Z46 



NEW i: N G L A N D FARMER, 



FEB. 8, IS43- 



AND HORTICULTURAL RKGISTER. 



DosTON, VVevNESDAY, Fkbruarv 2, 1842. 



fOURTH AGRrCULTURAt MEETING AT THE 



STATE HOUSE 



Discussion on Fruit Trees. 



Mr Dodge, of Hainilion, in tde Chair. 



Mr liuckminHter, EJ. of Mass. Plowman, liiid p.nid 

 iDucli allentioii lo cullivniion of fiuillrnos; hut lie his 

 much yd lo K'nrn, and many fanners net d lo lerirn slill 

 more than lie docs. The idua is iTr<ineoiis that it is the 

 next generation alnne that can eat the fruit of t lie trees 

 that we plant. As f.iriners generiilly nianage, there is 

 need In ^cait long for fruil. Thiy stick out Iref s, and 

 suirur ihcm lo stand 3, 4 or 5 years without care. Often 

 they set thoin on land where corn was planted the pre- 

 vious year, and sow grain and -grass close to the trees &■* 

 well as on the remainder of the land. The grains and 

 grass rob the trees of nuurisliinent. Trees would fare 

 better if set in holes dug in sward land than tii<iy will 

 thus placed. Trees require hoettig as much as corn. 



A» treated, trees will lite — but this is not enon^h. 

 Trees should tie taken up for tninsplanling when the 

 ground is not very wel. Last of March and first of 

 April re gcneHlly a bad time for selling out. Let lliis 

 bo done when the ground is mellow. 



Trees are often set too deep. People set ihein deep 

 10 make them /i»c. Should never bo placed deeper than 

 they stood in tile nuisery. In summer, cover the roots 

 with liitcr. Take ihis away in auiumn, or the mice 

 will live in it. Tread the fust snow around the trees, 

 to keep away mice. Lime is good to keep them away. 

 Tlie ground around young trees should always be cuiti-, 

 valcd. ISy the road-side set winter fruit and trees that 

 make an njiright top. Trees often do better by the wall 

 than any whore eUe. 



He chooses to take up' his trees rather early in the 

 spring, put thejr.^n a oi)ld place, and not set out until 

 the ground has bi-conic mellow and warm. Thus ircat- 

 ed, they wi;l grow well the first season; this -is quite 

 important ; fr iflliey do nol ^row;, mo.'ii and lice usually 

 trouble iheiii. Trees from a rich nursery arc said not to 

 do wall in a poor toil — but they should never be put in 

 a poor soil. Mako the land rich by manure, if it be too 

 poor. He once set ten thrifty trees in good soil, and in 

 four years from thai time, each of nine of them bore a 

 peck of apples. These had no exira care afier the 6rst 

 summer. The same remarks apply to peaches, plums 

 and other fruit-.. 



Evergreens may be transplanted as easily as other 

 trees. If Inim a nuriiery, there is no diflicullv — but 

 when from a forc>t, many will die, unless you take up 

 much earth. Ho (ransplmted the wliito pine success- 

 fully the latter part of June. 



Mr Pulnain, (Editor,) would state a few facts in con- 

 firmotion of some of .Mr B.'s positions. Last spring, set 

 more than oVie hundred trees upon the surface of the 

 ground, just covering the roots with soil, anil every onu 

 lived. Evergreens if trannplantcd before the buds have 

 expanded, ar« apt lo die, because if done sooner, the re- 

 sinous matter on the bud dries, and the tree has not 

 power lo cause the bud to expand. 



Mr Dodge, ol Hamilton, found the trees on his place 

 were decayinir, and inquired how he best could replace. 

 Concluded lo BOW seed. He obtained pomace in the 

 spring, and planted; S'ton the trees wern up in abun- 

 dance The nn.it spring he transplanted, ('ul off part 

 of the tip root; put a litllo manure on the land. That 

 season he budded many — near !iOO. The next year, 



snine urihc liuils grew to he as high as his shoulders. 

