twenty years ; and that 



