1853. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



89 



obtaining the very best seed, from wliich to secure 

 the reward for the best care and culture of the 

 orchard, field and garden. 



Yours, truly, Benjamin Willard. 



Lancaster, Jan. 1, 1853. 



VflGETATION OF THE ARCTIC 

 REGIONS. 



The soil is always frozen, and merely thaws 

 during the summer a few feet below the surface. 

 But the tiiawing is by no means uniform. In peat 

 it extends not deeper than two feet, while in other 

 formations, especially in sand or gravel, the ground 

 is free from frost to the depth of nearly a fatlioni ; 

 showing that sand is a better conductor of heat 

 than peat or clay, corroborating the observation 

 of the accurate J. D. Hooker, who, after a series 

 of experiments in India, arrived at the same con- 

 clusion. The roots of the plants, even those of the 

 shrubs and trees, do not penetrate into the frozen 

 subsoil. On reaching it, they recoil, as if they 

 touched upon a rock through which no passage 

 could be forced. It may be surprising to behold 

 a vegetation flourishing under such circumstances, 

 existing independent, it would seem, of terrestrial 

 heat. But surprise is cffanged into amazement on 

 visiting Kotzebue Sound, where, on the tops of ice- 

 bergs, her lis and shrubs are thriving with a luxu- 

 riance only eciualled in more favored climes. There, 

 from Elephant to Eschscholtz point, is a series of 

 cliffs from seventy to ninty feet high, which present 

 some striking illustrations of the manner in which 

 arctic plants grow. Three distinct layers compose 

 these cliffs. The lower as far as it can be seen 

 above tlie ground, is ice, and from twenty to fifty 

 feet high. The central is clay, varying in thick- 

 ness from two to twenty feet, and being inter- 

 mingled with remains of fossil elephants, horses, 

 deer, and husk oxen. The clay is covered by 

 peat, the tliird layer bearing the vegetation to 

 which it owes its existence. Every year, during 

 July, August and September, masses of ice melt, 

 by which the uppermost layers are deprived of sup- 

 port, and tumble down. A complete chaos is 

 thus created : ice, plants, bones, peat, and clay, 

 are mixed in the most disorderly manner. It is 

 hardly possiljle to imagine a more grotesque as- 

 pect. Here are seen pieces still covered with 

 lichens and mosses, there a shoal of earth witli 

 bushes of willow. At one place a lump of clay 

 with senecios and polygonums : at another, the 

 remnants of the mammoth tufts of hair, and some 

 brown dust, wiiich emits the smell peculiar to burial 

 places, and is evidently decomposed aniuial matter. 

 The foot frequently stumbles over osteological re- 

 mains, some elephants' tusks measuring as much 

 as twelve feet in length, and weighing more than 

 two hundred and forty pounds. Nor is the for- 

 mations confined to Eschscholtz Bay. It is ob 

 served in various parts of Kotzebue Sound, on the 

 river Biickl.md, and in other localities ; making it 

 probable tluit a great portion of extreme NiH'th- 

 western America is, underneath, a solid mass of 

 ice. With such facts before us, we must acknowl- 

 edge that terrestrial heat exercises but a limited 

 and indirect influence upon vegetable life, and that 

 to the solar r.iys we are mainly indebted for tlie 

 existence of these forms which clothe with verdure 

 the surface of our planet. — Botany of the Voya!j;(: 

 ofH. M. S. ^'Dcraldr 



For the new England Farmer. 



ON POULTRY. 



Mr. Editor : — I keep a few native fowls, ex- 

 pressly for the profit of the eggs ; I raise no chick- 

 ens to sell; and I profess no skill in raising chick- 

 ens. As I am often inquired of whether I get eggs 

 enough to pay the expense of keeping, I thought 

 I would send you a fair statement of the expendi- 

 tures and income of the year 1S52, commencing 

 January 1; and if you see fit to give it a place in 

 your columns, each one may judge as to the profit 

 for himself. 



Jail. 1, 1852—32 hens, worth 2.5 cts. each $9,75 



They consumed 29 bushels of corn 22,09 



Do. 4 biiishtl.s huckwheat 2,00 



Do. 13 l)ushels,(>f OHis 67 



Do. 7i lbs. nieiil : U 



4 hens bought in the f.ill 67 



Making the ex[ienses S35,41 



Income— No. of egi^s sold, 353 dozi-n $54,6) 



2 hens raised and killed 33 



Hens on hand Jan. 1, 1853—40, worth 25 cts. each..lO CO 



Income $64,93 



Subtract expenses 35,41 



Actual proSts ^. . . $29,52 



Which bears a profit on each hen of 75 cents and 

 nearly 6 mills. You will see that I make no ac- 

 count of interest on the hens I started with, and 

 I give no credit for manure, which I consider very 

 valuable on my land, — more than the interest on 

 $9,75. And I have given no credit to the hens 

 for the eggs used in a small family. Eggs sell 

 much lower in Berkshire county than in the east- 

 ern counties. I have sold the past year 143 doz. 

 for 12 cts. per doz., and some others for 12.^ cts. 

 Hinsdale, Jan., 1853. J. Aebott. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 CULTURE AMONG TREES. 



In a recent number of the Farmer, I noticed an 

 article speaking discouragingly of culture among 

 fruit trees. I was surprised at this, because my 

 own observation has been, that the keeping the 

 ground light, and well pulverized about trees, even 

 as far as their limbs extend, and occasionally dress- 

 ing the ground with some fertilizing substance, 

 improves their growth, and their bearing qualities. 

 So fully have I been persuaded of this, that I have 

 thought their products, in a series of ten years, 

 would be doubled by so doing. I know that a 

 large proportion of tlie apple trees on our farms, 

 stand in the fields or pastures, where the grass 

 grows about them, receiving no culture or atten- 

 tion whatever ; and more tlian half the time, yield- 

 ing little or no fruit. Some trees standing thus 

 yield fruit in abundance. But as a general thinof, 

 those trees which are best cultivated, bear best, 

 both in quantity and quality. So fully satisfied are 

 the dealers of fruit in our markets of this, that 

 they will readily pay from six ti< ten per cent, more, 

 for fruit that grows on cultivated grounds. 



That trees are sometimes injured by carelessly 

 holding the plow, whereby the roots ai-e broken, 

 and the bodies barked, there can be no doubt. 

 Such culture is not to be commended. This, I think, 

 must have been the kind of cidture condemned by 

 your correspondent from Maine. I presume the 

 same kind of usage, would be equally injurious to 

 vegetables. 



I know one orchard of forty Baldwin apple trees, 



