vor.. xm. NO. 6. 



AND HOUTICULTUIIAL JOURNAL. 



45 



we.ir the middle of said liigliwiiy, l)y iiieiiiis oC 

 iiiiicli travel had become so liir hare and tiouhle- 

 smiie that it was tlioiijjlit hcst to dig it up aud re- 

 move it. The workiueii emi)loj(;d in removing.' 

 the stone which was of a considerable siz !, dis- 

 covered live thistle roots about and under it. 

 Now it is certain they could not have vegetated 

 Cor 9 or 10 years last past. I consider this a com- 

 petent rerntntion of the New York plan of destroy- 

 ing thistles. Be.sides, nil our farmers, here know 

 better, who are at all observing. When our til- 

 lage land is infested with them we, instead of 

 currying them about vrith the plougii, make tin' 

 land rich by sowing it down to oats and peas, or 

 oats and plenty of grass seed. When the oats 

 have matured we mow them, with the thistles, 

 which by that lime will become hollow near the 

 ground, ami their seeds not as yet ripe. Into 

 these hollows the dews and rains enter and de- 

 .scend, and cause the roots to ferment. The next 

 season we mow them again with the grass before 

 the seeds mature, and they are found hollow as 

 • before, after which if any remains they will be 

 smnll, and cattle will eat them as well as any oth- 

 er hay; and thus by the scythe they are destroy- 

 ed and no crop lost. 



The New York plan is ploughing once a week, 

 eras often as they vegetate, and this from April 

 15 to October 15, 6 months, or 26 ploughings. 

 This besides the loss of the year's crop, at $2 per 

 acre, co.-t of ploughing, will cost $52. I need 

 say no more, only to urge onr farmers to use the 

 scythe at the right time, in their pastures and 

 highways adjoining tlieir land ; and we neeil not 

 consider them a great evil, for if placed in the 

 hog yard they make good manm-e. I mean su(^li 

 as are found in the road, &c. It is idle to talk of 

 salt, or luiy thing but the scytiie. In this way 

 they are as efP;ctually destroyed, as strawberry 

 vines are by the plough. Was it not the latter 

 that the New York correspondent took for Cana- 

 d.i thistles .' A Rkvolutioner. 



n'inlhrop, Jiihj 4lii, 1834. 



Fnnii the Nortliern Parmer. 

 GHAIi'TIKG AKD IKOCULATISG. 



I iiAVf: the utmost pleasure in acknowledging 

 the great favor you c6n(crred on me in sending 

 the grass seeds, and consider them to be worth 

 $20 ; especially mnler the circmnstnnces and inan- 

 ner of receiving them. It was my ardent wish to 

 olitain, if possible, one seed of the high famed 

 Gania gras.s, anil it has been your pleasure to be- 

 stow u[)on me four seeds; it being the one-ludf of 

 your whole stock, the residue being <lisposed of jn 

 the same generous maimer. It is true, I put my 

 own price upon my own [iro|)erty, hut to show 

 my correctness, I woidd not take the estimated 

 value. 



I have thought some suggestions on grafiiugand 

 inoculating, might l)e of benefit ; and as the season 

 for the operation is at hand, I will no longer delay 

 them. It is not my intention in this experienced 

 age, to attempt to instruct the public, as in a new 

 art, especially, the e.V|ierienceil ; but rather to ex- 

 hibit some of my modes iu this branch of hus- 

 bandry, as improvements. 



Persons intending to graft or inoculate to good 

 advantage this present season, should immeiliately 

 ))rocure their scions, containing their buds and 

 grafts. It is well to have for their better preser- 

 vation a portion of the larger limbs connected with 



them. If taken olf immediately, they must le 

 thrown, when bundled up and hiljelled, under the 

 north side of your thick yard, <u- garden fence, 

 where they will be secure, if exposed to the influ- 

 ence of the atmosphere ; having an eye in case of 

 too warm and dry weather, they are not too much 

 exposed. If so, just enter their butt ends under 

 the surface of the earth. This method is better 

 than covering them up bodily, or keeping them in 

 a cellar. 



Experience has taught me that there is a great 

 advantage iii procuring cuttings in this way, over 

 the practice of neglecting till too late. I shall 

 now attempt to show the best method to manage 

 a mirsery, as to securing good fruit in the most 

 economical and speedy manner. To do this, graft- 

 ing and inoculating is my text. The nursery is 

 supposed to have been judiciously managed, anil 

 of one year's growth, from the seed. Of course 

 the plants are from one to two feet high, and as 

 large as a Dutch quill ; some much larger. All of 

 this size never will be more fit to bud. There 

 should be no delay. These little young trees have 

 their peculiarly smooth and pliable bark ; they are 

 very thrifty, and consecpjently, may be budded 

 somewhat later, than- others of a dillerent charac- 

 ter. A nursery in this stage may be most advan- 

 tageously hudiled. If the o|)eration he skilful, 

 thc;y will take; and if otherwise, they receive no 

 perceptible injury. The advantages of early liud- 

 iling are numerous and great. — First, the job con- 

 templated is over ; you cannot have any uneasi- 

 ness about it, from any delays. Your trees are in 

 a nmch better state for coming to perfection ; they 

 will thrive much better notwithstanding they are 

 cut off from two to four inches from the ground 

 the season ; they will far outgrow the others in 

 size and height, they also grow more erect and 

 liee from craggy twigs, a great saving in pruning. 

