302 



^(^W 51i?-®J£>^.S£?3B> S-^JE^Jll^o 



NEW ENGLAND F A 11 M E R , 



MAKCH 30, 18:!6. 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, MARCH 30, 1836. 



[Ij'IfiiTiCE.— The business of i(ir New England Seed 

 Store and Fanner, will bo continued as heretofore, and 

 all orders or letters may he direnled to Geo. CBARaETT, 

 until further notice. 



P.IRMERS- WORK. 



Ploughing. — Light sandy soils had better be ploughed 

 in the spring and not hite in autumn, lest they become 

 too porous and are washed away by the rains and floods 

 of fall and winter. A light soil, which is naturally too 

 loose fir fertility, would-be injured by late fall plough- 

 in". In ploughing lands of any description, hut more 

 particularly a light soil, care should be taken to draw the 

 furrows as nearly level, or as horizontally as possible, 

 otherwise every furrow becomes the channel of a water 

 course, and the lightoiit and best part of tiie land is swept 

 away. If the land is liglit and sandy, it will be best lo 

 turn it over as flat as possible. Harrow it lengthwise o( 

 the furrow, so as to fill the little intervals between the 

 furrow slices, and pass a heavy roller over it. But if the 

 soil is of a stiff, heavy, adliesive nature, the furrow slices 

 need nut bo laid so flat as to prevent air from pervading 

 theirsides and lower parts. The depth of the ploughing 

 should be regulated by the kind of crop proposed, the 

 depth of the mould, and the means of improving it. It 

 is wrong to turn up, at once,- a great body of hungry 

 earth, unless you have plenty of manure with which to 

 fieed it. A soil naturally shallow should he made deeper 

 by degrees, and no more barren earth should be turned 

 np at a time than you hwe the means of enriching with 

 manure. 



Spring Wheat. — We believe that wheat would flour- 

 ish better if it were buried deeper than it generally is in 

 broad cast sowing. Wheat has two distinct sets of roots, 

 which serve to fix the pl.-int firmly in the ground, and to 

 draw nouiishment from different quarters. A practical 

 farmer recommends the following process to be observed 

 inthe culture of this important product. 



" The only successful course is to prepare the seed 

 about ton days befora sowing time. This is done by 

 sclccling clean plump seed, passing it through water in a 

 tub, about half a bushel at a time, and washing it, and 

 skimming ofl" all matter tliat floats, then empty it into a 

 basket to drain, then lay it on a clean floor and rake in 

 two quarts of slacked lime and one quart of plaster to the 

 bushel, and if too dry sprinkle on water, and continue to 

 stir it til all is covered with the lime and plaster. In 

 this way you may proceed till you have prepared your 

 whole seed. Let it remain in a heap one day, then 

 spre'id it, and remove it daily till it becomes perfectly 

 dry ; it is then fit to sow, and you may sow it if the land 

 should be quite wet. 



** The quantity of wheat to an acre should be one 

 bushel and twenty quarts. In the process of sowing you 

 may not be able to apportion your seed exactly to the 

 acre ; therefore, when you have sowed and ploughed in 

 the quantity proposed fur the acre, you may gather all 

 that remains, with the lime and plaster, and sow it on 

 the whole piece of land, passing across the furrows 

 This will make it even and cause a very equal distribu 

 tion of the seed, which may then be harrowed. After 

 the wheat has come up three or four inches above ground, 

 sow one bushel of plaster to the acre, or house ashes 

 equivalent, as you please, or leached ashes, increasing 

 the quantity." 



OiTS cannot be sown too early in ihe sprjng, after the 

 ground is thawed and become dry enough for sowing. 

 Three bushels of seed, according to Deane, is ihe usual 

 quantity sown on an acre. Tills quantity will be rather 

 more than enough on a rich soil ; if the soil be poor, the 

 quantity of seed should be greater. 



Oats have strong piercing roots, and are called hearty 

 feeders, so that they can find their nourishment in stiff 

 soils ; and for the same reason they produce great crops, 

 when sown after one ploughing. It was formerly the 

 custom to cross plough and liarrow for oats, but it l.as 

 been found that when sward land is well turned over, 

 the sod ought not lobe disturbed until at least two crops 

 have been taken from the field. Plaster is said to be an 

 excellent manure for oats. 



(For the New England Farmer.) 

 TREES ISfJURED BY MICE. 



My Dear Sir : — Having repeatedly suffered by depre- 

 dations from niirc, in the manner complained of by " A 

 Subscrilji r " in yinirlast, I feel myself pathetically trailed 

 on to answer liis plaintive enquiries respecting his muti- 

 lated trees, " Wliat can be done .' Can they be saved ? " 

 Should I fail of administering consolation, I hope in the 

 detail of my personal experience he may find the discus- 

 sion beneficial. 



A few years since, I turned up a piece of grjiss land, 

 late in autumn, on which I had planted a young orchard. 

 Not h;ving been broken by tlie harrow, the sods furnish- 

 ed most desirable winter quarters for the mice. The 

 snow was deep, and afforded foraging two feet from the 

 ground. The trees were barked in many instances to 

 this extent. Desirous, if possible, to save my trees, I 

 adopted a mode similar to the one quoted from GoodseU's 

 Farmer, in your editorial remarks. Experiments were 

 made on trees decorticated from three inches to two feet. 

 Those near the ground occasioned but little trouble. 

