108 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



March 



knowledge of how she curiously fashions bud, and So may the valleys echo with your tones, and the 

 leaf, and blossom, of various form and color, and hills send back the sounds to the remotest parts 

 taste and fragrance from the same air and earth Qf ji^g j^nd. 



and water — giving us at least some hints of the re- ' 



suits of her elective affinities — showing us that 

 each rootlet instinctively seeks out the nourish- 

 ment essential to the plant — that the elements' 

 which compose the harvest must be somehow sup- 1 Mr. Brown : — Sir, T noticed in a late number of 



For the New England Farmer. 

 BLACK KNOTS ON PLUM TREES, 



plied to the growing crop, and that the ear of corn the New England Far /ner, an inquiry by W. R. C.^ 

 is but a new arrangement of particles of matter concerning the black knots on plum trees, and a 

 every one of which before existed, and that Nature reply by G. B. Slade. So much has been pub- 

 herself, however mysteriously, works with means, \hhed upon the subject, that I can hardly expect 

 and though she fashions anew, never creates. [to communicate anytliing new, yet I feel disposed 



^ I to give an account of some of the experiments that 



THE MILK TRADE. !^ ^;;.^'^ wUnessed. The practice of W. R. C in 



: cuttmg on the warts as soon as they appear, ana 

 This important business is attracting considera- 1 burning them, is a good one, and the recommen- 

 ble interest. The flxcts elicited at the recent con-;dation of Mr. Slade, saying, "cut freely, sparing 

 ventions have drawn attention to the subject, and,iio imperfection of wood," cannot be improved up- 

 . J , ,, 1 J ion. There IS indisputable evidence that the ex- 



peopie are surprised at the looseness and uncer- _„ 4.u^t e • t e -j-u^^, 



^ .^ . ^ .^ erescences are the work oi msects, for in the ex- 



tamty in which the matter is conducted. It islperiments made by different members of my fami- 

 just as important to the consumer as to the pro-|ly, two different species of insects have uniformly 

 ducer, that the whole trade should be regulated by been found to inhabit them. One, the curculio, 

 law, as is all other commerce. We trust that'^'" P^^"» ^'^evil; and the other, a small moth, about 



those who have taken the incipient measures to- i^^^'^^*'^ ^'^ %" ^°'^' ^° H°^*V ^j°f l^^^i^S t'j^ 

 , 1 i- .. -1, , ,• 11, . J appearance 01 copper, watered with brown velvet, 



wards regulating it, will be active and determined /j^'j^ experiments were made by cutting out a sec- 

 until all those guards andrestraints are sanctioned! tion of the limb containing the excrescence, and 

 by th« Legislature, which are indispensable to a; placing it in a small box or glass partly filled with 

 fair trade in the article. ! moist earth, covering the top with coarse gauze 



The people of Waltham have backed up iX-,^i^\lo ^^io ^&mit^\v,jin&^v^x^mes<,ji^<,. My daugh- 

 . ,, /-,,., , ,r Iters, m pursuing their experiments, procured a lot 



action in the Convention by several meetings, atlf^heap glass tumblers and rings of wire that 

 one of which they adopted the following pream-| could be passed over them easily, then cut pieces 

 ble and resolutions. We hope to find this spirit! of gauze large enough to fall over the top, about 

 prevailing in every town in the Commonwealth. | an inph deep,and wound the edge of theguaze over 



inn i.i.1, ^T-n /-. X- 1 n • -r. I the rino; and sewed it tight, thus makino; the cov- 



Whereas at the M.Ik Conven ion held in Boston, ^, g,,„°, ^^^ ^asy to l>e°managed. The maggots 

 Jan. 2bth It was voted to adopt wine measure l.^^uld, in a short time, leave the excrescence, apart 

 as a standard measure for milk also to petition 5^ ^^^ th^ oth^r part enter the earth; 



the Legislature for the passage of an act requiring f.^^^^ ^^e cocoons came the moths above described, 

 all milk cans to be sealed. Therefore i ^j^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^^^^ ^^e earth were curculios. 



Resolved, That we the farmers of Waltham, do; of course, we were exceedingly puzzled to de-' 



heartily concur with those resolut,ons_ which aim at ,ja,,^l,5,j,ie,,^ere the authors of the mis- 

 a reform much needed, and when carried into effect „i,;^f Or... aon«nr 

 will prove a mutual benefit both to the producer 

 and consumer. 



Resolved, That on and after April 1st, we will 

 sell our milk by wine measure, and by no other. 



As it is a well known fact to every farmer that 

 the producing of milk is a money losing business. 



chief. One season, when the late frosts had de- 

 stroyed the fruits, the black warts were unusual- 

 ly numerous ; we then supposed it must be the 

 eurculio, but more recent investigations have con- 

 vinced me that it is the moth, and that the eurcu- 

 lio takes possession of the spongy excrescence for 

 want of other accommodations. I have come to 



Resolved, That we ^.^11 take such measures _ as | the above conclusion, from the fact, that the black 

 Trhriarr F^^^'^^er a flur compensation jknots have within threeor /our years almost en- 

 ' I tirely disappeared in this vicinity, while the rava- 



Address at tue Vermont State Fair. — Through 

 the polite attentions of the author, Wm. S. King, 

 editor of the Journal of Agriculture, we have re- 

 ceived a copy of the Address delivered by him at 

 the late State Fair in Vermont. After a brief no- 

 tice of the object of such associations, and a glance 

 at the offerings on the occasion, the address is 

 principally devoted to the inculcation of scientific 

 husbandry. It is written in an easy and attrac- 

 tive style, abounds with forcible illustrations, and 

 knocks in the head a thousand of the current pre- 

 judices.which exist. Labor omnia vincil, brother 

 King — we shall conquer if we labor and fiiint not. 



ges of the eurculio are as destructive as ever. 

 Moreover, the excrescences do not appear until 

 the month of July, and long before that time the 

 first crop of curculios have done their work, and 

 undergone their change. 



The moths must, of course, pursue the habits of 

 all the wood borers, lay their eggs on the bark of 

 the limb, and when they are hatched, the little 

 maggots eat through the bark into the wood and 

 there increase in size until they are ready to go 

 into the chrysalis state, preparatory to their change 

 into the perfect insect. Mr. Slade thinks that lo- 

 cality has nothing to do with it. I think so too, 

 but am convinced that variely has, for I have no- 

 ticed that trees bearing a certain kind of plum 

 were destroyed, or their limbs killed and rendered 



