396 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



Ejttacls from 'Our 

 bv MrsGKiFriTH, 

 and Economical h 

 inunity. 



ir,D,' a work l:il(:ly pulilislicd 

 w Jersey, whose ARricullutal 

 ocirerreU "re.it benefils on com- 



ain coiiviiicei 

 y, wliil 



CHARRING POSTS. 



'The in-o|iei- time fur felling trees for posts or 

 timber, is in August. WluUevcr is tliiis cut 

 should bt: left to season for a year and tlicii taken 

 to the sawmill. When sawed in snitable pieces, 

 each piece should be charred at the bottom just so 

 far as it is to be smik in the ground. Posts, cut 

 and charred in this way, will last for twenty years ; 

 but unless the wood is cut iu August, and season- 

 ed for a year iu some dry phice, it is worse than 

 useless to char them. It has been ascertained 

 lliat when miseasoned timber is charred, the rot 

 takes place muc!i sooner than if left without char- 

 riii". The limber from full grown trees lasts lon- 

 ger than that from young saplings; even the 

 limb of an old white oak will be of longer dura- 

 tion as a post, than one of the same .size ot a 

 young one.' 



Tlie construction of the barn on the writer's 

 farm cannot fail of being read with interest by 

 farmers. 



' Luckily for you, I have an immense barn made 

 entirely of stone, with a slate roof. It is certain- 

 ly one of the most complete things I over saw. 

 It stands on the brow of a knoll, or rather of a 

 sloi)e. The cellar of the stable part of the barn 

 is forty feet by thirty, and about eight feet in 

 height, over this cellar are the horses and cows, 

 stalls, which are arranged on each side of the 

 stable. There is room for eight horses and ten 

 cows at present, but by a little ingenuity, and Mr 

 Grant has already suggested the plan, there can be 

 room made for four horses and four cows more, as 

 the space in the centre is a mere waste. Each 

 stall has one moveable plank at the lower end, 

 which when raised, allows all the litter of the 

 stable to be shovelled down to the cellar. You 

 can easily Imagine how clean and v.bolesome a 

 stall can be kept in this way, and how much more 

 manure is gathered by this saving process. Both 

 horse ami cow staliles should be built over a cel- 

 lar of this kind, that the animals may be kept 

 from breathing the foul air. Many of the diseases 

 of cattle proceed from the impure atmosphere of 

 stables. 



' I took out of the cellai', soon after I bought 

 the farm, at least one hundred wagon loads of ror 

 ted manure. It had lain there a long time, the 

 owner not caring to disturb it. I shall in luture 

 take out the manure every spring and fall. The 

 barn, or rather that part of the barn which is 

 ajjpropriated to hay and grain, is of the same 

 dimensions, with a cellar also, under the whole, 

 divided from the other by a strong stone partition. 

 This cellar is for calves, and wagons, and wood- 

 sleds, &c. A wide bridge, or causeway, from (he 

 ham door to the level below, makes an easy road 

 for ascending and descending wagons. Nothing 

 can be easier than to get at the manure below, for 

 the floor, which is of stone, is on a line or level 

 with the ground, niid by backing in the wagons 

 they can be easily filled. Witli the projjosed al- 

 terations there will be room enough for all the cat- 

 tle that wc shall both want ; and as the barn stands 



tli.at the roots of a tree can he 

 the branches are unsound ; but I 

 never saw the the body of a peach tree look 

 healthy, and have unsound roots. The peach tree 

 very soon .exhausts the soil, for it abstracts nourish- 

 ment from it with greater rapidity than almost 

 any other tree ; it would be an easy matter, there- 

 lore, to prolong its life, and insure its health by 

 furnishing it with a sufficiency of food, were not 

 the fact known to us that too much mamu-e is in- 

 jm-ious, unless we can sujiply it abundantly with 

 water. During what is called a wet season here, 

 the peach trees revive from a very languid state ; 

 and were the moist summers to continue, this 

 fruit tree wouhl live to a good age. You have 

 no idea of tlie rapid growth of a peach tree, and 

 bow soon, when the trees are fifteen feet apart the 

 roots meet one another. Mr Thorn bared the 

 roots of two trees for my inspection, which were 

 fifteen feet asunder, and I saw they bad actually 

 met. Now this fact proves that we do very wrong 

 in ploughing deep among peach trees, for the 

 roots are seriously injured by it. A bruised root 

 aiTects the health of a tree ; but if we cut the 

 root with a knife, no harm ensues, unless we cut 

 off too nuich, or too many roots. It is just like 

 the tendon of an animal ; if we wound it, we 

 often <lestroy life ; but if we separate it entirely, 

 the injury we do is only local.' 



June 29, 1831. 



of one of bis nearest neiglibor.s, attended by the 

 most entire success. 



In making this communication, the interestof 

 wheat-growers is my sole object, and if, by it. their 

 crops sliould be increased, it will contribute to the 

 hai)piness of your obedient servant. 



JOHN TAYL0I4. 



Liberty Hill, Carolina. 



