NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



37 



For the New England Farmer. 

 TO CULTIVATE PEACHES ATTHE NORTH. 



Mr. Editor : There arc few pci-sons to whose taste 

 the peach is not a most delicious fruit ; and certainly, 

 at the season of its maturity, when autumnal com- 

 plaints, such as dysentery and fevers, prevail, there 

 is none more conducive to health. There is a tra- 

 dition of a peach-tree, the fruit of which, if eaten, 

 conferred immortality. But as none of the trees of 

 this variety have been received in this country, the 

 writer will content himself with pointing out to his 

 friends who reside a little to the north of a lino, 

 beyond which the poach is not able to withstand, in 

 the orchard, unprotected, our wintry climate, how 

 they may cultivate successfully, on a small scale, for 

 their own use, with a little care, some of the line 

 early varieties. For this purpose, select a few trees 

 budded on plum stocks, of the best early sorts, and 

 set them in a sheltered situation, with a southern 

 aspect. After having grown one season, in Novem- 

 ber cut back one third or more of the growth evenly 

 over the whole tree. Pursue this course annually. 

 On the approach of winter, cover the roots with 

 leaves, to protect them from extreme frost. Bend 

 in the branches towards the centre, and care- 

 fully tie them. Having obtained some branches of 

 hemlock, or other evergreens, set them in the ground 

 around the tree, and bring them together over the 

 top, and tie them snugly around the tree. In this 

 situation the trees may stand till all danger from 

 frost is over, when their covering may be removed, 

 and the branches released will return to their natural 

 position, when they will soon put forth blossoms and 

 leaves, and produce, in due season, a crop of fruit ; 

 thus amply rewarding the little care bestowed on 

 their protection. 



JOSIAH NE^^^IALL. 



Lynnfield, Jan. 18i9. 



Editorial Remarks. 



"We are much pleased with Gen. Ncwhall's mode 

 for 'peach culture in the north. The plum stocks 

 will render the trees dwarfish, and more hardy from 

 a slower growth. Slow-growing peaches, that pro- 

 duce the same from seed, are also adapted to this 

 mode of cultm-e. We have no doubt that, by this 

 plan, peaches may be raised in the northern part of 

 the Union. The warm sun, on mild days in winter, 

 prepares the peach for destruction by frost. Against 

 this, the covering of evergreens would be an effectual 

 preventive. They would also retard blossoming in 

 the spring until the season of frost is past. There is 

 less danger from late spring frosts in the north, than 

 in regions farther south, as the weather is more uni- 

 form, and the change from winter to spring more rapid 

 and regular. 



For the New England Fanner. 

 PRECISION IN AGRICULTURAL EXPERI- 

 MENTS. 



Mr. Editor : Mr. Colman, in his third report on the 

 agriculture of Massachusetts, makes some just com- 

 plaints of the want of precision among farmers in 

 making their experiments. For instance, in regard to 

 the effects of lime, to his inquu-ies whether they had 

 used it, they answered in the affirmative ; and to 

 the further question, whether they received any 

 benefit, they thought they did. AVhcn asked how 

 much, they could not tell. They limed the whole 

 piece alike ; and he mentions a number of inquiries, 



to which similar answers were given, which, as he 

 says, proved just nothing at all. How often do we 

 find, in agricultural jovu'nals, statements of the success 

 of some particular experiments contrasted with that 

 of neighboring fields, perhaps over a fence, and the 

 like ; and from thciice an inference is drawn, so that 

 the result exactly jjroved a favorite hypothesis. It 

 is true such statements may have some little weight, 

 but very small to what they would, if different 

 portions of the same field were alternated with the 

 same experiment, and the result an average of the 

 whole. 



I never was so much impressed ■« ith the impor- 

 tance of more discriminating experiments as when 

 I was lately reading two volumes of the Patent 

 Office Reports. I find, after wading through a huge 

 mass of testimouj' respecting the rot in potatoes, no 

 possibility of drawing any satisfactory conclusions 

 from it. Now, it appears to me that where testimony 

 shows such different results, in circumstances appa- 

 rently the same, and these difterent results become 

 numerous, the inference would be inevitable that 

 some hidden cause, either alone or in connection 

 with some visible ones, had an effect in producing 

 these results ; and where this proof grows so strong of 

 the existence of some secret agent or agents, of po- 

 tent energy, the groat object of our researches ought 

 to bo to lift or penetrate the veil that hides these 

 agencies from our sight. 



I recollect, some years since, in reading an elabo- 

 rate investigation on the subject of blight in wheat, 

 by Mr. Colman, after mentioning some atmospheric 

 agencies Avhich evidently were connected with the 

 blight of that year, he stated that some wheat 

 equally exposed to these escaped, and he inferred a 

 susceptibility to disease in some places more than in 

 others. Ah ! here is the poser ; this susceptibility 

 to disease, or, rather, as I should say, the incipient 

 stage of the disease produced by causes out of sight, 

 must be investigated, and the cause of it ascertained 

 before we can render a true verdict. 



But in these investigations, we not only need dis- 

 criminating exj)eriments, but we want a persevering 

 energy, that never tires ; for no subject, like agricul- 

 ture, has so niany, and so difficult problems to solve. 

 AVind and water are always in motion. Variotis 

 gases liberated from decaying vegetables, are always, 

 in warm weather, floating in the atmosphere, and 

 watery vapors combine with them, and when con- 

 densed by cold, ma J' fall in dew on the leaves of plants, 

 and either act as nutriment or poison, according to 

 their quality. If brought to the earth by rains, they 

 may, in addition to liberated gases, furnish food or 

 poison to the roots. 



Here, brother farmers, is the field of investigation 

 set before us by Infinite Wisdom ; and the same 

 Wisdom has given us powers of mind sufficient to 

 penetrate every mystery necessary for us to explore, 

 in order to render earth a garden of vegetable life 

 and beauty, whose trees and plants shall bow them- 

 selves under the weight of the most abundant and 

 the best of fruit. 



JOSEPH H. JENNE. 



Peru, Me., Dec. 1818. 



From the Plough, Loom, and Anvil. 



SOME SUGGESTIONS ON THE ACTION OF 

 PLASTER OF PARIS. 



The following communication from Prof. Norton, 

 of the school of chemistry applied to agriculture, is 

 the best explanation we have seen of the action of 

 gypsum, and of the reason why it acts powerfully on 

 some soils, and is inert on others. Still, it seeras^ 

 somewhat wonderful that so small a dust of if, — half 

 a bushel, in some cases, to an acre — scattered over 



