1853. 



NEW EM GLAND FARMER. 



555 



bouquet, $25 ; best 100 acres of potatoes, onions 

 and sweet potatoes, $25 each ; and for the best 

 display of vegetables, $25. We are gratified to 

 find our friends so earnest in this good cause, hope 

 they had a profitable and interesting time at their 

 Fair, but must regret that we did not receive their 

 invitation in season to be with them ! 



For the New England Farmer. 



MONTHLY FARMER FOR OCTOBER. 



While some of the New England agricultural 

 journals appear to have suffered from a summer 

 drought of original articles, the columns of the 'perabundant supply. I saw in School Street, last 



bushels of grasshoppers to the acre in Springfield, 

 Vt., this year. "SpontaneousPlants." "Poisoned 

 Valley." 



FRUIT. 



The increased attention which has been given to 

 this subject lor a few years past, has excited in 

 some minds fears that the business will soon be 

 overdone. In a trip the other day through parts 

 of Wobiirn, Wilmington, Billerica and Ciirlisle, 

 towns near the best fruit market in the United 

 States, I saw but little cause for such apprehen- 

 sions, or evidence that the " line upon line " of 

 the Farmer on this topic is unnecessary. Nor 

 does the price of fruit in Boston indicate any su- 



Farmer have been constantly fresh and vigorous 

 with new thoughts and suggestions from almost 

 every part of the country. The October number, 

 though prepared in the busy month of Sept , is 

 mostly original, and will compare favorably with 

 any preceding number of the more leisure seasons, 

 as its contents will show, if the following synopsis 

 does not. 



BIRDS. 



No. 6, of Mr. Fowler's "Birdsof New England," 

 treats of the Swallow Tribe. Two articles on the 

 " Migration of Swallows," and one on the Birds 

 of China. 



CATTLE. 



"Stock, Native and Improved," gives a descrip- 

 tion of the original wild cattle of Great Britain, 

 from which the present improved races have 

 sprung, with valuable hints on stock, &c. In- 

 quiries and suggestions about cattle gnawing bones. 



CONTROVERSIAL. 



Four pages filled by a reply to articles on " Ex- 

 perimental Farming" and " Analyses of Soils," 

 which would be more valuable were " the spirit of 

 controversy " and the style of the Debating 

 Schools more carefully avoided, especially as the 

 article treats of scientific subjects. 



CROPS. — SEASON. 



This department, perhaps less important than 

 some others, is interesting. We all like to know 

 how others prosper. The editor and correspond- 

 ents keep the readers of the Farmer "posted " in 

 these matters, by giving, in the number before us, 

 a careful " Meteorological " Record in Mansfield ; 

 "The Season and Crops" at Elmwood; in Cana- 

 da ; in Washington Co. , N. J. ; and in the country 

 generally. 



CULTIVATION. 



By a man not only born and educated, but who 

 actually grew six feet high on " Old Fields," 

 we should have a right to expect a valuable trea- 

 tise on their cultivation ; and this we certainly 

 have in the article by Mr. Brown, of Wilmington. 

 An article on the " Application of Tan to Pota- 

 toes," and one on harvesting Turnips, precede the 

 pictorial and practical illustration of the figure 

 and operation of the Deep-tiller Plow, which " is 

 equal to the overturning of a furrow slice 12 

 inches deep by 18 to 20 wide." 



CURIOUS. 



" Coal against Sinews," a calculation that five 

 tons of coal will do as much work as "a manlscriptions of "Automaton Self-Raking Reapers" 

 during the active period of his life." Headed and "Mowing Machines," better than the "Poor 

 " Swallows," is a calculation that there were 12 1 man's Plaster" for neak backs in hay time. 



week. Pears labeled — "Seckel, $1.25 a half peck,- 

 75 cents a dozen ;" "St. Michael, $1.50 a dozen;" 

 Dix, the same ; and "Louis Bonne de Jersey, 75 

 cents a dozen." The fact is, talk as we may of 

 the ease of raising good fruit, there is sufficient 

 labor, care and skill required for its production, to 

 protect industry from the competition of sponta- 

 neous production, or the crops of the sluggard. 

 It is, therefore, with pleasure that we refer to 

 this department of the Farmer, where we find a 

 strong recommendation of " Smith's Orleans 

 Plum," by N. A. Richardson, Esq. I saw his 

 trees in fruit this year, and was reminded of 

 swarms of honey-bees, so thickly were the branch- 

 es crowded. I never saw the like. Mr. R. prom- 

 ises an article on his treatment of the plum. 

 " Northern Apples " in Plattsburgh, N. Y. (By 

 the way, friend " J.R.," when you get your grafts 

 of Mr. Bailey, please ask for information about 

 Plattsburgh grass ; its equal I have never seen 

 elsewhere.) " Curled leaf in the Peach ;" "Depth 

 of Roots;" "Fruits of Iowa;" "Forcing Trees ;" 

 "Destroying Trees;" "Pears," and "Cranber- 

 ries," are the captions of appropriate articles. 

 As to cranberries, the committee of Essex Co. 

 {Mass. Trans. 1842, p. 54) say, " We have ar- 

 rived at the conclusion that upland cultivation 

 cannot be recommended." 



The intrinsic value of an editorial article on the 

 importance of preserving and planting Forests, 

 and against the "Destruction of Wood," entitle 

 it to a distinct heading and a special commenda- 

 tion. 



GARDEN. 



Is not this department too much neglected by 

 correspondents ^ The editor does well ; but should 

 he not have some assistance in the garden, as well 

 as in the field? His hints on roots, cabbages, 

 cauliflowers, squashes, &c., are, as usual, season- 

 able and to the point. 



HORSES. 



An article on "English Horses," and a notice 

 of an exhibition to be had in Springfield. 



IMPLEMENTS. 



These are great times for machines. They pare 

 apples, do up the sewing and knitting, punch 

 holes through mountains, as we boys used to do 

 through elder quilts for our mother to weave with; 

 and here, in the Farmer, we have cuts and des- 



