406 



NEW ENGLAiND FARMER. 



July i3, 1S27 



enclosare. The pear trees and peach trees may 

 occupy corners of the whole design, so as occa- 

 sionally to be poured off. In large orchards care 

 should bo taken that the stock of hogs is sufficient 

 to eat np all the early fruit which falls from May 

 until August. This precaution will be more espec- 

 ially necessary in larye peach orchards ; for, other- 

 wise, when the hogs become cloyed with the pulp 

 of the peach, they will let it fall out of their mouths, 

 and content themselves with the kernel, which they 

 like better : and thus the curculio escaping from 

 their jaws may hide under ground until the iie.xt 

 spring. Solitary trees of one fruit or another, re- 

 mote from the orchard, should be regarded as nur- 

 series of the curculio, and ought to be cut down 

 or removed to the common enclosure. A young 

 orchard should not be planted in the place of, or 

 adjacent to an old one, that it may not be immedi- 

 ately infested in the curculio. 



" It is also apparent from what has been said, 

 that great advantages might result from an asso- 

 ciation or combination of whole neighborhoods 

 against this common enemy. Although a dili- 

 gent farmer may accomplish much, by duo at- 

 tention within his own territory, the total exter- 

 mination of the curculio can hardly be expected, 

 but by the concurrent efforts of whole districts." 



Dr Tilton again adverts to this subject in a let- 

 ter to Richard Peters, President of the Philadel- 

 phia Society for Promoting Agriculture, publish- 

 ed in the first volume of the Memoirs of said So- 

 ciety, and says, " For destroying the worms at 

 the root of the tree, the best method I have ever 

 employed, is to draw dirt from the rootof the tree 

 in the fall, and pour boiling water on the roots.— 

 In the spring, my practice is, to return the soil to 

 the tree, ia the form of a hill. By means of this 

 sort, a tree may be preserved many years." 



The same article stales that Col. Nicols, near 

 Easton, a gentleman who was particularly atten- 

 tive to fruit, gave the following receipt for the 

 destruction of the worm which is found in the 

 wood and bark of the peach tree. " Take away 

 the dirt from around the roots, and where yon dis 

 cover gum jssuing out you will also find a white 

 maggot, which is carefully to be taken away, then 

 wash the body and roots with strong brine, which 

 you will repeat now and then in the spring and 

 summer." Soap suds heated after a family wash 

 and poured on the roots of the trees, about the 

 middle of August, have been used with success 

 IB destroying the young worm. Surrounding the 

 trees with straw, applied lengthwise about an inch 

 thick, ashes, lime, &c. have also been recommend- 

 ed, and are doubtless useful for destroying the 

 worm, which attacks the body and limbs of the 

 peach tree. 



A friend has suggested that it would be easy 

 and e.xpedient to prevent the ravages of the cur- 

 culio, at least to any considerable extent by gath- 

 ering and destroying all the apples, peaches, and 

 other fruits, which fall from the trees before the 

 principal crop is collected. He says that he has 

 carefully gathered, for some years past, all those 

 fruits which foil spontaneously from his fruit trees, 

 and which are by some called windfalls, boiled 

 them up with Indian meal, and other proper arti- 

 cles, and gave them to his hogs. lie thua sub- 

 serves two useful purposes , to wit, destroys his 

 curculiones and provides a useful aliment for his 

 swine. He .says that since he has adopted that 

 practice tbp curculiones have almost altogether 

 disappeared from his premises. We would advise 



every fruit grower to try this simple experiment ; 

 or at least so to dispose of his fruits which fall 

 prematurely from his trees as to destroy the 

 worms they contain. 



■WASH YOUR SALADS IS SALT WATER. 



If you have no particular ambition to devour in- 

 sects, (as the giant Garagantua did pilgrims, ac- 

 cording to Rabelais,) with your salads, cabbages, 

 S|-c. you will sttop them a few minutes in salt 

 water before boiling or eating. Clean water from 

 the sea, or a solution of common salt, will answer 

 equally well. You may wash your vegetables a 

 second time in clean fresh water, and the same 

 salt water will answer for several times if it be 

 strained immediately after, and decanted iminedi- 

 ately before you use it. 



HAyMAKI>G. 



Care should be taken to cut grass as close and 

 evenly as possible, because the bottom is often in- 

 terwoven v.'ith a sort of net work of leaves and 

 spires, which makes it much more valuable than 

 an equal length towards the top of the growtii.— 

 Besides, it is remarked that grass will not thrive 

 well, which is not mown close. It is very essen- 

 tial to improve the fore part of the season, lor, 

 says the Farmer's Guide, " it has been found by 

 actual observations for a number of years, tiiat on 

 an average, more rain falls in summer after the 

 15th and 20th of July than before." The direc- 

 tions which are given in English books on agri- 

 culture for hay-making will not apply to our cli- 

 mate, which has a dryer atmosphere and a more 

 ardent sun than any part of Great Britain. Thus 

 Loudon says " Care should be taken to proportion 

 the number of hay-makers to that of the mowers, 

 so that there may not bo more grass on hand a! a 

 lime than can be managed. This proportion is 

 about twenty hay-makers, (of which number twelve 

 may be women,) to four mowers ; the latter are 

 sometimes taken half a day to assist the former." 

 In this country it ia thought that cutting the grass 

 is about half the labour of making and securing 

 the hay crop ; and women are rarely employed. 



