1848. 



GENESEE FARMER. 



221 



Has not sufficient time elapsed to liave another 

 effort made to establish such an institution, and 

 the effort continued until it is crowned with 

 success 1 Great good frequently results from 

 the most humble beginnings. The writer of 

 this article believes such an institution must be 

 eventually established, and would propose that 

 active and energetic measures be now taken to 

 secure a department of Agricultural Education in 

 the " State Normal School." The Legislature 

 has appropriated -$15,000 for buildings for the 

 School, and the farmers of the Empire State 

 should bestir themselves and have a Professorship 

 of Agriculture established therein, that such 

 teachers as choose can go out to the public pre- 

 pared to teach this important branch. The 

 Chemistry and Geology of Agriculture are im- 

 portant brandies, and a school for teaching them 

 is of the utmost importance. Let such a branch 

 be added to the State Normal School — Let the 

 ball be set in motion. — Let farmers consult their 

 interest and petition the Legislature for the 

 same. — JiCt the agricltural and the political 

 press speak out, and something may be done 

 worthy the Agriculture of the Empire State. 

 Mohaiok, N. Y., Aug., 1848. H, C. W. 



Gleanings from our Foreign Exchanges. 



To MAKE Hens Lay Perpetually. — Hens 

 will lay eggs perpetually if treated in the fol- 

 lowing manner. Keep no rooster ; give the 

 hens a very small portion of fresh meat chopped 

 up like sausage meat, say half an ounce a day 

 to each hen, during the winter, or from the 

 time insects disappear in the fall, till they appear 

 again in the spring. Never allow any eggs to 

 remain in the nest for what is called nest eggs. 

 When the roosters do not run with the hens, 

 and no nest eggs are left in the nest, the hens 

 will not cease laying after the production of 

 twelve or fifteen eggs, as they always do when 

 roosters and nest eggs are allowed, but continue 

 laying perpetually. My hens lay all winter, 

 and each from seventy to one hundred eggs in 

 succession. If the above plan were generally 

 followed, eggs would be just as plentiful in 

 winter as in summer. The only reason why 

 hens do not lay all winter as freely as in summer, 

 is the want of animal food, which they get in 

 summer in abundance, in the form of insects. 

 I have for several winters reduced my theory to 

 practice, and pioved its entire correctness. — 

 Perth Courier. 



Note. — To adopt this course to our climate, it 

 will be necessary to protect them in winter by 

 *in underground room, or a stone or brick struc- 

 ture, well lighted, and an earth floor, with 

 plenty of gravel and lime. Animal food is the 

 greatest secret of causing hens to lay constantly. 

 Any animal food, as boiled scraps, liver, and 



offal of any kind will answer, with the excep- 

 tion of salted meats. 



Renovation of Old Apple-Trees. — The 

 following information received from a gardner 

 who for many years largely supplied the London 

 market with fruit, may probably be new to many 

 of our readers : — It is generally found that after 

 an apple-tree has borne for a certain number of 

 years, it becomes comparatively unproductive. 

 It has been usual in such cases to remove the 

 old tree, and replace it by a younger one. This 

 may be obviated by re-ingrafting the old tree ; 

 and according to the testimony of tlie gardener 

 above mentioned, the older the slock, the better 

 is the quality of the fruit. He had scarcely a 

 tree of any age, among several hundreds that his 

 orchard contained when the writer visited it, that 

 had not undergone this process, and in some 

 cases more than one. There were trees whose 

 trunks were so hollow as in some parts to be little 

 more than a shell, which had been subjected to 

 this operation the season before, and, judging 

 from the vigorous appearance of the grafts, with 

 perfect success. The plan he ado])ted was the 

 following : — 



The ends of the branches were saw nor cut 

 off where they were about the size of a man's 

 wrist, or rather less, and two or more scions 

 inserted in each, according to circumstances. — 

 By this means, in the course of three years he 

 obtained a large full-bearing tree. The prin- 

 cipal difficulty was to protect the new grafts from 

 damage in high winds. This was overcome by 

 ingrafting the half of the tree at one time, and 

 leaving the other to form a shelter; and comple- 

 ting the other half when the grafts were suffi- 

 ciently grown to return the shelter. It is scarce- 

 ly necessary to add, that this precaution did not 

 supersede the usual appliances for giving the 

 scions support by means of poles attached to the 

 branches. It may also be remarked, that the 

 productive powers of apple-trees are frequently 

 impaired by the want of sufficient attention in 

 gathering the fruit. The greatest care should 

 be observed in removing the apple, that the bear- 

 ing spur be not broken or injured thereby. — 

 Chambefs Journal. 



Ireland. — Almost every account of the potato 

 crop in Ireland is cheering. In reports from 

 several (forty) places in different parts of the 

 kingdom which we have seen, they all concur 

 in stating that " the general crop never looked 

 so healthy and luxuriant ; " even where it is 

 '■'■reported'''' the writers state that "' the crops ap- 

 pear good, and are not affected to any such extent 

 as to cause alarm." 



A correspondent from Ponrane, in the Irish 

 Farmers^ Gazette, says — " I examined several 

 fields and plots of potatoes in this neighbourhood, 

 and could not discover the slightest vestige of 

 the potato disease. 