 The improvement in their ap|iearance is admira- 

 ble. Picture to yourself trees from the nurseries 

 such as I have received, and at full prices, with 

 old stocks, half closed over, and budded two to 

 three feet fi'om the ground. The contrast is great. 

 The disadvantage from sufleriiig imrseries to 

 remain till a number of years idd, before budded, 

 is obvious. The wouml necessary for the bud, iu 

 thick, and old hark, and especially, if the bud does 

 t.ike, is of some injury. The cutting of}' the large 

 old stock, leaving the bud alone while the stock is 

 closed over — meantime the quantity of roots with- 

 out a t0|) in proportion, are great checks, atnl of 

 much injury to the growth of the plant: and must 

 ultimately aflect the growth and health of the tree. 

 I make these remarks from the authority of my 

 own experience in imicidating a nursery in its dif- 

 ferent stages as above described. 



I shall now attempt to describe iny process in 

 bmhiiug. I was instructed to strike a horizontal 

 cut through the bark, with a sharp knife, at a suit- 

 able place, on the north side of the stock; striking 

 from this a ]ierpendicular cut about an inch long, 

 opening the bark with a knife or some instrument 

 for the purpose ; then taking a bud from the scion, 

 having care to take off a small portion of wood 

 with the bud — ^tlieii carefully taking away the wood, 

 leaving the stem or eye of the bud whole and 

 smooth — then thrusting in the bud with a due 

 proportion of bark, three-fourths of an inch long, 

 ami half as wiile. The bark of the butt to be 

 thrust in free from the bark of the stock, above — 

 then closing over the bark of the bud with that of 



the stock, binding it carefully, with elm or bass 

 rind or with coarse woollen yarn. This process 

 has not yet proved perfect ; it has with me often 

 failed. I have sought for a more perlf^ct and sure 

 process. Accordingly, I have varied, as my judg- 

 ment has led w, for a better method. I have 

 l()und that instead of striking a horizontal, it is 

 best to cut quite a sloping stroke, splitting down 

 from this slope, perpendicularly so low as to admit 

 the bud, taking oft' in an oval shape, in the same 

 Ciireful manner as above described ; bavin" a 

 care to preserve a little wood at the eye of the 

 hud as 1 had in taking it away in the former pro- 

 cess. The bud then is to be thrust under the 

 raised bark, down so low as to admit the bark of 

 the stock to come in its former place, above the 

 bud, for half an inch, where it immediately re- 

 ceives its usual nourishment ; being bound u]) with 

 coarse woollen yarn, which I prefer to any thin"- 

 else. In winding on the yarn, I am careful to 

 draw it gently over the woutid, omitting to cover 

 the bud till the last, over which I then draw the 

 yarn very softly. In this process, every part works 

 so uattiral, and so smooth, if imboumi the next 

 day it wonlil be difficult to distinguish the bml 

 from a natural one ; and indeed, the bud as well 

 as the hark of the stock seems not in the least af- 

 fected. In this iTiode of inoculating, there is no 

 such thing as not taking. On the other hand, the 

 bark being cut square across, aiut the bud not be- 

 ing sufticieiitly thrust down, the bark of the stock 

 coining to bear on the outer bark of the bud, at 

 the top of the slit, there is nothing to support it ; 

 but it dries and shrinks from its primitive pl.ice, 

 admits air, and if the wood is taken out of the 

 bud, it all fails together ; especially if the eye of 

 the bull is a little rubbed : at any rate, live or die 

 a dangerqns wound is inflicted. 



The mode that I would recommend, is a safe 

 and fist vtiy of Inidiling ; it all works natural ; a 

 lad having his hand in, will put in from two to 

 four hundred per ilay. 1 now proceed to give an 

 account of inoculating in the spring of the vear. 

 This was an experiment, with me, altogether. In 

 the season of grafting, I chose a few trees that 

 were of common size for grafting ; some bad two 

 good equal branches, one of which I grafted, the 

 other I inoculated at the .same time. I carefully 

 cut out the bark of the branch where I chose to 

 place a bud, cutting downward, turning my knife 

 in and out in such manner as to take oft' the bark 

 in the form usually given in taking off" the bud ; 

 taking at the same time so much of the wood, as 

 to compare with the bud from the scion ; and, if 

 the first cut failed, I carefully mended my hand, 

 until it well suited. Thus the bark being all well 

 done, the hud was laid in, inside comparing with 

 inside ; of course a sjiace was left on the edge of 

 the bark of the stock not covered from its extra 

 thickness on the old stock. The buds thus beino- 

 left somewhat sunk in the stock, were then secur- 

 ed in the usual way of budding. 



Abednego Robinson. 

 Portsmouth, 1834. 



Gapes in Chickens. One of our subscribers in- 

 forms us, that a drop of the spirits of turpentine, 

 put into the mouth of a chicken, from the point of 

 ■A feather or otherwise, will cure the gapes in 

 chickens. Another says, that mixing S(dt with 

 their food will prevent them taking the gapes. — 

 Ohio Farmer. 



