NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



245 



to which it may be proper to say, that a less amount 

 of time is actually necessary to raise strawberries 

 enough for an abundant supply of this fruit for any 

 family, than woxikl be required to wander over the 

 fields, (we say nothing of loss in traniplmg down 

 grass,) to obtain a meagre quantity of an inferior 

 article. 



In regard to luck in this business, it is pretty much 

 here as with every thing else, — good luck cannot bo 

 expected without care and pains. It is a wise pro- 

 vision of Providence that requires us to labor for the 

 blessings we invoke, iind one that holds good in 

 small as well as large matters. A strawberry plant 

 will not grow sviccessfully if thrown carelessly into 

 the ground, to be choked with grass or more rapid 

 growing weeds. Land for them must be light, that 

 they may root easily, and rich, that they may draw 

 continual nourishment from it, especially in fruiting 

 time. Moisture is very necessary to insure perfect 

 success. Muck lands are highly favorable to their 

 growth, and where nature has not provided them, 

 cultivators will find advantage in giving frequent 

 dressings from the swamp. 



It is often said that the strawberry is so apt to 

 winterkill, that its culture is attended with great 

 risk. This may be remedied by covering them with 

 pine or hemlock boughs soon after the ground freezes, 

 and allowing them to remain covered until the freez- 

 ings and thawings of the season are past. They may 

 then be taken off, the ground manured and forked, 

 and then, if kept free from weeds, abundant crops of 

 great delicious berries may be expected. 



July, 1849. ^^' ^' 



Editorial Remarks. — There is great neglect, gen- 

 erally, in our country, in raising the smaller fruits, 

 though they are highly delicious and easily pro- 

 duced. Some farmers are content with apples, and 

 even those not the best ; others have a few cherries, 

 or plums ; and some have a supply of pears, and per- 

 haps of peaches. Yet few, very few indeed, have a 

 general supply of small fruits. They require but 

 little land and attention, and the farmer generally 

 has more land than he improves ; and a few spare 

 minutes daily, or a few hours weekly, would be 

 sufficient to attend to raising an assortment of small 

 luscious fruits for the family. 



It often happens that some members of the family 

 have a plenty of time for this purpose, and would 

 attend to the business with great pleasure, and with 

 much profit by way of instruction, if the subject was 

 introduced and the way prepared for it. 



For the New England Farmer. 



PRESERVATION OF TIMBER. 



Mr. Editor : In your last number, (June 23d,') 

 you take notice of experiments made in England, for 

 the preservation of wood, by soaking in lime-water. 

 I have no doubt but it will answer the pui-j^ose very 

 well, although I never saw it tried ; but while I was 

 living in the east of Scotland, we were in want pf 

 some clothes posts. Having some large fine beech- 

 trees recentl}'' cut, we thought of trying them, but 

 w ere afraid they would not stand long, beech being a 

 wood that is A'cry liable to rot, when wet and diy 

 alternately. There was a pond on the plantation, 

 into which we put a quantity of oak and larch bark 

 mixed. When the bark had been in the pond eight 

 or ten days, bcmg stirred up three or four times dur- 

 ing that period, the timber being sawn eight or ten 

 inches square, and the length required, they were 



immersed for three months, being taken out once a 

 fortnight and turned during that time. It was then 

 piled up till properly dried. It formed a crust so 

 hard that a plane would hardly act upon it ; and I 

 have no doubt tliey lue good now, although it is now 

 sixteen years since they were put up. The posts 

 were placed into a stone socket, four inches from the 

 ground. Any one near a tannery can easUy try the 

 exi^eriment. J. C. 



June 27, 1849. 



For the N^etv Enyland Farmer. 

 FRUIT, ETC. 



Mr. Editor : I have taken some pains to form a 

 company to take your New England Farmer, and I 

 believe it gives good satisfaction. As far as agricul- 

 ture and horticulture are concerned, it is the very 

 thing a farmer wants ; and for myself, I cannot make it 

 interesting to read a long story, and when I have read 

 them, they are of no benefit. I have also got one of 

 your Fruit Books, which I think is appropriately 

 named " a book for everj' bodj'." It really ought 

 to be in every family in town. Willington is truly a 

 reading people ; but I am constrained to say they read 

 a great deal on party politics and romance, which are 

 not profitable. Could our ])cople take a deeper in- 

 terest in horticulture, it would confer a great blessing 

 on the present and rising generations. I am now in 

 my sixty-seventh year, and yet I take a great inter- 

 est in the cultivation of fruit. Three years ago last 

 spring, I set some Baldwin scions on a tolerable large 

 tree, but did not expect to live to see them bear fruit ; 

 but should the apples now set prosper, there will be 

 fruit next fall. 



I must say, howev^-, our people are beginning to 

 wake up on the subject of fruit growing. There has 

 probably been more done in the two past years, than 

 in twentj' years previous. 



I have more than thirty children and grandchildren, 

 all living within twenty miles. Two years ago last 

 spring, I set out an orchard of about seventy-five 

 trees, of the best kinds, in complete rows, all num- 

 bered, and they are growing finely. The orchard 

 stands on a high elevation, well adapted to the apple 

 tree. I have taken so much interest in this young 

 orchard, that I have erected a stone monument with 

 this inscription — •' Set out by Amos Preston, 1847." 



Perhaps I might have been influenced to this by 

 reading, in the Albany Cultivator, about the monu- 

 ment erected where the old Baldwin apple-tree grew 

 in Woburn, in your state. I have a number of that 

 variety in my young orchard. I hope my posterity, 

 by the blessing of God, may be permitted to eat of 

 the fruit that their father and grandfather has taken 

 so much pains to introduce and propagate. 



Now, a few questions and I shall conclude. I said 

 this orchard is on an elevation : it is therefore hard 

 getting manure on to it from my barn ; but there is 

 swamp manure near by, that Avould be convenient to 

 get to the orchard. I have laid away two horses by 

 the side of the lot, and covered them with swamp 

 muck, a layer of muck, then of horse, and so on. 

 They were put there last August. Now, I wish to 

 know when the manure will be fit to use ; and 

 whether I cannot benefit the orchard by this manure. 

 Shall I spread it broadcast over the whole lot, or not r 

 Does not Dana say that it has been actually proved, 

 '•that a dead horse will convert twenty tons of peat 

 into manure more lasting than stable dung? " This 

 is a great story. How much discount shall be made ? 

 I read also in your paper, No. 12, concerning manure 

 made from tan, by liobert Bryson, Esq., of Cumber- 

 land county. Pa. As we have a quantity of tan, 

 we should like to make the best of it. If there is 

 any way you can get information from Mr. Bryson, 

 himself, I should be very glad. My son has a tan- 



