330 



NEV/ ENGLAND FARMER. 



shoots, when they rise up, are of rapid growth, 

 tender, and nutritive ; they are cropped by 

 cattle and sheep, and the erroneous conclusion 

 above stated is too hastily drawn, in this coun- 

 try at least. The next point, upon which we 

 must dissent, is this. That " the trimming ofj 

 wood lots is beneficial." True it is, that some 

 ol our farmers think that the stumps of their 

 trees may be deprived of a portion uf their nu- 

 merous suckeis I'or a few years. They are used 

 to serve as hoop poles. Perhaps from the ne- 

 cessity of the case, and the situation of the 

 country, this may be justified. But experience 

 here seems fully to establish it, that wood lots 

 should not be trimmed Iji the maimer recom- 

 mended by the English writers, for the purpese 

 of letting in the air and light. In a variety of 

 instances where this has been done, the conse- 

 quence has been that the leaves have been 

 blown away, which would have made the land 

 lie light and nourish the roots. X thick grass 

 sward has been I'ormed, and the lots have been 

 stunted in growth, and most essentially injured. 



There is no doubt that in the family of the 

 oaks there is a great difference in growth and 

 duration. Tbe red oak (Quercus liubra) ; the 

 grey oak (Quercus Ambigua) ; the swamp white 

 oak (Ciuercus Frinus Discolor) ; in forests attain 

 their growth sooner than the white oak ((Quer- 

 cus Alba.) The hitler tree spreads its limbs 

 parallel nearly with the earth ; by engrossing a 

 greater extent of soil it has the benetit of better 

 nutrition. As it seldom predominates in the 

 forest in close gTowth, it does not peihaps ma- 

 ture much under from 60 to 110 years, and when 

 ill single and favorable situations, it requires a 

 much longer period. The Chesnut of the U. 

 States (Castanea Vesca) is a long lived tree, but 

 less so than the white oak; it grows to a large 

 srize and is valuable for timber, hi Scotland, 

 they conjecture Some of their Chesnut trees to 

 be nearly three hundred years old. As has been 

 before observed, the white oak and the elm, in 

 common with all other trees when well situated 

 in cultivated groundsjand near roads and houses, 

 attain great and protracted age, and must be 

 considered as forming (if not exceptions) classes 

 of cases by themselves, not interfering with that 

 s^'stem under which we place our forests and 

 wood lots. 



1 feel that I owe an apology to you sir, as 

 well as your readers, for the lengtii of this 

 rommunication. My object bus been to exciie 

 an attention, which is becoming more and more 

 important as to our wood lots, and 1 feel desir- 

 ous ol' bringing those forward who are better 

 informed. .\s it may furnish, however, some 

 amusement to the curious, and lead to the gen- 

 eral benetit and ornament of the coiiiitiy lo 

 adorn our highways and pleasure grounds with 

 trees in rows and otherwise, 1 shall subjoiu a 

 variety* of instances of the size, age, &,c. of 

 several in this neighborhood and elsewhere, 

 which will serve to show what an astonishing 

 increase time insensibly effects in this wonder- 

 ful product of the earth. 



1 am, .Sir, respectfully yours, &c. 



JOHN WELLES. 



yon THE NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Mr. EniTOR, 



The time of planting reminds me of a ques] 

 tion not yet settled to the general satistactioij 

 of farmers. I have reference to seed potatocsj 

 whether they should be planted whole or cuj 

 into pieces. E.xperiment aflords the only crii 

 tcrion whereby we may form conclusions iij 

 cases like this, and it would be well if mor< 

 were made public that we might be the better 

 enabled to judge. 1 will therefore state one 

 which will perhaps throw at least a single ra' 

 of light on the subject, among the many tha 

 illuminate your paper on the most important 

 occupation of man. 



In planting ray potatoes the last season, I had 

 the seed cut into two parts, without regard to 

 the seed end, and planted three pieces in a hill; 

 but as the hills and rows were very near togeth- 

 er, I found when 1 had planted about two third! 

 of the field, that the seed thus prepared was a( 

 expended, and not then having time to cut raor^ 

 I planted the remainder of the ground witb 

 whole potatoes, one in each hill, and of fhf 

 larger size. The season, in this quarter, wafe 

 not fruitful in potatoes, the usual produce beinj 

 short of a medium crop. A rust almost univei- 

 sally struck them throughout the country somp 

 time prior to their maturity. Those of mint 

 above mentioned, suffered with others, but j 

 difference in the appearance of the vines, b^ 

 tween those from the whole seed and those 

 from the cuts, early attracted my notice ; tie 

 former being apparently much less affected b^ 

 the rust than the latter. All the time of hah 

 vesting, the vines of the cut seed were entirely 

 dry, while those of the whole seed retained 

 some considerable juice and greenness of a|- 

 pearance. 



