164 



NEW ENGLAND FARMEll, 



DECEMBER 



is;;t. 



From Ike Genesee Farmer. 

 ON TRANSPLANTING TREES. 



As the season for tninsplantiiig trees has now- 

 arrived, we would urge the propriety of having 

 the holes dug both large and deep, filling in only 

 l\ie rich soil, and rejecting that whicli is poor and 

 sterile. Five or six feet in diameter, and eighteen 

 inches or two feet in depth, are proper dimensions. 

 In heavy loams where sand may he conveniently 

 procured, it would he well to mix a liheral portion 

 of it with the soil which is to be replaced in the 

 hole, together with leaves, and small decayed 

 branches from the woods— for the trees will be 

 likely to grow in such a bed, and to bear better 

 fruit when they have grown. 



We have seen many a hole dug for this purpose, 

 that was not more than a foot or fifteen inches in 

 diameter; and if in taking uii the trees, the roots 

 were not sufficiently shortened by the spade, they 

 were bent to force them into the hole. Sometimes 

 an addition" was made, of a little trench two inches 

 wide, cut expressly to accommodate some reiiac- 

 tory member. It was not expected that all the 

 trees so transplanted would survive, or that the 

 survivors would do more than live through the 

 first season ; and we think the expectation was 

 without doubt the result of former experience. 



It is known that the tree derives its sap and 

 nourishment from the soil, through the medium 

 of its spongioUs which form the extremities of the 

 fibrous roots. Of how much consequence must 

 it be then to preserve the fibrous roots from excis- 

 ion when the tree is taken up, and also to preserve 

 them from withering ! Yet many who cultivate 

 trees are not aware of its importance. We have 

 seen loads of apple trees kept for many hours to- 

 gether in open wagons, exposed to the sun and 

 wind, without any kind of covering whatever, till 

 the spongioks were shrivelled and dead. Indeed 

 some planters calculate on the destruction of the 

 fibrous roots, as a thing, of course, and recommend 

 that such excrescences should be removed before 

 the tree is reset. 



The best or most convenient method of manag- 

 ing trees at such times, is not so well known as it 

 should be. As soon as they are taken up, water 

 them freely from a watering pot, and cover them 

 with mats. When a suitable number is ready, tie 

 them it) small packages of six, eight, or ten, as the 

 size or other circumstances may require, and work 

 the roots in soft mud, previously prepared for the 

 purpose, till every fibre is well coated. In this, 

 stale, however, they are in danger of losing a part 

 of their coat by daubing other things, and there- 

 fore as a remedy, dry earth made fine, is to he 

 thrown on, till the mud is entirely enveloped. — 

 When the trees are soon to he set, wet grass will 

 answer for packing round the root; but if the dis- 

 tance is great, and the time of their arrival uncer- 

 tain, they should be packed in moss, the best of 

 which is procured from bogs. 



All this labor is a mere trifle, compared with 

 tlie value of the trees, and ought in no case t0'>be 

 omitted — except when they are to be carried only 

 short distances, and can he kept moist all the time. 



From the Vermont Courier. 

 NOTT'S PATENT BAKERS. 



We have examined this new invention for the 

 kitchen, and cannot but conclude that it will an- 

 swer a valuable purpose. It consists of a tin box, 

 nearly three feet long, about 18 inches deep and 

 wide, in the centre, and gradually diminishing in 

 'wdth toward each end, which is circular. With- 



in about two inches of each end in a funiiu-e, con- 

 sisting of a sheet iron lube, four inches in diame- 

 ter, similar to stove pipe, passing perpendicularly 

 through the box, with a grate at the bottom, and a 

 pan to receive the ashes, and a damper at the top 

 to regulate the draught and heat. Large wire roils 

 are passed horizontally through the box, on which 

 materials for baking are placed, and fires made in 

 two furnaces with charcoal. The heat from the 

 iron tubes is reflected by the inner surface of the 

 box, and the process of baking goes on with great 

 uniformity and rapidity. Persons in this village 

 who have tested this Baker thoroughly, say that two 

 quarts of coal will hake twelve pounds of meat and 

 a peck of potatoes; and that one dollar's worth ot 

 common charcoal is suft'icii nt to bake all the pro- 

 visions of an ordinary family for a year. A great 

 saving of firewood and expense is clearly exhibit- 

 ed by this fact. The Baker is portable, weighing 

 butafew pounds, and can be put in the most con- 

 venient place for use. Tney are manufactured by 

 Messrs. P. & H. Hatch, of this village, who have 

 the exclusive right of making and vending ihcm in 

 this and Orange county ; and are sold ibr $3.00. 

 In the summer seasoij, especially, this Baker must 

 he a valuable article for every housekeeper, and en- 

 sure a great saving of labor and fuel. 



SA1.T FOR SHEEP. 



In a conversation with us, very recently, an in- 

 telligent agriculturist who had bestowed consider- 

 able attention on the sheep business, advanced the 

 doctrine, that salt was injurious to sheep, in the 

 winter season, when confined to dry fodder: and 

 that none should be given them during the winter, 

 ffor in the spring, till after they had been shorn. 

