NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



133 



greater degrees of cold, it becomes dwarfish in its 

 habits, until it reaches the sixty-fifth parallel of lat- 

 itude, \vhen it no longer is seen The hemlock is 

 found growing in dense masses in swamps, and on 

 rocky hill-sides, scarcely covered with earth. It 

 also is ibund growing alone in extensive tracts of 

 forests, crowding out all other trees, or mingling 

 singly with other evergreens in low moist woods, 

 or leaving the low lands, it mixes with the birch- 

 es, beeches, and maples. Micheaux says, it begins 

 to appear about Hudson's Bay, near Lake St. John, 

 and in the neighborhood of Quebec it fills the for- 

 est, and in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, the 

 State of Maine, Vermont, and a considerable part 

 of New Hampshire, it constitutes three-fourths of 

 the evergreen woods. Since Micheaux'stime, the 

 hemlock is found to abound in New York, Ore- 

 gon, and the new territories of Minnesota and Mis- 

 souri. It is likewise found frequently in abund- 

 ance in all that large tract of country, comprising 

 what is called British America. 



The hemlock is likewise distinguished for the 

 close order in which they sometimes stand. — 

 There is hardly a tree in our forests that will 

 grow and flourish in so crowded a manner as this 

 tree. And in consequence of this close habit of 

 growth, it has received its name of hemlock, from 

 their branches hemming, and interlocking each 

 other. If such is the abundance of the hemlock, 

 surely our tanners need not apprehend a failure of 

 bark for many years to come. Several years 

 since, we spent a day in the forests of Maine, in 

 company with several bark peelers, and here in 

 these dark and silent forests, with nothing to break 

 their stillness except the heavy blows of the wood- 

 man's axe, the tap of the woodpeckers, or the plain- 

 tive note of the wood-thrush, we saw the hemlock 

 in all the decrepitude of old age. It is only when 

 found fjrowinof without interference from other 

 trees, or standing singly on the lawn, that we see 

 this tree in all its beauty, and it is then we are led 

 to adopt the language of Gilpin in his remarks on 

 Forest Scenery, when he says, "It is no exagger- 

 ated praise to call a tree the grandest and most 

 beautiful of all the productions of the earth." — 

 The value of the hemlock as a timber tree is be- 

 coming- every day more valuable, as the pine be- 

 comes more scarce. This tree requires the same 

 mode of culture and manner of transplanting as the 

 pine, and is most successfully grown in groups. 

 It has been used for hedges, and is said to bear clip- 

 ping well. 



The Arbor Vitae is not common in Massachu- 

 setts. It is a handsome tree, and of easy cultiva- 

 tion. When raised from seed, care should be taken 

 the first and second year of its growth to protect 

 the plants from the frosts of winter, by covering 

 them over with straw, or something of the kind, or 

 by laying them down, and covering them with 

 earth. The young plants are frequently taken 

 from the forests of Maine, and oflfered for sale in 

 the spring, and when care is used in keeping the 

 roots moist, they readily grow and thrive, when 

 transplanted. The Arbor Vitae makes amost beau- 

 tiful garden hedge, and bears clipping well. The 

 Oriental or Chinese Arbor Vitae is found in China 

 and Siberia, in rocky situations, and has been cul- 

 tivated in Massachusetts, but is found to be rather 

 tender when young. 



There is another tree belonging to the cypress 

 tribe, not an evergreen, and found in the swamps 



of the Southern States, and is called in the Caro- 

 linas and Georgia the Bald Cypress. It is said to 

 grow well in Massachusetts, having been introduced 

 into the Botanic Garden in Cambridge. A friend of 

 ours, a few years since, transplanted seveial cypress 

 trees taken from New Jersey, which is supposed to 

 be its northern limit, but they have been all de- 

 stroyed by our severe winters. The American Hol- 

 ly, is a fine evergreen tree and in Micheaux's time, 

 was thought not to be seen north of Connecticut. 

 It is however to be found in Massachusetts, where 

 it attains to the height of ten or twelve feet, but 

 more frequently but six or eight, so that it can 

 therefore be only ranked with us as a shrub. We 

 have never seen it in the eastern part of Massachu- 

 setts, and it is not probably to be found on the 

 north side of Massachusetts Bay. It is said it can 

 be propagated by seeds, or plants taken from the 

 woods. We should be pleased to know in what 

 manner we can cause the seed of the holly to ger- 

 minate; all attempts hitherto made by us, at pro- 

 ducing plants from seeds, have failed, although we 

 have endeavored to follow the mode laid down by 

 Loudon and others. S. P. Fowler. 



Danvers, March 28, 185L 



[to be continued.] 



PROFITS OF FARMING. 



Within a few years a great deal has been said 

 on this subject, and some great stories have been 

 told, some of which are true. A single instance 

 of great crops does not show the profits of farming 

 generally, nor does a failure of crops show that the 

 business is poor. The farmer's business is not all 

 sunshine, nor is it all shade, as some have intimated. 

 He is always blessed with seed time and harvest, 

 and generally with fruitful fields; yet occasionally 

 he has reverses. 



To ascertain the profits of farming, we must take 

 the history of a farmer during his career on the 

 stage of action, and we now propose to give an ex- 

 ample. Mr. Nathaniel P. Morrison, of Somer- 

 ville, was married at the age of twenty-two years, 

 and the following was the property which he and 

 his wife possessed when they became one: Two 

 cows, four sheep, one year old colt. In 1812, when 

 he bought his farm in Somerville, he had accumu- 

 lated $5000 in cash, and he owned a farm in the 

 country. His statement below shows how he has 

 succeeded in farming in Somerville. Besides his 

 permanent improvements in buildings and other 

 property gained from the sales of produce, amount- 

 ing to $5,153, he has made great improvements on 

 his land, and since his statement he has expended 

 $200 or $300 for a front fence, $100 for a shed, 

 $75 for a hen house, and he has money at interest. 

 Another great profit, much larger than usually falls 

 10 the lot of farmers, is the rise of his real estate. 

 We will not name the amount of this, lest it affect 

 his valuation for taxes: and besides his property in 

 Somerville, he sold a farm in the country for 

 $1,800. 



We have occasionally visited Mr. Morrison's 

 place, and we must say he is among the most skil- 



