116 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Nov. 9, 1827 



COMMUNICATIONS. 



were put to eac':; tree, at the distance of 4 feet, 

 and clioppod in i-.ilh a hoe. 



For the ! it two years I have applied apple 



QUESTIONS 

 Proposed to Ike claimants of the preuiums offered\ pomace to the iiost unthrifty, which has improved 



6^ the Massachusetts Soeiety for Promoting Ag- their thrift e.. tremely— I have never put any ma- 



riculture,for the best orchards. nure within four feet of the trees. 



1. How many apple trees have you planted out 7. I pay >io regard to keeping the centre open 

 on your farm since )81G — and at what peiiods.'i more than :-ny other part of the tree, being care- 

 Specify particularly. I fill thMt IV one limb crowds another, wishing al- 



'■i. Of what sorts of fruit is your plantation com- 1 ways to balance the top as equally as possible; I 

 posed.' Be as precise as you can. take u3" small limbs at any season, but large ones 



3. Was your plantation made on old cultivated i shou! ' ahoui/s be taken off' late in the spring. 

 lields, or on land never before broken up? I 8. Three years ago 1 scraped the bark where 



4. In what manner were your trees planted — if vas rough, and put on a wash, made of lime, 

 deeper shallow? did you put stones beneath or | potash, clay and water, made as thick as white 



wash. 

 9. My trees have suffered but very little from 



above them ? 



5. How have you managed your orchard, since 

 it was planted? Has it been kept in tillage, or ifi insects, except the Borer, and these have not been 

 laid down to grass have you dug round your trees, numerous, for I watched them closely. In no case 

 and at what season? have I found one where I applied pomace ; where 



6. Have you applied tan, or manure of any sort 

 to them, and how often ? 



7. What has been your mode of pruning? Have 



I find a Borer has commenced operations, I take 

 my knife and cut them out. 

 10. I have seldom discovered any canker or 



you kept the centre of your trees open? At what; mildew, when I do, I rub it off. If I injure the 



season of the year have you pruned, and which 

 from experience have you found best, fall, spring 

 or summer pruning ? 



8. What applications have you made to the 

 bark of your trees? Have you applied any wash- 

 is and of what sort? 



9. Have you suffered from insects on your trees 

 and what remedies have you applied ? Has the 

 borer visited them, and what have you done to re- 

 iieve the trees, or to extirpate the insects ? 



bark when at work among the trees, I take off 

 the bark thus injured, and rub the place thorough- 

 ly with dirt ; this I do likewise when I take off a 

 limb, which prevents the weeping, equal to com- 

 position. I take the whole care of the trees my- 

 self, and when ploughing among them I generally 

 plough next to the trees myself. 



II. My trees are set in rows north and south — 

 east and west, and exactly twenty-eight feet 

 asunder, both ways ; this makes it convenient in 



10. Have your trees been subject to canker, and | planting, as every tree will occupy the place of a 



have you found this to proceed from wounds eith- 

 sr by pruning or accident, and have you applied 

 any thing, and what to check the canker? 



11. At what distance were your trees set one 

 tVom the other in every direction. 



JOHN LOWELL, Chairman. 



REPLIES. 

 TO THE HON. JOHN LOWELL, 



Chairman of Committee, {Massachusells Societij for Promoting 

 Agriculture.) on Apple Trees. 



hill of corn or potatoes. 



Respectfully submitted, 



N. HARDY. 

 [Mr. Hardy is a lessee of the College Farin.j 



it is finer eating, having no disagreeable taste, 

 but very pleasant; indeed it is so raised in public 

 opinion of late, in London, that it is recommend- 

 ed to plant the seeds, in pots in a hot bed, and turn 

 out the plants in the open ground, in order to pro- 

 duce it earlier, and seems to bo considered a , 

 standard necessary vegetable. 



I remain, sir, with respect, 



vour obedient serv't, 



MICHAEL FLOY. 

 .Veu> York, Oct. 25, 1827. 



NEW ZEALAND SPINAGE. 



Mr Fessenden, — I wish to introduce to the 'that seeds have been ordered to a considerable ex 



From the Halifax Nova Scotiau. 



AGRICULTURE IN BRITISH COLONIES. 

