L 1850. 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



21 



iHuiiniituriii Dejiiirtinnit. 



EDITED BY P. BARRY. 



In our climate January weather seldom admits of tlie 

 performance of any considerable out-door work ; but 

 those who keep an eye to the future will find many 

 things pertaining to the garden and orchard, that 

 can very well be done under any condition of the 

 w?ather. How often do we hear people apologise 

 for the defective management of their gardens by 

 saying, I " had no time to attend to this or that." — 

 Their garden crops, fruit trees, &c., in their feeble 

 and stunted growth, show a great deficiency in their 

 supply of nutriment ; but there was no manure pre- 

 pared at leisure times, and when the hurry came 

 there was enough to do of greater necessity. Here 

 are trees and plants blown about by the wind, going 

 zig-zag to destruction ; but there are no stakes at 

 hand, and "there is no time to attend to it." Imple- 

 ments and fences are out of repair, and no time to put 

 them in order. Novv, the coldest of our winter 

 months is just the time to think and act upon these 

 matters. These are things that people need not be 

 told ; but we find by experience that a hint of this 

 kind in season is of great value. 



Whoever wishes to have a fruitful and flourishing 

 garden and orchard, must attend well to the prepara- 

 tion of manures and composts. You might as well 

 attempt to fatten an ox on rye straw as to grow fine 

 fruits, flowers, or vegetables, without a regular and 

 abundant supply of suitable mSfnures. How many 

 orchards are there all over the country that might bo 

 doubled, and even quadrupled in value, by a dressing 

 of manure ; and if it be prepared at leisure times, its 

 application will be an easy matter. Our purpose, at 

 present, is not to speak of the kind or quality of 

 manure. We have often heard it said that " every- 

 thing but stones will make manure ;" and there is 

 much truth in it. It would be difficult to tell what 

 material there is not in our compost heaps. For 

 special purposes it may be necessary to observe some 

 rules ; but for general purposes of cultivation, all 

 decomposable materials may be worked up into a 

 fertilizing compound for trees and plants. Whatever 

 may be said by chemists about the loss that manure 

 undergoes by fermentation, we know by actual expe- 

 rience that it is unsafe to apply unfermented animal 

 manure to living growing plants. For the garden 

 and orcliard it should be well decomposed, so that 

 when applied it might be cut with a spade. The 

 materials should all be collected and mixed, and fre- 



quently turned over during winter. If it is a year 

 old before using it will be all the better. The farmer 

 should have a separate heap for his garden and orchard. 



Then, besides the manure heap, they are many 

 articles that will be wanted In spring and summer. 

 Hot-heds, for instance, for forwarding early vegeta- 

 bles ; frames for the protection of tender or half- 

 hardy plants ; stakes for trees, dahlias, and other 

 herbaceous plants ; trellises and other designs for the 

 support of climbing plants ; rustic baskets, labels, 

 ij-c. — all these may be made now, when nothing can 

 be done out of doors. Then there are seeds to be 

 cleaned and prepared, fruits to be taken care of, iz,c. 



For reading and reflection, the great means of 

 acquiring that taste and skill upon which all Horti- 

 cultural progress depends, the winter affords glorious 

 opportunities tliat every one should improve to IJie 

 utmost. No branch of science or industrial pursuit 

 requires so much reading — so much study — as that 

 of Horticulture. There is at this time an excellent 

 spirit abroad in relation to Horticulture. Its claims 

 upon tl»e attention of all classes of community are 

 now very generally acknowledged, and the chief * 

 obstacle to its progress and successful practice, is the 

 ivant of knowledge. Farm culture, defective though 

 it'be, is yet greatly superior as a general thing, to 

 that of the garden. The arts of grafting, budding, 

 layering, inarching, and other means of propagating 

 trees and plants, that every man who has a garden 

 should be familiar with, are understood by very few. 

 The seasons and modes of sowing, gathering and 

 saving seeds, planting, transplanting, and pruning, 

 are all badly understood, and hardly \inderstood at all 

 by a large number of persons whose lives are devoted 

 to cultivation. So it is with the preparation of man- 

 ures, and the texture and improvement of soils. 



Ignorance on these subjects would be excusable if 

 there were no accessible remedy. But such is not 

 the case. Books — and good books — treating fully 

 on all these points, are cheap and abundant ; and we 

 take this occasion to suggest to those who wish to 

 make their fruit and vegetable gardens and orchards 

 profitable and creditable, — to embellish their homes 

 with trees, shrubs, and flowers, as all homes should 

 be, in this country particularly, to spend a portion of 

 the leisure winter days and nights in culling from the 

 current publications of the times such information as 

 they may feel themselves in need of, in order that it 

 may be carried into actual and profitable practice 

 during the coming season of cultivation. 



Address delivered before the Norfolk Ag. Society, on the 



occasion of its first Annual Kxliibition at Dedhnm, Mass.. 



September 6, 1819. By Hon. iMarshall P. Wilder, of 



Boston, President of the Society. 



The unusual early period at which the publishers 

 find it necessary to issue the present number, leaves 

 room at this moment merely to thank the author 

 for his kindness in sending us a copy of this address. 

 It is an elegantly printed pamphlet of 36 pages. The 

 subject of Agricultural and Horticultural improve- 

 ment are discussed with an ability and elegance of 

 style rarely met with in such productions. The dig- 

 nity and importance of agriculture — the application 

 of science to farming — the importance and quality of 

 manures — the arts of cultivation — and agricultural 

 education are treated in a masterly manner. The 

 author makes a general survey of our country, east 

 and west — its wants and capabilities^and goes for 

 New England against the world. 



I 



