52 



&l)e Jdrmer'0 illontl)lj) bisitor. 



TRANSPLANTING EVERGREENS. 



There are no trees more beautiful than the 

 hemlock, the white pine, the spruce and the fir 

 —trees of our own hill-sides, and yet, compara- 

 tively few of them are seen about our dwellings. 

 The reason is to be found, partly in the want of 

 of what is so common, aird 



The reason 

 a just appreciation 



partly in the idea that this class of trees cannot 

 be successfully transplanted.— This idea is en- 

 tirely erroneous. In the month of April, 184/, 

 one hundred and forty white pine trees from five 

 to eight feet high, were transplanted in Exeter, 

 only one of which has died in consequence ot the 

 removal. They should be moved in the spring, 

 before they have made any growth for the sea- 

 son. In the moist climate of England the sum- 

 mer is said to be the best season for transplant- 

 ing evergreens, but a variety of experiments 

 have satisfied us beyond doubt, that this is not 

 the case here. The method to he pursued is 

 this: Select trees on the open plain, and with a 

 spade cut down round them, leaving a circle of 

 turf two feet or more in diameter about each 

 tree _then lift the tree and set it upright in the 

 wagon, with the hall of earth unbroken. At the 

 place of planting, a hole is to he made to corres- 

 pond with the ball of earth, the soil at the bot- 

 tom made light, and the tree set in, and with a 

 little earth thrown on and pressed down, the 

 work is done. Care must be taken to load the 

 roots with stones, or by driving a short stake by 

 each tree and confining it, that the wind does 

 not upset it. Evergreens should not be much 

 pruned. Their foliage is covered with a gummy 

 substance, so that evaporation does not go on 

 so rapidly from them as from deciduous trees, 

 and they do not readily recover their beauty ol 

 form, if mutilated. Evergreens should be plant- 

 ed in groups, both for beauty, and that they may- 

 be partially shaded and sheltered. Plant then 

 the evergreens of our own forest. In no way 

 can bare walls be so readily screened or the 

 starched and blank landscape so beautifully va- 

 riegated and adorned, as by setting here and 

 there little oases of the white pine and hemlock. 



TRANSPLANTING IN WINTER WITH BALLS OF 

 EARTH. 



The best of all methods of moving trees of 

 any kind, is that suggested in the above title.— 

 The process may be described in a few words: 

 Late in autumn dig a trench completely round 

 the tree, at a distance proportioned to its size, 

 cutting off all the roots, and dig under the tree, 

 but no°t so as to loosen in it; then dig away the 

 earth on one side of the hole, so that a sled or 

 dra" may be backed down under it; place some 

 straw or leaves in the bottom of the trench, or 

 cover it with boards that the bottom may not 

 freeze too hard. Leave it until the ball of earth 

 is frozen hard, and when there is a little snow, 

 remove it. It will of course he necessary either 

 to dig the hole for receiving it, before the ground 

 is frozen, or to cover the place intended for it 

 with straw, that the hole may be made in winter. 

 In the former case, a few loads of soil with 

 which to fill up may be kept in a barn-cellar or 

 otherwise protected from frost. Great care 

 should be taken to fill compactly every crevice 

 about the hall in setting, and it is well to confine 

 the tree to an upright position, by braces from the 

 ground against its lower limbs, or by other 

 means, that it may not lean when the frost comes 

 out of the ground in spring. By this process, 

 we have known elm trees of twelve and eigh- 

 teen inches diameter, and hemlocks twenty-five 

 feet in height removed with perfect success. In- 

 deed, if the work is done with skill and care, 

 the tree on awaking in the spring will scarcely 

 know that it has changed its place, and will soon 

 become entirely reconciled to its new position. 

 In this mode little pruning is necessary, and 

 most of the top may be saved, as the greater 

 part of the roots may he preserved. 



The weight of an elm tree a foot in diameter 

 with a ball of earth six feet across and eighteen 

 inches in thickness would be probably five or six 

 tons, and in order to execute the work properly, 

 a set of ropes and pullies would he found conve- 

 nient. Trees of six inches in diameter, may be 

 readily moved with a yoke of oxen and the im- 

 plements commonly at hand. 



In conclusion, we would say to all, plant trees. 

 Let every young man plant trees, that lie may 



have something ever near to bring back pleasing 

 recollections of his youth— something when he 

 is an old man that will seem of his own age, and 

 sympathize with him, and look on him, with a 

 familiar face— that he may not feel quite alone 

 among a new generation. Let the old man plant 

 trees. They will perhaps be beautiful in his 

 own time, and entice him to remain longer where 

 there is still something left to interest him, and 

 where he may still be useful— and at least they 

 will keep alive in the minds of men the memory 

 of one who lived not for himself alone. 

 For the Committee, 



H. F. FRENCH, Chairman. 

 Exeter, N. H., April 4, 1849. 



&l)e bisitor. 



CONCORD, N. H., APRIL 30, 1849. 



Beginning with Shoe-Pegs — terminating with 

 subjects more magnificent. 



Shoe Pegs.— The following, interesting sketch 

 of a factory where one thousand bushels of pegs 

 are made annually, at Vienna Village, Kennebec 

 county, is from the Maine Farmer: 



"The logs are sawed into blocks of suitable 

 length for fhe pegs, and the ends are planed 

 smooth. Grooves are then cut on the ends of 

 these blocks, crossing each other at right an- 

 gles, and these form the points of the pegs. 

