NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



367 



the water, the soil and the subsoil, have each a part 

 in their possession, and should each be made to con- 

 tribute a share. Nature, in the production of a per- 

 fect plant, does not restrict herself to the animal, 

 vegetable, or mineral world. The opinion so gener- 

 ally prevalent that the soil, two or three feet below 

 the surface, must consequently be entirely barren 

 and useless, may be, and doubtless is, erroneou-j in 

 many instances, especially in that called A •■;•,/ j9(«. 

 If, in producing the perfect plant, nature needs twenty 

 ingredients, nineteen may possibly be found in the 

 surface soil, while the twentieth may be found in 

 the subsoil. Instances have occurred where a good 

 dressing from soil ten feet deep, entirely destitute, 

 to all appearance, of vegetable matter, have had 

 equally as good, or the same beneficial effect, as a 

 good dressing of gypsum. This is truly an age of 

 improvement, ilany a farmer has found, while 

 others have yet to find, a mine of wealth below the 

 reach of his plough, of which he was as unconscious 

 as the mountain of its ore. It is very reasonable to 

 suppose, that the newly- created world was at first 

 eartircly a mineral mass of matter, from which vege- 

 tables soon grew abundantly enough to ' sirpport all 

 animated nature. Geologists generally suppose the 

 action of the elements, for an indefinite length of 

 time, was necessary to fit it for the abode of plants 

 aiid animals ; but be that as it may, I believe the 

 action of fi-ost upon ploughed fields, with the win- 

 tei-'s rain and snow, to be a powerful fertilizer in this 

 dimate. Hence, fall ploughing and deep ploughing 

 should go together, and be followed by heavy dress- 

 ings of manure, and particularly such as the soil 

 lacks, is my creed, derived from experience, and as 

 such, I firmly believe it true. LABORER. 



Abingtox, Centre County, Pa., 1849. 

 Philadelphia Dollar Newspaper. 



PROGRESS. 



Lightning and steam have not only superseded 

 horse power on land, and wind on the water, but, 

 with as astonishing a revolution, they have quick- 

 ened the human brain, until the ideas of the age are 

 equallj' more rapid than those of half a generation ago, 

 as are the moans of transmitting them from brain to 

 brain the world over. In the day of wooden ploughs, 

 the great danger was in going too fast and knowing 

 too much ; now the difficulty is to go fast enough, and 

 know enough. The fear, so groundless with our good 

 old fathers, that new inventions and enterprises were 

 dangerous to the welfare, virtue, and peace of society, 

 is completely extinguished. Men have found out the 

 essential secret of prosperity and greatness — that all 

 progress is the work of experience ; and the result 

 of experiments, in spite of the old stand-still philoso- 

 phy, has sharpened them to go on experimenting 

 more and more elsewhere, in all fields, patlis, and 

 professions. Thus have they curbed and saddled 

 teams, tamed lightning, cast by wooden ploughs, and 

 in a thousand ways advanced and exalted themselves, 

 physically and nrentally, as individuals and as na- 

 tions. — Selected. 



POSTS UPHEAVED BY THE FROST. 



We observe post fence, in certain spots, to rise up 

 annually more and more, until, after a few years, 

 swine can creep under ; and it often leans so much, 

 that props become necessary to prevent its falling. 



Now, what is the cause of this upheaving r On 

 examining, we find that these spots are wetter, and 

 the ground more spongy, than the other parts of the 

 line. Well, what then ? Why, in severely cold 

 weather, the wet surface freezes, fastening round the 

 post a solid cake, under which is applied the great 



power of water expanding into ice, and the fence is 

 lifted up. The intensity of the frost, and the loose- 

 ness or wetness of the ground, will determine the 

 amount of upheaval, which may be one or more 

 inches in a winter. Perhaps, indeed, the post may 

 fall back a little when it thaws ; but it seldom, if 

 ever, slides back to the bottom of the hole, and is 

 sure to take a new start upward in the following 

 winter. 



In these insurrectionary movements, several posts 

 are generally concerned together ; and the best way 

 that I have found to reduce them, is to strike with a 

 beetle, only a few strokes at a time, on the head of 

 each, so that the fence shall not be racked by driving 

 too far at once. When thoroughly driven back, the 

 operation may not need to be repeated in less than 

 two or three years. It would be the better and 

 cheaper way, however, to prevent all such risings in 

 future b}^ filling up the holes with solid earth, and 

 thoroughly pounding or ramming down every new 

 layer of two or three inches in thickness. All soft 

 muck, or spongy soil, should be rejected. Nothing 

 better than hard pan can be obtained for this pur- 

 pose — at least, a mixture of gravel or small stones 

 through the earth is desirable. With these j^recau- 

 tions, we should have no trouble, even in swales ; for 

 the posts even there would stand in dry, firm, solid 

 earth. W. W. 



Squancum, N. J,, 1849. 

 — Philadelphia Dollar Newspaper. 



ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. 



Of Dr. Ilufus Kittredge, Portsmouth, N. H., some 

 large sweet apples, very fine indeed for baking 

 Green Sweeting, distinguished for its very late keep- 

 ing. Baldwin apples. These grew on a tree taken 

 from the original tree in Tewksburj"-, which we shall 

 notice further, by and by, in regard to the origin of 

 the Baldwin apple. 



From James Oliver, Lj-'nn, Diana grapes, of excel- 

 lent quality. Friend Oliver says of this grape, that 

 it is probably a cross between the Catawba and 

 White Sweetwater ; that it is two weeks earlier than 

 the Isabella, of rather slow growth, and a good 

 bearer. He regards it as a superior kind for out- 

 door culture. We have cultivated this grape a few 

 years ; but as our first vine is in a cool soil, and shady 

 situation, and we have forced it into the growth of 

 wood rather than the production of fruit, we have a 

 large growth. 



Of Elisha Tower, of this city, fine apples, raised by 

 J. F. Fay, Northboro'. The seed of the original ti-ee 

 was planted by Mr. Fay's mother, forty years ago. 

 This is very handsome and excellent fruit ; rather 

 large, pale yellow striped with red, very crisp, juicy, 

 of a mild and fine aromatic flavor. 



From M. L. Hayes, Farmington, N. H., pears 

 grown on an apple stock. Three years ago, in graft- 

 ing an apple-tree, Mr. Hayes set some pear scions 

 into one branch by mistake ; they flourished well, 

 and healed over sound ; and this, the third year from 

 grafting, that branch produced half a bushel of pears ; 

 and he says, if the whole tree had been grafted to 

 pears, and yielded as well as this branch, the prod- 

 uce would have been six bushels. This is a very 

 successful experiment, or incident, in grafting the 

 pear on the apple. These pears are rather large, 



