NEWENGLAND FARMER. 



Publishc.-l by John li. Rli^sell at the corner t .Coiinicss ami Linaal! Wtr.Tts, (oiitn.ncc from Liiiilall 



VOL. V. 



B();<TON, FRIDAY, FJECEMBER la, 182G 



.'^''.''.''5!IT''^'"^'." *- '■• I'-'^ssE.M>EN, Editor. 



No. 21, 



AGiUClLTUKE. 



Jf'ar from IJonci/ Combs 



, father to cut uown a cliesiiut troe, wliich was I Moik cfer!,-.. 



I -onvcitea into ahinglos, ana ubgU in coveiinn- a Have on th:! rip an open vessel of I v ' f 

 Vom Memoirs of Iht .V. 1'. Board of .igricuUvn \ ^»'"- Tl.irty years atlcrvvanls, he cut ,ioun one an,l stan.Iing l.y the fire an o.'ien voJTnl^'^A 

 . . ol three sprouts wliich l?A started up from the ter ; pi.t the c«n,b close tied in i cnnv„»i.„-f' 



fXPERIMENTS IN PLANTING CHESNUTS>tun,p of the old tree, and ..!,t.incd frolnit shing- 1 the biilinff water, and repeatedly squeeze if down 



' ' ' "ith 1 sticl£ or larrre wooden spoon ; the wax will 



FOR FENCING TIMBER. jles to replace the old ones wliich had been laid 



.'esse Blel, Ksij. — In compliance with the re- ">''*>' years before on the barn. 



uo;t in your circular, I send you a detail of e.\- j I" the interior of Pennsylvania, extensive tracts 



eriuients which I have made in planting ches- i "^ devoted to the growth of chesnnt timber, in 



Its. • j the vicinity of forjrcs and other iron works ; and 



I live in a country where fencing- materials are fi's timber is cutotfat intervals of «u7ee« i/cara 



iely to hecoroe very scarce, at no great distancte Ui<' converted into charcoal. What stronger 



f tii;.e, as we have no waste land unfit for cul- |fvidencc do we want of the value of this woodTor 



vation. Influenced by a desire to do something i ^^ the economy of making plantations of it in 

 ;ir posterity, I determined to plant a field of ches- j time upoi' light or waste lands .- 



uts. Accordingly, in tiie fall of If'l, I procured i I" 'I'S propagation of forest trees by seeds, the 



bout a peck of nuts, and ktpt them very choice 1 1'*''''"' process by which they are produced will 



ntil the setting in of v, inter, for fear of their ; 'c our best guide. Some seeds become rancid, 

 eing destroyed by the mice and other vermin. In {'^''thout great care, almost as soon as they full 

 )eceniber, I planted them four feet apart each;^om the parent stock. Such is tlie case with the 



;iy : but not one of the seed came up. seeds of several kinds of the magnolia. T^'ie 



Deteiuiined to persev2re, in the fall of 182i', 1 i''"ly ^vay in which these can be preserved, "6 are 

 btnined about the same quantity of nuts, and im- a'lvised by Michau.'c, is, as soon as they ^le gath- 

 leci lately planted them about four feet apart, «■, e''ed, and before the pulp which .<jArrounds the 

 efore, and covered them superficially with leaves ^eed is withered, to mi.K them w^l rotten wood, 

 nd light earth. Most of them came up, and they "r with sand slightly moisteu*-*' ' where they are 

 ppear to grow well. kept cool till they are 000'^"'-'^^'^ ^° the ground 



I am of opinion, that if farmers would take 1 Others are enveloped '" '^'i ^"^fid pulp, and a 



ttlc pains in this way, they mijrht, at a trifling hard shell, so firm! •'emcnted as to require the j partition in the cistern, with a valve lo admit the 

 xpcnse, have a growth of timber coming on to : lapse of a year, '- "^''^ ^'°'<^"t and repeated alter- contents of the fir.st space into the second, to be 

 upidy them with fire-wood and fencing stuff, w) rn ' nations of he-' '''"'' ^'^'^^^' '" ""-vcite germination — preserved there free from the more recent acqui- 

 ur old forests have disappeared. As che.«- ,t Such are ;'^ f'^^'j*'^ ^°f "'°st kinds of the thornAsition, age aiWitg cunsidenibly toils (Jicaci/. M'hii 



couio through t.'io bag and swim on ti.e top of the 

 water ; skim it off and put it in the vessel of cold 

 water; by repeitcdly squeezing the bag and skim- 

 ming.every pirade of wa.vis obtained; when con- 

 gealed on the :old water it may be taken off and 

 melted and cast into moulds, of any convenient 

 shape for sale — Glasgow Mechanic's Magazine. 



Method of preserving Cheese front Worms and 

 Mitts — Grails of whole pepper, put irtto a ve.-isel 

 in which cheese is kept,will drive away the above 

 mentioned insects. — Ibid. 



