1853. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



313 



■will be broken. The land Ijing near the house is 

 easily overlooked and tilled. "A walk in the 

 orchard" will become a pleasure the whole family 

 may often and conveniently enjoy. 



I prefer ground that is level for an. orchard, to 

 that which is uneven ; principally for this reason, 

 — the greater ease of cultivation. By frequent 

 plowing among trees on a side hill, ridges are pro- 

 duced which are a damage to the land. Heavy 

 rains, also, wash the soil down from tlie top to the 

 valley, whei*e it accumulates to an unprofitable 

 depth. The team-work on hilly ground is great, 

 and fatiguing. It is economy to have as little such 

 as possible. 



It will be understood, that I suppose the or- 

 chard to be plowed and cultivated every year. — 

 To be sure, I believe in no other system. You 

 must take care of your trees as you would of your 

 corn and notatoes. Clear cultivation with these 

 crops, all allow is necessary. The idea that young 

 trees will ever grow in a tough green sward is an 

 absurdity. Therefore, I would plant the orchard 

 with something — low-hoed crops nearest the rows 

 are the best — every year. Some plant a few po- 

 tatoes around their trees. "It keeps the land 

 loose," they say. This is sheer nonsense, and a 

 bad pi-actice. Such seem afraid the trees will hav» 

 too good a chance. What they gain in the few 

 potatoes — which in fact is no gain, being so scat- 

 tered — is doubly lost to the tree. 



I will add to these suggestions a paragraph from 

 Cole's American Fruit Book. That Mr. Jones 

 knows how to obtain a generous return from his 

 orchard, it is by being generous to it himself. 



"Mr. MosES JoNES, orBrookline,in this vicinity, 

 a most skilful cultivator, set 112 apple trees, two 

 rods apart, and peach trees between both ways. — 

 The eighth year, he had 228 barrels of apples, and 

 in a few years from setting the trees, $400 worth 

 of peaches in a single year ; and the best part of 

 the story is, that large crops of vegetables were 

 raised upon the same land, nearly paying for the 

 manure and labor. The tenth year from setting, 

 many of the apple trees produced four or five bar- 

 rels each." w. d. b. 



Concord, Mass., May, 1853. 



world will make upon it. Agriculture will flour- 

 ish, because the demand for its products will bo in- 

 cessant, and then the good seed of our friend will 

 spring up, cover the islands with beautiful fields 

 of corn and grain, trees, vegetables, and all man- 

 ner of fruits and flowers. May he live to behold 

 a still greater change than this, springing from his 

 noble eflbrts. 



IST Will he inform us in what manner we can 

 occasionally send him such books and periodicals 

 as we may think would ]ye useful and interesting 

 to him in his extensive field of practice and obser- 

 vation ? 



HAWAIIAN AGRICULTURE. 



The reader will find an interesting letter in an- 

 other column, on the subject of agriculture at the 

 Sandwich Islands. lie will find, too, that the 

 same prejudices exist there against honest toil, 

 that are to be found among us here. We thank 



A CHAPTER FOR NICE OLD FARMERS. 



Can any body tell why country people so uni- 

 versally and pertinaciously persist in living in the 

 rear of the house? Can any body tell why the 

 front door and windows are never opened, save on 

 the 4th of July and at Thanksgiving time ? Why 

 Zedekiah, and Timothy, and Jonathan, and the 

 old flirmer himself, must go round the house, in 

 order to get into it? why the whole family (obliv- 

 ious of six empty rooms,) take their "vapor bath," 

 and their meals, simultaneously, in the vicinity of 

 a red hot cooking range, in the dog days? Why 

 the village artist need paint the roof, and spout, 

 and window frames bright crimson, and the doors 

 the color of a mermaid's tresses? Why the detes- 

 table sun-flower (which I can never forgive "Tom 

 Moore" for noticing) must always flaunt in the 

 garden? Why the ungraceful prim p'oplar, fit em- 

 blem of a stiff old bachelor, is preferred to the 

 swaying elm, or drooping willow, or majestic horse- 

 chestnut? 



I should like to pull down the green paper win- 

 dow-curtains, and hang up some of snowy muslin. 

 I should like to throw wide open the hall door, 

 and let the south wind play through. I should 

 like to go out in the woods, and collect fresh, 

 sweet, wild flowers to arrange in a vase, in place 

 of those defunct dried grasses, and old maid "ev- 

 erlastings." I should like to show Zedekiah how 

 to nail together some bits of board for an embryo 

 lounge ; I should like to stuff it with cotton, and 

 cover it with a neat "patch." I should like to cush- 

 ion the chairs after the same fashion. Then I should 

 like, when the white-haired old farmer came panting 

 up the road at twelve o'clock, with his scythe hang- 

 ing over his arm, to usher him into that cool, com- 

 fortable room; set his bowl of bread and milk be- 

 fore him, and after he had discussed it, cnox him 

 (instead of tilting back on the hind legs of a hard 



our correspondent for the interesting letters he 



furnishes, and for the hearty interest he feels in :^;;;°i;y7o"t;^7;;'^,,7^'^j;uygr^^^^^^ 



the noble pursuit of that calling, which, if any jsofa, while I kept my eye on the clouds, to see 



can, will elevate the human race and lead it on that no thunder shower played the mischief with 



to the highest enjoyments and dignity it is capa- hisjiay 



ble of achieving here. He must not be disheart- 

 ened. If the seed he casts to the earth foil to 

 spring up and grow, that which he is sowing by 

 his excellent cxam^ha will not fail, hut increase an 

 hundred fold ! 



As the native population dwindles away, that 



I should like to place a few common sense, prac- 

 tical books on the table, with some of our fine daily 

 andnveekly papers. You may smile ; but these in- 

 ducement^and the comfortable and pleasant air 

 of the apartment would bring the family oftener 

 together after the day's toil ; by degrees they 

 would lift the covers of the books, and turn over 



«i.o-if i-oofino. v,ia«a ;„ fv.^ V u c ^- the newspapers. Constant interchange of thought, 



great restinor-piaee in the hishwav of nations <• i. "^i* • • •,! t • r..! „ :™S„_ 



^ ^, ,jx "l&iivv.ij, ui "'^"'^"'^ feeling and opinion, with discussions of the impor- 



must be peopled by a more active race, in order to | tant and engrossing questions of the day, would of 



supply the demands which the commerce of the Icourse necessarily follow. 



