*<afi 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



June 27, 1828. 



quantity required for a liogshead, are the shells 

 and whites of three dozen egga ; the shells pound- 

 ed in a mortar, and then stirred with the eggs in 

 a few gallons of the liquor, to diffuse them well 

 before they are poured into the cask, when tlie 

 whole mass must be agitated for an hour or two, 

 as is directed in the use of isinglass. 



Whetlier isinglass or whites of eggs are used, I 

 nould recommend as a still better mode than the 

 above, that the lining when diffused through a 

 few gallons of liquor be poured into the empty 

 cask, the hquor to be then racked off and poured 

 on t!ie tilling — this mixes it well with the whole 

 mass without the necessity of stuing. 



Mr. Joseph Cooper, of Gloucester count}'. New 

 Jersey, recommends the jelly from cows feet as a 

 good fining — that from one bullock, warmed and 

 mixed with cider, he fined 2 hogsheads ; he strain- 

 ed it before mixing it — racked off the cider in ten 

 days — he thought it improved the flavor of the 

 liquor. — Coxe on Fruit Trees. 



I'OR THE NEW ENGLANU FARMER. 



Mr Fessendek — The following articles were 

 designed for the last number of the Massachu- 

 setts Agricultural Journal, but arrived too late for 

 insertion. 



That by Dr Harris was written in answer to a 

 letter from me. It refers to two insects which 

 attack the peach leaves. This letter will bo read, 

 I think, with great interest. 



The letter from Mr Hardy relates to his prac- 

 tice of putting pomace about his apple trees, a 

 practice which he disclosed to the Committee for 

 deciding premiums for the best orchard. 



JOHN LOWELL. 



ON POMACE FOR APPLE TREES. 



mtltkam;june 6, 1828. 

 Dear Sir — I am glad of an oppoi-tunity to 

 communicate to the Sec. of the Mass. Society for 

 Promoting Agriculture, my views in regard to the 

 numagement of an Orchard, as, I have within a 

 few weeks been verbally informed that many peo- 

 ple in Norfolk are applying Pomace to their ap- 

 ple trees at this season ; and, in my own neigh- 

 borhood, I find that some persons have used all 

 their pomace in this way, that is, by piling it up 

 around their apple trees the last fall ; likewise 

 some persons from West Cambridge and Water- 

 town, who have done the same, have expressed 

 to me their doubts respecting its utihty. I know 

 not where they obtained their information relative 

 to the management of an orchard, or the using of 

 pomace, although I am told that something has 

 been published, yet I have never seen anything 

 respecting either, therefore I answer your request 

 with the utmost pleasure, as it may be the means 

 of saving some trees. I believe it is generally 

 known that the seeds in pomace aie a favorite 

 food for rats, mice, squirrels, rabbits, &c. while 

 they remain fresh and good, which they viill do 

 through the first winter. Now if pomace be put 

 :<round trees in the fall to induce these creatures 

 Jo come and hunt for tlie seeds in winter, my 

 opiuitin is tiiat the bark rjf the trees would be in 

 great danger. I know of no necessity for putting 

 anything around apple trees in fall or winter ; it 

 _ iveithcr promotes their growth nor [irevents their 

 " destruction that I know of 



The amount of all this I stated to the Commit- 

 tee while viewing my orchard, when Mr Welles 

 flskeii why it iniglit not be done in the fall. For 



my own part I am astonished that every farmer, 

 who has an orchard, has not discovered long ago 

 that horned cattle should not be turned loose 

 therein. Yet it has been a connnon inquiry ever 

 since I was a boy, with every farmer with whom 

 I have lived, where shall we put the pomace to 

 keep it away from the cattle, forgetting it would 

 seem that the orchard was the only place where 

 cattle might not go, and that pomace put therein 

 would do no hurt if it did no good. Some fann- 

 ers, however, perceived this and carried the pom- 

 ace into the orchard, without mistrusting that it 

 would benefit the trees, it was in this way that I 

 first discovered its beneficial effects on trees. — 

 About eight years ago I thought of raising some 

 apple trees ; accordingly I planted out some pom- 

 ace near where an apple and peach tree stood, 

 there was an abundance of poinace, I chopped it 

 over among the dirt and left it, I noticed for two 

 years that the trees were more thrifty and the 

 fruit larger than usual, and that weeds and grass 

 did not grow as formerly, and that the earth was 

 more moist, yet I paid Uttle or no attention to it 

 at the time, and might cntu-ely have forgotten it, 

 if it had not occurred to me from observations 

 made afterwards, elsewhere, on perceiving trees 

 to thrive extremely where pomace had been laid, 

 from which circumstance I was induced to try 

 the experiment ; what the result will be I cannot 

 tell at present. 



