108 



ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Oil. 2(j, 1821 



LEGHORN HATS. 



As considerable attention has been paid in New 

 England to the manufacture of Straw Bonnets, I 

 send you an abstract, for the benefit of those con- 

 cerned, of a communication in the 44lh vol. of the 

 Transactions of the Sc^iety for the Encourage- 

 ment of .'Vrts, &c. writtc: by J. & A. Muir, man- 

 ufacturers of this article. 



The Messrs. Muirs trie.'- t!ie common rye grass, 

 crusted dog's tail, sweet scented vernal, and vari- 

 ous grasses, wheat straw, &c. and came to the 

 concl'ision, after numerous experiments, that rye 

 straw v.'as most suitable of any material they 

 had used. 



They sow their rye on light coloured sand, at 

 the rate of twenty bushels of seed to the acre, after 

 having manured well. The crop is cut when in 

 the blossom or niilliy state. It is tied at the root 

 end in small parcels two or tliree inches in diam- 

 eter, placed in tubs, boiling water turned over it, 

 which remains about half an hour, then spread on 

 dry sandy ground, v.'hich is considered better than 

 grass, being less liable to take mildew, and turned 

 occasionally. It bleaches in two or three days if 

 the weather is favorable. I believe the top joint 

 alone is used in making plats. 



In I82C, Messrs. Muirs raised five acres of 

 straw, which produced 12000 scores of plat; 

 which, supposing them to average three scores to 

 the plat, would make 4000 hats, worth, including 

 manufacturers' profit, £3,000 sterling, (,<!22,300r) 

 This would give constant employment to 500 per- 

 sons during the whole year. The consumption of 

 Leghorn hats in Great Britain is estimated at 

 £500,000 per an. Were those all made at home. 

 It would require 700 acres of poor land, and the 

 labor of 5000 persons. — A'te also Brilish Fanner's 

 Mag. for May. J. BUEL. 



.many, Oct. '23, 1827. 



potato slips, and covered with about an inch of 

 loam. In from a week to ten days they had 

 sprouted well, and were about showing their tops. 

 They were then carefully transplanted into six 

 hills, distance from each other about two and a 

 half feet. The remainder of their cultivation was 

 as usual — the ground kept clear of v^eeds, and 

 but little dirt hoed about the hills. In gathering 

 the potato last week, I found the crop very much 

 to exceed what I had expected. The produce of 

 the different hills varied from each other in ap- 

 pearance, and in number from 8 to above 30. In 

 the hill that contained buteight, I found one which 

 weighed a pound. The weight of the 8 potatoes 

 was 2J lbs. In another hill I found one which 

 weighed 15 oz. The 10 largest in the hill weigh- 

 ed 3 pounds. 



In one other hill, which I value most, I found 

 20 sizeable potatos which weighed collectively 3 

 lbs. 2 oz. or 2i oz. each In this hill besides sev- 

 eral small ones not weighed, there were 10 others 

 which weighed 2 oz. One hill which contained 



] but 6 sizeable potatos was much earlier than the 



! others. 



The quality of these apparently different varie- 

 ties vi^ill not be tested till after another crop. 



Perhaps I should state that the soil in which 

 these potatos were cultivated was good and in 

 good order, though not excessively rich, and with 

 but little manure in the hill. 



Respectfully yours, 

 Franklin, Oct. 23, 1837. P. WARE. 



NEW VARIETIES OP THE POTATO. 



Mr Pessenden — The method of propagating 

 new varieties of potatoes from the seeds has been 

 frequently recommended in your paper. Premi- 

 ums I believe have been offered, by many of our 

 Agricultural Societies for the best varieties pro- 

 cured in that way. I have formerly been rather 

 incredulous as to the utility of this inetliod ; not so 

 much so, however, as to deter me from trying the 

 experiment, which, though I do not consider as 

 'Ailly accomplished, promises well. 



In the latter part of April 1826, I planted, or 

 rather sowed a few Potato seeds on a small bed 

 in my garden. These seeds came up ; but iu con- 

 sequence of the attack of a small insect, in appear- 

 ance much like a Flea, and the severity of the 

 drought, and, perhaps I should say, my own negli- 

 gence also,the plants had by the twentieth of June 

 mostly perished ; only six remained at that time, 

 and they had such a sickly appearance, that I con- 

 sidered them as deserving but little attention. — 

 All the cultivation they received was to keep them 

 clear of weeds. About the middle of October I 

 gathered my crop, which consisted of about a doz- 

 en and a half Potatoes, varying in si/.e from that 

 of a potato ball down to that of a small pea ; six 

 of the largest only, one from each plant, I thought 

 proper to preserve. These, which weighed, I 

 presume, not more than two ounces, were, in the 

 latter part of last April, placed in a small hot bed, 

 «/hich I had prepared for sprouting some sweet 



LUCERNE. 



Mr. Pessendek, — I wish to add my testimony 

 to that of Mr. Lov. ell, and other gentlemen, in 

 favor of this excellent grass, particularly for farm- 

 ers, wlio, like myself, are stinted in pasture 

 grounds. 



