NEW ENGLAND FARMP^tt 



VOL. V 



Published by John B. Kussei.l at tlio corner of (.'oiio-re.-is iiiul Liiuiull ytnv-ts.^'J 



BOS TON, FRIDAY,~AUGIjsT^ 



ORIGINAL PAPERS. 



FRUIT TREES, 

 tfu Fr.ssENDE.N — Your paper of the 14th ins- 

 it furnishes various instances of the death of 

 ir and apple trees, from some cause not as yet 

 own. It is a subject of much importance, and 

 in wliich I feel interested. As this disease 

 . been before adverted to, and no one has as yet 

 2red an opinion on it, I shall undertake to give 



This disease appears to be of recent date — your 

 ■respondents say within two or three years. I 

 ■e known a few instances of it in this vicinity 

 1 much earlier date — of those I had no doubt of 

 cause, and the remedy is within the reach of 



l-)w stature naturally. And the pear tree tradition 

 says, sliould never be pruned. Willi the authority 

 of nature and tradition on their side, reason is but 

 as cliaif. 



Tiie disease and deatli as stated in the above in- 

 stances, I have not the least shadow of doubt arose 

 from oxhau.stion. There was a greater call for 

 nonrisiiment from the roots than they could possi- 

 bly supply — hence tlie reason to suppose the re- 

 sult would be eitlier disease or death. A tree, 

 with a superabundance of wood on it, is in much 

 greater danger tlie prpsent season, than in many 

 others. The present has been an uncommonly 

 hot and dry one — of course the evaporation or ex- 

 halation has been unusual. The only thing that 

 appears remarkable is that there is not a greater 

 complaiat than we hear— especially with tiiose 

 who never take any trouble with a tree after it is 

 planted. I have long been of opinion that irt cul- 

 tivating fruit trees successfully, two things are of 

 the first importance — which are regular manuring 

 and tree pruning. Let this mode be resorted to 

 and I dare affirm wo should seldom, if ever, liear 

 of the premature disease or death of a fruit tree 



Ty one. 



L friend of mine had planted an orchard of ap- 

 trees, which were principally of the R. I. 

 ening, and it flourished to tlie admiration of all 

 saw it. After it had arrived to tlie age of 

 ut fifteen years (the time at which I knew it) 

 Jomnienced bearing, and for a few years the 



.t was abundant in the extreme — after that the "' "'"= piciutiLuit; ujsease or ueaui ot a truit tree. 

 •s began to fail — the whole orchard, which J | Some judgment is to be used in the kind of ma- 



tlH in/lrrn /^rtntotnn^l n Vi^tnAr^A o n ,1 ^4"... . IlUre UriTllind niiiin;i] m.ittm. ic fl..^ k . i. _ ■ 



uld judge, contained a hundred and fifty trees, 

 med diseased, witli but a few exceptions. The 

 bs and top of tliem were dead and dying and a 

 of the finest trees were actually dead. The 

 se at the time was considered to be from the 

 sual bearing. This orchard was on a most ex- 

 ent soil, and has been kiijt undci tillci-o uptil 

 r the time of this disaster ; it was then laid 

 n as being unfit any longer for planting, in 



sequence of the shaded state of the ground. 



; trees were managed on the old plan — every 

 ) tiiat was put forth from the bo 'y within three 

 ; of the ground was suffered to grow, unless 

 happened to be sadly chafed by its next neigh 



nure applied— animal matter is the best as being 

 the most likely to retain sufficient moisture for the 

 nourishment of the tree. This should bo applied 

 liberally, fall and spring, and be well spaded i.n, to 

 ;lie diameter often or twelve feet at least. 



With regard to trimming, it should be begun 

 V bile tlip ii-po is young, in the month of Jnne°or 

 ^uly, by cutting off the under limbs, and all those 

 tint bind or chafe each other. The practice 

 dioold be continued yeariy until the tree has a 

 bodj ot at least six or eight feet. Atler this the 

 oody limbs may be suffered to grow— the remain- 

 ing trimming will be only the horizontal shoots 

 and those that start from a limb perpendicularly 



, which by the way was not unusual — it wasP^""^'' '•J' '^he ^^'"y "'"e not a few in a iiealthv tree 



„ ...:.l, ._ 1 n. rr, . . T.pt thic! T>1„., k t„_J;i , , . ■' 



Let this plan be steadily pursued and the tree is 

 always in condition for a burden of fruit or the 

 trying time of a hot and dry season — and the fruit 

 also is improved both in size, in flavour and quan- 

 tity, ' 



If your correspondents say that all this has been 

 done faithfully with the trees which have sicken- 

 ed, then I must acknowledge my entire ignorance 

 i liio oiuy aiieniauve leit, and ttiat was resort- °^ ''"^ ''^^'' disease of fruit trees. Until then, I 

 to without mercy. And in all that were not ?''^".^°''' '° t''^ opinion advanced in the preced- 

 far ffone it had tlie dpsirpd ofTn/-* if ;„„„,..! ing lines. VERITAS. 



