No. 6. 



TJie Peach Worm. — Cranberries. 



181 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 The Peacli Worm. 



It is quite clear to me, that the death of 

 the Peach Tree is not attributable to the ra- 

 vages of the worm. A very intelligent, care- 

 ful, and observant Jersey-man, long engaged 

 in the cultivation of the peach tree, informs 

 me, that although he has taken all the care 

 and pains imaginable to protect his trees 

 from the worms, and has been quite convinced 

 that no worms had ever made an attack upon 

 them, yet he has found his trees to decay and 

 die, just at the same age as those of his neigh- 

 bour, who had never hunted a worm in his life. 

 His trees, therefore, were as effectually de- 

 stroyed by the disease called the yellows, as 

 his neighbour's were by the worms — another 

 proof, if that be wanting, that the worms are 

 the effect of disease and not the cause ; a new 

 doctrine, but true. 



Then comes the inquiry, how can the evil 

 be prevented? Some one has proposed to 

 raise stocks of the common wild plum, by 

 sowing the seed, and budding them in the 

 rows, about two feet from the ground, calcu- 

 lating that trees thus raised would produce 

 fruit the third year from the seed; and giving 

 it as his opinion, that the stock would keep 

 pace in growth with the budded tree, so that 

 there would be no enlargement or contrac- 

 tion above or below the place of budding. Is 

 there novelty in the suggestion, or have any 

 of your readers experience of the result? 



I have perfect faith in the beneficial use of 

 calcareous substances applied to the roots of 

 trees, sensible, as one of your correspondents 

 has observed, that " oxygen is the basis of 

 acidity," with which all putrid substances are 

 charged: and it is with this view that Major 

 Reybold of Delaware — that first of cultiva- 

 tors of the peach, for he and his sons and 

 sons-in-law now number 78,000 peach trees 

 planted in orchards — is at this time actively 

 engaged in dressing his trees with shell- 

 marl, by depositing a quantity at the root of 

 every tree, to be pulverized by the frosts the 

 ensuing winter. He also cultivates his or- 

 chards with the plough ; turning a shallow 

 furrow over the whole surface of the land, 

 three times during the summer — a weighty 

 affair, seeing that one of these orchards con- 

 tains more than 100 acres — by these means 

 he conceives that he renovates the land and 

 benefits the health of the trees, which are 

 indeed in full vigour, although many of them 

 are very old, and the size of some apple trees 

 of mature growth. I remember also, that 

 Mr. Dager, one of the proprietors of the 

 lime-quarry, mentioned at p. 309 of the 4th 

 vol. of the Cabinet, the lime from which was 

 proved by analysis to yield 96. 6 per cent, of 



carbonate and not a trace of magnesia, in- 

 creased the size of the fruit of an apricot tree 

 three-fold, by digging in around its roots a 

 quantity of lime; adding also to its flavor in 

 an equal degree. I conceive that the read- 

 ers of the Cabinet would feel under obliga- 

 tions to that gentleman, if he would inform 

 them, through its pages, of the quantity of 

 lime applied; as also at what season of the 

 year the experiment was made; stating the 

 effect on the growth of the tree and its last- 

 ing energies; whether the lime was hot or 

 slacked ; and any other particulars relating 

 to the interesting subject. A. T. B. 



November 22, 1842. 



Cranberries. 



" The cultivation of the cranberry (oxy- 

 coccus macrocarpus) has not, we believe, re- 

 ceived much attention. Most of those usual- 

 ly exhibited in our markets, are gathered by 

 the country people from the bogs and swamps 

 where they grow wild, without any assist- 

 ance whatever from the hand of man. Like 

 all our native fruits, however, the cranberry 

 is susceptible of being improved by cultiva- 

 tion. In Massachusetts many farmers culti- 

 vate from one to a dozen acres, and as the 

 fruit brings readily a dollar per bushel in the 

 Boston market, they find them the most lu- 

 crative crop they can raise. It is stated in 

 the New England Farmer, Vol. ix. No. 18, 

 that Mr. F. A. Hayden, of Lincoln, in that 

 State, raised, in 1830, four hundred bushels, 

 for which he received four hundred dollars 

 in cash. This is profitable farming. 



"Kenrick, asserts Sir Joseph Banks, who 

 had taken pains to obtain the oxycoccus ma- 

 crocarpus from America, harvested in 1831, 

 from a square of eighteen feet each way, 

 three and a half Winchester bushels, being 

 at the rate of 460 bushels to the acre. The 

 soil most suitable to the culture of this 

 plant, is a low, moist and swampy muck, but 

 large crops have been taken from lands in 

 every respect precisely the reverse of that 

 in which they flourish in their natural state. 

 Even light sandy loam, and in which there is 

 a predominance of vitreous or silicious mat- 

 ter, if manured with compost of clay, muck, 

 and swamp mud, and kept uniformly and 

 moderately humid, will produce excellent 

 cranberries. It is even asserted by those 

 who have had ample experience in the busi- 

 ness of cranberry culture, that the vines, 

 under this treatment, will not only be much 

 more thrifty and prolific, but that the fruit 

 will also be much larger, fairer, and of better 

 flavor than that gathered from vines in their 

 natural state. On most farms, however, 

 there are numerous low places which might 



