1851. 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



109 



CJIonCienBCi) €orrc0ponlicnce. 



Such a mass of matter has accumulated on our hands 

 of late, mostly communications from practical fartn- 

 ers, that we are compelled to condense them or leave 

 the greater part unpublished. Some of these it is 

 necessary that we should give the present month, to 

 be of any advantage the present season. We have, 

 therefore, concluded to give a few pages in a con- 

 densed form, retaining, however, all the material 

 statements. 



PROPER TIME FOR FELLING TIMBER, &c. 



.Messrs. Eeitoks : — Having for the past two years been a 

 reader of your vahiable paper, I consider myself under obliga- 

 tions to its Editors and Contributors for the pains taken to 

 please, as well as to instruct its patrons in the various depart- 

 ments of our useful occupation. And. notwithstanding much 

 ability and practical knowledge are displayed by most of its 

 coniriliutors, it is to bo expected that all of them have some- 

 thing yet to learn, and are liable to be mistaken in vvhat they 

 feel well assured they perfectly understand. 



In perusing the pages of the Farmer, I sometimes find 

 what is not in accordance with my views ; and. as truth is 

 frequently elicited by compuring diseordant opiniiiis, and 

 weighing asiigned reasons, I have concluded, as brietfy as 

 possible, to notice a few subjects upon which I, or some 

 others, want a littlo more ligiit ; and. perhaps, ask a few 

 questions, and impart my raito of information, for tlie benefit 

 of our great fraternity ; provided, of course, the editors think 

 my contribution worthy the room it would occupy. 



First, I would advert to an extract from a letter on the 

 proper time of felling timber, and the editorial remarks there- 

 on, on page 11, of the current volume. If there is so great 

 a difference in the durability of timber, cut in different sea- 

 sons of the year, as the writer feels confident of, certainly it 

 is a matter of importance to us to know it, and ts know 

 when IS the right time ; neither would we object to knowing 

 the reasons therefor, as it might be well worth while to put 

 by some of our ordinary business, urgent as it is. at the sea- 

 son proposed by the writer, if thereby we might save half 

 the expense of fencing our farms. 



When I was a boy, some thirty years ago, I was taught 

 to cut bushes, for the purpose of killing them, just after they 

 had completed their annual growth ; the reason assigned 

 was, the roots were exhausted by f.irnishing the material for 

 their growth, and the sap that was necessary to enable them 

 to withstand the effects of winter, was not returned to thoui 

 bul was still in the trunks and branches. Our late friend 

 and devotee of agricultural iinprovoinent, Jessk l?i;i;i,, wise 

 as he w.is, entertained a theory as absurd as the aliove, tlial 

 is, that the sap is in the alSiurniim or sap-wood in summer, 

 and in the heart-wood in winter. Now provided the pres 

 enco of sap. witiioiit reference to its condition, be the cause 

 of the speedy decay of ti;nber, then, of cour.se. it vvo;dJ be 

 best, if tlie sap occ jpies the roots in winter and the trunk 

 and brandies in sunnncr, to cut timber of all kinds;, and for 

 all purposi's, in the f )rmer season ; but if the sap fills alter- 

 nately the pores of the he.irt and sap-wood, then cut in sum- 

 mer, especially large timber, which is mostly heart-wood. 

 But both of tbe above no'.ions are, in my opinion, but no- 

 tions, and without any foundation in truth. 1 concur in the 

 remark of the editor, that " the proportion of sap or water in a 

 green tree, varies but little in different seasons of the year, as 

 compared vi'ith its dry matter." 'I'lie condition of the sap 

 at the time of felling timber, must tiien. in my opinion, be 

 looked to as affecting its durability ; and ihe relative strength 

 of sticks that have been cut at different times, I would attri- 

 bute to another cause than that of their cells being stored 

 with starch and albumen. If timber is cut before the insol- 

 uble starch and albumen are, by the vital energies of the 

 tree, converted into soluble sugar, gum, &c., the sap or wa- 

 ter is evaporated, and' no fermentation effected ; but if the 

 tree is felled when its pores are filled with a solution of su- 

 gar, dextrine, and gum, as soon as the vital action is suspen- 

 ded, a play of chemical affinities commences, and a rapid 

 decomposition, not only of the substances held in solution, 

 but p;irti:illy of the woody filircs of tiie aibnrnum. iscffected. 

 and a consequent weakening of its cohesive property. But 

 after all, is the evil so great as is imagined ? Undoubtedly 

 it is in a sapling of suitable size for a lever. But the ques- 

 ion I propose for solution is, whether the heart wood is at all 



affected by the condition of the sap? whether there is any 

 circulation of sap going on in its pores ? whether vitality in 

 it is not extinct, and it serves only as a support to the won- 

 derfully organized .structure and vital operations by which 

 it is envelopiMl, wailing the summons of the woodman's axe 

 to appropriate it to his use at any season that may best suit 

 his convenience. 



