78 



$[)t jFarmcv's ixTanihJn tetter. 



inch or so of" the ve;ir be Tore, if you wisli to keep 

 them awhile. If "you cut at all from an old tree, 

 lake a last year's sprout, well matured. The 

 nearer the time of running of the sap llie better, 



but if most convenient, they may be rut and 

 kept in a moist place some weeks. As soon as 

 the sap runs, remove the soil from around the 

 tree about an inch deep, insert your graft smooth- 

 ly, and bring the soil around it about an inch 

 above the insertion. In about two years your 

 trees will do to set in their abiding place. 



In selecting a place for an orchard, prefer up- 

 land or hill-sides. The fruit will be richer, high- 

 er flavored, and more abundant, than on low, flat 

 lands. Almost all kinds of soil will do, if they 

 are deep, rich, and well cultivated. In this vi- 

 cinity, the soil called iron-stone is lately the most 

 productive. It is believed by some that an east- 

 ern exposure is liable io blast; but 1 have not 

 fotiud it so. 



Dig the holes for your troea a little larger than 

 the extension of the roots, and about eight or ten 

 inches deep. Take up your trees carefully, 

 without breaking the roots, and the sooner they 

 are set in their places the belter. Set them just 

 about as deep as they were in the nursery, filling 

 the holes with just what was taken out and noth- 

 ing else. Many trees are greatly injured by be- 

 ing set too deep. Set a stake about a foot from 

 the tree, leaning to it, of equal height, and tie the 

 tree loosely to the stake. Plough 01 dig the soil 

 mellow, around the tree, two or three feet from 

 it at least, in the spring of every year, to the 

 depth ol three or four inches, but not to injure 

 the roots. 



In cultivating your orchard, a good arrange- 

 ment, is to plough one or I wo years, and leave the 

 ground one or two years in clover; keeping the 

 soil rich with manure. This mode is much bet- 

 ter than to put heaps around the tree, and bury 

 the roots too deep. Just before the sap runs, 

 every spring, prune, but in doing ibis, be careful 

 not to prune too much. I have seen a great many 

 orchards nearly ruined by pruning too much. 

 The supposition that more sap and nutriment is 

 obtained by the remaining branches when some 

 are removed, is a mistake. The branches con- 

 stitute a part of the tree, and do ll.eir cilice in 

 furnishing nourishment just as much as the roots. 

 The lower limbs of the lop should be about four 

 and a half feel from the ground; and here let a 

 full and natural top he commenced. I have 

 never known a very huge tree, nor a good hear- 

 ing tree, among those that bad high tops, either 

 by cutting off the lower branches, or by trim- 

 ming them up high. 



A great many apples are lost by leaving them 

 too long on the. trees Winter apples, as soon as 

 the seeds are ripe, should be picked, and taken 

 to a cool, dry, shady place, spread thin, and lay 

 without cover, until [here is danger of freezing. 

 When there is danger of ibis, remove them lo 

 their winter quarters, which should also lie cool, 

 jost so as to avoid freezing. I'm them on shelves, 

 not more than two or three courses thick, 

 and if put ill a cellar, the shelves should be at 

 least three feel high from the bottom. Leave 

 them uncovered, and remove the decayed ones, 

 as occasion requires, and in nil that you do, be 

 careful nol to bruise them ill the lea-t. 1 have 

 kept Newtown Pippins in this way until August. 

 R. K. TUTTLE. 

 Morristown, .V. J., February 4, 1648. 



From the Prairie Farmer. 

 To Raise Cabbage, &c. 



Messrs. Editors, — livery Spring I am called 

 on for cabbage and other plants, when I inquire 

 of my neighbors why they do not raise plants 

 themselves, 1 always hear some excuse like " the 

 bugs eat them up,"-' the seed was good for noth- 

 ing," or "the frost killed them," or "you cannot 

 raise cabbage plants on old land,"&C ; and may 

 be it is so wilb neighborhoods where the Prairie 

 Farmer circulates, anil for that reason 1 will de- 

 scribe my way — and I have never met with a 

 failure. 



