AGRICULTURE. 



iler to prevent putrefaction, it will be of- 

 ten requisite to pull it down, and after 

 fully exposing every sheaf to the air, to 

 re-construct it. 



The method of preserving potatoes has 

 already been suggested, and to go far- 

 ther into detail on this subject would ex- 

 ceed our limits. 



Threshing. 



The usual mode of threshing is attend- 

 ed with the inconvenience of the straw 

 being very often not thoroughly cleared, 

 by which much grain is lost ; and with 

 that of affording the workmen great and 

 perpetual incentives to depredation, 

 which, perhaps, are rarely resisted, or at 

 least are certainly often yielded to. A 

 fixed threshing mill will give compara- 

 tive security against these evils ; and one 

 worked by two or three horses may be 

 purchased for from sixty to a hundred 

 guineas, and which, in eight hours, will 

 thresh fifteen quarters of wheat. The 

 granary should be over this mill, and the 

 corn may then, immediately after thresh- 

 ing, be drawn up into it, and deposited 

 safe under the key of the farmer. Fresh 

 threshed straw is better than old for 

 feeding cattle, and is best managed for 

 them by being cut into chaff'. 



Fruit trees. 



The culture of trees, for the purpose 

 fjf deriving a fermented liquor from their 

 juice, employs a great proportion of the 

 land of this and of other countries, and is, 

 therefore, an important branch of agricul- 

 tural attention. The preparation of the 

 juice of apples is more particularly at- 

 tended to in the British empire, than that 

 of any other fruit ; and the few remarks 

 on the general subject which our limits 

 will permit will be confined to that fruit. 

 The varieties of apples are entirely artifi- 

 cial, nature having produced only one 

 species, which is the common crab. But 

 different culture produces very great dif- 

 ferences, which are preserved by artifi- 

 cial propagation. The seeds of the finest 

 flavoured apples among the native spe- 

 cies should be sown in seed beds, in an 

 extremely rich soil; and the assistance of 

 a frame, or even a stove, may be applied. 

 In the first or second winter the plants 

 should he removed to the nursery; while 

 they remain there, the intervals between 

 them may be occupied with garden stuff, 

 which should not, however, crowd or 

 overshadow them ; and weeds, whenever 



they appear, should be extirpated. In 

 pruning, particular attention must be gi- 

 ven to the leader; and, where there are 

 two, the weakest of them must be cut 

 off. The undermost boughs should be 

 gradually removed, and not all in one sea- 

 son. The height of the stem should be 

 seven feet, or seven and a half, as the 

 crops on a tree of this elevation are less 

 exposed, and, indeed, the tree itself is 

 less susceptible of injury. When they 

 have attained five inches in girt, which 

 they will do in seven or eight years, they 

 may be safely planted out. Tillage is fa- 

 vourable, as the ground is thus stirred 

 about them ; and where cattle are per- 

 mitted to feed among them, they are apt 

 to injure them, and, indeed, also to injure 

 themselves after the trees begin to bear, 

 by the fruit sticking in their throats ; on 

 which account apple grounds, not in til- 

 lage should be eaten bare before the sea- 

 son of gathering. Apple trees should be 

 carefully cleared of a redundance of wood, 

 which intercepts the free circulation of 

 the air. They should be kept clear also 

 of the misletoe, which is often extremely 

 injurious. Moss likewise should never 

 be permitted to incumber them. The 

 failure of crops, in particular years, i: 

 often ascribed to what is called blight; 

 but, to adopt more intelligible language, 

 is probably imputable to the great ex- 

 haustion of the trees by recent bear- 

 ings ; to prevent or mitigate which ex- 

 haustion, the best application is that oi' 

 care, to bestow upon them all the natu- 

 ral means of healthy and vigorous vege- 

 tation. Excess of bearing, however, will 

 inevitably impair strength. Grafting in 

 the boughs, and when they are fully 

 grown, thinning the branches will prevent 

 excessive produce, and may be consider- 

 ed as a very probable method of procu- 

 ring fruit in moderate quantities every 

 year. As general management, with re- 

 spect to orchard grounds, it is a judici- 

 ous rule to plant, for such, a broken up 

 worn out sward, keeping it under arable 

 till the trees have attained tolerable 

 growth, when it may with advantage be 

 laid down to grass, and be permitted to 

 remain in that state till the trees are final- 

 ly removed. After one set of graft-stocks 

 on the stem have become effete, a second 

 has been successfully applied : and *hus, 

 though the effect of ag'e will at length 

 prove fatal, the bearing of trees has been 

 often very long protracted. The pear 

 tree is of much longer duration than the 

 apple. Both should be extirpated with- 

 out reluctance, when their produce no 



