196 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



is much the hest way to take up little trees and cut 

 the tap root off and set them in light land, for in 

 this way when the tree is old enough to set it will 

 have a good set of roots; the tree may be taken up 

 the second time without much injury. If left to 

 grow in its natural place until it is large enough 

 to set, if the borers do not destroy it, it will be 

 very difficult to take it up without injuring the 

 roots. Every farmer should have a nursery of 

 young trees to be cultivating when he has leisure 

 time. Let every farmer do his own grafting and 

 budding. If you do not know how, employ some 

 experienced hand to learn you. What if it does 

 cost you one or two dollars; you will get your pay 

 ten fold Some say they have no time, they can- 

 not do it because they have so much to do on the 

 farm; but every farmer has time enough to take 

 care of his apple trees. How many farmers go to 

 the store or tavern and spend their leisure time 

 talking about their neighbors and cursing the book 

 farming. How much better it would be for them 

 if they would stay at home and cultivate their ap- 

 ple trees. 



Let every farmer commence this year and resolve 

 in his mind that he will do something for his apple 

 trees this year. Don't wait until next year, for 

 next year will never do it. — Noah W. Hardy. — 

 Granite Farmer. 



MANAGEMENT OF SOILS. 



A soil would never get exhausted, if managed 

 with skill, but would continue to improve in depth 

 and fertility in proportion to the industry bestowed 

 upon it. The food of plants, it is true, maybe ex- 

 hausted from the soil by a repetition of cropping 

 with any one family of plants, if we neglect the ap- 

 plication of such fertilizers as may have been taken 

 from the soil by that family; but no part of the 

 growing season is required for the soil to rest, or 

 be fallow, if judiciously managed by a successive 

 varying of the crops, or by supplying to them such 

 food as may be a compensation for what has been 

 taken off by the previous crop. The first object to 

 be attained for securing a certain and profitable re- 

 turn of produce from the soil must be the rough 

 drainage; the next object is, breaking into the sub- 

 soil to the desired depth — not without first consid- 

 ering wliether it is proper and profitable to shift or 

 turn up the subsoil at once to the influence of the 

 atmosphere, or whether it be best to break into it 

 well first, by shifting the surface soil and allowing 

 the subsoil to remain and receive — first the benefi- 

 cial influence of the atmosphere, and then — at the 

 trenching, a portion of the subsoil may be safely 

 stirred up and mixed with the surface soil ; this 

 practice continued for every succeeding crop, will 

 establish a healthy fertilizing surface soil to any 

 desired depth. 



If repeated stirrings of the surface are adopted, 

 according to the nature of the soil and weather, 

 every growing crop will continue in healthy luxu- 

 riance, without ever suffering by receiving injury 

 from too much moisture, drought or frost. In ad- 

 dition, by constantly scarifying, hoeing and fork- 

 ing the surface soil, not only obnoxious insects and 

 their larvae are expelled, but weeds would never 

 make their appearance, much less have a chance 

 of committing their accustomed robbery of the soil 

 and crops. Besides, by such repeated stirring, the 

 soil is always prepared, sweet and healthy, for suc- 

 ceeding crops — no mean consideration, either, when 



we observe the loss of time and produce occur- 

 ring to such a ruinous extent in some localities, by 

 allowing weeds to rob and choke the growing crops, 

 and to shed their seeds, productive of a progeny 

 similarly injurious to the crops next in rotation. 



The application of manure is most essential, and 

 inay be applied most beneficially when the soil is 

 estal)lished in a healthy condition, and maintained 

 thus by a constant attention to surface stil-ring. 

 Yet the application of manure is a secondary con- 

 sideration; for though it may be very liberally ap- 

 plied, and with consideiable expense, yet, without 

 first insuring the healthiness of the soil, much prop- 

 erty and labor will be sacrificed. — Cottage Gard- 

 ener 



PREPARATION OF BONES FOR MA- 

 NURE. 



A great obstacle to the use of bones as manure, 

 in this country, has heretofore been the expense of 

 preparing them. The modes usually adopted, have 

 been to crush them in mills designed for the pur- 

 pose, or to mix them with sulphuric acid. Latter- 

 ly the process of pulverizing by steam has been re- 

 sorted to in Britain, and where large quantities are 

 to be prepared, this plan maybe more economical 

 than either of the others named. But we cannot 

 see why bones may not be more cheaply pulverized 

 \>y fermentation. In a fresh state, they contain a 

 large per centage of nitrogen, which under favora- 

 ble circumstances causes them to undergo a strong 

 fermentation. We have known a few instances of 

 their being mixed with unleached wood-ashes, in 

 a heap, with a covering of muck to absorb the gas- 

 es which might be evolved; the mass soon began 

 to heat, and by being turned over a few times, the 

 bones became sufficiently reduced for use as manure. 

 A writer in the North British Agriculturist giwes an 

 account of a mode adopted by him for reducing 

 bones, which is worthy of notice. He says: — 



"A quantity of bones, in a crushed state, was 

 mixed with an equal bulkof common sand, and well 

 watered; the whole was then covered over with a 

 coating of coal ashes, about 6 inches thick; this was 

 done to prevent as much as possible the escapes of 

 ammonia. In a few days after I found, however, 

 that the moistened bones began to generate intense 

 heat, which soon brought on putrification. The 

 size of the heap next showed to have lessened con- 

 siderably, and on being examined into, the bones 

 were found to have disappeared, save a small por- 

 tion of the outside; even these were corroded from 

 the effects produced by internal decoinposition. In 

 fine, the appearance of the heap was changed to a 

 blue mouldy, gelatinous substance, which if touched 

 with the back of a spade, or even rubbed between 

 the hands, could be reduced to a fine powdery tex- 

 ture. — Albany Cultivator. 



WALNUT LEAVES IN THE TREAT- 

 MENT OF DISEASE. 



Dr. Negrier, physician at Angiers, France, has 

 published a statement of his success in the treat- 

 ment of scrofulous diseases, in different forms, by 

 preparations of walnut leaves. He has fried the 

 walnut leaves for ten years, and out of fifty-six 

 patients, afflicted in difterent forms, thirty-one were 

 completely cured, and there were only four who ap- 

 peared to have obtained no advantage. 



The infusions of the walnut tree leaves are made 

 by cutting them and infusing about a good pinch 