 He said several yeurs of experience had proved to 

 bis satisfaction, that sheep thus treated were more 

 free from disease ; and would generally, be entire- 

 ly free from that disgusting a<-cumulation of filth 

 about the hind jiart of the fleece, so common at 

 the season of sliearing. This was new to us ; and 

 we were induced to examine some of the standard 

 writers on this subject. — Daubenton recommends 

 salt to be given to sheep in France, in cold weath- 

 er, also when the weatlier is foggy, or when it 

 raius or snows; hut says, it should be given in 

 small quantities; as too nmcli heats, or injures 

 them. Livingston, however, informs us, that in 

 Spain, no salt is given to the travelling flocks in 

 the winter; nor on their journey, but when they 

 arrive at the place of their summer pasture they 

 are allowed as much as they will eat. No reason, 

 however, is assigned for not using salt in the 

 winter ; but much, undoubtedly, may he infer- 

 red from the unitbrm practice, in this respect, of 

 the Shepherds of Spain. Such authority is, no 

 doubt, a suflicient warrant for trying the experi- 

 ment. It will probably be a safe one ; and may 

 result in important benefits to the owners of flocks. 

 — JS/'orlhern Farmer. 



THE CAUSE or MALARIA, 



— In the |)cslilential districts of Italy, has general- 

 ly been supposed to be the decomposition of veg- 

 etable matter on a moist surface. This, however, 

 is to confound the malaria with the marsh fever. 

 The former is now thought to proceed from a very 

 difl'erent cause, and to be analogous to what in 

 England is called the hay fever. It is found that, 

 while the corn or hay crop is in a growing state 

 in the pestilential districts, they are as healthy as 

 auy pari of Italy ; but that, the iiiomei)t the crop 



is cut down, or withers on the ground, ibe m iiia 

 ria commtiices, and continues through the auiumii 

 and winter, till vegetation becomes vigorous i»i^ 

 the following spring. The neighborhood of' 

 Rome, where nialari;i is so prevalent, is very 

 hilly, dry, and entirely williout vegetation. I'lr- 

 days together, one sees noihing but desoli.te dnnl 

 up corn fields, without trees, bushes, or wood "1' 

 any descripttoii. In early times, Rome was sur- 

 rounded by extensive satred woods, which were 

 not sufl'ered to he destroyed. At that period mal- 

 aria was unknown, though intermitling feviis 

 were well known in the Poniine Marshes. ']'i:e 

 avarice of the popes, however, converted ihi.-e 

 sacred woods into gold, and so desolated the regie n 

 that not a tree or wood is to be met with aroni d 

 Rome. With the commencement of this systi m 

 of extirpation the malaria apjieared, and has ;it 

 lengih reached such a height, that yearly, nniny 

 are carried gradually oft" by it; and, in the sum- 

 mer moiiihs, strangers and respectable iiibabiianii ! 

 quit Rome. When we take into coiisideratii n all! 

 the phenomena of mar.'hy districts, the concln>ii^: 

 does not lie far distant, that the atmosphere is \v 

 different degrees rendered unfit for human organ- 

 ization, not by the passage of the water to the air 

 but by the decomposilion and solution of vcgeta 

 hie substances ; and that thus those various iuler 

 mittiiig fevers, and even the plague itself, are pro 

 duced. In the case of real malaria, in opposiiioi 

 to marsh fevers, the circumstances are difl'erent 

 So long as the earth is covered with living vegela 

 hies, as, for example, with corn, the air of tin 

 most susjiected district is juire and healthy, and m 

 one fears beingattacked by llie disease ; hut, whet 

 the prodigious crops, which in those volcani 

 loose-sciled districts are speedily hroight to malu 

 rity, are removed, does the surface of the earth be 

 come dead at the warmest and most energetic pe 

 riod of its functions ? or does not rather a jiorlini 

 of those substances, which were consumed by th 

 leaves .ind roots of plants, now go to the aimos 

 phere, and render it unfavorable for the breath 

 in" of man, until all is again restored to an equi 

 libriurn in higher or more distant regions? Thii 

 carbonaceous matter is beneficial to the vegelabl 

 kingdom, is as well known as that it is prejiidicit 

 to the breathing process in animals. No educate- 

 person in Germany doubts the organic fundion c 

 the earth, to which also the cholera itself has bee 

 ascribeil ; and when a more general regard to lu 

 ture advances to the south, the sacred woods wi 

 a"ain gradually surround Rome, large vine brancl: 

 cs entwine ihemselves round the elms, the hills hi 

 thus a"ain covered, and the malaria reduced withi 

 limits. The fact is not without interest, that a 

 real niularia districts are of volcanic fuimalioi 

 and that they arc often to be found at the hoimdi 

 ry of volcanic and non-volcanic rocks." (Jaiheson 

 Jour., vol. xvii. p. 167.) In several districts ; 

 England, the country people are liable to atlacl 

 of fever immediately after the removal of the hi 

 crop, some individuals much more so than olhel 

 This may be considered as a species of malaria 

 a comparalively mild description. 



Coal is an essential ingredient in the food 



all vegetables. AVater that passes through putr 

 lying substances, when evaporated, exhibits tl 

 principal part of the residuum to consist of coal. 



Coal is not only suiiplied by the land, but «1 

 liy fixed air, combined with the earths. — Sir Joi 

 Sinclair's book, pp. 106, 107. 



