VOL. XIII. NO, 17. 



AND HORTICULTURAL JOURNAL. 



1S3 



tlie sairie time ; they are in a veiy tlirivitig stute, 

 owing in part to the cultivation of the ground and 

 pruning. Mr. Hoar's mode of pruning is not to 

 let any of the fiinhs grow erect, hut make tlie tree 

 as broad as possible. 



Mr. Stacy's Mulberry trees are in ii tlirifty state, 

 and chiefly in hedges, about 700, set U fi. apart. 

 SO trees six years old, tliose in the hedgi-s 3 years. 



Mr. HiicUminister has a large nuudier set in 

 hedges, part of them on a dry soil; lliey are not 

 III a flourishing stale at present, owing to the ill 

 health of Mr. Biiekininister they have not liad 

 iiiueh attention this season. But a little cultiva- 

 ;iou to them will change their appearance and 

 make them vahiable. 



Mr. Wright has a very thrifty growth in a rich soil. 



Your Committee have awarded the premiums 

 — to Mr. Reuben Hoar of Littleton, 1st $25 ; 

 John Stacy of Concord, 2d $15. 



Your Committee are of opinion that Mr. Henry 

 Wright is entitled to a small premium, and if we 

 tad one we should bestow it. We refer him to 

 he favorable consideration of the trustees, that he 

 ;nay be cmisidered as a competitor. 



Gentlemen — We fiud that farmers differ in 

 heir opinion aliont raising corn. Mr. Parker, 

 VIr. Rice and Mr. Tuttle raise their corn in hills ; 

 Hr. Whitney prefers ri(ige ploughing fcu' his corn 

 md potatoes ; Mr. Wheeler of Franungham has 

 ]uite a different mode. If we are not mistaken 

 le covers thegrass land intended for ploughing with 

 Manure, then ploughs, harrows, and rolls it with a 

 leavy roller, then furrow, plant and cover the 

 ■orn, then rolls again. Whilst the corn is grow- 

 ng he hoes up the weeds, disturbing the soil as 

 ittle as possible, and raising no hill about the 

 !Oni. At the usual time he sows in rye or grass 

 leed, or both, and it is then prepared for the ne.\t 

 fear's crop. From what your Committee can 

 father from others and their own observation, 

 hey are of opinion that much of the time is lost 

 n putting manure in the hill. In a dry season it 

 vould be much better to have it spread ; and in a 

 vet season the roots of the corn will find it before 

 he kernel comes to its growth, and it will be 

 nore needed then than at the first of the year. — 

 iVe therefore recommend to farmers to sju'ead 

 heir manure, in order that the corn may be best 

 ible to supply its wants, in either 'of the cliances 

 )f a wet or dry year. 



Whilst we are admiring the honorable enter- 

 irise aud successful industry of this fortunate por- 

 ion of our citizens, we would not lessen our es- 

 eem for another class, who may have been equal- 

 y industrious and laborious, and equally just in 

 ill their dealings ; yet by some or many of the 

 mavoidable accidents of life, have not been suc- 

 ;essful in accumulating property. These are no 

 es.s entitled to our respect, and more to our be- 

 levolence. If there is a third class who have 

 leglected to improve their talents, and wasted their 

 ime in idleness, or in that which is worse ; to 

 hem we would say in the spirit of kindness and 

 andor, that it is never too late to repent, and 

 Krnestly recommend them to stop and consider 

 heir ways. 



It was no small gratification to your Committee 

 see the progress that is making by the farmers 

 ;eiierally through the county, and more particu- 

 arly by those upon whom it was our duty to call ; 

 vhen following the farmer from one section of his 

 arm to another, viewing his mowing, pasturage, 

 dough-lands and orcharding, his walls, his barn 



and out buililings, and fine order and neatness per- 

 vading the whole ; and then to come within the 

 doors of his dwelling and observe the like order 

 and neatness ; an active, cheerful and smiling 

 wife, and a table spread with every thing necessa- 

 sary for the cond'ort of man. Tlien we have evi- 

 dence, yes my friends, we have the best evidence 

 that the labor has been performed with a thank- 

 ful heart, and a willing mind, although by the 

 sweat of the brow. If there be any situation in 

 Ide which can be called independent, or that np- 

 ppoaches it, it is the farmer. He is lord of the 

 soil, he selects his meat from his own stall, his 

 bread from his granery, his vegetables from his 

 garden ; he is warmed by the fleeces of his flock, 

 and is cooled by the gentle zephyrs that breathe 

 through his own forest. 



Your Committee have the vanity to believe that 

 a hint given by your Committee on farms last 

 year, concerning the order of the door yards and 

 highways, had a favorable effect, and we are fully 

 of the opinion that they have been much improv- 

 ed, and we believe that the time is not far distant' 

 when we nuty approach our neighbors' doors with 

 safety, although the stars be darkened, and the 

 moon shoidd withhold her light. 



We close this report with our best wishes for 

 the county of Middlesex, and particularly for the 

 fariners from whose resources we are all fed, and 

 to whom we look with confidence for the pros- 

 perity aud future greatness of this county. 



Benjamin Dix, Chairman. 



From the Genesee Fcirmer. 

