214 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



know. They vary very much in different parts of the 

 country. When hay is sold without any deduction 

 of tare for the withes and bands, these materials gen- 

 erally sell for more than they cost. 



A fanner, in "Westbrook, Me., who resided one and 

 a half miles from the wharf in Portland, where he 

 delivered his hay, informed us that he would rather 

 deliver his hay, about fifty tons, on the wharf, pressed, 

 than in a loose state. As so much less time was re- 

 quired in loading and unloading, and as larger loads 

 could be hauled, the saving in transporting pressed 

 hay, even that short distance, was sufficient to pay 

 for pressing ; and the bandages, sold at the jn-ice of 

 hay, paid the cost of those materials. 



We do not know whether it is customary to press 

 hay before it has lain a while in the mow, but we 

 think that hay well made might be pressed without 

 injury. As the bundles of hay cannot be laid so 

 close together as to prevent a circulation of the air 

 between, we think that pressed hay, if a little too 

 damp, would be no more liable to injury in the bun- 

 dle than in a mow of common dimensions, espe- 

 cially where several tons are put into the mow in the 

 course of a few days. On this we give an opinion 

 only, not facts. 



A ton of pressed hay will occupy a space of about 

 one hundred and seventy or one hundred and eighty 

 square feet. In a solid mow, the sjjace for a ton of 

 hay has been estimated from four hundred to six 

 hundred square feet. We have never made any 

 experiments on this point, but from observation we 

 think that a solid mow, twenty by twenty-four feet, 

 one foot in depth, — four hundred and eighty square 

 feet, — would make a ton if the hay was heavy. 

 Perhaps five hundred feet would be a fair estimate. 



According to our calculation, which we think is 

 nearly correct, pressed hay would occupy only about 

 one thii-d the room of loose hay. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 APPLES. 



Mr. Editor : Noticing a communication in one 

 of your back numbers from a gentleman in a neigh- 

 boring town, with whom I have an acquaintance, re- 

 specting apple-trees, their bearing, &c., I thought I 

 would say a few words about some seedling apple- 

 trees which I have grown on the farm since I lived 

 in Pryeburg. They consist of five different kinds. 

 The first is a very large apple, resembling what was 

 called, forty years ago, the New York Oreoiinfj. I 

 have had them that measured eleven and a half 

 inches in circumference. They are in eating from 

 November to Pobruarj\ I have named them Lovwell 

 Greening, in honor of Captain Lovwell, who fell on 

 the north-western shore of tlie pond, in Fryeburg, 

 bearing his name; my farm makijg the noitn- 

 eastern shore of the same pond. 1 have had peo- 

 ple from Massachusetts at my house, who, on ta.-.ting 

 of the above apples, remarked that they were good 

 enough for any gentleman's table. 



My second sort resembles, in color, (though the 

 shape is more of an oblong form,) an apple in Massa- 

 chusetts, called, many years ago the Pippin, which I 

 have named the Lovwell Pippin. They are a fall api)le, 

 in eating fronr October to December. They are a 

 delicious fruit, of a full medial size, highly flavored, 



and very melting ; superior for pies and other culi- 



naiy purposes. 



My third sort is an early apple. It ripens near the 

 time of the old Juneatings, oi your state, that I used 

 to know in my younger years. They are not like 

 them in color ; they are striped with red, of a small 

 size, of very agreeable flavor, and valuable for their 

 early ripening, when fruit is scarce. 



My lourth andhtth are sweetings, and keep well for 

 winter use ; one of them more tnan middling size, 

 the other smaller ; very rich and highly flavored, and 

 excellent for winter. 1 have some giaited IVuit ; but 

 they are short-lived, unless grafted in the ground, 

 which 1 consider much better than budded trees. I 

 have other seedlings that are excellent in the fall, 

 but 1 v,ili not trouble you with a description of them 

 now. 



I am your agricultural friend, 



JAME.5 ^VALKEIl. 



Fryeburg Islaxd, June 4, 18fJ. 



Mr. Walker will oblige us by forwarding to our 

 office, for trial, some of his hue apples, at the proper 

 season. — Eu. 



HILLING POTATOES. 



Several years ago, we made an experiment to ascer- 

 tain whether hilUi:g potatoes was of any advantage. 

 W'c left t\\o rows with the ground level : thoac on 

 each side were hilled in tiie usual mode. At liarvest 

 time, it was found, by careful mea.-.urcment, that the 

 two rows leit level yielded most — how much most, 

 we have forgotten, fcjince that time, we never •• hill 

 up " potatoes, unless the ground is tOQ wet, and we 

 want to turn off the water. An inch or two of earth 

 over the tubers will keeptlie sun Irom injuring them, 

 and that is all that is needed. Weseesome Oiie, who 

 signs "An Old Farmer," gives the result oi an ex- 

 periment of this nature in the N. E. Farmer. lie 

 iett two rows in the piece unhillcd, or only gave 

 them a little earth at the tirst hoeing. At harvest, he 

 measured the product of the two unbilled rows, as 

 well as that of two rows on each side, and the un- 

 hilled rows gave five pecks more (and larger pota- 

 toes) than either two of the other lows. lie argues 

 (and resonably) that by hilling we deprive tlie crop 

 of the benehts of moisture, lie says potatoes need a 

 mellow soil ; but this cannot be well secured by in- 

 creasing the size of the hiil after planting. A cor- 

 respondent ol the London Uaidener's (Jnroniclc says, 

 " Moulding up potatoes retards the formation of the 

 tubers." The editor of that publication doubts the 

 conclusion of his corresijondeiit, and says, " Pota- 

 toes are stunted and swollen branches proceeding 

 from the sides of the main stems, which alone rise 

 into the air, clothe themselves with Itaves, ajul so 

 convey their food to their underground progeny. 

 * * * Now, the quantity ol lateral branches wiU 

 be in proportion to the quantity of carih tnrough 

 which the stem ])asses ; tubers are lateral branches, 

 and therefore the quantity of tubers will be regu- 

 lated by the same cause. Moulding up is a contri- 

 vance to increase the quantity of earth through which 

 the main stems have to pass, and shouLl, tnereforc, 

 according to the theory, be a beneficial operation." 



Now, we do not understand how it is that "pota- 

 toes are stunted and swollen branches," &c. W^e 

 believe that potatoes proceed from a class of roots or 

 stems entirely dirlerent from others, and designed 

 particularly for the production of tubers. In the 

 next place, the editor contends that as "moulding 

 uj) " increases the number of lateral branches, the 

 quantity of potatoes would also be increased by the 

 same means. Our experience has tauglrt us a some- 

 what dufcrent conclusion. \V'e aJmit that the large 

 quantity of caith through which the iiiuui slcui 