On page 41) of the same volume of the Farmer, I notice a 

 communication from a person who, it seems to me, is not 

 quite so competent to answer the enquiries of those who ask 

 for information on the best mode of destroying, or resiriciing 

 to prescribed limits, that pest of our farms, the Snapdrason, 

 (Lmaria Anlirrhiuum) as though he had been better acq u'a'in- 

 ted with its habits, for, from his observations, we would in- 

 fer that he has once passed through a district infested with 

 it, and has cultivated it in a flower border, but not long 

 enough to know that it is a pcrrennial instead of an annual. 

 We, who have been fighting it some twenty years, with the 

 vain hope of its final extermination, do not feel disposed to 

 set onl- brother fanners to digging with a hoe, but I would 

 recommend the use of salt, where it appears in isolated 

 patches: and would all the farmers in a neighborhood not 

 much infested with it, unite in a war of externiination it 

 might be kept from Sjirtading, except by its gradual en- 

 croachment from districts alre.uiy overrun ; but o'li- farmers 

 arc not all c.iref il, and if it is suffered to take quiet posses- 

 sion of one farm, the owners of those adjoining may 

 n.'arly as well give up, for ihe light seeds are driven by tiie 

 winds on the crusted snow from field to lield, and every root 

 broken by the jdow is sure to produce a progeny of tiny 

 plants, in which case the farmers only alternaliVe fs. to ma- 

 nure well and smutlicr it with a luxurious growth of grass or 

 grain. In hue I crops it is not to be dreaded, neither'^does it 

 nourish m good meadows, or fields well cultivated vviih grain, 

 but in poor pastures it seems to find a congenial home, and 

 gr.ass and weeds of every (dass yield it undisputed posses- 

 sion ; but even then, a good coat of manure, and plowiiif^ 

 and seeding with a liberal hand will prove effectual. This 

 may seem like giving up to an enemy too easily, nut from 

 long observation and experience, I am persuaded that it 

 would be time and labor thrown away to tfy to destroy 

 snapdragon by digging, after it had spread to any considera- 

 ble extent. 



I will not at this time comment upon any other subject 

 but as the sea.son fn- gardening is approaching. I will com- 

 municate a little item of information, that ma.v^be of service 

 10 some who are fond of Lima Beans, but find it difficult to 

 grow them. 1 have f )und the most difiiculty in their coinini>- 

 up, and the reason is obvious emmgh too. when once thouglu 

 of; they are so large and Hat, ihatwtien thrown down in the 

 usual way they fall on the side, and when sv»ollcn by the 

 moisture, their circumference is so much increased that the 

 .stem has not sufficient sirengih to raise or displace the super- 

 incumbent earth, consequently it curls around in the soil 

 and finally dies. i\ly Limas," planted in the usual way, 

 never half came up, but slick them in carefully with the 

 heart, or point whence the root issues, downwards, and all 

 that are good will come up. 



And lastly, although it is not the season for gathering pears, 

 yet while I am wri;i:ig and think of it. I would like to be 

 inibrmed of the bsst mode of saving winter pears, as I com- 

 pletely filled last winter by wrapping some separately in 

 paper, and keeping them in a dry room." iMy pears were the 

 iSV. Germain. The trees were procured from A. J. Downing, 

 b.itare identical, both tree and fruit, with the Co I mar d' 

 [liver ^ from New Bedford, Mass. Are the two variejties 

 nearly alike? My pears withered and were utterly worth- 

 less. S, \l.—Plattskill, N. Y. 



NATURAL AND CULTIVATED GRASSES. 



A Young Farmer, of Wolcot, N. Y., in the December num- 

 ber of the Farmer, .isks your advice about manuring — 

 whether to plow it in deep or lay it on the surface. He then 

 goes on to speak of wild Juno grass as of something inferior 

 to artificial grasses. This I think entirely a mistake. I am 

 sure I am much within the limits that truth would permit me 

 to take, when I say that 75 ver cent of all the English but- 

 ter that supplies the London market, is made frorn natural 

 grass in the summer and from hay of the same material in 

 winter. Now, I apprehend that about Christmas the Lon- 

 doners would be very much puzzled to say on whi'jh side 

 their bread was buttered, if English hay, made of natural 

 grass, was as vvorthless for butter making purposes, as timo- 

 thy hay is known to be. It must be borne in mind, too, that 



51 