ON REAPING WHEAT. 



ro tl]e Editor of the Virginia Herald : 



Sir — As tlie time of harvest is approaching, 

 I address, through your paper, my brother far- 

 mers, on the importance of allowing wheat in- 

 tended for sowing, to be entirely ripe before reap- 

 ing. Accident last year, and eye-sight this 

 year, have convinced me of the propriety of this 

 course. 



In the year 1S29, having selected by hand some 

 ears of Mexican wheat, and sowed it in the fall of 

 the same year, it was forgotten last year, untd my 

 little son reminded me that it ought to be gather- 

 ed. It was then from seven to ten days after my 

 other wheat of the same kind had been cut. — 

 This wheat was then gathered and deposited in a 

 bag. Last October, this wheat was seeded on the 

 same day, in the same manner, and adjoining to 

 other Mexican wheat. No selection of land was 

 made fur it, as no experiment was intended. It 

 has survived the fly, and the last severe winter, 

 wilh little injm-y, hut not more than one third of 

 the adjoining wheat has been left alive. From its 

 present appearance, it will produce, I believe, two 

 thirds more than its adjacent neighbor. 



Can the keeping in the bag be the cause of this 

 superiority ? I believe not, because in several 

 previous years, seed wheat has been kept by nie 

 in bags, and no similar result has taken plac 



ON THE MANAGEMENT OF BEEa 

 Most people are fond of honey, and many are 

 also fond of bestowing upon Bees those cares 

 which seem neccessaiy to render them the most 

 profitable. One of the most troublesome parts of 

 the management of these republicans, is the time 

 when, froiTi an over populftion, like llie New Eng- 

 land States, they see fit to emigrate or swarm, as 

 the time wliich they select for this, is not al- 

 ways the most convenient for the farmer to attend 

 to them. Now it is with this, as wilh other busi- 

 ness of agricultiu'e ; it should be done in proper 

 season, and when it will best suit the convenience 

 of the superintendent. As to the prosperity of the 

 bees it is altogether indifferent whether they fix 

 upon the time of emigration or whether the hus- 

 bandman does, so that he uses judgment in the mat- 

 ter. If he finds in the month of IMay or Juno that 

 any of his hives are over-stocked with bees, 

 he should remove them into another, which, if re- 

 peateil as often as the old hive becomes over-stock- 

 ed will prevent their swarming at all. Swarms sep- 

 arated from the parent hive in this way, do equally 

 as well as when left to fly out and separate them- 

 selves, beside much time and loss of honey is sav- 

 ed ; for when a hive becomes over-stocked, the 

 major part of the bees which constitute afterwards 

 the new swarm, do not work at all, but live upon 

 the honey produced by the old and more indus- 

 trious part of community, and the quicker they are 

 taken off after their nmnber is suflicient to form a 

 AVell regulated republic, the better. 



For doing this let the old hive be turned bottom 

 upwards, and the new hive set upon it ; strike 

 lightly upon the lower hive, and many of the bees 

 will ascend into the upper hive ; when a suflicient 

 number has collected in the new hive for a swarm, 

 take it off and set it upon the bench, and return the 

 old one to its former position. In doing this to 

 insure success, it is necessary that one of the 

 queens should accompany the new swarm, which 

 may be known in the course of a day or two ; for 

 if they have no queen, they will not stay in the 

 new hive, but will return to the old one; but if 

 they have a queen, some of the bees may bo seen 

 in the course of twentyfour hours, standing near 

 the entrance into the hive, amusing themselves by 

 raising their bodies to ihe fidl length of their legs, 

 and giving their wiugs a rapid motion, making a 

 steady buzzing noise. This may be considered as 

 an indication of their satisfaction and the success 

 of the operation. Some consider mid-day, the 



my 

 .nfereiice thence, is, that this difference must be 



owiiin- to the entire ripeness of the seed. Should | most fivorable time for doing this ; others again, 

 anv i-eader of this communication, have doubts on i prefer the evening — but either will answer, and ilia 

 this subject, it would give me great pleasure to ! trouble attending is not greater than that of hiving 

 show them the growing wheat, which will con- ■ them when the swarms are allowed to come out in 

 vince, I should think, the most sceptical. [the commim manner, and the danger of having 



..V, „ ..„ , - -, From mv twentyfour years experience as a far- ! them go ofl', is avoided. Another very groat ad- 



dVt'h'e (iivJsionlir^eVit wiu'be cquallv convenient.'! mcr, I am"also satisfied^! that the smut is mainly | vantage of this method is, the young swarms com- 

 ll'ir remarks on the peach show tiio frequency attributable to imripe seed wheat. My seed wheat : inence working early, by which they arc more 

 and extent of her observations. I has been always riper than that of my neighbors, certain of laying up sufficient food for wmteK 



' In the disease called the yellows, the roots of' and during that period, I bave never seen but six | Where the common shaped hives are to be contm- 

 the peach tree remained perfectly bealthy ; and in , smutted heads in my own crops. In a conversa- ued we would recommend to those who are keq>. 

 seven cases out of ten. when a diseased tree was \ tion whh the late Mr Isaac Williams, lie confirm- ^ ing bees, to try one or two swarms as above, which 

 removed to a moist soil, the trees recovered. l' d my opinion, by stating to me the same practice will give them more satisfactory evidence, cither 



