:]m 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



But it is a safer method, if stones of proper size 

 are to be found, to place two rows of lliern, with 

 some care, at the bottom, so as to leave an opening 

 of three or four inches between them, which may 

 be covered with another course. Or if JJat stones 

 are at hand, they may be set on edge on the bot- 

 tom, with the tops resting together, leaving a tri- 

 angular opening. When the bottom course is 

 properly laid, the drain may be filled to within 

 eighteen inches of the top, with stones of any size, 

 ;ind levelled up with earth. It is advisable, before 

 throwing in the earth, to cover the stones with turf, 

 straw or small bushes, to prevent the surface water 

 from breaking in. 



If Providence has not bestowed upon you tiiis 

 ihmhlful blessing of plenty of stones, bushes may 

 be used as a substitute. Place at the bottom of the 

 drain poles of two or three inches diameter, to the 

 depth of six inches, then fill wiih any bushes which 

 u is desirable to put out of sight, treading them in 

 us compact as possible, that they may not after- 

 wards settle ; and cover and fill up as when stones 

 are used. I have laid drains in this manner, which 

 liave operated perfectly for eight years, and bid 

 lair to be serviceable for a generation to come. 



The obvious advantage of close or under- drains 

 liver open or surface drains, is, that they offer no 

 obstruction to the cultivation of the land. You 

 may team, plow, subsoil, mow and rake, precisely 

 as if no drain were below. 



Besides, there is no waste of land, and no labor 

 of clearing out is required. 



The few hints which I have thrown out may, it 

 is hoped, be of some service to those who are ma- 

 king their first experiments in this essential branch 

 i>f improved husbandry. 



Having given some attention to experiments in 

 draining, I shall be happy to reply to any inquiries 

 vvhich may be made on the subject, through the 

 folumns of the New England Farmer. In this, as 

 111 ;)11 other operations upon the soil, success de- 

 jtends upon understanding in the outset, the theory 

 as well as the mere liard labor of the process, and 

 ■A free interchange of opinions, among those en- 

 gaged in kindred pursuits, is the best means of dif- 

 fusing useful knowledge. H. F. French. 



Exeter, N. //., Nov. 1, 1851. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 P3E3ARS ON QUINCE STOCKS, &0. 



Mr. Editor: — Will you be so kind as to an- 

 swer a few questions in the Farmer ? 



1st. Mr. Barry, in his catalogue of fruit trees, 

 says the common quince is entirely unfit for pear 

 stocks. What kind does he refer to ? Do you 

 I'liink any kind of quince unsuitable? Which 

 kinds do you consider best for this purpose? 



2d. How are Paradise stocks raised? If from 

 .s;;eds, where can the seeds be procured? 



3d. If the seeds of the Siberian Crab Apple are 

 sown, will they produce trees smaller than other 

 .iDple trees ? B. Marston. 



■ Hampton, N. H., Oct. 10, 1851. 



Remarks. — The quince is only fit for stocks for 

 I'-'i' purpose of making dwarf trees. The trees 

 I :iially bear young, and aie short lived; and are 

 i 'I ^vell adapted to extensive culture, but rather 

 f i;- the garden and small lots. The Portugal is 



considered the most vigorous grower in stock; but 

 some nurserymen say the apple grows just as we}l 

 and is adapted to the pear stock. There are other 

 nurserymen who make no distinction and consider 

 the pear quince as good as either of the other two. 

 If any of our readers have made definite experi- 

 ments upon this subject, and can communicate use- 

 ful information to the public, we should be pleased 

 to receive it for publication. 



Paradise stocks are raised in Europe from seed. 

 It is a native of that country and the seed cannot 

 probably be procured here. 



As to the size of the trees from the seed of the 

 Siberian Crab Apple, we do not know; but it is a 

 general law of nature, that like produces like. In 

 most all cases, seed from slow-growing fruit trees 

 produce slow growers; and seed from small or 

 dwarfish fruit trees produce trees comparatively 

 small. We have confirmed this fact in numerous 



cases. 



For tfie New Ens-land Farmer. 

 ACORN SQUASH. 



BY PROFESSOR HARRIS. 



Gentlemen: — Permit me to recommend a winter- 

 squash, wiiich is new to me, and probably is but 

 little known in this vicinity. The seedscame from 

 Shrewsbury, where the fruii was raised in the 

 summer of 1850, and was there called the acorn- 

 squash. Of its origin and history nothing further 

 is known to me. Its characters, as grown in my 

 garden this summer, are these. The vine runs 

 prodigiously, throwing out strong tendrils and even 

 roots from its joints, and enormous leaves, many 

 measuring twenty inches in length, and as much 

 or more in breadth. Tiiese leaves are unlike those 

 of the pumpkin and common kinds of winter-squash, 

 being of a rounded heart-shape, and not divided in- 

 to lobes, but marked with five rounded scallops on 

 the outer edge, and ending with a very short point 

 in the middle of the largest curve. The smaller 

 leaves, however, vvhich are produced late in the 

 season, near the extremities of the vines, are five- 

 angled, or sliirhtly five-lobed. The flowers are 

 wide in the throat, where they grow out of the 

 voung fruit, and have at least four and sometimes 

 five stigmas; whereas, in the common pumpkin and 

 winter-squashes, the stigmas are rarely more than 

 three in number. When the flowers and the five 

 narrow calyx-leaves drop off, they leave, at the 

 place of their origin, a depressed ring-like scar, of 

 a large diameter, in the centre of which ring there 

 is a little tubercle, formed by the adhering base of 

 the style. In this stage, the fruit somewhat re- 

 sembles a huge acorn surrounded by its cup, which 

 seems to have suggested the name it bears. As it 

 increases in size, the circular ring enlarges also, 

 and, in the full-grown fruit, measures four inches, 

 or more, in diameter, the part within ihering form- 

 ing the apex of the fruit, growing equally with 

 the rest, and being marked with dark green lines 

 radiating from the little knob at the summit. At 

 maturity, this squash weighs from eigiit to ten 

 pounds or more, and measures about two feet and 

 eight inches in circumference, and five inches in 

 its shortest diameter, or from the stem to the blos- 

 som end. It is depressed at the stem-end, and from 



