54 



THE FARMER'S MONTHLY V ISITOR 



April, 1842. 



I packed up my tilings and slung the saddle on 

 my back, trailing my gun in my hand, 1 started 

 on my route. After I had advanced a quarter of 

 a mile, I looked back, and saw him standing with 

 his head and tail very high, looking alternately at 

 ine and at the spot where 1 had been encamped, 

 and left a little fire burning. In this condition he 

 stood and surveyed the prairies around for a while, 

 as I continued on. He at length walked with a 

 hurried step to the spot, and seeing every thing 

 gone, began to neigh very violently, and at last 

 started off at the fullest speed, and overtook me, 

 passing within a few paces of me, and wheeling 

 about at a few rods distance in front of me trem- 

 bling like an aspen leaf 



" 1 called him by his familiar name and walked 

 up to him with the bridle in my hand, which 1 

 put over his head, as he held it down for me, and 

 the saddle on his back, as he actually stooped to 

 receive it. I was soon arranged, and on his back 

 when he started off upon his course as if he was 

 well contented and pleased, like his rider, with 

 the manoeuvre which had brought us together 

 again, and afforded us mutual relief from our 

 awkward positions. Though this alarming freak 

 of Charley's passed off and terminated so satis- 

 factorily, yet I thought such rather dangerous 

 ones to play, and I took good care after that night 

 to keep bitii under njy strict authority ; resolving 

 to avoid further tricks and experiments till we got 

 to the land of cultivated fields and steady habits." 



The foregoing reminds us of a blood mare 

 which the Editor of the Visitor has owned for the 

 last five years. The natural gait of this mare 

 with some drivers, is six or seven miles an hour 

 but she only goes, when we have hold of the rein; 

 while travelling on a journey, from four to five 

 miles. With some persons she shows herselfof- 

 ten in bad humor: with us, saving in one respect 

 alone, she has always been kind. Three or 

 four years ago her hatred of going down hill in a 

 wagon or chaise was bad : she would take the 

 bits in her mouth as if to run down swiftly, ma- 

 king it necessary to hold on in full strength ; and 

 Eornetimes she threatened in that position to kick 

 high with her heels : in short, in the most dange 

 rous part of the road, she seemed no better to 

 be relied upon than an unbroken colt. Return- 

 ing with the youngest boy of our family from a 

 pretty long journey three years ago in a heavy 

 chaise, we came to the lop of Dimond's hill on 

 the line between Hopkinton and Concord : pro- 

 ceeding part way, the beast discovered herself 

 like the beast, headstrong and seemingly ungov- 

 ernable. At the steepest point of the hill, while 

 dancing and pressing down under the tight hold 

 of the bits, the chaise forcing itself heavily on the 

 horse, one of the reins broke ! The first thought 

 ■was that of being dashed to pieces on this very 

 steep road before we arrived at the bottom ; but 

 the breaking of the rein was at once the signal 

 for the mare to stand still, holding the chaise 

 •with her body until we alighted upon the grotmd ; 

 and this was done where the angle in the road 

 was as steep as that of the roof of some houses. 

 In this act the creature discovered the knowledge 

 that if she misbehaved, she would do it when 

 her driver had direction and control of the reins, 

 and not when the breaking of a rein transferred 

 to her the responsibility. 



The same creatiu'e, a few days before writing 

 this, came very nigh taking the life of the man 

 who had been driving her. For some cause he 

 had in drawing a loai tackled with two other 

 horses, used the whip upon her freely. The team 

 caine home to the barn in a sweat just before sun 

 down, and the driver undertook to smooth the 

 horses down with the use of the curry-comb. He 

 commenced upon the mare by stooping before 

 licr: she reared upon her hind feet and he retreat- 

 ed backwards while stooping. Not satisfied with 

 aiming a blow at him once, she pursued him into 

 a corner near which he stood — struck again with 

 her fore feet — as he said, not seemingly with the 

 force of anger but as if determined to give him 

 just such a blow as he could bear. With this 

 fore foot blow, she made an incision upon the top 

 of his head and forehead several inches in length, 

 from which the blood issued copiously. Had the 

 blow been such an one as would have been natu- 

 ral from the manner in which it was laid on, it 

 might be expected that death would almost in- 

 stantly ensue, as a woodman's heavy axe with the 

 strength of a man woidd be scarcely more dan- 



gerous tliriii llir- biow from a horse's houi" «ith a 

 sharpened sIiul^ It was in this case only a flesh- 

 wouud, which although it might have been fatal 

 to some constitutions, was attended with no worse 

 result than confinement of the man a week to 

 house after it had been sewed up. 