 They are then separated by splitting the blocks, 

 a knife being introduced between each row of 

 points, corresponding with the grooving. All 

 these operations are performed by the machinery 

 with the utmost precision and celerity. The 

 pegs are then bleached, dried and prepared for 

 the market. We do not know what further im- 

 provements can he made in the manufacture of 

 shoe-pegs. We recollect the time when the 

 ' sons of Crispin ' made their own pegs— split- 

 ting them from the block, anil pointing them 

 with the shoe-knife. The machinery in the 

 above establishment, we will venture to say, is 

 capable of turning off more pegs in one day than 

 all the shoe-makers in the State could make in 

 the old way in the same time, while the machine 

 pegs are altogether superior. The machinery 

 here used was invented and patented by a New 

 Hampshire Yankee. 



'• Mr. Thomas C. Norris, the proprietor of this 

 factory, informed us that since September last, 

 he had sent one hundred and twenty-seven bar- 

 rels of shoe-pegs and pins for cabinet work to 

 Manchester, England. He has further orders 

 from the same place, which he is unable to sup- 

 ply at present, in consequence of the water be- 

 ing so low in the stream that he could not keep 

 his works in operation through the winter." 



The village at Meredith Bridge, one of the 

 most flourishing in prospect in New England, as 

 it is most beautiful in location, may claim the 

 right of precedence in the manufacture of shoe- 

 pegs: the establishment in Maine is but an ema- 

 nation from this greater establishment in New 

 Hampshire. We will hardly dare to say how 

 many bushels of shoe-pegs are daily turned out 

 at Meredith— quite as many as bushels of meal 

 ground in the rapidly turned stones of a modern 

 grist mill. Our information is that as many as 

 two tons of pegs a day are made at Meredith 

 Bridge, and such is the rapid increase of the 

 boot and shoe manufacture in New England thai 

 all the pegs manufactured under the New Hamp- 

 shire Yankee patent will be consumed as fast as 

 they are made. 



Shoe-pegs are an item of manufacture pre- 

 senting a clear gain from materials of our own 

 soil : no wood is better for shoe-pegs than white 

 birch and poplar, both of which until of late have 

 been considered of little value either for fuel or 

 timber. All the trees around Gunstock and Os- 

 sipee mountains and the Red Hill and other less 

 prominent hills and intervening valleys central 



in New Hampshire, are becoming more and 

 more valuable. The shoe-peg manufacture at 

 Meredith will raise the price of white birch and 

 poplar up to the point of the highest estimated 

 woods for timber. 



Meredith Bridge may also be noticed for an- 

 other New Hampshire Yankee patented inven- 

 tion, which may call for the saving of woods not 

 deemed even of value for fuel : artificial legs are 

 there made so much in the tone and spirit of the 

 living natural leg that the wearer who has been 

 deprived of that great aid to man is said to ex- 

 perience little or no inconvenience in using as 

 the other good leg. This manufacture of legs 

 at Meredith, from the increasing demand vvhere- 

 ever the value of the invention has been known 

 is already considerable — enough to give the high- 

 ly ingenious inventor and patentee as much busi- 

 ness (and we hope as much money) as he de- 

 serves. 



Meredith Bridge village has also lately added 

 to its other business that of the manufacture of 

 railroad cars, which will give employment to 

 several hundred people. The village is extend- 

 ing since the railroad has reached there so as to 

 make that and the Lake village one continuous 

 settlement. The two villages, soon to become 

 one, are located on each side of the stream part- 

 ly in Meredith and partly in Gilford. The two 

 towns lie along side the unsurpassed fine sheet 

 of water, the largest body in New England of 

 interior fresh water, the Winnipissiogee lake, 

 embracing the south-west arch of the lake. 



At Sanbornton Bridge, twenty miles out of 

 Concord, the Boston and Montreal railroad takes 

 the valley of the Winnipissiogee river, one of 

 the most steady and stable streams for water 

 power to be found in this country. Crossing 

 this stream once or twice the railroad passes be- 

 yond the old Union bridge over the head of the 

 Sanbornton bays which extend to the north 

 some ten miles, being the mark of division be- 

 tween Sanbornton and Meredith : the fine hill 

 farms of both towns on either side and in its 

 whole extent overlook the larger bay. Between 

 this and the lake is another hay in Meredith of 

 considerable extent, connecting itself with the 

 main lake at Wier's bridge, five miles above 

 Meredith Bridge and uniting Meredith and Gil- 

 ford. Either of these hays is of sufficient size to 

 be regarded as a lake of note in almost any 

 other region. Beyond Wier's bridge comes 

 down the Meredith neck, running several miles 

 into the lake : then comes, further north after 

 passing Centre Harbor, the Moultoiiborough 

 neck running down into the lake. Both of these 

 necks, as does Long island and several other 

 islands, contain valuable farms, and other good 

 lands yet to be cleared. 



The railroad from Meredith and Lake villages 

 pursues its course first along the westerly shore 

 of the Meredith bay, then passing near Wier's 

 bridge, takes the lake shore to Meredith village, 

 ten miles above the bridge, wher it rises above 

 the level first of another pond or lake discharg- 

 ing itself into the Winnipissiogee and making 

 in its few feet fall a most eligible water power 

 for various manufacturing purposes at the vil- 

 lage. This fine body of water bears the unbe- 

 coming cognomen of Measly pond. A rise of 

 some fifty to a hundred feet is encountered for 

 the railroad between this and the Long pond 

 which discharges itself in the same channel 

 with the Squam lake into the Pemigewasset river 

 at Holderness village, four miles below Plymouth. 

 A perpendicular height of several hundred feet 



