132 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Peat in compost is good for light land, but not for 

 ■wet meadows. He would spread green manure 

 broadcast, and plough in eight inches deep on grav- 

 elly land, and then spread compost manure and 

 work it in with a cultivator. 



Mr. Brooks in answer to an inquiry as to the 

 quantity of manure he applied to the acre, said that 

 before he had a barn cellar he used 24 loads of 30 

 bushels each; but now 16 loads were of equal value. 

 He spread and harrowed in well decomposed ma- 

 nure from his barn cellar, and when his crops came 

 up he applied a little compost to them. Compost 

 must be made of materials to adapt it to the soil. 



Rev. Mr. Sanger, of Dover, remarked that the 

 gentleman had been led astray by books, and some 

 complained that they had been lead into an error 

 by remarks in this hall. There must be judgment 

 in the application of knowledge. 



Mr. Flagg said that he had thought of applying 

 clay to his soil. Manure should be adopted to the 

 soil. It is important to know the deficiencies of a 



soil. ^yll\ 



Mr. William Tid'^ker, of Sudbury, said that he 

 was a great friend to peat. He decomposed peat 

 in a short time by turning on it hot lye, used in 

 bleaching in a paper mill. He had 600 gallons 

 per week, and he had no doubt that the waste of this 

 material in this State was equal to $30,000 annual- 

 ly- 



We closed our report at a late hour, while some 



gentleman was speaking. 



Subject for the next meeting. Fruits and Fruit 

 Trees. It is expected that the Hon. Isaac Davis 

 will preside and open the discussion. 



For the New England Farmer. 



ON THE CULTIVATION OF NATIVE 

 TREES AND SHRUBS. 



Continued from Page 116. 



The White or Single Spruce is an inhabitant of 

 the northern regions, and is capable of resisting the 

 severest colds. It probably attains its greatest 

 beauty and height in the forty-sixth parallel of lat- 

 itude. As we approach farther north toward the 

 Pole, it begins to be dwarfish in its habits. 



Sir John Franklin, in his second expedition to 

 the Polar Sea, says the spruces abound in the vi- 

 cinity of the Great Bear Lake, where the clay, 

 which lies under the soil, is firmly frozen dur- 

 ing the greatest part of the year, and adds, al- 

 though we remained there two seasons, the thaw 

 never penetrated more than twenty inches from the 

 surface. This tree is remarkable for being found 

 farther north than any other tree in America. 



The White Spruce sometimes attains to a very 

 large size, if we may credit the account given of a 

 large one, seen by Johnson, and described in his 

 Voyages to New England, published in 1G75. 

 He says, at Pascalaway, there is now a Spruce 

 tree, brought down to the water side by our mast 

 men, of an incredible bigness, and so long that no 

 skipper durst ever yet adventure to ship it, but 

 there it lies and rots. 



The Single Spruce is not so ornamental a tree 



as the Double or Black Spruce. The leaves are 

 of a light bluish green tint, and thinly arranged on 

 its branches. We occasionally see some handsome 

 white spruces, but they usually, as they advance 

 in size, present a ragged appearance, by their 

 branches being deprived of their leaves. 



The Black or Double Spruce is distinguished 

 from the White or Single variety, by its leaves be- 

 ing of a darker green, more thickly set on its 

 branches, less slender, and tapering, and of a more 

 robust habit of growth. Its branches are disposed 

 in whorls, forming a conical head, of great regular- 

 ity and beauty. In a moist, rich soil, it is of a 

 rapid growth. One we planted when quite small, 

 has attained a height of thirty-five feet, with a di- 

 ameter of one foot, in twenty-five years. It was 

 taken from the forests of Maine, in the month of 

 August, with many others, with a sod of earth 

 around its roots. It commenced its growth, by 

 sending out a whorl of branches near the ground, 

 and it has continued to do so every year since. 



The Norway Spruce is a very fine tree, a native 

 of the north of Europe, and perfectly hardy in Mas- 

 sachusetts. It is of the most rapid growth, and 

 will grow in almost any soil or situation. It rises 

 to the height of from eighty to one hundred and 

 fifty feet, and when advanced in age, its branches 

 are said to have a weeping habit, which gives it a 

 very elegant appearance. It is every way a very 

 desirable tree, and is becoming a great favorite. 



The next tree of which we shall speak is the 

 Hemlock Spruce, or as it is usually called by most 

 persons, the Hemlock. It is a beautiful tree, and 

 deserves something more than a passing notice, not 

 only in consequence of its great beauty, but also of 

 the useful properties it possesses. But these were 

 not discovered or admitted by our ancestors. The 

 early writers of New England, when speaking of 

 the hemlock, express their regret that so useless a 

 tree was found so abundantly in the country. — 

 Capt. Jonathan Carver, who travelled throughout 

 the interior parts of North America in 1766, and 

 described some of its vegetable productions, when 

 speaking of the hemlock, says this tree grows in 

 every part of America, in a greater or less degree; 

 it is however quite useless, and is only an incum- 

 brance to the ground, the wood being of a very 

 coarse grain, and full of wind-shakes or cracks. — 

 The valuable property called the tannic acid, which 

 is so abundantly found to exist in the bark of the 

 hemlock, was wholly unknown to the early set- 

 tlers of New England, and when they first cau- 

 tiously used it, they mixed it with the bark of the 

 oak. The present importance of the hemlock to 

 the manufacturers of leather can hardly be estimat- 

 ed. I should suppose that all the trees in our for- 

 est could not furnish a supply of bark for many 

 years, without the aid of the hemlock. All the 

 species of oaks, together with tlie chestnut and 

 birches combined, although all of these trees pos- 

 sess the tanning principle in a greater or less degree, 

 and are used in the north of Europe and England 

 to tan leather, could, but for a comparatively short 

 period, furnish us with bark for tanning. But the 

 hemlock, fortunately for us tanners, is one of the 

 most widely dilfused tree in all North America. — 

 And what is very remarkable, and can hardly be 

 said of any other tree, it is found in every variety 

 of soil and situation. It is a tree also that does 

 not suddenly disappear, as it approaches the north, 

 as many trees do, but as it proceeds and encounters 



