NEW ENGL.AND FARMiail. 



'" "''i^i" "V J B. RtJSSELL. AT NO. 52 J> -ORTH MARKET ^EET^r^rH^Aon^cm^vj^,^VUn»u,v,r..)-r. G. FESSENDE-N, EDIToiT 

 VOL. IX. " 



BOSTOX, WEDNESDAY EVENING, JUNE 1, 1831. 



NO. 46, 



vy4)5a;ais!?£r.£^Siiu!-i^£ri 



FOR THE .NEW ENGLAND FARMiR. 



FOKM OF A ROLLER. 

 MRFtssENnKv — ll.iviii;j-l.iioly suoii two or more 

 escriptions of Rollers in the Farmer, I will try 

 ) give you llie (lescri|)tioii i>f omk I lately saw in 

 laucuster (/oiiiiiy, Pa. at tlie farm of a friend of 

 line and wliicii lie s.iys is llie kiinl most apiirov- 

 i of in parts of Clicsler County, Pa. A slick 6 

 ■et long anil from 20 to 36 indies in iliameter is 

 ■ be bored tliiongli with a 5 inch hole, then bv 

 acing blocks in each end fiml the cenire of each 

 jle and describe a circle on each end of the 

 ick, as large as it will admit, finm which dress 

 round and smooth, and then with a cross cut 

 w it in two which gives yon two pieces of 3 

 3t each in length ; next prepare a good piece of 

 )od for an axis, dressed round, and ^th of an 

 ^h less than the hole bored, and long enough to 

 n thrcwigh both pieces and secure in the fronie 

 th a tenon of 2 by 4 J inches on c.ich end ; on 

 e end is to be left a slioiilder, inside of the len- 

 and on the other a piece of board as a washer 

 feeep the roller clear of ihe fiame in working. 

 e frame consists of 2 pieces before and 2 be- 

 d, and one on each side ; into the latter of 

 ich is Jiut the axis after having the two parts 

 « the roller and the washer put on. A tongue 

 iicured to the two front pieces of the frame with 



• y chains to preveni strain in turning, and a 



* ulli and rings for breast chains on the end, 

 a a |)in hole at the proper place for a double 



I . Iiiit whore oxen are used nothing but 2 pins 



i 1 ilic end of the tongue is necessary, and no 



~ used in the construction except the stay 



- and sheath. A box Inrgivina it ndditioii- 



jhtorfor g.ithering stones may be placed 



uer the top, or, as is often done, to lengthen 



i;;cie, on the bind part of the frame. The 



- i..;;ige of having llierolb>rin 2 pieces is, that 



I rns easier and without dragging the ground, 



'.> I a short turn the pieces move in opposite di- 



said to work admirably. — My friend told 



It in cash lai I out, his roller cost $3 ; the 



had of his own ami took no account of! 



-' it. He hiid a carpenter IJ days whom 



-~:>tedaud paiil for also boring. If the fore- 



-' description has luit been already given and I 



J tliiuk it will be of any use, you may publish it. I 



A Pf,n.nsvi,vania Subscriber. 



'ay 2, 183L 



I.erance proves to be a worm, wrapped in a coat j for the new England farmer. 



of mail, closely adlieriug to the wood. _ 



The worm is alive. I send it, with the ' limb | PLANTING TREES, 



for your itispcction. This worm has evidently | Mr Fesse.-vden — In the 6ih vol. page 301, of 

 caused the death of this shoot. Is not this the the New England Farmer, 1 read a communication 



cause of blight in pear trees .' 



Yours respectfully, \y_ g. 



Framingham, Mai; 20, 183 L 



RemaHs bi/ the Editor. — The limb of the pear 

 trees, alluded to above, came to hand, but the in- 

 sect had made its escape, and of course has eva- 

 (led our observation. Blight is nothing more than 

 another term for tvithering, or decaying suddenly ; 

 and whatever causes a fruit tree or other vegeta- 

 ble production to wither or wilt (:\s we express the 

 drooping of a plant) is the cause of blight. Lon- 

 don says ' Blight is a conimon term fur injuries re- 

 ceived by the vegetable kingdom, when in a state 

 of growth, which cannot be referred to any obvi- 

 ous or certain cause, and coming suddenly is 

 ■,'e thein the appearance of being blight 



said to 



by Solomon Drown, M. 1). rccomnienuing 'the 

 ancient quincunxial mode of ))lanting,' and having 

 an orchard to plant the following spring, I conclu- 

 ded to dispose of the trees in that way. The 

 piece contains near four acres, has two ravines 

 meeting in it at an obtuse angle which renders it 

 of little value for conimon farming purposes. The 

 soil of middling quality and slaty, i commenced 

 at the side where the hill was the steepest, and 

 most extensive, and ran my rows of stakes so that 

 in ploughing that face of the ravine, the plough 

 would run in a horizontal direction, and continued 

 row after row until the whole was finished, 'vhen 

 on examining the faces of the other slopes I was 

 surprised to find that in every case the rows v.ere 

 so disposed as to admit of the plough running in 



ed or blasleil,' Some writers attribute the sudden '" '''"''^°"*^''' ''''"'^'^'^'"" between. Had this piece 

 decay of the pear tree, commonly call d bli>rht, to I '"^''" ''^''' ""^ '" squares, I do not see that it could 



ihe scorching rays of the .sun. Others imagine 

 that warm weather in winter, or early in spring, 

 sets the sap in motion, which subesquent cold' 

 weather arrests, and causes it to stagnate, and be- 

 come corrupt in the pores of the albnrnnm. Oth- 

 ers are of opinion that manuring too high, and 

 pruning too much causes the tree to die of "surfeit. 