From ("olman's Fourth Report. 



Farming in Massachusetts. 



Fruits and Ouchabds. — Middlesex comity 



is distinguished for the abundance and excellence 



of its fruit, embracing many varieties. 



One of the largest products of small fruits is 

 that of strawberries. These are cultivated in 

 great perfection and with corresponding profit. 

 In one case, 1 have known an individual to sell 

 six hundred dollars' worth from an acre in a 

 single season ; and in another case, from a little 

 more than an acre, another farmer to sell 3000 

 quart-boxes, averaging, after commissions of sale 

 were deducted, 25i cents per box, or, in the 

 whole, 765 dollars. These are cultivated in wide 

 drills, on narrow beds. In the autumn, they are 

 covered with straw, sea-weed, or fresh-meadow 

 hay : in the spring this is raked off, and good ma- 

 nure is abundantly dug in between the drills, and 

 then the litter is replaced between the rows. This 

 serves the double purpose of keeping the grounrl 

 moist, and likewise ol^ keeping the fruit from the 

 dirt. The vines require to be replanted once in 

 three years. 



Peaches are cultivated to some extent, though 

 under many discouragements. They were raised 

 nearly half a century ago with much more suc- 

 cess than of late years. A farmer in Waltham 

 has sold 700 dollars' worth in a season from his 

 peach orchards. I mention such facts as these, 

 which are unquestionable, with a view to stimu- 

 late the farmers to the cultivation of fruit of 

 every description. With the present rapid in- 

 crease of the population in the cities, and the 

 multiplication of manufacturing villages, there is 

 no danger of over-production. With the extra- 

 ordinary increase of wealth likewise, to which 

 our community is evidently destined, we may 

 expect an increase of luxiny ; and I have known 

 within the two last years, peaches, which were 

 brought forward very early in a green-house, and 

 were of the best kind, to be sold for six dollars 

 per dozfu in the market. The cultivator, whose 

 establishment is small, sold to the amount of 

 seventy dollars in a season, and could have 

 doubled his sales, if he had had the fruit. It 

 need not trouble the conscience of the farmer to 

 administer to so innocent a luxury as that of in- 

 dulging in fine fruit, however lilierally his cus- 

 tomers may be willing to pay for it. In general, 

 peaches are a short-lived ti'ee, but as tliey are 

 easily cultivated, and come soon into bearing, a 

 supply should he constantly coming forward. A 

 rare-ripe peach-tree, on the farm of John Welles, 

 of Natick, in this county, producing fruit of an 

 excellent quality, continued in bearing more than 

 a third of a century, and being a natural peach, 

 that is, not engrafted, the trees from the stones 

 of this fruit preserve entirely the character of the 

 original. The best cultivators advise to keep a 

 peach orchard constantly cultivated, and cover 

 the roots of the trees with salt hay or littei-, in 

 the autumn. Some prefer to jilant these trees on 

 land with a northern rather than a southern as- 

 pect, as in the former case their vegetation is re- 

 tarded in the spring, and they are not so liable to 

 the alternations of freezing and thawing. 



A very successful and most skilful farmer, 

 George Pierce, of West Cambridge, who, by his 

 skill and industry, deserves all the success which 

 he obtains, succeeded last year in spite of the 

 drought, in obtainhlgun abundant crop of peach- 

 es, when many otliers failed. The quality of his 

 fruit may be determined by the fact, that many 

 of them brought at once in the market, one dollar 

 per dozen. They were grown in the open air. 

 He surrounded his peach-trees, which he culti- 

 vated with the same care as his corn and cab- 

 bages, with a bedding more than a foot thick of 

 litter, being his refuse bean vines, embracing a 

 space of two yards or more in diameter. Sever- 

 al times during the drought, he poured one or 

 two barrels of water from the neighboring pond 

 upon his litter, so that it was kept constantly 

 moist. He did this once a week until rain came. 