 Then he budded the remainder — has 50 varieties. Pre- 

 fers budding to grilling. 



Sione fruit. Tie seed should not bo planted deep. 

 Nature is our best guide, anil she plants shallow. If you 

 do not plant the seed of stone fruit as soon as the fruit 

 ripens you must keep the stones moist by pulling them 

 in earth, barnyard manure is rather co.irse fur nursery. 

 .Mr Pond likes <alt ley— the spent ley of soapboilers 

 Mr Manning likes muscle-bod — or sea mail Mr Ives 

 finds clay good — (his soil is dry.) Trees from a rich 

 nursery do nut flourish in . I poor soil. He preftjis trans- 

 planliiig ill the spring. Knows of a (iual-er who will 

 not sell from his nursery in the aulumn. In pruning, it 

 is injurious to take off all the sido shoots. At least it is 

 while the trees are quite young. Apple trees do not 

 long flourish upon a sandy subsoil. The Roxbury Rus- 

 set especially fails in such situations. 



lias read from " A Tour in Flanders," that trees do 

 hist on a side hill, lecause thcij there put out their bran- 

 ches mnre horizontally than nn plains. Does not know 

 whether this is correct. He too would put winter ap- 

 ples by the side of the road, and sweet apples by the 

 wall separating the field from the pasture, because these 

 are better for the cattle, and they will eat what drop on 

 the pasture side. A small number of trees well taken 

 care of, are more profitalde than m.iny, if neglected. 



There are doubtless some good varieties of native 

 fruit in iilinost every town, that are unknown lo the 

 nurserymen, and is it not desirable that some efforts 

 should be made to make iliem knovfn ? 



Mr Merriam, Eii. of Hoston CuUivator, considers fruit 

 and hay the two best crops. Fruit will Bull everywhere. 

 He lliiiika ihal most farmers nnuld do belter to set apart 

 a pieca of land fur an orchard, than to plant out trees by 

 the walls around their fiells. The ground should he 

 kept under cullivulion. Where there are old and mid- 

 dle-aged trees upon the farm, that bear poor fruit, it is 

 easier by engrafting them to get good fruit soon, than to 

 begin with young trees. He prefers trimming oftncrrty 

 all ihe top of such trees when he grafts. Thinks that 

 thus lie gets a more vigorous growth tor the scions. [In 

 this he is probably correct; hut if his experience shall 

 be such as we have often witnessed, ho will find after 

 four or five years, that his trees will rapidly decoy. He 

 make.^ the disproportion between the roots and the 

 branches too great. The scions will do all they can lo 

 elaborate the sap sent up, but the leaves on them are too 

 few for this purpose, and al^er a few years' siruggle, ihe 

 tree will perish. We should leave many branches, 

 whose leaves would lo stomachs for digesting food for 

 the trunk; and should prune out from time to time as 

 the scions increased in size. — Ed] 



Mr Cole, Ed. Farmers' Journal. Thinks it possible 

 by care ond perseverance, lo cause like to produce like 

 in fruils. In other words, that we might have our best 

 fruits reproduced without grafting and budding. He 

 would separate seed fiom the i ce, which is easily 

 done by washing. The pomace is acid, and is unfavo- 

 ralile to the growth of tlin trees. 



The fall, first ol October, ho think.s the be-tt lime for 

 cutting scions. Put them in a box in the cellar, and to- 

 wards spring place over and around Iheni a wet mat. 

 He likes the latter part of October as well as any lime 

 for transplanting. 



