m 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



you can calculate very nearly how many of each 

 kind of tree a certain sum will produce, I herewith 

 send a list of prices for transplanted forest trees of 

 the kinds most usually wanted. Seedling trees are 

 about half price, perhaps less. 



English Ash, Ij to 2 feet high, per 1000, $3 00 

 " " 3 foet " " 4 00 



.< u 4 » .< « 5 00 



Mountain Ash, for each grade, $1 per 1000 higher. 



Beech, 2 to 2^ feet, per 1000, $4 00 



" 2i to 3 " " " 5 00 



Birch, li to 2 " " '< 3 00 



Scotch Fir, 1 year transplanted, " " 1 50 



« « 2 " " " " 2 50 



Norway Spruce, 9 to 12 inches, " " 3 25 



" " 12 to 15 " " " 5 00 



«♦ " 15 to 18 « " " 6 25 



Larch, 1 yr. transplanted, 15 in. " " 1 50 



" 1 " " 15 to 18 in. " 2 25 



" 2 " " 2 feet " " 3 25 



English Oaks, li to 2 feet " " 5 00 



2 to 2h " " " 6 25 



" 2h to 3 " " " 7 50 



Turkey Oaks, one dollar higher than the above. 



Austrian Pine, a valuable shady tree, one year 



• transplanted, per 1000, 6 50 



Sycamore, 2^ to 3 feet, 3 50 



I have selected from a long price-current the 

 kind of trees most usually wanted, all of Avhich 

 thrive well in New England. They are the whole- 

 sale prices taken by the hundred or thousand from 

 the nursery of William Skirving, of Liverpool, from 

 whom I import all my trees. I have merely changed 

 the currency from sterling to American. Now, we 

 will suppose, that a person in the country Avho has. 

 no foreign correspondent, wishes to plant a piece of 

 ground with larches, oaks, or other trees ; he knows 

 about the number he will require ; he has then only 

 to make out the list, compute the cost, purchase of 

 Ilarnden & Co., or some other respectable exchange 

 dealer, a bill of exchange for the amoimt, enclose it 

 with the order to William Skirving, of Liverpool, and 

 he will ship them on board of some vessel bound to 

 Boston at a proper season and in a proper manner, 

 advising him of the same by steamer. I mention Mr. 

 Skirving, because he is the only one whose name I 

 now recollect, and because, from my dealings with 

 him, I know that the utmost reliance can be placed 

 upon him. It is an advantage, also, to have the 

 nursery near the place of shipment, as there is less 

 liability to accident and delay. In making up an 

 order, a few dollars had better be added for expenses 

 of shipment, in which case there wiU be nothing to 

 pav on arrival but the freight. R. S. E. 



December 20, 1848. 



Editorial Hemakks. 



The above communication contains highly valua- 

 ble information to those who would import forest 

 trees, and are unacquainted with foreign nursery 

 men. Mr. Sku'ving sustains a good reputation, and 

 we take the liberty to say that the above initials indi- 

 cate the name of Richard S. Fay, Esq., of I^ynn, 

 who has shown his deep interest in the cultivation 

 of forest trees by liberal offers to the Essex Agricul- 

 tural Society for the encouragement of this impor- 

 tant department of agriculture. His donations for 

 ten years, provided there are ten competitors for the 

 premiums, will amount to the very liberal sum of one 

 tJioiisand dollars. A vast amount of good will re- 

 sult from this offer, as it will give an impetus to the 

 business, not only in that county, but throughout 



the barren wastes of New England, from the favor- 

 able examples, and the information generally diffused. 

 In the first settlement of this country, there was 

 no cautionary voice of, 



" Axeman, spare that tree," 



but the blows were dealt thick and fa3t, at random or 

 with injudicious design ; and the consequence is, 

 naked hills, bleak and barren plains, and a scarcity of 

 fuel and timber. But with intelligence and energy 

 in the renovation of forests, the short space of only 

 ten or tAvelve years, will present a fair promise for the 

 future, and the waste places will be adorned with liv- 

 ing monuments to the memory of those who encour- 

 age their production. 



For the New Eytc^land Farmer. 

 CULTIVATION OF FRUIT. 



Mr. Editor : Every man owning a lot, however 

 small, should embrace the earliest opportunity to 

 plant apples, pears, plums, cherries, grapes, &c., 

 carefully selected for their rich qualities and produc- 

 tiveness. They are sources of pleasure and profit 

 too ; they are healthful necessaries of life, and they 

 are luxuries within the reach of all. Who does not 

 admire that beautiful figurative expression of " sit- 

 ting under our own vine and fig-tree " ? Who does 

 not feel grateful to his Creator, for the blessings of 

 life, as he walks out at morning, noon, or eve, with 

 his better half, and their loving prattlers, to view the 

 blooming trees, planted by his own hand, inhaling 

 the rich fragrance of their flowers or fruit ? A happy 

 home with these attractions will rarely be abandoned 

 for the foul haunts of the drunkard, gambler, or 

 libertine. 



It is no less a matter of surprise than regret, that 

 comforts so necessary and easily attained, should be 

 so long deferred by many, and never sought by 

 others. A roAV of fruit trees around a garden is in 

 good taste, and produces much fruit, is little or no 

 encumbrance to the lot, and the only means of ob- 

 taining a product from the rich soil beneath your 

 wall. The young farmer should never wait to clear 

 all obstructions to the plough, and make his soil rich 

 by tilling before he can set an apple, cherry, or plum 

 tree. Injudicious tilling will spoil an orchard. My 

 neighbor has ruined a once thrifty orchard, by crop- 

 ping it with reheat. The soil is yet rich, but his trees 

 are in the yellow leaf at midswnmer, do not bear, and, 

 in fine, are dying. A part of the same orchard that 

 was fenced into the highway, has had no manuring, 

 cropping, or care, and that part is vigorous and bearing. 



Fine trees are reared on granite soils, too rock- 

 bound ever to be tilled. Horned cattle should never 

 bo allowed in a young orchard. Hogs, and even 

 sheep, will soften the turf, and facilitate the growth 

 of trees, if not allowed to rub against them. To pre- 

 vent this, set firmly in the ground three substantial 

 stakes, of durable wood ; to these firmly nail your 

 boards, and form a substantial triangular fence around 

 each tree, from one to two feet from its trunk. 



The best method of manuring, whore land Is not 

 tilled, and no animals admitted, is to cart, once in 

 tlii'ce years, flags, rushes, leaves, rotten wood, or any 

 worthless trash, to kill the grass sod, and retain the 

 moisture. Spread it from four to eight feet from the 

 the tree, according to size. When you have located 

 permanent walls and division fences, plant a row by 

 each. It is the best location for a rapid growth, an 

 ornament to your farm, and sufficient orchard with- 

 out encumbering tillage. If their first fruits prove 

 crabbed and worthless, graft with such as you know 



