NEW iSx^'(WE<AMB FARMER. 



PUBLISHED BY J. B. RUSSELL, AT NO. 52 NORTH MARKET STREET, (at the Agricultural \Vai!kh(iusf..)— T. G. FESSENDE.N, EDITOR. 



VOL. IX. 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, MARCH 30, 1831. 



NO. 37. 



cB>^aiat\ffsr:i>si\sav©£fa3 



FOR THS NEW EiJGLAKO FARMER. 



GRAFTING GRAPES. 



Mr Fe^sendf.n — Oljserviii;; in your Farmer of 

 9tli inst. a piece signcil '.7h .Imiitcur,' s^olicit- 

 from some one, wIjo <;raftotl grapes the last 

 ison, for llicir result and information upon this 

 jject ; nml no one offering, the season pass- 

 on, anil feeling that we are hound hy our niein- 

 rship to tlie Horticultural Society to coniniuni- 

 e the results of oiu' |)ra(-lii-e and experiments, 

 nlure to otler a few observations with a state- 

 nt of facts on grafting vines the last season, 

 o hand you a copy of a conimiiuication from 

 intelligent member residing in th; vicinity of 

 ton, U|)on the same subject. 

 lome lime in March, say about the middle, we 

 I eight wild grape vines grafted with the Chas- 

 grape, three on large, old vines, of an inch 

 I over in diameter — anil live, on cuttings of the 

 d grape vine set out in the spring of 1828.. 

 By were not large when grafted, the scions being 

 ;er than the stocks. The scions engrafted 

 > the three old vines did not grow; they kept 

 e some time, the buds swelled, and some of 

 m opened ; the leaves expanded, but finally died ; 

 latched their progress with particular attention 

 my conclusions are, they were grafted too 

 y; as the sap flowed so /ojig-, and abundantly, 

 )re it became glutinous, and adhesive, that the 

 't was water soaked and ilicd at the bottom, 

 jgh the iop, as I before observed had the ap- 

 rance some tin_ie of doing well. The other, 

 small vines did better ; four of the five took 

 I and grew astonishingly fast; the flow of sap 

 small compared with the old vines ; some of 

 m grew from twelve to fifteen feet in height, 

 very rapidly, after the scions had taken to the 

 k ; some days the vine grew thirteen inches per 

 isureineut. 



The above mentioned vines were operated on 

 Heft grafting, and grafted in the ground, the soil 

 led round them. Hereafter we shall alter in 

 ^_je respects, viz ; where the stocks are large 

 1 bore in them, good sized stocks that pinch 

 e scions tight, let them remain ivithout tying 

 Bee of bass mat round them ; smaller stocks, 

 jld be well tied, for I observed in those that 

 not take, the split inclined to open and remain 

 3 during the flow of the sap. — Have thein 

 ed and the dirt hauled over the clay. 



(Copy of memoraudum handed me.) 

 afts of the Chasselas set 5th April, 1S30, grew 

 a It 15 feet same year, grafted (by cleft graft- 

 ami clayed on the common wild grape. — The 

 3 t bore frnit, but it did not come to maturity, 

 fts set by boring into a vine laid down in a 

 ch, pinned down and covered about two inch- 

 nth earth. Set the 13th Blay, grew nearly as 

 as those set 5th April. — One set at the same 

 at the extremity of the vine, by cleft grafting, 

 r as well as the others. Grafts set 4tli of 

 ch did not live ; of several set 11th March, by 

 ; grafting, in the usual manner, more than one 

 did not take ; those that did take, made a 

 .ter growth than those set by boring holes, 



but more of the latter lived. I should think that 

 grafts set from 15th April to 15th May in this cli- 

 mate more likely to do well that those set earlier. 

 S. DOWNER. 

 Dorchester, March 20, 1831. 



FOR THE NEW ENGLAXD FARMER. 



LARGE CATTLE. 



Mr Russell — As I had not time to call at your 

 office before you closed, I send you the live and 

 (lead weight of the oxen of my fattening which 

 you requested of me ; the quarters of the largest 

 may be seen on the stall of E. Alexander, Fan- 

 eiiil Hall market — The oxen having been driven 

 140 miles will account for the small proportion of 

 tallow to the meat as it is a fact kiiowu to all 

 drovers that the drift or wastage of an ox is alto- 

 gether in his tallow. Yours, Sec, 



S. SerGEA NT. 



FOR THE NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



PAINTED LIGHTNING ROD. 