Mr West, of Pittsficid, stated, that many years ago, 

 ho was familiar Willi a praclice like this : When your 

 trees had had their first summer's growth in the nursery, 

 take them all up, cut ofl° the lops and pack the roots in 

 clay or soil in the cellar. Thin in winter and spring, 

 as coiivcnienco might allow, bring the roots up from the 

 cellar, and graf\. Many of the routs may be cut into 



two, and some iii'.o three pieces, each of which may 

 have a scin put upon it. The root ond top togetli'S'' 

 need not be more than four or five inches long. A * 

 lliey are {.raftid, replace Ihem in the collar, and ia 

 spring set them out. This is a very comfortable wa^ 

 of grafting, and he had found it very successful. 



Subject for discussion at the next meeting — the Cul- 

 ture of Silk. 



COL. ADAMS' LARGE HOGS. 

 We went on Monday lo Mr .Monroe b provision stor» 

 in Ann sir. it, to see four hogs, raisrd by Col. Daniel 

 Adams, of West Newbury. These hogs, when slaugh- 

 tered, were 31 months and 24 days old ; a cross of the 

 Byfield and Mackay. The weight of theVour was 2120 

 pounds, or .'j27 1-2 lbs, each. We have never seen hand- 

 somer pork than ihis. One of the hogs only was cut: 

 thai, thick on both belly and back. Col. A. was among 

 the first to announce distinctly lo the public, tliat ihe 

 Beikshires are not the best breed of hogs — that they do 

 not cut up ;<s well us some others, and that the meat is 

 not to good. We believe his icorlis verify his assertions - 

 Mr Monroe, Ihe purchaser, says that lie has never seen 

 bolter pork than this from Col. Adams. On the back, 

 the hog that had been cut up gave about 7 inches of fat 

 above the shoulders, and held the thickness well through 

 all his length. 



FRIF.ND JENKINS' HOGS. 



At Mr S. S. Learned's stall, 50 Market House, w« 

 saw samples of 70 hogs, bnuglit ol Friend VVm Jenkins, 

 ol Providence, R. I. The 70 averaged 433 lbs. ■ Tho 

 lorgest weiglicil G44. These had in them a cross ol the 

 Berkshire. They were a heauti.'iil lot of hogs, and di> 

 great credit to Friend J. as a pork grower. 



THE WEATHER. 



The litst month has been remarkable for its mildnesa- 

 and its freedom from storms. There have been not 

 more than threu or four cold days in tho month, and not 

 a single storm. We do not remember another January 

 so uniformly pleasant. 



If tho farmers have not been clearing the swamps of 

 bushes, and getting manure on to low lands where the 

 team cannot go in the spring, or doing something lo fa- 

 cilitate the spring work, then wo cannot very lii^'hlj 

 eoinplimenl their skill and forethought. 



Thanks — We are much obliged lo Mr Abel Conner^ 



of Hi nnikcr, N. IL, li:>r sending us scions of the Orange 

 Apple — a voriely very much to our taste, and which we 

 never met with until friend Conner gave us one, a few 

 weeks since. 



Extracting Grease Spots — One of the best nK^jcB of 

 doing this (says the Albany Cultivrlor,) wh ^^^ t'.rop* 

 have lalloii on dresics, hooks, &c., is lo place innenesia- 



on the spot, rub it in, rover it with cleu> 



p.>per. 



and 



I 



plaoe over this a warm iron. The grea ^ yjiU coinbin* 

 wilh the magnesia, and be thus reniovi . I'lnelv pow- 

 dered chalk will do, but it is not equr j ^ „ncBia. R*" 

 peutod operaiions, or applications gf ^^^^^ °^,„^ n,ay b» 

 necessary where considerable gre ^,^ ,,^ f^^^ ^J 



Look out for your fire wooj j,,, „,^ ^^^ j„g year.- 



Nothing can justify icoldin'^ j,, ^ „om«n, bu l a amo* 



ing house and green wood (^^ ,^^f jj ^_^^ ^ (^yo 



words and sweet sfnile-,, moke sure of dry wood an* 



bright lire. So saitli -.l.e Albany Culiivalor—. nd he W^ 



dues not what it leconiniends, has no right lo expecl" 

 groot amount of '■ fireside pleasures." 



