vol.. XX. M>. 



AND H O R T I C U L T U R A L R E G I S T E R 



34 D 



miiciuls ino to rcJooin my mcsdow. Hull 

 e tlio I'vo first cropi hare tinply repaid oil 



peiiso for the whole Isbor. 



•' III (litcliing my meadow of lalo, I have left no 

 l>ank(i, bill have levelled it back, ao as In 

 !:i$» to tlio very cdpe of the bank, and to 



vent the banks from caving in." 



My i.cxl nccoiinl i» from Amos Bancroft, M. D , 

 Gri'tDn, wliofo method will bo found to bo in 

 ne respects diircrent from that pursued by others. 



appearnnco of his mowinfj fields and the 

 ounl of his potato crops, certainly speak well fur 



husbandry. 



Dr. BancroJVa StaiemtnL 

 ' I will irive you a concise account of my method 

 rcclnimin^ the peal meadows. I have tried 

 will!,', pnrinfr, and planting with potatoes. 1 

 nU plowing in the beginning does not answijr. 

 rst drsin the ground by ditching, if it requires 

 Then I bog and cut olf the hassocks, stack 

 m and burn them on the ground or remove them 

 he upland Part of our peat nicailow has no 

 socks or bogs. My practice has been to phut 

 "ore breaking the surface. 1 place a shovelful 

 manure and earth, or any good compost, in hills 

 the ground, about three feet apart for my pota- 

 a, and in dressing them with bog hoes, cover 

 m from the surface sods and make potato hills ; 



1 suitable size ; they require hut little more at- 

 tioii until they are dug. After this, if the sur- ! 

 e is sntBciently rotten or pulverized, I give it a 

 ssing and sow with timothy and rcdlop; if not, 

 low and plant another year. 'I'hc more gravel 

 loam I carry on, the better. The first crop of 

 laloea, I think, pays for the labor. After it is 



'n down, il will require to be plowed or dressed 

 ry three or four years. My meadow gives me 

 > tons of hay to the acre. Where the giound is 

 wet to be plowed, I cart on gravel and manure, 

 1 repeat every three or four years. Potatoes 

 1 hay are the only crops I have succeeded in 

 mging to profit. Oats will grow rank, but are 

 ale to be hlisted and fall down. Wheat and 

 S I think, will do no better; but I have experi- 

 nted on n very small scale on the two latter, 

 ne, plaster, and ashes I have never tried. The 

 son I plow my ground on the meadow, instead 

 letlnig it lie and dressing it every few years, is 

 ;au«c I raise my potatoes on it easier than on 

 ! upland. I think, likewise the process of plow- 

 ■J and harrowing improves the soil by pulverizing 

 1 warming the surface. The annual quantity of 

 atoes raised on the meadow is from three to 

 hundred bushels." 



Another farmer in Grnton, Rnfus Morrs, whoso 

 ming is excellent, has effected great iiiiprove- 

 mts in the reclamation of peat meadows. His 

 finises indicate indefatigable industry directed 

 great skill and judgment. 



Ho disapproves, he says, from long experience, 

 J application of gravel to these lands. He ' bogg' 

 5 meadow with a hoe, that is, turns over all the 

 ds ; carries on a compost of loam and manure 

 xed, plants potatoes, or lays it down with oats 

 be cut green, or sows it in the fall without any 

 ain. He has sometimes taken np a piece in the 

 tumn ; repeatedly harrowed it until it was re- 

 iccd to a fine state ; manured it ; then powed 

 ass seed at the rate of half a bushel of herds- 

 ass and a quantity of red-top, but no clover, and 

 e next season has taken a large burden of grass 

 3m this land. 



I have found nowhere on a small scale, more 1 planting his trees deep ; but cultivates thorn as 



nkillful improvements executed than on the larni of 

 Mark l-'ay, in .Marlboro'. Ilo mado various at- 

 tempts, of which ho gives the siibjoinod acrouiil. 

 Kiom l)?'iil until IH.Jti, ho states that ho tried vari- 

 ous ways, until he adopted llio plan of liirfing, and 

 burning the turf in heaps and spreading the ashes. 

 Me then in June scederl tlio ground wilh grass 

 seed, and at the sniiio time sowed oats, which he 

 cut in August for fodder, and as nearly as he could 

 judge, ho had about two Ions to the acre. The 

 next season he had a crop of herdsgrasa and clover. 

 He mowed the ground twice, and obtained by oHti- 

 iimliou, four tons to the arre. In September, 18;}7, 

 he turfed and burnt about one fourth of an acre, 

 and sowed winter rye. In June, the ensuing sea- 

 son, ho cut about two rods of the straw for braid- 

 ing straw, which proved very good. He reaped the 

 remainder, which yielded five bushels of good rye. 

 In .\ugu8t, 1S'}8, he turfed about (me acre, and let 

 the turf lay about a week turned bottom up and 

 then sol fire to it as it lay. It burnt very well. 