I have boxes prepared about twelve inches 

 deep, ami set them up it) a sheltered place high 

 enough to be out of jumping distance of the hugs, 

 and till ibein with a good rich soil. Before 

 planting the seeds I prepare a kettle full of boil- 

 ing water and pour it as hot as possible over the 

 box-.s. This kills them mints and seeds of weeds 



in the soil, ami when cooled down some, pro- 

 motes the germination of the seeds planted, 

 which come up a great deal quicker than when 

 planted ill a cold soil. The seeds are sown on 

 top and pressed in the warm mud with a board 

 and are afterwards covered with about the eighth 

 of an inch of loose soil. The plants will come 

 up quick and thirfty and no bugs will trouble 

 them. Last year I raise]] in a box about thirty- 

 six feet square, about 3000 cabbage plants, which 

 sold readily at 2s. per hundred, which would be 

 at the rate of $9075 00 per acre. Who can beat 

 ,t ? CAUSTIC. 



Jefferson, Wisconsin. 



Ploughing Grass Lands.— We noticed that 

 many farmers were turning up green sward last 

 week for planting. Some of them have an idea 

 that the sward will rot sooner when it is turned 

 early, than when the work is done at planting 

 time. This is a great mistake, as any farmer will 

 see w bo examines and reasons upon it. There is 

 nothing green early in the Spring, and the old 

 straw and stubble are a long while, in rotting 

 when there is nothing to aid them. 



But wait till Ihe tenth or fifteenth of May and 

 you have a green crop to turn under; and this 

 soon sets every thing in motion. The later you 

 turn green sward lot planting the better will you 

 succeed in rotting the furrow. We are some- 

 times induced to turn earlier than we would 

 choose lest the work should be ton much crowd- 

 ed in planting. — Massachusetts Ploughman. 



Oxen. 



Till oxen are four years old they are usually 

 called steers; afterwards oxen. The signs of a 

 good ox, according to Mr. Deane, are these: 

 thick, soft, smooth and short hair; a short and 

 thick bead; glossy, smooth horns; large and 

 .-baggy ears; wide forehead; full, black eye; 

 wide nostrils; black lips; a thick fleshy neck 

 and large shoulders ; broad reins; a large belly; 

 thick rump and thighs; a straight hack: a long 

 tad, well covered with hair; short and broad 

 boot's. The best colors are brown, dark red, 

 and brindle. When an ox has completed bis 

 eighth year be should be fattened. 



If oxen are worked in the yoke in wet weath- 

 er, their necks are apt to become sore. To pre- 

 vent this, a little tallow should be rubbed on the 

 parts of the yoke which lie upon their necks, 

 and also on the bows. 



The following remarks on the management ol 

 working oxen, are from " the New England Far- 

 mer," Vol. VI, p. 149: 



Do not retard the growth of your beasts of 

 draught, endanger their health, and tender them 

 insignificant in the eyes of many, by working 

 litem bard while young. But the younger they 

 are inured to huht work, the more docile they 

 will generally become. 



An English writer recommends carding oxen, 

 and says, " the ox, alter the sensation becomes 

 familiar, receives pleasure from the operation, 

 and will momentarily forego his meal to receive 

 the full enjoyment. His feeder perceives this, 

 arid brushes the part which gives most pleasure. 

 The ox shows his gratitude by wagging bis tail ; 

 the feeder in return calls him by name, and in- 

 gratiates himself- with him. Tims not only an 

 intimacy but a mutual affection is lot tried, w Inch 

 at once gives attention to the keeper, ami docility 

 to the ox, and renders the labors of both pleasant. 

 Their labors and their fodder ought to be pro- 

 portioned, that tht ir health and then- spirits may 

 be kept in foil tone. Their coats ought lo be 

 .sleek; their hides loose and silky: the flank 

 should (ill the band, and the shoulder handle 

 mellow. It thev be overworked or underfed, 

 sluggishness will inevitably Ibllow. A working 

 ox ought always to be bcif, that in case uf ac- 

 citlenl he may be lit for llie table. 



The common mode of working oxen by a 

 yoke has been condemned by many agricultural 

 writers. Mr. Cooper, ;m Englishman, according 

 lo Young's "Eastern tour," used collars on oxen 

 as on horses, except thai tiny wcic buckled on 

 with the narrow and open end downward. They 

 draw in harness abreast, in pairs, single, or in 

 a line, and walk as fast as horses. My Bordlej 

 said, he "saw a wagon in Pennsylvania drawn 

 by two bulls and two oxen, bridled and geered 

 in harness and collars." 



