308 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



July 



measuring tape and weighing sugar and nails. — 

 So strong is this feeling among us, at the islands, 

 that I am acquainted with a Christian mother, 

 who declares that she would not consent that a 

 daughter of hers should marry a farmer, because 

 farmers' work is so dirty. And yet, we all see at 

 the islands, that the nation is dying out and out, 

 and the foreign community is suJBTering, commerce 

 languishing, every thing and every body suffering, 

 because scarcely.no one is willing to cultivate the 

 earth. The Hawaiian fields might "laugh with 

 abundance ;" but instead of this, they are fruit- 

 ful in their own disgrace. Where there is one acre 

 filled with vegetation and fruitfulness, there are 

 hundreds lying uncultivated,— filled with thistles 

 and noxious, or useless weeds. Do you ask what 

 are foreigners now doing, since the crippling of 

 commerce has closed so many stores, and then 

 blighted the prospect of gain from this quarter? 

 I will tell you, gentlemen, as I told the people in 

 an address which I prepared for the chiefs and 

 their subjects, persuading them to unite with us 

 in our agricultural society. Most of them are seek- 

 ing to suck the breasts of government — dri/ though 

 they are — ivhile the mother earth shows her bosorn 

 full of nourishment and aching to he draion, they 

 turn from her with scorn. Without a figure, near- 

 ly all, with the exception of a few planters, seek 

 some easier, and as they seem to think, more hon- 

 orable method of gaining a livelihood than by toil- 

 ing, and drawing their support from the bosom of 

 the earth. You can see at once that while pub- 

 lic sentiment shall set in this direction, there is not 

 much hope that we shall become an agricultural 

 community. The Ilawaiians are wonderfully im- 

 itative. Naturally indolent, they seem rejoiced to 

 find examples of indolence among foreigners. And 

 at present, the weight of influence is so strong on 

 the side of trade, barter, which can be done on 

 horseback, that the voice of the few who are will- 

 ing to seize the plow and the hoe or spade and 

 cry — "come on; toil and eat the fruits of the 

 earth obtained by the sweat of the brow," I say 

 the voice of such seems well nigh drowned in the 

 clamor of voices which cry, "Ilosanna to trade." 



Still, I hope for better times, and that I may do 

 something to usher in the day of Hawaiian agri- 

 culture. I am laboring both by precept and ex 

 ample, to make the cultivation of the earth — as I 

 believe it to be, second to no business or profes- 

 sion, in genuine honor. With what success I may 

 toil, remains to be seen. If spared, you shall 

 hear. Yours, with esteem, J.S.Green. 



For the New Eni^land Farmer. 

 PLOWS. 

 Mr. Editor : — Dear "Sir, — I have lately had on 

 trial two plows of Ruggles, Nourse, Mason & 

 Co. 's manufacture. I tried them on about four 

 acres of green sward. Part of it was free from 

 stones and the other was not. I had always 

 supposed that the double plow would not work 

 well unless the ground was free from stones. But 

 I found it on trial otherwise. The front plow- 

 taking from three to four inches of the surftico 

 and turning it under, the back plow more easily 

 flings out the stones, by the surface being turned 

 under, and the plow keeps on in its course with- 

 out breaking the furrow. I also tried the 73 1-2, 

 which does the work admirably, if you wish for a 



flat furrow. It cuts a furrow fifteen inches wide 

 and eight deep. But the difference between the 

 two plows is this : — The double plow leaves the 

 ground in an easy state of cultivation. It not 

 only turns the surface underneath, but turns up 

 four or five inches of mould, which cannot be ob- 

 tained from the flat furrow by harrowing." And 

 by going over it once with a light harrow pre- 

 pares the ground for the reception of seed. 



I think that Mr. Knox, the pattern maker for 

 Ruggles, Nourse, Mason & Co., has made great 

 improvement on the Michigan double plow. 



Respectfully yours, Peter Fay. 



Southboro\ May 2bth, 1853. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 BORERS—VARIETY OF. 



S. Brown, Esq. : — A lady correspondent calls 

 for an explanation of the borer, described by me 

 in your March number, stating, that the one which 

 I described is not among her acquaintances — I 

 wish it was not among mine, as its depredations 

 upon my trees have destroyed some of my fairest 

 and best. 



There are several worms of similar size, color 

 and configuration, which may appropriately be 

 called by the name of borer — among them maybe 

 reckoned, the common wood worm, which is found 

 in such abundance in seasoned wood during its 

 second summer. I have now before me tAvo of this 

 class, halfaninehin length. The work of this 

 kind commenced about a year since, upon a cord 

 of wood, and such were their numbers and activi- 

 ty, that the bark now readily cleaves from the 

 wood, they having entirely eaten the sap-wood im- 

 mediately beneath the bark ; they are now about 

 one year old ; how long they occupy in the round 

 of their existence I am unable to say. 



There is another kind of similar configuration, 

 much larger, often two inches in length, and as 

 large round as a pipe-stem, found in soft decayed 

 wood. There is another kind called the sawyer 

 or oak-pruner. These generally feed upon the 

 sap-wood f\f oak branches, until, at length they 

 eat into the centre of the limb, and finally cut it 

 off, when the branch and the worm fall to the 

 ground together. 



Another kind called the peach tree borer, pre- 

 vails to a considerable extent among us. The eggs 

 of this insect are laid in the spring, and early sum- 

 mer, upon the peach tree very near the ground. 

 When hatched, the maggot immediately eats its 

 way within the bark, and feeds upon the bark and 

 sap-wood, usually leaving the outer bark unbro- 

 ken ; its depredations are usually at or below the 

 surface of the ground, and its presence may be de- 

 tected by the flow of gum, mixed with its cuttings. 

 I have never been able to prevent or destroy this 

 insect, except by removing them from the tree. 

 This may be easily done by first removing a few 

 inches of earth around the tree, and then with a 

 sharp pointed knife find the habitation of the 

 worm, which is always in the sap-wood just under 

 the bark. But of all the evils with which the fruit 

 grower has to contend, the apple tree borer, which 

 also attacks the quince, locust, ash, and some oth- 

 ers, is the greatest. This is the borer of which I 

 attempted to record the history, just as the borer 

 itself has recorded it upon my apple trees ; togeth. 

 er with such observations as seemed to me migh 