 He thinks this better than to burn it in heaps, as 

 il leaves the ground more even, and saves the la- 

 bor of collecting the turf The expense of turfing, 

 burning, and seeding this sere, was about 12 dol- 

 lars, whereas his first experiment cost him more 

 than .'>0 dollars per acre. In the second year, he 

 gives the ground a top-dressing witli compost 

 manure, and continues llus yearly. His first move- 

 ment is to ditch the ground thorougiily, and so to 

 drain that the water in the ditches certainly may 

 not stand within eighteen inches of the surface, 

 and he finds it necessary to cut a ditch near the 

 hard land, the margin of the meadow, so as to. in- 

 tercept the cold springs. He usually plaj»ts the 

 banks of the ditches two or three years wilt, pota- 

 toes; and after this part of the ground gels well 

 wanned and rotted, he spreads it on the grass for 

 a top-dressing. 



F^rom the same. 



ORCHARDS. 



There arc many orchards in Middlesex, of large 

 extent and in excellent condition. Two wore 

 some time since the subjects of premium from the 

 Massachusetts Agricultural Snciety. The one be- 

 longing to Nalium Hardy, of Waltham, who re- 

 claimed eight acres of land from a wild and rude 

 stale, and planted it with .500 apple trees, all en- 

 grafted fruit ; the other, of E. Phinney, of Lexing- 

 ton, who brought a rough piece of land into n 

 suitable condition and planted it wilh 400 trees. 

 Both these farmers ha\e extended their cultivation 

 since that lime, and the admirable condition of 

 their trees evinces the skill and care of their man- 

 agement. The product of the orchard of the latter, 

 makes a large item in the returns of his (arm. He 

 has more than a thousand trees in bearing. 



near the surface as ho can, and si ihu Hamo time 

 aulficiently to cover llifl roots. 



John Wellrs, whoso farm is in Natick, in this 

 county, and than whom few men among us have 

 given morn attenti(jn to the sulijeol of fruit and 

 forest tree", con-lders the ordinary lif"- of appio 

 trees about sixty years ; but it would he desirable 

 to replace llicin soon after their decline cnmmen- 

 coH. The situation most favorable to an orchard is 

 a sheltered situation with a moist soil. He suc- 

 ceeded in producing a valuable growth of trees on 

 a light and unfriendly soil, by making a hide for 

 planting four feet square; after removing about a 

 foot of llie top-soil, which was to be reliirneil round 

 the tree, taking out the hard pan at boltom to a 

 sufHcicnl depth to deposit it in a load of stones, 

 and then sprinkling some mould on the sloiies and 

 planliiig his tree. The stones served to preserve 

 moisture for the roots and gave likewise in their 

 interstices room for the roots to extend themselves. 

 No farmer need complain that his land is not suita- 

 ble for an orchard ; because he may make it suits, 

 ble, at an expense which the fruit of the tree after 

 it comes in bearing w-ill soon compensate. 



James Cutter, of Weston, has been remarkably 

 successful in transplanting trees of more than ordi- 

 nary size. He has removed pear trees of 8 and 10 

 inches in diameter. His practice is to clean the 

 dirt entirely from the roots of the tree ; to cut off 

 nil the roots, al a distance of fiiur or five feet from 

 the tree, and to put no manure in the hole. 



1. M. Gourgas, of Weston, a farmer of much ex- 

 perience and intelligence, disapproves of applying 

 while-wash or uuy caustic wash to the trees; but 

 he has found great advantage in the application of 

 ashes to llieiii at the roots. To my inquiries of 

 one of the best farmers in the county, whose trees 

 were in the most healthy and perfect c<mditi«n 

 possible, what wash he applied to the bark, he 

 answered the only wash he applied was to the 

 roots ; that is, he kept the trees themselves enrich- 

 ed and cultivated in as careful a manner as he 

 would if they had been the most delicate and val- 

 ued exotics. 



J^'uessily of Light to Vegdnlion. — .Mlhough 

 philosophers are not agreed as to the peculiar ac- 

 tion which light exerts upon vegetation, and there 

 is even some doubt respecting the decomposition 

 of air and water, during that process, one thing is 

 undeniable — the necessity of light to the growth 

 and health of plants ; for without it, they have 

 neither color, laate, or smell; and, accordingly 

 they arc for the most part so formed ns to receive 

 it at all times when it shines upon them ; their 

 cups and the little assemblages of their leaves be- 

 fore they sprout, are found to be more or less af- 

 fected by the light, so as to open and receive it. 

 Mr Phinney saved some of his trees a few years j j^ ^^^^^.^^ (.j^j^ „f pi^^ts this is more evident th.in 

 since by a process which is worth recording. They | j^ ^j^eis ; their flowers close ot night and open in 

 had been completely girdled near the ground in j ,||p j.,y gg^^g constantly turned round towards 

 the winter by the mice, who had eaten the bark L,,g jj^^j^ f^^,„o„i„„ f,,g g^^ ^g ^ were, while he 

 round to a width of two or three inches or more. , ,,,^,^ J ^^ 3^5,^3 jo make his revolution, so that 

 By cutting scions and inserting the ends of several 



of them in the spring round the tree, under the 

 bark, above and below the injury, so as to form a 

 communication for llie sap, the injured parts have 

 begun to grow together, the whole wound may ulti- 

 mately be covered, and the tree live and flourish. 

 To most persons after the injury, their situation 

 would have seemed desperate. Mr Phinney avoids 



they receive the greatest quantity possible of his 

 rays — thus, clover in a field follows ihc oppareiit 

 course of the sun. But all leaves of plants turn 

 towards the sun, place them how you will, light 

 being essential to their well-being. — nrouglmm. 



No man ever lost any thing by boiiig honest. 