 CANADA THISTI.E AMD MORUS MULTICAULIS. 



Mr. Tucker, — 1 noticed in the third and fourih 

 nundjers of the current volume of your usefid pa- 

 [)er, a communication detailing the result of an ex- 

 periment which the author had made with success 

 on the Canada Thistle, by cutting the plant as socui 

 as it api)eared above ground, and thus keepino- it 

 below the surface and out of the influence of the 

 light. I have had a dozen year's war with this 

 troublesome plant, although it was rather skirmish- 

 ing until the present year ; for I mowed one patch 

 for five years, without [troducing any efl^'ect ; but 

 on the sixth year, when I visited the spot in order 

 to ascertain the proper time for cutting in the blos- 

 som, behold! there were no thistles there; and I 

 was at a loss in ascertaining the precise spot where 

 they grew. Though I had completely destroyed 

 this patch, root and branch, I have lost the benefit 

 to be derived from the experiment, from my ne- 

 glect to note down the day of the month, or the 

 state of the thistles, at the time they were mowed. 



Another small patch has since made its appear- 

 ance in another field, which I had mowed every 

 year until the fall of 1832, when I ploughed the field 

 for planting. In the spring follow ing, it was plough- 

 ed, dragged, manured, aud planted, and in the full 

 the thistles had spread over thirty rods of ground. 

 I was much alarmed for the field, as I intended 

 sowing it with oats, the ensuing season, and the 

 thistles were likely to cover an acre before it coidd 

 be seeded down, and the oats be spoiled in the bar- 

 gain. While I was thus pondering on the subject, 

 to know what to do with my thistles, the commu- 

 nication in the Farmer came to band, all ready for 

 use. I knew the theory was correct. I had de- 

 stroyed burdocks, briars, and elders, in the same 

 way, but had never thought of applying the same 

 to the Canada thistle. 

 . Having read the account with great interest, I 



set up my ebenezer, and resolved to renew the 

 contest in the spring, with a determination for 

 conquest. As soon as the spring opened, say last 

 April, I ascertained the extent of the foe by the 

 old stalks, and staked the ground, ploughed the 

 remainder of the field separately for oats, then 

 ploughed the thistle ground so as not to have the 

 roots carried into the oat ground. But instead of 

 planting tlie whole with corn, as directed in the 

 Farmer, I procured twenty of the Morus muUicaul- 

 is, or Chinese Midberry, and set them over part of 

 the ground, and planted some few rows of corn 

 on the remainder. The thistles soon raised their 

 heads by thousands, as the ground was now in a 

 high state of cultivation and the roots cut to pieces 

 and mixed over the whole patch. They seemed 

 to bid defiance to all opposition. I however arm- 

 ed myself for the contest — placed a hoe in the field, 

 as directed in the Farmer, and grubbed the whole 

 patch as soon as they had fairly made their appear- 

 ance. In three days they were about as thick as 

 ever ; but I continued to behead them about twice a 

 week, though I found them evidently gaining on roe. 

 In order to ascertain the cause of their increase, I 

 carefully removed the earth around the roots, and 

 found that where they had been cut, there were 

 two or three sprouts instead of one. However, I 

 thought that if one man had succeeded, I could do 

 the same, and I followed up the contest. Until the 

 20th of July I could see no diminution, but at that 

 time, I found they began to fail. I now followed 

 up their retreat, and soon found thein disappearing 

 in all directions ; and instead of the black thrifty 

 plant, they now looked more pale and feeble, and 

 by the 20th of August, I could not find twenty 

 plants, twice a week ; and I now consider myself 

 master of the fieUI. 



In the mean time I have propagated the Morus 

 mulhcnulis, from the twenty to more than one hun- 

 dred trees, whose foliage exceeds any thing of the 

 kind which I have ever witnessed, some of the 

 leaves measuring eleven inches by ten, and the 

 trees being completely loaded. I have also gather- 

 ed from the patch, four bushels of good corn, and 

 twenty bushels of potatoes, which were planted 

 late among the Mulberry trees. 



And now, sir, you may judge whether all this 

 crop of corn, potatoes, and the Mulberry trees, did 

 not look better than even a good crop of Canada 

 thistles. N. B. 



CATTliE SHOW. 



The Agricultural Cattle Show and Fair, for the 

 old county of Hampshire, was held on Thursday 

 at West Sjuingfield. The exhibition of working 

 and other Cattle was very excellent ; that of do- 

 mestic manufactures, comparatively tneagre. Some 

 very line horses, both working and for the saddle, 

 were exhibited. We learn that a sound and prac- 

 tical address, upon the culture of Wheat, was de- 

 livered by Sand. Lathrop. — Springjldd Republican. 



CURIOUS INVENTION. 



The New York Journal says ; " An ingeni- 

 ous artist has invented a machine for engraving, 

 which will execute a fac simile of any copy which 

 is given it. Its copies of medals are in the high- 

 est degree of perfection. The work is at least as 

 well done as it could possibly be done by hand, 

 and at less than a tenth of the expense. Give the 

 machine a bank note plate, and it will copy it ou 

 steel with more accuracy than the most ingenious 

 engraver. The contrivance promi.-es to be of great 

 utility. It has been some months in operation. 