 Then there is abundant proof that blight in pear 

 lices is often caused by scoh/tus pi/ri. a small in- 

 sect, first accurately described by the late Professor 

 Peck, and often taken notice of in our Journal. 

 In all cases of blight, the only cure or |)alliation 

 yet discovered is found in sawing off the aflected 

 branch or branches some inches below where the 

 blight, or marks of disease appear. 



PEACH TREES. 

 Mr Fessenden, — During the time I have paid 

 alteniion to the cultivation of Peach trees viz 

 since 1820, I have observed that young trees are 

 liable to be stung on the body and limbs by an 

 insect, often fatally. The appearance produced 

 by the sting is the oozing out of a darkish greasy 

 looking gum ; on exaniinalion the stings can be 

 traced quite into the alburnum, the inner bark 

 leing niiuli discolored. On older trees in the 



BLIGHT IN PEAR TREES. 



R Fessenden — Much has been written in 

 useful paiier on the subject of blight in pear 



am not fully satisfied tis to the causes of tl, 

 t — today I noticed that neatly one fourth of 

 ippcr extremity of one of my small pear trees 

 put out no leaves and was apparently dead, 

 lose examination at the foot of the dead limb 

 Jtuberaiue was discovered, nearly one inch 

 ogth, and so nearly of the color of the bark 

 le limb that it would not have been noticed 

 iy the enlargement of the limb. This protu- 



I 



pring and fore part of summer, tufts of dead 

 leaves and fruit are seen through the trees, the 

 twigs to which they are attached having been 

 stung. Also the fruit when half grown or more, 

 stung in many places, at first occasioning whitish' 

 spots, which if the fruit in a knotty state it does 

 not outgrow, results in rot,accomi)anied with a blu- 

 ish dusty mould, which on touching, occasions the 

 s|ieedy rotting of the adjoining fruit. Is all this 

 occasioned by the sting of the same or different 

 insects? I presume cultivators generally in the 



niiildle .states must have observed it. An answer 



iti the Farmer from Dr Harris, yourself, or any 

 other of your learned or practical correspondents 

 or readers wouhl be very acceptable, especially if 

 it contain directions for preventing said depreda- 

 tions, which to me often proves a serious loss. 

 Your friend, A Penn. Cultivator 



York County, (Pa.) May 2, 1831. | 



ave been ploughed at all ; as it is, under the most 

 favorable cireuiiistances, it has cost the life of a 

 valuable horse by a fall while ploughing one of its 

 steepest faces. However the piece, containing 

 104 apple and 310 peach trees (now in a flourish- 

 ing condition) has been ploughed and sown with 

 grass seed, and in future it is my intention to cul- 

 tivate the trees by digging around them, as I shall 

 never again attempt to plough it. 



This spring I have planted another piece of 

 uneven shape and surface in the same manner, 

 containing about 140 apple and three times as many 

 peach trees. I plant my apple trees at 40 feet 

 apart and between every two apple trees a peach, 

 and again between every two rows of app'ean en- 

 tile row of peach at 20 feet apart, which, upon the 

 peach trees failing and being cut away, wiU leave 

 the orchard of apple trees at 40 feet apart. 



I think this manner of planting is preferable t* 

 squares in every case, but more particularly where 

 there is an unevcnness of shape or surface in the 

 piece to be planted. The beauty of this manner 

 of planting consists, in part in each tree beino- 

 the centre of a circle,* whose circumference con- 

 tains six trees standing equi-distant therein and 

 each of course equidistant from the centre, thua 

 forming within the circle a hexagon, three 

 rhombs or diamonds, or six equilateral triangles,, 

 and thus throughout the orchard. By way of 

 illustration I send you the annexed diagram. 

 The figure as ezlended, exhibits a large circle- 

 inclosing a hexagon, the latter divided into threo 

 rhombs, viz, one composed of diamonds, one of tri- 

 angles and one of circles and parts of circles, a 

 square and larger rhomb is also shown, and the 

 places marked for trees after the quincunx order^ 

 extended to the whole and shewing how each 

 figure would be filled thereby. Bi t there exists a 

 diflerence of opinion respecting what constitutes the 

 quincunx; several of our encyclopedias and diction- 

 aries and one of your correspondents stating it to be 

 what appears to be nothing more than squares, 

 reversed, while in tlie place before referred to is 



* See Mr Drowu's conuiiunicatioa iu N. E. Firmer, 

 vol. vi. page 301. 



