2r»o 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



u)), within twenty four hours, with a caustic 

 composed of a small quantity of corrosive sub- 

 limnte, in powder, placed on tow, which is to 

 he first wetted, tliat tlie powder may adhere to 

 it. The effect of this will be to cause a slough- 

 ing of the coats of the swelling, vvhen a core to 

 a certain extent will be brought out, by which 

 means a suppuration will ensue, and the swel- 

 ling be gradually reduced during its progress. 

 The swelling is to be rubbed at the same time 

 with the following mixture : 



Linseed oil ■»■. 8 oz. 



Oil of turpentine 2 oz. 



Oil of vitriol 1 oz. 



Though the parts never regain entirely their 

 natural size, yet by these operations, the animal 

 will be enabled to move the joint without any 

 inconvenience. After the wounds are healed, 

 the remaining' callous or swelling should be 

 blistered two or three times, in order to make 

 the joint more pliable. The blister most prop- 

 er for the purpose is composed of Spanish tlies 

 and spirits of ammonia, as directed under the 

 head •• Swellings on the joints and hones." 



Ske'kt's Treatise. 



ORIGIN.VL COMMUNICATIONS. 



TO THE EDITOR OF THE NEW ENtLA.\D FARMER. 



In No. 30 of your paper, is a letter from Mr. 

 .'. Kennck to Mr. I'omeroy, in which he again 

 notices my observations on the best time for fel- 

 ling trees for timber ; and thinks them " sub- 

 stantially correct," with one exception, where 

 I say " the larger the grain the hanler and 

 stronger is the wood." — On this he remarks — 

 •' From my own experience I certaiidy know 

 that coarse grained wood, though heav}', is brit- 

 tle, and far from being the strongest." He adds, 

 that wheelwrights will say, " that coarse grain- 

 ed wood is unlit for spokes or carts, and too brit- 

 tle for pin-wood ;" and he aflfirms. " that the 

 strongest timber will always be found in a me- 

 dium between the coarsest and the finest grain- 

 ed." 



Mr. Kenrick's views and mine appear to be 

 the snme — so to manage timber trees as to ren- 

 der them most useful; and to select the fittest 

 for the several objects to which they are ap- 

 plied. He appeals to his experience, the proper 

 basis for reasoning on a disputed point : but to 

 make it the test of truth, all the circumstances 

 must be alike. If Mr. Kenrick will look again 

 on my essay, he will see the imjjortance I attach 

 to the age of timber trees ; that there is a time 

 when they attain maturity, or fall age, at which 

 they may probably continue stationary for some 

 years ; but if left standing many years after 

 their full age, that the toughness and strength 

 of the wood are greatly impaired. The coarse 

 grained wood which Mr. Kenrick pronounces to 

 be* brittle, I should suspect as falling under my 

 own lestriclion — whose toughness and strength 

 were impaired by age. — To make a fair exper- 

 iment, select trees growing on the same soil ; 

 count the grains to find trees of the same, or 

 nearly the same age ; the grains of one coarse 

 of another fine, and a third at a medium be- 

 tween the former two. From the butt end of 

 each, take pieces of the same age (by counting 

 the annual rings from the heart) and dress them 

 to the same size — say an inch square and two 

 feet long: rest their ends equally on support- 

 ers, and at their central distances between the 

 Bujiporters, hang on weights, increasing tbejp 



gradually until the pieces severally break. 

 Their strength, then, will be in the proportions 

 of the weights they sustain. I have not a shad- 

 ow of doubt that the largest grained will prove 

 the strongest wood. — This experiment, I am 

 aware, will require some time and care, to ren- 

 der it satisfactory ; but not more, I hope, than 

 Mr. Kenrick may have leisure to bestow upon 

 it. In the mean while, I take leave to ofter two 

 or three things for his consideration. 



The same tree, from its butt to its fop, will 

 furnish all degrees of the grain, from the coars- 

 est to the finest. Let him dress out as many 

 pieces as he pleases, to the same dimensions, say 

 at every two or more feet of its length, from its 

 butt upward ; and then by weights suspended as 

 above mentioned, see which are the stronger. I 

 think I run no hazard in saying, beforehand, that 

 they will be found decreasing in strength, as the 

 grains lessen, from the butt upwards. 



Again — cut off the extreme end of a limb of 

 an oid tree (say an apple free, such as he has of- 

 ten pruned) where it is an inch in diameter ; and 

 at the same time cut off a young shoot, of the 

 same diameter, springing from the trunk, or a 

 large limb, of the same tree. In the latter he 

 may count perhaps five grains — in the former, 

 twenty or more. The piece of the old limb he 

 knows will be found extremely brittle ; but the 

 young shoot very tough and strong. Mr. Ken- 

 rick must also have noticed the much greater 

 strength of the extreme ends of the limbs of 

 young trees, compared with the extreme ends 

 of the branches of old trees — supposing both to 

 have sprung from the seeds, and to have re- 

 mained ungrafted. 