 The attention which is now directed to the Ag 

 ricultural improvement of the neighboring Colo- 

 nies is a proof of an enlightened acquaintance 

 with the true sources of national wealth. In Ca- 

 nada, we observe, one of the acts, that have lately 

 received the sanction of His Majesty, appropriates 

 the sum of £1600 for the encouragement of the 

 Agricultural Associations established throughout 

 the Province. The bill assigns £505 to the Dis- 

 trict of Quebec, £910 to that of Montreal, and £186 

 to Three Rivers; and confers the power on the 

 District Societies of granting premiums to any 

 County Institution in proportion to the number of 

 the inhabitants. Ploughing matchesand fairs are in- 

 corporated into their system of rural economy ; and 

 valuable prizes are offered impartially for the cul- 

 tivation of green crops, the improvement in the 

 breeds of cattle, and the introduction of domestic 

 manufactures. In P. E. Island the same anit.ius 

 is breath'ng. A central Society has been estab- 

 lished in Charlotte Town ; and although its influ- 

 ence has been retarded during the past season, 

 from a Legislative grant 'i«ing withheld, on ac 

 count of some difference bt^wcen H. 31. Council 

 and the Lower branch, yet wc are aware that a 

 liberal and active feeling exists in its favour, and 



notice of your readers an account of the New 

 Zealand Spinage, Tetragonia expansa, which is 

 described at large in the Traiisactions of the Loni 

 don Horticultural Society. I am decidedly of 

 Sir — The following are correct answers to the ' opinion that it is a very valuable addition to our 

 aleven questions which you proposed relative to esculent vegetables. I received but 3 seeds which 

 the management of apple trees, together with such I sowed in a hill in the month of May; it has 

 observations as opportunity would permit. spread over a piece of ground atleast 6 feet every 



1. In the month of April 1820, I planted out vvay, and I could have gathered the leaves in 

 300 apple trees; they were from Sherburne, and ' plenty during the months of July and August. It 

 of small size. In 1821 I planted about 200 apple ; >s well known that the month of August is the 



trees from New York, likewise small 



2. By Dea. Leland's bill, there are in the first 

 300 trees, 177 Baldwins,97 Russets, and 26Green- 

 mgs— By the New York bill, there are 32 differ- 

 ent kinds of fruit. 



[These Ueea were selected hy me, then a fellow 

 of the College, from Prince's nursery J. L.] 



3. The field was a new one, having never been 

 planted but twice. 



4. My trees were planted shallow, merely cov- 

 ering the roots — the land being rocky, I deemed 

 it useless to put stones in the holes, (which were 

 large.) and were filled with common earth loam, 

 being mixed with small stones, yet in land without 

 rocks, I should put in abundance of them. 



worst month in the year for vegetables. The 

 common spinage, if sown in the spring and sum- 

 mer, runs almost immediately to seed, and there- 

 fore is of but little use : the Tetragonia or New 

 Zealand Spinage, seems remarkably well adapted 

 to fill up the chasm in the vegetable market dur- 

 ing the summer months ; but it will also continue 

 to produce until very late in the fall. Since I ex- 

 hibited the mess which was cooked on the IGth at 

 an evening meeting of the Horticultural Society, 

 we have had a pretty smart frost, which injured 

 some of it, but not very materially. I can soon 

 gather some, (it was not protected). The New 

 Zealand Spinage is well calculated for small fam- 

 ilies, which have but small gardeas ; a bed will 



5. The tv.10 first years the land was in tillage ; afford a mess at any time, without any more 

 Lue third, fourth, fifth, and sixth years it was in trouble than keeping it clear of weeds during the 

 grass ; the Ir.st year it was broken up and planted; summer and fall ; the leaves laok much like the 

 ance, while in grass, the trees were dug around 'common prickly spinage, but of a thicker consis- 

 jathe spring — in. summcv two shovels of compost Ucncy, and I think with the inspecting committee, 



tent for the ensuing spring. Chiefly do we turn 

 our regards to the elastic spirit which is exhibited 

 in Ne\v-Brunswick. Convinced at length by the 

 repeated suggestions of the Executive, and by sad 

 but impressive experience, that it was violating all 

 the just principles of political economy to throw 

 their entire dependence upon the timber trade, and 

 thus subject the country in its trade and industry 

 to such paralyzing reverses, the public mind has 

 been aroused, and a portion of its energy has been 

 employed in bringing science to dignify the la- 

 bours of the plough. From time to time we have 

 announced cursorily to our readers the various 

 steps of their progress — we have copied, as far as 

 our limits would permit, both from the addresses 

 of His Excellency Sir Howard Douglass, and frons 

 the reports of R. Sirnonds, Esq — the intelligent 

 Secretary of the superintending Institution at Fre- 

 derictown, — such extracts as wore most interest- 

 ing to us, and which &t the same time, exhibited 

 the proofs of a patriotic and animating success. 

 During the past season, however, we have been 

 delighted in witnessing the higher entefprise with 

 which this zeal has been inspired. We have mark- 

 ed the evidence of this in the importation of a great 

 variety of finer animals for the improvement of the 

 domestic stock. A few weeks ago we mentioned 

 the arrival of a Mr Greenslade, of the Parish of 

 Springfield, with a large variety of animals, and 

 we have again the pleasure to announce that an 

 other importation has reached S( John, of 6 Bulls 



I 