It appears by a work entiled "Letters from 

 Cuba/' by Dr. Ahiel Abbot, that in managing the 

 oxen of that island, the yoke is made fast to the 

 horns, near the roots, behind so that it does not 

 play backward and forward, ami gives to the ox 

 a similar but better chance of backing, (as in 

 teamster's phrase, it is called.) I have been as- 

 tonished at the power of those oxen in holding 

 back. There is a short bill in one of the streets 

 of this city, at an angle of 45 degrees. Stand- 

 ing at the foot of it, I saw a cart and oxen ap- 

 proach at the top, with three hogsheads of mo- 

 lasses, and the driver sitting on the forward 

 cask. The driver did not do so much as leave 

 his perch; the oxen went straight and fearlessly 

 over the pitch of the hill, and it seemed as if 

 they must be crushed to death. The animals 

 squatted like dogs, and rather slid than walked 

 to the bottom of the hill. Have we any animals 

 that could have done il ? And it" t Ley could, 

 have we any docile enough lo have done it with 

 the driver in the. cart? Thus superior is this 

 mode of yoking in holding back the load in dif- 

 ficult places. 



It gives them still more decisive advantages 

 in drawing. A fillet of canvass is laid on the 

 front below the horns; and over this fillet the" 

 cords pass, and the animal presses against the 

 most invulnerable port of his frame ; his head, 

 his neck, his whole frame is exerted in the 

 very manner in which be exerts his mighty 

 strength in combat, it is the natural way, there- 

 fore, of availing yourself id' this powerful and 

 patient animal to the best advantage. — Complete 

 Farmer. 



The Horse aud his Rider. 



The Charleston Evening News publishes the 

 following letter from Grant Thornburn, (Laurie 

 Todd,) which contains some interesting anec- 

 dotes of the horses, for which the venerable 

 writer may be considered good authority : 



"In all the universe of God, perhaps, he has 

 not given unto man it more useful, a more in- 

 telligeut, and a more grateful animal than the 

 ! orse. He is a thinking, a calculating animal. 

 Treat him as he knows be ought lo be treated, 

 and he is thy companion, thy friend, and in thy 

 defence he will sacrifice his own life. Pity he is 

 so abused, — pity lo see him bound ill a dirt 

 cart, bis bones piercing the skin, a load far be- 

 yond bis strength, a brute having two legs, but 

 more ignorant than his horse, beating him with 

 a club because he wont move the load, which he 

 is willing though unable to drag, — this unfeeling 

 mortal should he marched to the post, there to 

 receive forty stripes stive one. 



I will relate a lew anecdotes, hoping it may 

 induce men to treat him with more kindness. I 

 had the following from a gentleman, of whose 

 veracity there is no doubt. A friend of his was 

 riding home in a dark night through the wood; 

 he struck bis head against a tree and fell stunned 

 to the ground. The horse returned to the house 

 they had left, pawed at the door and some one 

 came out. The horse tin tied about, looking over 

 his shoulder, and walking ahead, lie WHS fol- 

 lowed by a man who found his master lying 

 senseless. Thus the horse saved the masters 

 life. 



When a man is uniformly kind to a horse, 

 the animal will never desert him when in dis- 

 tress. An acquaintance of mine having drank 

 deep aud late at a tavern, was placed on his 

 horse, and started lor home — fell from the saddle 

 — in the morning be was found lying asleep on 

 his side, the horse lying with his back to the 

 back of bis master. It was thought that the 

 warmth of the annual kept the man alive. 



'• I have seen," said a ti tend id' mine, " a child 

 of five years old sent for by the wile of the 

 keeper, to quiet an unruly horse, for to no other 

 poison would he yield such implicit obedience; 

 but a pat from her tiny hand, or the infantile 

 inquiry, "What's the matter with you.'" — ■ 

 was sufficient to allay every obstreperous sytrip- 

 tem — but il was only to her he yielded such sub- 

 mission, for otherwise he was a high-spirited 

 and really intractable animal. This child was 

 olten found asleep on the neck of the horse, 

 when be laid himself down in the stall, and so 

 long as she continued to .-hep, so long the horse 

 invariably remained in his recumbent position. 



There is something mysterious in the manner 

 in which the horse discovers and avoids perils of 