In dig(,'ing these potatoes, we found that part 

 of the field planted with whole seed to yield 

 much more abundantly and much larger pota- 

 toes than the other part. The soil ami the cul- 

 tivation were alike in all respects, no other 

 manure having been applied than le:iched ashes 

 spread and ploughed in, and plaisier dropped 

 on the seed. 



This experiment affords an argument against 



Butter thus manufactured acquires not only 

 beautiful yellow color, but a flavor which ad< 

 greatly to its value. The quantity of earn 

 juice necessary to be used for this purpose ma 

 easily be ascertained : indeed the judgment 

 the manufacturer cannot lail to suggest ver 

 nearly the quantity necessary lo give it a prm 

 er color. 



Art (if drcseiiig Flax so as to resemble Silk, 

 practised in Germany. 

 Take one part of lime, and between two ai 

 three parts of wood ashes ; pour over them 

 due proportion of water to make a strong at' 

 sharp lie after they have stood together 

 night, which must be poured otf when quil 

 clear. Tie handsfuU of flax at both ends, i 

 prevent its entangling, but let the middle i 

 each be spread as open as possible, in a kettl 

 on the bottom of which has first been placed 

 little straw with a cloth over it. Then p 

 another cloth over the flax, and so contini 

 covering each layer of flax with a cloth, ti 

 the kettle be nearly full. Pour over the who 

 the clear lie, and after boiling it for some hou 

 take it out, and throw it in cold water. Th 

 boiling, &:c. may be repeated, if judged reqi 

 site. The flax must be each time di-ied, hac 

 led, beaten, and rubbed line ; and, at lengt 

 liist dressed through a large comb, and th( 

 through a very fine one. By this process tl 

 llax acquires a beautifully bright and soft threa 

 The tow, which is beaten off, when papen 

 u[> and combed like cotton, is not only used f 

 many of the same purposes, but makes an e 

 cellent lint for wounds. 



.Mode of W'liilening Straxf. 

 In 1S06, a new method of whitening stro 

 was discovered in Germany. This consists 

 steeping it in muriatic acid saturated with p( 

 ash. The straw, thus prepared, never lur 

 yellovi, is of a shining white, and acquires gre 

 flexibility. =^ 



Preserved Stran-berries: 



To one pound of ripe strawberries put oi 



pound of powdered loaf sugar, laying alternat 



the very prevalent opinion in favor of cutting I ly on a deep dish a layei of each. Let the 



seed potatoes; and it has, in my estimation, the remain thus for twenty-four hours, when be 



* This Appendix was necessarily omitted, but will 

 appear soon. 



To remore Ike stain of Cherry or Claret Wine. — Ap- 

 ply a solution of sal Rinmoniac in It-mon or lime juice 

 10 tlio spot, and in a sliort time it will disappear. 



more force from its accordance with the gen- 

 eral order of nature, on which all true theories 

 must he founded. 



My object in making this short communica- 

 tion is to elicit others on the (pieslion ot' more 

 importance, and from sources more worthy of 

 notice. The potatoe, although a humble root, 

 is one of the most important productions in our 

 whole system of agriculture. B. 



BuckJieUi, Maine, May 10, 1823. 



From the Portland Gazette. 

 Recipe for inakhig good yellow Buiter. 

 A gentleman from .Scotland has lately called 

 at this othce and requested us to promulgate 

 the following recipe for the benefit of those 

 farmers who supply our market with butter. — 

 He was led to make the suggestion in conse- 

 quence of having noticed that our buiter made 

 after the cattle are put to hay, is almost uni- 

 versally white. He says that in bis country the 

 dairy women avoid this by grating some orange 

 carrots, the juice of which, after lieing strained, 

 is mixed with the cream previous to churning. 



them in a sirup till they are all of a color, 

 order to determine when they are done enoug 

 cut one of them open. Then, taking them oi 

 boil tjie sirup to the consistence of a jellv, 1 

 it remain till cool, then put in your strawbe 

 ries, and let them boil up once, take them o 

 and wiien cool, put them into a pot for use. 



Hop Beer. — For a half barrel of beer tal 

 half a pound of hops and half a gallon of 

 lasses; the latter must be poured by itself ioi 

 the cask. Boil the hops, adding to them a te 

 cupfull of powdered ginger, in about a pailfi 

 and a half of water, that is, a quantity sufficis' 

 to extract the virtue of the hops. When snf 

 ciently brewed, put it up warm into the ca9 

 shaking it well in order to mix it with the m 

 lasses. Then fill it up with water quite to tl 

 bung, which must be left open to allow it 

 work. You must be careful to keep it co 

 stantly filled up witb water whenever it worl 

 over. When sutTiciently wrought to be bottle 

 put about a spoonfull of molasses iato eac 

 bottle. 



