262 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



the lower branches, stifled by others, are yellow, 

 languishing, and even dead, this is an accidental 

 effect, and is no proof of the languor of the tree. 

 Finally, it is a sign of vigor when branches are seen 

 at the summit of the tree, rising above the others, 

 and being much longer ; but it is to be observed, that 

 all trees with round heads do not throw out branches 

 ■with equal force. 



Sif/ns which indicate that the Tree is mature. — Gen- 

 erally the head of the tree is rounded ; the shoots 

 diminish in length each j'ear, and the farthest shoots 

 add to the length of the branches only by the length 

 of the bud ; and the leaves are put forth oidy in the 

 spring, and become yellow in the autumn before 

 those of vigorous trees, and at this time the lower 

 leaves are greener than the upper. The branches 

 incline towards the horizon, and form angles some- 

 times of sixty or seventy degrees. These apparent 

 signs, and the thinness of the layer deposited by the 

 sap, indicate that the tree makes but small additions 

 to itself, and now it should be cut down. The na- 

 ture of the soil should be examined, as well as the 

 kind of tree, to enable a judgment whether the tree 

 should be left to increase still further, or whether it 

 will be more proper to fell it. An exact age cannot 

 be assigned for each species ; but it has been observed 

 that an elm, situated in an insulated plantation, may 

 be felled Avith advantage, when between seventy and 

 eighty years of age. 



Signs of Decay in a Tree. — When a tree becomes 

 crowned, (that is, Avhen the upper branches die,) it 

 uifallibly indicates, especially for isolated trees, that 

 the central w'ood is undergoing alteration, and the 

 tree passing to decay. When the bark separates 

 from the wood, or when it is divided by separations 

 •which pass across it, the tree is in a considerable 

 state of degradation. "When the bark is loaded with 

 moss, lichens, or fungi, or is marked with black or 

 red spots, these signs of alteration in the bark justify 

 the suspicions of alteration in the wood within. 

 When sap is seen to flow from clefts in the bark, it 

 is a sign that the trees will soon die. As to wounds 

 or gutterings, these defects may arise from local 

 causes, and are not necessarily the results of old age. 

 — Loudon's Mag. 



TURNING IN GREEN CROPS. 



To increase continually the fertility of our arable 

 lands, should ever be regarded by the farmer as an 

 object of the greatest consequence. By adopting 

 improved systems of husbandry, and taking care to 

 manure highly, or, in other words, to return some- 

 what more to the soil than is extracted by the crop, 

 — this is a task of comparatively easy accomplishment, 

 and the farmer who carefully practises upon this 

 principle, will find that while he has actually larger 

 and better crops, his fields are also, at the same time, 

 becoming richer in the principles essential to a 

 healthy vegetation, and to vegetable life. One of 

 the most judicious and economical methods of en- 

 riching emasculated or worn-out fields, is to turn in 

 green crops — not carelessly, and without reference 

 to the character of the vegetable matter turned un- 

 der, but with judgment and discrimination. The 

 nature of the soil should be considered, and the 

 adaptedness of the crop to supply its deficiencies 

 critically examined — a matter requiring skill, and 

 a good degree of practical experience to render it 

 -efficient, and productive of the end desired. 



The following extract from Dr. Dana's Muck 

 Manual contains some important suggestions in 

 relation to this matter ; and I therefore present it, 

 hoping that every reader of the Telegraph will care- 

 fully ponder its truth, and, if a farmer, apply them 

 daily in his practice : — 



"Turning in green crops," says Dr. Dana, "is only 



returning to the soil the salts, silicates and geine, 

 which the plant had drawn from it, together with all 

 the organic matter the plant itself has elaborated 

 from oxygen and hydrogen, carbon and nitrogen, 

 from whatever source derived. It has decomposed, 

 during the short period of its growth, more silicates 

 and salts than the air ever could effect during the 

 same period, which, being turned in, restore to the 

 soil from which they grew, salts and silicates in a 

 new form, whose action on vegetation is like that of 

 alkalies. But powerful as is the action of green 

 crops turned in, it is the experience of some practi- 

 cal men, that one crop allowed to perfect itself, and 

 then die where it grew, and then turned in dry, is 

 superior to three turned in green. The whole result 

 is explained by the fact that dry plants give more 

 geine than green. Green plants ferment — dry 

 plants decay. A large portion escapes in fermenta- 

 tion as gas ; and more volatile products are formed 

 than during decay. The one is a quick consuming 

 fire, the other a slow, smouldering ember, giving off 

 during all its process, gases which feed plants and 

 decompose the silicates of the soil." 



Evei-y practical agriculturist, who has made use of 

 his head in the management of his lands, must be 

 fully aware, however, that many crops produce much 

 more beneficial results when turned in green. This, 

 indeed, is the fact in reference to buckwheat, clover, 

 and the culmiferous class of plants generally. The 

 first-named article, if permitted to stand till the 

 grain becomes fully ripe, and the haulm dry, will be 

 diminished four fifths in bulk, and, I doubt not, 

 nearly as much in value for all possible purposes of 

 vegetable enrichment ; and this supposition appears, 

 indeed, to be fully sustained and demonstrated by 

 the experience of practical farmers every where. 



The efficacy of silicates, in producing fertility, is 

 thus lucidly explained by the author above quoted : — 



" The power of fertility which exists in the sili- 

 cates of the soil is unlimited. An improved agricul- 

 ture must depend on the skill with which this power 

 is brought into action. It can be done only by the 

 conjunction of salts, geine, and plants. Barren sands 

 are worthless ; a peat bog is little better ; but a prac- 

 tical illustration of the principles which have been 

 maintained, is afforded by every sandy knoll made 

 fertile by spreading swamp muck upon it. This is 

 giving geine to silicates. The very act of exposure 

 of this swamp muck has caused an evolution of car- 

 bonic acid gas ; that decomposes the silicates of 

 potash in the sand ; that potash converts the insolu- 

 ble into soluble manure ; and lo ! a crop. That grow- 

 ing crop adds its power to the geine. If all the long 

 series of experiments after Von Voght, in Germany, 

 are to be believed, confirmed as they are by repeated 

 experiments by our own agriculturists, it is not to be 

 doubted that every inch of sand knoll, on every farm, 

 may be changed into a soil, in thirteen years, of half 

 that number of inches of good mould." 



By turning in, occasionally, a green crop of either 

 of the vegetables above named, the soil will be so 

 much invigorated as to render the cultivation of it 

 much more profitable for some years; and as crops 

 for this ptu-pose can be selected which, by their 

 quick growth, obviate the necessity of a fallow, the 

 cost of ameliorating the land is comparatively slight ; 

 indeed, so slight, under most circumstances, as to be 

 scarcely Avorthy of being taken into account. 



A PRACTICAL FARMER. 



Bald Eagle Farm, June 8, 1849. 

 — Germantoiim Telegraph. 



MOSSES ON MEADOWS. 



Mosses on meadows, like vermm on cattle, are a 

 consequence rather than a cause of evil. They indi- 

 cate a deficiency of stamina, health, or condition in 