In mowing without a due degree of skill, the la- 

 bour is very severe. If a man's scythe is not well 

 hung on the snath or snead, he will do better to 

 hang it on a fence, and betake himself to some 

 other employment than attempt to cut grass with 

 it. The Farmer's Assistant says " The sneads 

 most commonly used are bent in a twisted shapa ; 

 but some use a snead which is nearly in the sb.ipe 

 of a half circle, and the latter are always prefer- 

 red by those who have become used to them 



They take a wider swath with the same extension 

 of the arms; a larger cut and therefore maybe 

 slower ; require less stooping ; and from the fo- 

 sition of the body which is requisite to enter t'le 

 point of the scythe into Ihe grass, being mere 

 twisted round t« the right, little more is requis.to 

 than bringing the body to its natural posture to 

 carry the scythe through." 



Loudon says, " The waste of grass, on being 

 dried into hay is supposed to be three parts in 

 four by the time it is laid on the stack ; it is then 

 further reduced, by heat and evaporation, in about 

 a month perhaps one-twentieth more, or 600 lbs. 

 of grass are reduced to 1)5 lbs of hay ; and be- ' 

 tween that and 90 it continues through the win- 1 

 ter. From the middle of March till" September, ^ 

 the operations of trussing anrl marketing expose 

 it so much to the sun and wind, as to render it 

 considerably lighter, probably 80 ; that is, hay 



which would weigh 90 the instant it is separated 

 from the stack, would waste to 80 (in trussino-, ex., 

 posuro on the road, and at market for about 24 

 hours,) by the time it is usually delivered to th«' 

 purchaser. During the following winter, the 

 waste will bo little or nothing. It is nearly obvi- 

 ous that the same hay will weigh on delivery SD 

 in summer, and 90 in winter. From this circurS 

 stance, and others which relate to price, a farmal 

 may determine what season of the year is mo« 

 advisable for him to sell his hay." ; 



latenuil Improvcmcnls. — Tiie Legisl.-iture at 

 their last winter session, passed a resolve aulhof- 

 isiiig the appointment of a Board of Commission, 

 ers and an Engineer, to make surveys and esti- 

 mates of any canal or railroad which should be 

 directed by the Legislature. They afterward.T or- 

 dered surveys to be made, under the direction of 

 , this board, of the route of a railroad from Boston 

 ■to Providence, and of two canal routes connected' 

 jwith tlie Blackstone canal. No appropriatiod 

 I however was made for defraying the expenses of 

 I this commission, and the board was not organized. 

 At the last session of the Legislature, some furj 

 tlitr provision was made in relation to t 

 conmission, and in addition the Governor a 

 Ccuncil were authorised to appoint two commis 

 sioners and an engineer, to make an examinatioa 

 aid survey of a route or routes of a railroad from 

 Biston to the Hudson river. These two boards 

 an now organized, by the appointment of the fof- 

 laving gentlemen : 



Fur the survey of the Western Railroad. 

 Hon. Nahum Mitchell, and 

 Col. Samuel M. McKay. 

 Col. James F. Baldwin, Engineer. 



For the Board of Internal Improvement 

 Hon. John Mills, 

 VVillard Phillips, Esq. ^ 

 James Hayward, Esq. Engineer. 

 These appointments we conceive will be higiily 

 satisfactory to the public, and will afford an a°ssu- 

 rance that the important investigations proposed, 

 will be thoroughly and judiciously made. It is 

 hoped in the survey of the Western railroad, the 

 Commissioners will have the assistance of some of 

 the Engineers in the United States service, to co- 

 operate with the Engineer of the Board, as they 

 have been employed, by order of the War Depart- 

 ment on works of similar description in other parts 

 of the Union, and we understand an application 

 has been made by the Executive of this State for 

 their aid on this occasion. — Boston Daily Adv. 



Commissioners 



Commissioners. 



M.V 





nitiion 



!tt 



iJ'tk 



111 III 



im 

 veiJl 



SuWsi 



pcietr 

 islei,! 



jjiiiif 



eepn 

 3 11 



H kicli re 

 .■■eBiiti 



w 



r Tkt( 

 lit! ll 



The 90th Number of the Edinburgh Review i» 

 just published by Wells & Lilly ; and contains ar- 



tides on the following subjects : — Machiavelli 



Volcanoes — Anne Bolcyn, a tragedy — Revenue 

 nd Commerce of India — British Campaign at 

 Washington and New Orleans — Social and Indus- 

 trial Capacities of Negroes — Catholic Question — 

 Complaints of the Ship-Owners ; Reciprocity Sys- 

 tem — System and Administration of English Law 

 — History and Principles of Life Assurance — 



Further Notices of Hieroglyphics Terms $5i(» 



per annum. * 



Early Melons. — The Rochester Telegraph of 

 tjie 2.3d ult. says we were yesterday presented 

 with a fully ripe melon from the garden of Col. 

 Oliver Strong, which, we learn has produced an 

 abundance of Cucumbers for the last three weeks. 



i. 



M 

 lies to 

 j;. T 

 filiiil 

 intc 

 ilofti 

 Ttel 

 'eaiei 

 teatli 

 leEjj 

 keriiii 

 Alelti 

 lit all 

 the I 

 icatiig 

 ipline. 

 •tccti 

 Afrif 

 rjice 

 1 in A 

 uiiei I 

 leels, 

 lliisl 

 xmioi 

 ipttrej 

 ill] pro 



Apers 

 lUlilie 

 iltelo 



