^90 



WEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



June 27, 1828. 



would not wish to have hay made brown by mow- 

 burning. It surely does not appear to so good 

 advantage at market. 



Were it not for the labor and cost, a good way 

 of hay-making would be, for the hay-makers to 

 follow at the heels of the mowers, at least as soon 

 as the dew is off, and spread the swarths evenly ; 

 turn the grass about the middle of tlie same day ; 

 make it up into cocks before night ; open the hay, 

 and turn it the next day ; and so on till it be suffi- 

 ciently dried, doubling the cocks if signs of rain ap- 

 pear. It will not commonly take more than two 

 or three days to dry it, unless it be very green, or 

 uncoimnonly thick and rank. A person who has 

 but little hay to make, need not be much blamed, 

 if he do it in this way ; especially if the weather 

 do not appear to be settled. 



The practice of the best English, Flemish, and 

 French farmers, is to expose the hay as little as 

 possible to the sun. It is carried in dry, but it 

 preserves its green colour ; and you see hay two 

 or three years old in their market, of so bright a 

 green colour, that we should scarcely conceive it 

 to be ciu-ed. Yet they are in the practice of pre- 

 serving it for years, and value it more for its age. 

 If such a course be best in chmates so cool and 

 cloudy, how much more important would it be 

 under our scorching suumier suns ? 



But if the weather be unsettled, or if showers 

 be frequent, it may be better to spread grass well, 

 as soon as it is mowed, stir it often, cock it the 

 same day it is mowed,, open it in the next fair day 

 when the dew is off, let it sweat a little in cock, 

 and house it as soon as it is diy enough. It will 

 bear to be laid greener on a scaffold, than in a 

 ground mow ; and in a narrow mow greener than 

 in a broad one. And that which is at least of all 

 made, should be put upon a scaffold. — Deanc. 



NEW ENGLAND FARM ER. 



BOSTON, FRIDAY, JUNE 27, 1828. 



FOR THE NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



DISTEMPERED PEACH TREES. 



Mr. Fessendf.n, — Your last paper takes no- 

 tice of the desolated appearance of the peach 

 tree, with their leaves curled and discolored ; and 

 all cuhivators and lovers of fruit will agree in a 

 desire that the cause of this disorder should be 

 sufficiently understood, as tiie first and indispen- 

 sable step to find out a prevention, or a cure. 



