190 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 PEACH TREES. 



Mr. Editor: — The statements in the last No. of 

 the Farmer, of your correspondent of Middletown, 

 Ct., in reference to his management of peach trees, 

 has induced me to give you my experience, which in 

 some respects I prefer to his. I have heard the 

 idea repeatedly expressed that we can make no 

 dependence on peach trees on account of the de- 

 structive ravages of the borer. So far as I have 

 learned the habits of this insect, the borer leaves 

 the tree in the fore part of June. It is then trans- 

 formed into a miller, lays several hundred eggs, 

 usually on the tree it has just left, which hatch the 

 latter part of the season, and feed on the bark of 

 the tree until one year from the next June, when 

 they come forth to follow the example of their pre- 

 decessors. 



The last of May, I place three or four quarts of 

 wood ashes, if the tree be large, and one or two 

 if it be small, directly around the trunk of the tree, 

 so that the ashes shall touch the tree on all sides, 

 and are careful not to disturb them until the next 

 Oct., when I hoe them from the tree both to enrich 

 the soil and prevent their injuring the trunk of the 

 tree. 



I have about .500 peach trees from two to six 

 years old, and I do not think I have ever found one 

 dozen borers on them, although I have often looked 

 for them with care. 



When I have found them, it is a foot or more 

 above the ground, and I think it more probable 

 than not the eggs in such cases are transferred 

 there by some insect or other means than the mil- 

 ler, as they are almost always found at the root of 

 the tree at or a little below tlie surface of the 

 ground. If the borers are once in the tree, the 

 ashes will not destroy them, in which case he must 

 dig them out with a wire or knife. But I am con- 

 fident if ashes are applied as above they are an en- 

 tire protection against the peach borer, so great is 

 its aversion to them. 



I either cultivate or thoroughly mulch my peach 

 trees, and head them in early in spring, which I 

 think pays the labor well. 



Very respectfully yours, D. Aldex. 



Southboro\ May 13, 1851. 



Remarks. — Two great evils attend the cultiva 

 lion of the peach; the Yellows and the Borer. So 

 great are these evils that the cultivation of this 

 most delicious fruit has been abandoned in some 

 places. But this course in our opinion, shows a 

 want of intelligence on the subject, for we think 

 that these evils, formidable as they are, may be 

 subjected to the complete control of the cultivator, 

 and without much expense or inconvenience. 



We have frequently published articles on the 

 peach tree borer, and the one here presented shows 

 good success; and if these remedies are not com- 

 plete, they will generally succeed, and a little trou- 

 ble in the use of the knife will give a finish to this 

 pest. We intend to offer some remarks soon on 

 the nature of the yellows, and a remedy. 



action was brought by a hackman to recover dama- 

 ges from a police officer for assault and battery. 

 The circumstances of the case were — Kee, the hack- 

 man, was standing in front of the United States 

 Hotel, and was ordered to leave by the proprietor, 

 On his refusal an officer was called and Kee was 

 arrested. This constituted the assault. Judge 

 Parson said in his decision, that every man owns 

 the ground in front of his house. He has given to 

 the public a right to pass and repass over it, but in 

 all other respects it is as much his property as any 

 other part of the premises. No one has a right to 

 stand or carry on any business in front of any man's 

 house, and if he is thus annoyed and notifies the 

 party to leave, on a refusal, sufficient force may be 

 used to compel the offender to go. The case was 

 dismissed. — N. Y. Com. Adv. 



Right of Occupants to Ground in front of 

 THEIR Houses. — At Philadelphia, on Saturday, 



THUNDER AND LIGHTNING. 



The ancients had two opinions respecting the 

 cause of thunder; some of them assigned it to in- 

 flamed exhalations rending the clouds wherein 

 they were confined; others ascribed it to the high- 

 er and condensed clouds filling suddenly on a low- 

 er stratum with such force as expelled the inter- 

 mediate air, which vigorously expanding itself, in 

 order to occupy its former space, put all the exteri- 

 or air in commotion, and produced the reiterated 

 claps we call thunder. The latter of these opin- 

 ions was held by Aristotle and Anaxagoras, the 

 former by Leucippus, and paitly by Democritus and 

 Seneca. Chrysippus taught that lightning was the 

 result of clouds being set on fire by violent winds, 

 which dashed them one against another. 



Among the moderns it is supposed that the air 

 or atmosphere is not of one uniform electrical state, 

 from the bottom to the top of it, but rather com- 

 posed of a succession of positive and negative stra- 

 ta; the mixing suddenly of one stratum of these 

 with the other is thought to occasion thunder and 

 lightning; or rather the rush together of clouds of 

 a positive and negative character. Others affirm 

 that the sudden combination of oxygen and hydro- 

 gen gas in the higher regions of the air occasioned 

 by an electrical discharge into them, when mixed, 

 but not comliined, occasion tiiunder and lightning; 

 and the combination of the gases, water, or the 

 heavy showers that accompany the phenomenon. 

 The ratling noise we hear is owing to the sound 

 being excited among clouds hanging over one an- 

 other, between the arches of which agitated air ir- 

 regularly passes; it also partly depends upon the 

 reverberations from neighboring objects. 



When thunder explodes high in the air it is 

 harmless, but when it bursts on or near the earth, 

 it often destroys trees, cattle and human beings. 

 The proximity or distance may be estimated by 

 the time that elapses between seeing the flash 

 of lightning and hearing the thunder, for every sec- 

 ond that intervenes l,12t feet are counted — 3 1-2 

 seconds show it is about one mile distant from us, 

 7 seconds two miles, and so on. Dr. Wallis ob- 

 serves that 7 seconds usually elapse between seeing 

 the flash and hearing the clap, but often one second 

 does not pass, which shows it is very near, or per- 

 haps among us. To avoid the effects of this awful 

 phenomenon Dr. Franklin advises us to apply met- 

 al conductors to the roofs of houses, masts of ships, 

 &c., so that the conductor's sharp point at the up- 

 per end may reach two or three feet above the sum- 

 mit of the object, and continue from thence down 



