NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



883 



facture, the want of which has caused the manufac- 

 turer to work to great disadvantage, as he is under 

 the present system cnmpelled to buy hi^ wool, in 

 many instances, with fleeces ranging from the coars- 

 est Leicester to fleeces almost equal to best Saxony, 

 which would assort into some twelve or fourteen 

 distinct numbers or qualities, when he would ])roba- 

 bly not require for his own use more than one or two 

 of any of those numbers ; and the consequence is, 

 that he is liable to a loss upon all the others, or he 

 must manufacture from those fabrics, for which his 

 machinery is not adapted, and suffer a further loss. 

 Now, the only plan by which this vexatious state of 

 thini^s can be obviated is by the establishment of a 

 wool-grading and assorting house, where they could 

 have their wool put into its various numbers or 

 qualities, where it can be presented to the purchaser, 

 with an assurance that he will get what he buys, and 

 nothing else : this assorting would probably cost the 

 grower from two to two and a half cents, for assort- 

 ing and cleansing from burs, &c., and he will find 

 that it will enhance the value of his article to much 

 greater extent than the extra charge of the wool- 

 house. Having been a manufacturer for many years, 

 I can fully appreciate some such system ; having 

 often been put to the inconvenience of working up 

 Bmall parcels, where larger ones would have been 

 much more profitable ; and all from the fact of hav- 

 ing to buy all qualities mixed through each other. 

 The plan, as now pursued by the wool-grower, is to 

 bundle all his fleeces " pell mell " into a sack, and 

 ■end them off to his merchant in the city to sell for 

 hi;n, who, though, perhaps, a good judge of cloths, 

 knows nothing under heaven about the quality of 

 wool in the fleeces, and probably, in the usual course 

 o£ his business, never saw a fleece opened, and, if he 

 did, could not tell upon what part the finest wool 

 was to be found, and therefore liable to be imposed 

 upon by the designing, though he is not the sufferer, 

 »o far as his commission is concerned. It requires a 

 great deal of judgment and long experience to know 

 how to handle wool. I know of no place so well 

 suited for such an establishment as Baltimore, from 

 her centi-al situation, as well as being in the great 

 thoroughfare from the Western to the Eastern States, 

 which, for a long time to come, will consume all that 

 ean be produced of the fine qualities of wool. Im- 

 mense quantities pass from this city annually to the 

 east, and the greater part in small parcels, as received 

 from individual growers, and all from the want of 

 a wool-grading house in the city. 



MANUFACTURER. 



SASSAFRAS SWEET APPLE. 



We copy the following article from the Albany 

 Cultivator, under the head of" Haskell Sweet Apjile." 



In the last number of The Cultivator, under the 

 horticultural department, I see, in answer to inquiries 

 respecting the best sweet apples, you name the Has- 

 kell Sweet, for the fall. 



I should be pleased to know from you, if this is 

 the same ajiple described by Cole, in his recent Fruit 

 Book. If it is, it will present the singular fact of an 

 apple of high merit disseminated at a distance, and 

 yet here in Essex county hardly known at all be- 

 yond the town (Ipswich) where it originated. It 

 would also confirm my own opinion of its superior 

 qualities. 



I know not why Mr. Cole calls this the Sassafras 

 apple. The original stock is now standing on a farm 

 once owned by a Deacon Haskell, whence its name. 

 ALLEN W. DODGE. 



Hamilton, Mass., August 2i, 1849. 



[This is the same as Cole's Sassafras apple. It has 

 been cultivated by Robert Manning, of Salem, who 



thinks it the best autumn sweet apple. It has also 

 proved fine at Macedon, in Western New York. Ed.] 



In the American Fruit Book, we say of this apple 

 that, in our ojnnion, the same fruit is considerably 

 known under each name. We do not state this as a 

 fact, as we have not seen and compared them to- 

 gether, but have tried them at different periods, and 

 depend on memory, as well as judgment, for their 

 identity. 



Mr. Dodge will perceive that we have given a 

 reason for preferring the name Sassafras, as it is sig- 

 nificant. This apple has a distinct sassafras flavor.. 

 Another reason we might have given, is, that it is 

 more extensively cultivated under the name of Sas- 

 safras. 



CULTIVATION OF THE CRANBERRY. 



Having read some reports on the cultivation of 

 the Cranberry, from practical men, I was induced to 

 make a trial of it last spi-ing myself. I took some 

 cranberry sods direct from the swamp, just like taking 

 them from the water, and set them in hills some 

 four or five feet apart, on a swamp muck soil, which 

 had been drained dry enough to grow good potatoes. 

 I set some fifteen or twenty rods of ground, on several 

 different times, or dates. The first I set was in the 

 second or third week in April, and the last in the 

 last week in May. They have some scattering cran- 

 berries on them now, and have grown and spread 

 over the ground far beyond what I anticipated ; and 

 if they grow as fast as they have done thus far, for 

 a year to come, I think they will spread over the 

 whole ground between the hills, for some of them 

 have grown from three to three and a half feet in 

 length already. B. MEACHAM. 



Claremont, N. H. 

 — Selected. 



GRAPE-VINES. 



The cultivators of grapes have frequently com- 

 plained that their vines do not bear fruit annually. 

 A distinguished agricultiirist has adopted the follow- 

 ing method to remedy the evil, and has found it suc- 

 cessful. He trims his vines in such a manner that 

 some parts will make wood exclusively, and others 

 produce grapes in the same year ; and in the follow- 

 ing year he uses the new limbs as fruit-bearers, and 

 lops off the fruit-bearers of the first year, so that their 

 places may be supplied with new branches to bear 

 fruit in the third year. Thus, let 1, 2, 3, 4, represent 

 the four main branches of a vine. He lops off in the 

 fall 1 and 3, and suffers 2 and 4 to remain as fruit- 

 bearers. The second year he lops off 2 and 4, and 

 suffers the new growth on 1 and 3 to remain as fruit- 

 bearers in the third year. The following will be the 

 results for three years : — 



In 1850, 2 and 4 will produce grapes. 



In 1851, 1 and 3 " " 



In 1852, 2 and 4 " " 



Thus an annual supply of fruit will be insured by 

 adopting this simple remedy. E. B. R. 



Springfield, Clark County, Ohio, 1849. 

 — Philadelphia Dollar Netospaper. 



Potatoes and Cattle from the British Provinces. 



Two vessels from Londonderry and Cornwallis, 

 N. S., with potatoes, the former with a deck load of 

 cattle, horses, and sheep, arrived here this morning. 

 The cattle are brought here in consequence of the 

 deficiency of the hay crop in the British Provinces. 

 — Boston Traveller. 