This, however, I can say, for two years past I 

 have applied all the pomace I made, to the most 

 unthrifty trees in my new orchard, by can-jing it 

 from the mill in the fall, laying it far from any 

 trees till spring, then in April or IVIay I take from 

 one to two bushels and put to each tree, in a snug 

 pile aroimd the tree. Then, in August, I spread 

 it around two feet each way from the trunk, and 

 chop it in with a hoe. Thus far the residt has 

 been, the trees Iiave been much more thrifty, and 

 in no instance have 1 found a borer to touch a 

 tree where I api)lied the pomace. 



Respectfully yours, &c. 



N. HARDY. 



Benj. Gcild, Esq. 

 St!c. Mitss. Soc.Jor Promoting Agricitlliirc. 



We publish the foregoing letter from Mr Hardy 

 with great pleasure, as it affords information de- 

 rived from a practical source. Mr Hardy was 

 the successful candidate for our Society's premi- 

 um of fifty dollars for the best orchard of apple 

 trees. We tliink it important to add, that though 

 present at the examination of his trees by a Com- 

 mittee of the Massachusetts Agricultural Society, 

 we do not recollect to have heard the remarks 

 which he made to Mr Welles on the subject of 

 ap])lying the pomace in the spring. We were, 

 however, deeply impressed with his remarks on 

 the use of pomace, and it did appear to us, high- 

 ly reasonable, that that substance by the powA" 

 of the acid contained in pomace, would not only 

 more effectually check the growth of grass and 

 weeds, than any application we had either used 

 or heard of. We therefore in the fall of last year 

 applied about a bushel of pomace to every apple 

 and )>oar tree. The evil effects, conjectured by 

 Mr Hardy did not follow. No mice attacked our 

 trees, though there is great weiglit in his remarks 

 on that subject. But if upon trial, it shall be 

 found, that this evil does not follow, the fall would 

 be the best period of npphcation. We are con- 

 Strained to say that we have little hopes that it 



can have any effect on the borer, any more than 

 a certain lady's apjjhcatioii of scalding water can 

 affect an insect securely lodged in the alburnum 

 of an apple tree. — Editors of the Mass. Agric. 

 Journal. 



05=" The article of Dr. Harris, unavoidably de- 

 ferred till our next. 



FOR THE NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



INSECTS DESTROYED. 



Mr. Fessenden, — If you think my mode of de- 

 stroying the mM^ or miller, wiiich jjroduces the 

 eggs from whic^^he caterpillar is hatched, worth 

 occupying a space in your valuable Farmer, you 

 are at liberty to insert it. 



From the readiness which most kinds of wing- 

 ed insects come to a light in warm ilark nights, I 

 was induced to try the experiment, of making a 

 fire of light dry wood, in my orchard, Juring the 

 time of the moth. The result exceeiied my ex- 

 pectation. Since, I use a large iron keiile about 

 three-fourths filled with earth ; and on tlas make 

 my fire, which may be moved in a hand-cart, 

 wheel-barrow, or even two men could easily car- 

 ry it with a pole. The success depends much ou 

 two circumstances : 1st. The warmer the atmos- 

 phere, the more active the insects, and conse- 

 quently more likely to fly into the flame. 2d. The 

 darker the night the more perceptible the light, 

 and of course the greater distance the moth will 

 be attracted. 



I am, sir, most respectfully, 



Your ob't. servant, 



JACOB DeWITT. 



Montreal, June 12, 1828. 



To preserve metons and cucumber plants from 



bugs and flies Stick a few seeds, of very sweet 



squashes, around each hill, to be sacrifii ed to the 

 vermin — the squash plants being so much sweet- 

 er than the cucumber and melons, tliat the flies 

 will devour the squash,while the others will scarce- 

 ly be touched ; consequently, wiU get such a start 

 as not to be injured. 



CULTURE AND USES OF POTATOS. 



At tlie weekly breakfast given by the President 

 of the Royal Society on the 1st iust. Sir John Sin- 

 clair requested permission to lay before the meet- 

 ing, a statement of the objects he had in view, 

 in wishing that public attention should be more 

 steadily du-ected than heretofore it had been, to- 

 the culture and use of potatos ; and having pro- 

 duced specimens of potato meal, and of the farina 

 of potatos ; he jtroceeded shortly to explain how 

 these two substances were prepared, and to what 

 purpose they were respectively appUcable. 



POTATO MEAL. 



In preparing potato meal, no material part of 

 the root is lost. The whole, after being merely 

 scraped or peeled, is cut into very thin slices, then 

 carefully dried in any kiln or stove, and aftenvnrds 

 ground into meal in a common mill. The advan- 

 tages of this process are — 



1st. Security for subsistence. As potatos area 

 very precarious crop, and cannot be preserved in 

 their natural state, beyond a few months after 

 they are dug, any coiuitry in which they form the 

 chief sustenance of the ])eoplc, nuist according to 

 the present systeni, be extremely liable to scarci- 

 ty. But when dried and converted into meal, 

 potatos may be preserved for a long period of 

 time, and the abundant crop of one season may 