What causes the striking difference in 

 strength (which I here take for granted) be- 

 tween the butt cut and the higher portions of 

 the stem of the same tree ? what but the great- 

 er quantity of woody fibre in one than in the 

 other? — A transverse cut of the butt, viewed 

 with a microscope, would exhibit a large por- 

 tion of solid matter ; a like cut far up the stem, 

 a bundle of pores connected by very thin layers 

 of wood. 



It just now occurs to me, that Lord Kaims, in 

 his " Gentleman Farmer," mentions the ages 

 of trees when in their proper state for timber. 

 He wrote, in Scotland, this valuable work, 

 about the year 1772. Great improvements in 

 British husbandry have been since made. In 

 •his chapter on the culture of forest trees, after 

 directing the manner of making plantations, he 

 treats of the grown wood. " I begin (says he) 

 with examining at what age a tree is in perfec- 

 tion for the purposes of a farm. At the age 

 of sixty, it is sufficiently large for every farm- 

 ing purpose ; being, when cut to the square, 

 from twelve to fifteen inches each side. I must 

 except the oak, which even for the purposes of 

 farming, improves till it bo one hundred years 

 old. Every oak consists of red and white wood ; 

 the former the firmest of all wood, the latter 

 [the sap wood] good for nothing. Ash, after the 

 growth of sixty years, turns brittle^ — I am in- 

 clined to think the American white-oak (which 

 appears to be very different from the oak of 

 Great Britain) and ash, not only continue to 

 grow, but to retain their strength, to greater 

 ages. I am also disposed to believe that the 

 " coarse grained wood which Mr. Kenrick and 

 others have found to be brittle, had passed the 

 age of maturity, and entered on the first sta- 





ges of decay. At still greater ages, the wo*;i> 

 of trees becomes more and more brittle ; at 

 at length they fall. In this way, whole fores 

 of aged trees perish and disappear, and are soi 

 ceeded by new races, sometimes of the sa 

 sorts of trees, but often of totally different kind 



In the same letter, Mr. Kenrick mentioi 

 his practice in pruning trees (fruit trees, I pn t- 

 surae, apples and pears especially) in June ; ai 

 " is satisfied that the only proper lime for pru: 

 ing is while the bark will peel, in June or Ji 

 ly." — But being then full of leaves, it most I 

 more difficult to see where to prune, than 

 early spring, before the buds open, ftly ow 

 practice has been to prune in the spring, begii 

 ning when the buds have scarcely begun i ft 

 swell ; and ending before the expansion of tli 

 leaves. But I never leave " stumps" of limb 

 Every branch that is taken away, is cut clos 

 and even with the stem or the limb where 

 grew ; and the healing of the wound commei T 

 cos and proceeds kindly as vegetation advance 

 If the branch cut olf be large, the wound shoui 

 be covered with some kind of plaisfer. Tb 

 tine orchard in Newton known to Mr. Kenric 

 fifty years ago, was doubtless pruned with axe 

 leaving stumps from two to four or five inchi 

 long. The sap, in such cases, will endeavor i 

 climb up, and will ascend part of the way, b 

 cannot reach their tops. These exposed to it 

 damp air and rains, at length rot, and produce 

 general decay. The saw is essential to corre 

 pruning. T. PICKERING. 



Salem, Feb. 24, 1823. 



lis' 



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FOR THE NEW E.VGLAND FARMER. 

 .V/. Editor — While j'ou are so laudably engaged 

 nunding; the breed and condition of our domestic ai 

 mals, I have Ihougrht it might not be amiss to subn 

 to your disposal some remarks iu the wish of iraprovii 

 the health of the great biped who superintends n 

 only the field and the barn, but the house and its i 

 mates. — 



ON DRESS, OR CLOTHING. 



!n devising the means of promoting and s 

 curing our physical well being, it is the bus 

 ness of art to counteract the irregularities 

 nature ; to modify principles, and to supply e 

 pedients, so as to meet the emergencies of pa 

 ticular cases. 



It is said by some persons that they wear tl 

 same clothes all the year round, implying, wil 

 a good deal of self-complacency, that they ha^ 

 discovered a better rule of conduct in this caS' 

 than others have been able to adopt. Thei 

 would, however, be quite as much wisdom in 

 man's saying that he would have a fire of tV 

 same size, in his parlor, during every day i 

 the year, or, that he would have no fire in anl 

 day of the year. 



In our climate, which is at once variable an 

 extreme, to suit one's clothing to our fluctua 

 ing seasons, requires no little care and attei 

 tion. 



From too light a dress in winter every ol 

 server must know that many young ladies, i 

 particular, take cold, and thus lay the fbundi 

 tion of fatal consumption. 



No degree of cold, which is at all painfu 

 can long be endured with safety. 



The first requisite of a winter garment b 

 that it be sufficient to keep us warm ; and thi 

 first requisite in summer is, that it occasion a 

 little superfluous heat and weight as possible 

 And at all times the entire dress should be s 