This disorder is named by the French horticul- 

 turists cloque, and is deemed to be one of tlie worst 

 ills to which this delicate and precious tree is ex- 

 posed. The Mauon Rustique, an agricultural pub- 

 lication tif ancient days, gives a considerable and 

 curious dissertation upon the subject, fixing the 

 cause upon pestUential winds, bhghts, &c. observ- 

 in;r at the same tune that after the curled leaves 

 have fallen, they appear full of small lice ; and on 

 that account uisists on the necessity of gathering 

 and burning them, to destroy the seeds of the dis- 

 order for succeeding seasons. In years long pas- 

 sed and gone, I have seen the cloque in Switzer- 

 land, and invariably were the leaves stowed un- 

 derneath with an infinite number of lice, and they 

 were universally accounted as the cause of the 

 disorder. Here whh the best observation I could 

 make with a microscope of small power, no lice 

 were apparent ; but this does not satisfy me that 

 tliere were none. The distempered leaves are 

 now fallinar off, and many on the outside exhibit 



the existence of a light green mildew, much simi- 

 lar in appearance, and musty smell, to that, which 

 attacks late crops of peas. I am strongly impres- 

 sed that the curled leaves of the peach trees are 

 brought into that situation by insect agression, or 

 by being converted by the circiunstances of the 

 season, into a soil for parasitical plants, such as 

 are vidgarly called mildew, to fasten on and grow, 

 perhaps both causes miite to the result ; for my 

 part, until I am better informed, I woidd not hes- 

 itate to apply to this case the recommendation 

 given to us, before, from able horticulturists in re- 

 gard to pear trees, viz. to hasten to burn the disor- 

 dered parts ; I would, without delay, collect the 

 fallen leaves, and consign them to the fire. With 

 us the cloque is a less serious malady for the peach 

 tree than in Europe, the energy of the soil and 

 climate, I suppose, assists the trees better to recov- 

 er ; new Isaves are now coming on, and it is 

 probable that in the course of July the trees will 

 be again clothed in verdure and beauty, and leave 

 only some few small branches which were sickly 

 before, to pay the forfeit and die ; they will come 

 on for the August pruning, which is esteemed the 

 safest and best time to trim peach trees. This 

 little ailment will clear the trees, the quicker, of 

 some of the young fruit, which hangs too full, so 

 that the exliaustion occasioned by putting forth 

 new leaves, will be partly i-edeemed by the quick- 

 er fall of the exuberant young fruit. About this 

 town, so far as I have noticed, there wUI be enough 

 left, and I do not remember ever to have seen the 

 fruit at so early a part of the season, of a better 

 size and appearance. The season has been un- 

 commonly wet and chilly, and favoring the devel- 

 opement, and grov^rth of parisitical plants. I 

 have now peas which are mildewed, and in gath- 

 ering asparagus, I noticed one with a growth, on 

 its stem, of plants of that genus, altogether ne^v 

 to my observation, and which on that account, I 

 send you herewith, thinking it may be, perhaps a 

 curiosity. The peach trees, I have situated on 

 rich ground, and rather moist, have suffered most 

 from the cloque, and have hardly any leaves at 

 present, and little or no fruit. Tliose on coimnon 

 dry, thin loam, the customary soil with us for the 

 peach, are in tolerable order, as you will see by 

 the little branch, No. I, sent herewith — but you 

 will observe on it one peach marked with the 

 seal of the season, viz. one spot of mildew. My 

 peach and nectarine trees, situated on a dry grav- 

 elly knoll, are in good order, have very few curled 

 leaves, and are full of fine fruit, as you will see 

 by the branches. No. 2 and No. 3 — yet the knoll 

 is fully exposed to the east and north winds ; — to 

 which from generation to generation blights and 

 mildews have been attributed ; this has confirm- 

 ed me in the impression I had before, that gravel 

 under certain management, wiU give the most 

 constant crops of nectarines and peaches, of a 

 midling size and best flavor, trees of the longest 

 life and subject to fewer disorders. I am, sir, 

 with much esteem, yours, &c. J. M. G. 



JVcston, June 23, 1828. 



The able writer of the above, will please to ac- 

 cept of our thanks for his lucid exposition of the 

 cause and eftiicts of the distemper in peach trees, 

 which has alarmed our horticultiu'ists. The spe- 

 cimens of diseased branches, together with tlie 

 as])aragus plant, to which is attached a new kind 

 of fungus, may be seen at the office of the New 

 England I'anner. 



INSECTS DESTROYED. 



We are informed that a cultivator in Medway, 

 Mass. has succeeded in destroying the bugs which 

 prey on cucumber and melon vines, by means o)' 

 fires, lighted in the night. He split the staves of 

 old tar barrels, or those of barrels in wliich rosin 

 or turpentine had been kept, stuck one end of the 

 shts in the soil of his garden and set fire to the 

 other end, thus forming cheap torches which 

 burnt during the night. The bugs would fly into 

 the blaze thus produced, and immolate them- 

 selves w ith as much zeal as so many Hindoo wid- 

 ows. This plan of destroying bugs and other in- 

 sects has been recommended and practised by Dr 

 Harris, Mr Preston and others, but tlie combusti- 

 ble material above mentioned, has not, so far as 

 we have learnt, been before applied to alluring in- 

 sects to self destruction. 



Our informant likewise gives us another mode 

 of preserving vines, &c. from insects, which is 

 equally effective : — Put a piece of quick lime, 

 about the size of a hen's egg, into two quarts of 

 water, add two ounces of sulphur, and boil the 

 composition gently about two hours. Apply this 

 mixture to the vegetables you wish to preserve, 

 by means of a watering pot, or otherwise, and it 

 will destroy such insects as it conies in contact 

 with, and protect the plants from subsequent at- 

 tacks of similar destroyers. - He says a composi- 

 tion of this kind, although it may be so caustic as 

 te separate the skin from the flesh of one's hand. 

 will not injiu'e plants. 



I FIRST FRUITS OF THE SEASON. 



I The Rev. Mr. Capen, of South Boston, has 

 favored us with a fine sample of potatos, of this 

 year's growth, wliich are of a good size, and have 

 the appearance of being nearly or quite ripe. 

 i Mr. N. Adams, of Charlcstown, has presented 

 : us with a parcel of strawberries, which may be 

 I ranked among the notables of a fruitful soil and 

 [ season ; affording veiy fragrant evidence of care- 

 ful, judicious, and scientific horticulture. They 

 ; are of the variety called the Hautbois Strawbern ; 

 • of a fine flavor, and on an average, little if anj 

 short of three inches in circumference. 



Our friends will accept our most grateful ac- 

 j knowledgments for having thus rewarded our la- 

 ' bors of the closet with the fruits of the field ; and 

 : thus enabling us to say that as our toils are unin- 

 termitted they are not unproductive. 

 Tuesday, June 24. 



THE SEASON. 



From all quarters of the United States we re- 

 ceive the glad tidings of great abundance in pos- 

 session and in prospect. The hay harvest has 

 conmienced, and the quantity of grass, great 

 beyond all precedent ; — considerably surpassing 

 what lias been gathered in those years when that 

 product has been most exuberant. With respect 

 to grain, fruit, roots, garden \egetables, &c. we 

 can only say that appearances are iiromising; and 

 we have reason to hope that the progress and 

 termination of the season will be in happy accord- 

 ance with its commencement. Some partial evils, 

 such as ravages of canker worms, blight of peach 

 trees, superabundant moisture in low lands, &c. 

 are much more than counterbalanced by the 

 general plenty which pervades every part of the 

 Union. 



Salt. — A company with a handsome capital has 

 been formed at Saratoga, for excavating the 

 Ground in order io obtain salt. 