Liquid .Manure. 

 In Flanders, according to Loudon, " Urine cis- 

 terns are formed in the fields to receive purchased 

 liquid manure : but for that made in the farm yard, 

 generally in the yard, or under the stable. In the 

 latter case, the r.rine is conducted from each stall 

 to a common grating, through which it descends 

 into the van!;: from thence ii, is taken up by a 

 pump : in tlic best regulated farmeries there is a 



RZJIARKS. 



The experiments of of Mr Hopkins deserve tc 

 le commended. It has been observed, that three 

 burths of the timber now growing in England hi 

 )een planted by man : and hundreds of acres ae 

 moually appropriated to new plantations, to suj- 

 ily the waste constantly makhig for the use of tl^ 

 arts, and for fuel. In many fertile districts of 

 )wn country, v.hero the lands are all capable if 

 mpiovement, a scarcity of timber will soon be a' 

 pericnced, if it does not already e.xist. The mil. 

 therefore, who teaches by example how to raie 

 plantations of timber, does a service not oidy p 

 posterity, but to his own generation. J 



Of the kinds best fitted for plantations, by qujk 

 growth and spontaneous reproduction, the chs- 

 lut and locust are pre-eminent among our nati-e 

 recs ; though the oak must ultimately be resorhl 

 to, for the purposes of naval architecture. An h- 

 jection to plant the locust in this vicinity arfio.* 

 from their premature destruction by the insjits 

 which prey upon the wood. The gk'tinous se- 

 cies [Robina glutinosa] is smilar in growth, libit 

 and wood, to the common locust, though less hr- 

 dy. It remains to be seen whether this willre- 

 sist the attscks of the insects. 



The following fact has been related to u as 

 evidence of the luxuriant growth of the cheiut, 

 and of its power of reproducing a now gr^vth 

 during the natural decay of the old wood. Our 

 informant stated that when a boy, he assistei his 



■« 



Mic'.iaux's method of planting the chesnut, from 

 his North American Sylva vol. iii. p. 13. 



" After the ground has been carefully loosened 

 with the plough and harrow, lines are drawn six 

 feet apart, in which holes about a foot in depth 

 and in diameter, are formed at the distance of four 

 feet. A chesnut is placed in each corner of the 

 holes, and covered with three inches of earth. As 



e soil has been thoroughly subdued, the nuts will 

 ipring and strike root with facility. Early in the 

 second year, three of the young plants Ere remov- 

 ed from each hole, and only the most thriving is 

 left. The third or fourth year, when the branches 

 begin to interfere with each other, every second 

 tree is suppressed. To insure its success, the 

 plantation should be begnn in March or April, lortt 

 nuts that have been kept in tlie cellar during the 

 icinler, in sand or vegetable mould, and that have 

 already betrun to vegetate.'''' — Editor. 



[pre 



PARED FOR THE NEW ENGLAND FARMER.] 



Method of preserving grain from the depredations 

 ofMirf.--Fiy in a heap of the grain, or any other 

 similar matter, which you desire to keep from the 

 ravages of mice, some stalks, with their branches 

 and leaves, either green or dry, of water cresses 

 (sisymbrium,) and none of these mischievous ani- 

 mal's will approach it. Some leaves of this plant 

 will b? ■•■<:■'.>■ sufficient to drive them from any place 

 to which it is desired to prevent their access. 



(Repertory of Arts. 



to most crops, and to all the varieties of soil." 



Encyclopedia of .Igricultin r. 



REMARKS. 



With regard to "age adding considerably to the 

 efficacy" of this sort of manure, we pfceive there 

 exists a difference of oj.inion. Sir Humphry 'Davy 

 says " During the putrefaction of urine the great- 

 est part of the soluble animal matter that it con- 

 tains is destroyed ; it should consequently le vsed 

 as fresh as possible ; but if not mixed with solid 

 matter, it should be diluted with water, as when 

 pure it contains too large a quantity of animal 

 matter to form a proper fluid nourishment for ab- 

 sorption by the roots of plants. " Putrid urine," 

 however, continues Sir Humphry, " abounds in am- 

 moniacal salts ; and though less active than fresh 

 urine, is a very powerful manure." 



Cow Keeping. 

 In Holland the food for one cow in winter for 

 twenty-four hours, is straw, eighteen pounds ; tur- 

 nips, sixty pounds. Some fanners boil the turnips 

 for them ; others give them law, chopping them 

 with the spade ; one or other operations is neces- 

 sary to obviate the risk of the animal being chok- 

 ed, where the turnips, which is usually the case in 

 Flanders, are of too small a she. In lieu of tur- 

 nips, potatoes, carrots, and grains, are occasional- 

 ly piven ; bean-straw likewise, and uniformly a 

 whUe drink, prepared both for cows and horses, 

 and consisting of water in wliich some oilcake has 