Mr Fesse.\den — I had my house jiainted this 

 last fall, and the painter painted the lightning rod 

 from the roof of the house to the ground. Please 

 tell me in your next paper if it is an injury to the 

 rod as a conductor — and if so the best way to get 

 the paint ofl!", and oblige A Subscriber. 



Roxbury, March, 1831. 



Remarks by the Editor — The current volume of 

 the New England Farmer, page 19, contains an 

 article, quoted from Silliman's Journal of Science, 

 and headed ' Mode for adjusting Lightning Rods.' 

 In this are given hy Professor Olmsted, certain 

 rules for putting up lightning rods, which ()t;r cor- 

 respondent might do well to consult. One of those 

 rules, however, we will repeat here : 



'The rod should descend into the ground far 

 enough to be always in contact with moist earth. 

 This depth will vary in different places. In some 

 places five feet will be sufficient; in others six or 

 seven will be required ; and in soils particularly 

 dry it may be prudent in the season of thunder 

 storms, to connect the bottom of the rod, (hy means 

 of a chain, or the rod continued,) with a well or 

 vein of water. The chain or rod may be inclosed 

 in some substance, or be painted with a thick coat 

 of lamp black to keep it from rusting ; when the 



liottom of the rod terminates in the ground it may 

 branch off' in several ilircclions.' ■ 



Mr Patterson of Philadtdphia proposed to coat 

 conductors of lightning with a thick crust of black 

 lead, previously formed iiilo u paste, by b(!iiig pul- 

 verized, mixed with melterl sulphur and api)lied to 

 the roil while hot. (See New Englaml Farmer, 

 vol. viii. p. 62.) We believe that any of the com- 

 mon sorts of paints will answer a valuable pur- 

 pose in protecting conductors of lightning from 

 being rusted or oxydated by exposure to the wea- 

 ther, without much impairing their conducting 

 powers ; but lamp black and oil, or the above men- 

 tioned iireparatiim of black lead are no doubt pre- 

 ferable to ordinary paints for every jjurpose for 

 which coatings of any kind are applied to con- 

 ductors of lightning. 



FOR THE NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



BEES. 



Mr Fessende;* — I was much gratified with 

 the many facts which appeared in the correspon- 

 dents between Drs. Thacher and Smith, respect, 

 ing that interesting creature, the Honey Bee ; and 

 I think, that we may reasonably expect, as they 

 have an intelligent and acomplished lady to assist 

 them, that further valuable productions will appear. 



The government and economy of the bee are 

 not yet thoroughly understood. Many of their 

 movements are enveloped in darkness. They 

 manifest much art and sagacity in the construction 

 of their haliitation. Uniloubtedly they have a lan- 

 guage which we do not understand. They know 

 an enemy fioin a friend. They have a wonderful 

 policy — neu-tuess, economy and industry mark all 

 their steps. They have never informed us of their 

 counsels and results, nor of the management of 

 their internal affairs. It seems, however, that their 

 government is a inonaicliy and the sovereign a 

 female. But are we correct ? Is the chief ruler a 

 female ? If so, her majesty must act the strange 

 part of a coquette in commanding a large retinue 

 of admirers to be massacred without distinction. 

 This looks unnatural ; but were those, which are 

 marked out for destruction, merely a [lack of lazy 

 fellows, that had grown fat by rioting on the pro- 

 ceeds of the laboring part of the community, it 

 would, perhajis, appear otherwise. 



IMan, it seems, is unwilling to allow these in- 

 sects any faculty, except merely innate instinct, 

 with which they are endowed. But how do we 

 know that they do not, in some degree at least, im- 

 prove in their arts? Instinct is a term given to the 

 sagacity and natural inclinations of animals of the 

 lower creation ; and reason is the term given to 

 the sagacity and comprehension of man. Where 

 lies the difference ? How do we know that the 

 insects are not capable of planning and compre- 

 hending their work ? In many of their operations 

 they seem to possess the faculty of perceiving 

 what is right and best, and in fact to perform ac- 

 tions or things which seem to proceed from mo- 

 tives similar to those by which men are actuated. 

 Very young animals appear not to possess that por- 

 tion of sagacity which is observed in animals of 

 the same species that have arrived to their natu- 

 ral perfection. If instinct be innate and there is 

 no improvement by observation, instruction, or ex- 