Taunton, July 24, 1826. 



n, with many regrets sawed off. Trimming 

 i out of fashion, and of course there was no 

 ! of wood — a great portion of the tree lay on 

 ground, which was thought at the time to be 

 he utmost importance as it facilitated the gath- 

 ig of fruit, which could be done in a great 

 isure by hand picking, without the dangerous 

 ctice of climbing on ladders. Free trimminff 

 ! the only alternative left, and that was resort 



Remarks by the Editor.— Couch Grass is consid- 

 ered as a great pest by English agriculturists.— 

 Ihc method winch tliey commonly make use of to 

 extirpate it, is to lay the ground fallow through 

 the summer, and harrow it frequently to draw out 

 tlie roots, which are collected and burnt or other- 

 wise destroyed. Trench ploughing,is recommended 

 by Mr Young, in the Annals of Agriculture. . He 

 thinks that by one earthing, given deeply with the 

 skim-coulter plougli, and after tliat hoeing the sur- 

 face, the couch grass may be converted into man- 

 ure. 



Rees' Cyclopedia says the best way is to sow or 

 plant the land infested with couch, with such seeds 

 or plants as reqnirp often hoeing. But we think the 

 definite directions given above, by "G. H." should 

 be imphcilly followed. There is, no doubt,an ad- 

 vantage in ploughing the land late in the spring, 

 because the grass being turned over after it has 

 made some progress in vegetation will the sooner 

 rot. If in the culture of the potatoes, the land 

 should be stirred so deep as to bring the sod or 

 turf to the air the couch \ijill spring again, and the 

 labour of llie cultiTator be in a great measure lost. 

 An implement has been invented in England, 

 called tht Couch- Grass drag, which is a sort of 

 harrow, iJade for the purpose of drawing out and 

 extirpating- couch grass in tillage lands. A ma- 

 chine of that kind is in possession of the Mass. 

 Agr. Society, and may be seen, we believe, in 

 their Repository of Agricultural Implements at 

 Brighton. ' 



Couch gfcss IS known by many different names, 

 among which are tivitch-grass,squitch-grass,quitch- 

 grass, knot-grass, Sfc. 



far gone it had the desired effect. It is now 

 irteen years since) nearly recovered. 

 ^n acquaintance of mine who had a very extra- 

 inary pear tree, of a foot in diameter, which 

 . borne for many years in unusual abundance, 

 )rmed me a short time since that his pear tree 

 3 dead. His account of it was very similar to 

 se pointed out by your correspondents. lie 

 l.gined that it might have been killed by some 

 his neighbors by way of revenge, as he could 

 1 no cause for its death. One or two other pear 

 as I have lately known died in the same way, 

 I the cause was alike considered. 

 These gentlemen were opposed to pruning their 

 es. Endeavour to reason with them on the sub- 

 t, and they tell you that the greening tree par- 

 ■larly should never be pruned, as it is a tree of 



TO DESTROY COUCH GRASS. 



A week before election, [near the last of May,] 

 plough the land that is subject to couch grass deep 

 and plant it immediately with potatoes. When 

 the potatoes are 4 or 5 inches above ground,plouo-h 

 between the rows with a small one-horse plouiTli, 

 taking care not to plough so deep as to disturb the 

 sod. Also when the potato vines are about a foot 

 long, plough again lightly. By this time the pota- 

 toes will spread, so as to .prevent the grass from 

 .-■ppearing above ground. When the crop is off", 

 plough again light for winter. In spring the roots 

 will begin to rot, and by ploughing again deep, the 

 destruction of the Couch Grass will be completed. 



RoTbwy, August 1,1626. G. H. I 



TIIE SEASON—CROPS— CULTIVATION. 



Mr Febsenden— The crops of hay in this and 

 the adjoining towns are small. Many will nr t get 

 one tenth, and scarcely any one half, they did last 

 year. I have lately seen a field, near Ossipie Cor- 

 ner, the owner of which told me that last year he 

 had a good crop ; but a part of the same this year 

 he did hot think worth cutting, owing to drought 

 and grasshoppers. My land being rather flat I shall 

 get rather more than half what I did last year. 



With regard to Corn and Potatoes, the formet 

 will be good, — the latter tolerable ; especially 

 where plaster has been put into the hole, or on the 

 top. My opinion is, that putting plaster into the 

 hole does the most good. Where some hills have 

 been plastered at the rate of a spoonful to a liill 

 each, and some left along side, there is a great dif- 

 ference in fcivour of that plastered. I am aware 

 that it is the opinion of many that near the sea, 

 plaster docs not do the good that lime does. But 

 I think that in the country, particularly in this sec- 

 tion, one or two spoonfuls in the hole, any season, 

 will amply repay tlie owner who jilants either po- 

 tatoes or corn. 



If corn is planted on low ground, or there is a 

 wet or cold year, a gill of slacked lime added eve- 

 ry time of hoeing, will have a good effect. Pota- 

 toes and English grain require moist cool land, or 

 plaster to cool and moisten it. In Great Britain 

 ind from Flanders north, on the continent of Eu- 

 -opc, potatoes are better than in France, and much 

 more so than in Spain or Portugal, or any part of 

 the shores of the Mediterranean. 