 The effects upon the trees were excellent and al- 

 most immediately apparent. His trees yielded 

 an abundant and perfect crop. When such re- 



directed labor in cases most ujip. >mising, it is 

 lime for many of us to cease talking about our 

 bad luck." A large part of mankind neversuc- 

 ceed because they are not willing or arc too in- 

 dolent to take the obvious means of success. 

 They want the reward without complying with 

 the conditions ; and to have the pleasure of the 

 dance without paying the fiddler. It is not 

 strange that such persons find " no luck about 

 the house." 



The cidtivation of apples in Middlesex county 

 is carried on to a large extent, and might he in- 

 creased with great advantage. Great pains are 

 taken to produce the very best engrafted fruit, 

 especially for winter, and among these, the Bald- 

 win Apple and the Golden Russet, are in most 

 esteem. The Porter Apple, which is an early 

 autunmal fruit, is greatly valued. The amount 

 of sales from some of the farms in the county 

 are quite large. A farmer in Waltham is accus- 

 tomed to put up for market, from 500 to 700 bar- 

 rels. On a farm in Woburn, which has been 

 almost created by the labor of its present pro- 

 prietor, now in a green old age, enjoying the 

 fruits of his indomitable industry, the sales of 

 apples the year before the last amoimted to J200 

 dollars. There are other farms, where the pro- 

 duct in fruit is greater than here, but as I have 

 not the |)recise accounts, I do not state them. 

 These results may surprise many of the farmers 

 in the interior. "l hope they will surprise them 

 into the imitation of such industry and enterprise. 

 To many of the farmers in the interior, the ex- 

 tension of the railroads will afford, in this matter 

 and in many others, an opportunity of coming 

 into equal competition with the farmers in the 

 immediate vicinity of the capital. There are new 

 reasons for the cultivation of apples since their 

 value for the feeding of swine and cattle has 

 been discovered. If Ihey are only half as valua- 

 ble as potatoes, and many farmers deem them of 

 equal value for this purpose, the ease with which 

 they are raised strongly recommends their culti- 

 vation. 



There are many orchards in Middlesex of large 

 extent and in excellent condition. Two were 

 some time since the subjects of premium from 

 the Massachusetts Agricultural Society. The 

 one belonging to Nahimi Hardy, of Waltham, 

 who reclaimed eight acres of land from a wild 

 and rude state, and planted it with 500 ai)ple- 

 trees, all engrafted fruit; the other of E. Phin- 

 ney, of Lexington, who brought a rough piece of 

 land into a suitable condition and planted it with 

 400 trees. Both these farmers have extended 

 their cultivation since that time, and the admir- 

 able condition of their trees evince the skill and 

 care of their management. The product of the 

 orchard of the latter, makes a large item in the 

 returns of his farm. He has more than a thou- 

 sand trees in bearing. 



Mr. Phimiey saved some of his trees a few- 

 years since by a process which is worth record- 

 ing. They had been completely girdled near the 

 groimd in the winter by the mice, who had eaten 

 the bark round to a width of two or three inches 

 or more. But cutting scions, and inserting the 

 ends of several of them in the spring round the 

 tree, under the bark, above and below the injury, 

 so as to form a communication for the sap, the 

 injm-ed parts have begun to grow together, the 

 whole wound may ultimately be covered, and the 

 tree live and flourish. To most persons, after the 

 injury their situation would have .seemed des- 

 perate. Mr. Phinney avoids planting his trees 

 deep; but cultivates them as near the surface as 

 he can, and at the same time sufficiently to cover 

 the roots. 



John Welles, whose farm is in Natick, in this 

 county, and than whom i'cw men among us have 

 given more attemion to the subject of fruit and 

 forest trees, considers the ordinary life of apple 

 trees about sixty years; but it would be desirable 

 to replace them' soon after their decline com- 

 mences. The situation most favorable to an 

 orchard is a sheltered situation with a moist soil. 

 He succeeded in producing a valuable growth of 

 trees on a light and unfriendly soil, by making a 

 hole for planting four feet square ; after remov- 

 ing about a foot of the top soil, which was to be 

 returned round the tree, taking out the hard pan 

 at bottom to a sufficient depth to deposit in it 

 a load of stones, and then sprinkling some mould 

 on the stones and planting his tree. The stones 