 The earth was raised and pressed hard above the arti- 

 ficial conductors. Where a portion of the bark was un- 

 injured, I placed one or more, as the case required, 

 covering the surface with grafting mortar, well piopor- 

 tioned with clay and cow dung, and secured the whole 

 with envelopes of strong matting. This was my prac- 

 tice with all trees where the injury did not extend more 

 than ten or twelve inches in height. Where " the bark 

 was lemoved too high up to be conveniently covered 

 with earth," I adopted the same method ; but instead 

 of " strips of cotton cloth" I formed a Ijox with four 

 pieces of board, sufficiently high and capacious, and 

 filled it with hard pressed earth, keeping it in due mois 

 ture. The trees were enclosed in this manner fir three 

 seasons. Every thing appeared to go on well, and pro- 

 mised success. When the boxes had fallen from decay, 

 the scions had become stout and well imited at their ex- 

 tremities. I congr.-itulated myself with the flattering 

 prospect of not only saving my trees, but that the success 

 of the experiment would be a boastful acquisition. The 

 stem appeared hardy enough tosuslain the trees until the 

 artificial props were of sufficient size and strength to sup- 

 port tije'm. Under my sanguine expectations, I did not 

 contemplate a very obvious catastrophe, wliich might 

 and did await them. My orchard w.is situated on the 

 side of a hill, subject to whirling flaws and gusts of wind 

 By a furious onset of this description, they were twisted 

 and levelled to the dust ! Thus my long course of labor 

 and flattering experiment was prostrated ; and with it all 

 confidence in any successfid attempt to obviate an evil 

 which ought at once to have been submitted to as irrepa- 

 rable. The most of my trees were in a condition to be 

 grafted at or below the surface. The trees partially de- 

 nuded were the only ones of the number which required 

 extensive application, that are now valuable. The fissures 





between the natural and artificial wood are closed 

 ingno vestige of former injury. 



Your closing recommendation, Mr Editor, in my opin 

 ion, contains the best practical advice on the subjeci 

 where grafting the stock isinadmissablc. And by addin^ 

 the injury by mice lo that of" calves," your correspond ' 

 em will have a coiiilensed (and I trust a satisfactory) an 

 swer to both his enquiries. 



Ilespeclfully and truly, your friend, 

 Worcester, March 25, 1836. O. Fiskk. 



To T. G. Fessenuen, Esq. 



(Comniuhicatioii.) 

 TO A SNOW-DROP. 



Sweet promise of the Spring, 

 Anil the first offspring of serener Bkies : 

 Tho' thou wert rear'd amid thej-uthless winds 

 Of chill adversity ; o'er Winter's tyrant sway, 

 I hail thee as the herald of the victory. 



What tho' thy pallid leaves exhale 

 No precious fragrance to the inconstant wind ; — 

 Is this the grief which thus reclines thy head — 

 Or is it because thy tender form ne'er found 

 A sweet asylum in Matilda's bosom i 



For such a fate — 

 Had nature given thy reign to warmer suns — 

 Thou would'st have seen the rose suffus'd with blushoal 



March I2th. » » » , 



MASSACHUSETTS HORTICUtTURAIj SOCIETT* 



Saturday, March 26. 



EXHIBITION OF FRUITS. 



Apples. — Ribstone Pippins from R. Manning, Salem, 

 Also, a Seedling Apple from Rev. Mr Punchard, Ply. 

 mouth, N. H. 



A Seedling Apple, of high flavor, not quite in eating, 

 from the garden of the late Samuel Hastings, Boston. 

 For the Committee. B. V. French. 



[D=An adjourned meeting of the Society will be held 

 Saturday, April 2d, in Cornhill, at a room opposite theil 

 former hall, at 11 o'clock, A.M. 



E. Weston, Jr., Rcc. Sec. 



(Communication.) 

 Select List of Pears. — Mr Fessenden ; Sir, permit 

 me to add, as the season is approaching for planting out 

 trees, and inserting scions, and as enquiries are fre- 

 quently made by young horticulturists for the best kind« 

 of fruit, the following are named as amongst the best 

 Pears that were presented and tasted at the Society'j 

 rooms the last season. They are not placed in the order 

 of their ripening, or of their excellence. Of the new 

 kinds, there were the Phillips, Columbia, Virgaliou, 

 Bartlett's Seedling, and Durfee ; of other pears, the 

 Downton, Summer Thorn, Washington, Maria Louise, 

 Green Catharine, Suriass Virgaliou, Bergamot Syl. 

 vanche, Johonnet, Dearborn's Seed'ing, Summer Ros8, 

 Raymond, Fulton, Bowdoin, Passe Colmar, St Ghislain, 

 Beurre Ronville, Urbaniste, or Beurre Knox, Lowell 

 Pear, Saunders' Beurre, Andrews, Bufl'um, Beurre Col- 

 mar d'Automne, Dix, Julienne, Autumn Superb, Til- 

 lington, Mouille Bouche, Hanna's, Broca's Bergamot, 

 Burgamcester, Echasserie, of Boston, and one, name un- 

 known, from Gen. Lyman. There were many others of 

 great excellence, which are well known, and were fre- 

 quently tasted at the Committee's tables. 



Yours, with respect, B. V. French. 



*,*Acommimication from Mr Woodward, of Newton, 

 is deferred till our next, for want of room. 