I sowed Lucerne seven years ago, v;ith summer 

 grain. It was sown too thin, — a drought ensued, 

 and the grain crop proved detrimental. It was so 

 unpromising, that ! ploughed it up at the end of 

 the second year. 



In 1824, I sowed 1(5 lbs. seed on an acre well 

 prepared, in May, with half a bushel of winter rye. 

 It did well. The last of August, I moA ed it, prin- 

 cipally with a view of keeping down weeds and 

 the rye, which began to send up seed stocks. In 

 1825, I cut three tolerable crops, and fed to my | 

 stock green. In 1836,when the grass v.-as supposed 

 to have obtained its maximum, I cut it 4 times for 

 green fodder,and gave the field a slight top-dress- 

 ing of rotten dung in the autumn. This year, my 

 stock has consisted of six cows and four oxen. All 

 my summer pasture would about suffice for two cat- 

 tle. I fed on rutn baga and hay till about the 20th 

 May, when I began to cut Lucerne morning and 

 evening, and feed, in such quantities as I found 

 ray stock would eat up clean. By the time I had 

 gone over the acre, the part first cut was fit again 

 for the scythe. Two cuttings, with the small pas- 

 ture, in which my cattle were permitted to run, 

 sufficed till my meadows and grain fields were fit 

 to turn into. I cut a third crop for hay, and I 

 have now standing what in New England would 

 be called a fine crop of rowen. I do not find that 

 it has deteriorated in the least. J. BUEL. 



Albany ATiirsery, Oct. 21, 1827. 



THE DISEASE IN PEAR AND APPLE 



TREES. 

 I beg leave to add my observations and conjec- 

 tures to the multiplied discussions which have ap- 



peared in the New-England Fanner on this sub- 

 ject. 



The disease has this year appeared, for the first 

 time, partially among my pear, and pretty exten- 

 sively among my apple trees. I first noticed it 

 about the 28th May on a young Priestley apple 

 tree. I immediately cut off" the limb and found 

 two insects, from one fourth to three-eights of an 

 inch long, so firmly fixed at the lower extremity 

 of the new growth, as not to be disturbed by the 

 operation of cutting. The exterior of the limb 

 near this place had become black, and the leaves 

 were brown, though the upper extremity of the 

 branch was yet green and fresh. The disease ap- 

 peared to be spreading in the direction of the des- 

 cending sap. On cutting, this was more apparent, 

 dark streaks descending down the cambium lower 

 than the bark had yet become discolored, and par.. 

 tially through the sap wood to the pith Towards 

 evening of the same day, I discovered other trees 

 affected, and on looking for what I supposed my 

 depredator, I found ten or a dozen, enveloped in 

 the dead and curled leaves. These I submitted to 

 the inspection of an entomologist, who pronounc- 

 ed them of the genus SaperJa, but who could not 

 determine the specific name. The disease subse- 

 quently appeared in my orchards and nursery, 

 upon trees planted last spring, and those in vigor- 

 ous growth; and in several cases the tops of 

 young trees were entirely killed, and a new 

 growth has in every instance pushed from beneath 

 the dead part. I have observed no material dif- 

 ference in regard to varieties, aspect, soil or vigor 

 of the tree. I think the poir d'Auch and winter 

 bon creiien, have suffered most among the pears, 

 both in nursery and insolated situations. 



Repeated examinations have confirmed me in 

 my first impressions, that the disease is spread by 

 the descent of the proper or elaborated sap, from 

 the point first affected. In some cases a spur, or 

 small branch grcwing out of the trunk of the tree, 

 has been the subject of attack, when I have ob- 

 served a circle of the latter to become diseased 

 at the point of junction. That the descending 

 sap is first affected, is apparent from the fact, that 

 the upper extremities of limbs remain fresh and 

 vigorous for days, after the bark and leaves below 

 have become shrivelled, dry and black. The sap 

 continues to ascend, and is elaborated in the 

 leaves, until the alburnum becomes contracted by 

 disease ; but its descent at the affected portion of 

 the branch. 



The conclusion which I have come to, from a 

 consideration of the preceding facts, is, that this 

 disease is produced by the poison of the insect 

 above described, or of some other, injected into 

 the vegetable blood, or descending sap, in the 

 young wood. Of remedies I can suggest none. 



In 1803, and three or four subsequent years, 1 

 witnessed the destructive effects of this malady at 

 Kingston. Nineteen twentieths of the pears were 

 killed, and serious injury done to apple trees. Some 

 persons believed, that hanging chains, hoops, or 

 other iron upon the branches, tended to avert the 

 disease ; and others, that boring into the trunk, 

 and filling the hole with mercurial ointment, had a 

 like effect, with what truth I do not pretend to say. 

 Mbany, Oct. 14. J. BUEL. 



VINES. 

 Mr Editor — Having noticed an article inyour 

 paper of the 28th ult. translated from a French 

 work called the Bon Jardinier, I have been led to 



