302 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, APKIL 1, ICfS. 



PARMER'S WORK FOR APRIt. 



It is now beginning to bo liiisy tijnes with us bipeds 

 of t!ie eenus Cultivutur We aliould in tlie first place 

 attend to fences. Some lazy folks who only cumber 

 the premises wliich it is incumbent on them to cultivate, 

 give their cattle, sheep, and hogs, primary lessons in 

 the art of penetrating, prostrating, and overleaping all 

 metes and bounds, designed to limit their excursions. 

 They begin with low, half crazy fences, which can 

 scarcely stand alone. As soon as the tractable quadru- 

 • peds have learnt to consider these ricketty appendages 

 as presentmg no insurmountable obstacles to their loco- 

 mctive propensities, their sapient owner adds now and 

 tlien a withe, a stake, or a loose rail or two, which the 

 four fjoled ramblers find veiy inefficient impediments to 

 their promenades. Then Mr Cultivator sets himself in 

 earnest about doing what he should have done at first, 

 to wit, making a good substantial fence, which would 

 confine any kind of kine, which had been loell brought 

 up, and Imd taken no degrees in the art of fence break- 

 ing. But the animals having by this time become what 

 is technically called " hreiickij" will not be arrested in 

 their career of mischief by any obstacle which by 

 strength or agility they can overturn or overleap. You 

 might as well attempt to shut a Trenck, or a Trask in a 

 common cowyard as to confine '• brcachy" animals by 

 eommon farm-fences. We have seen a horse educated 

 in a jumping or gymnastic school of the above descrip- 

 tion, that would by crowding with hips and sides make 

 mechanical experiments to test the stability of every 

 fence which came in his way. Cows and oxen are 

 sometimes expert in letting down bars with their horn? 

 and will lead foraging parties of herds and flocks into 

 fields of grass, grain and corn, and destroy more in a 

 night than their owners can earn by months of labor. 

 How are such evils to be avoided .= I will tell you. 

 Let nobody undertake to •' enrry on" a bigger farm than 

 lie can munsge to advantage ? Let that part lie com- 

 mon, which he has not time and means to enclose sub- 

 stantially and cultivate thorouglily. Let him suf- 

 fer no animal to compose a part of his stock, which has 

 the power or inclination to do mischief. One unruly 

 creature may teach ever so large a stock to be active in 

 mischief, always doing damage to their owner or his 

 neighbor.-;. 



Yon will do well to plant some e.arly sort of potatoes 

 as soon as practicable in a warm soil and Eituation, not 

 only for family use, but to give your swine, by way oi' 

 aflbrdinir them an early start when you commence their 

 fattening. You need not plant small potatoes unless 

 you pTcfor a small crop. After tlie potatoes are planted 

 you may prevent their being injured by the grub worm 

 or by the wire worm, by strewing quick lime or un- 

 teached ashes over the hills. Set out fruit trees and 

 other trees as soon as frost will permit, and be careful 

 to perform the operation thoroughly and skilfully, ac- 

 cording to directions given by our correspondent, "&. 

 page 2()."> of the current volume. 



Inspect, repair and replace such garden tools, farm 

 implements &c., as are wanted to enable you to conduct 

 vour farming and gardening operations with care and 

 arivantage. See also, that your seeds are the best of 

 tneir sorts, for with poor tools and poor seeds the la- 

 bor of a farmer is more than half thrown away. It 

 will be a good plan to sow grass seeds on your ground 

 which is occupied by winter grain. Y'ou may at the 

 same time apply some manure, by "ay of what is call- 



ed top dressing, and harrow in the grass seed and ma- 

 nure together, in the direction of the seed furrows or 

 drills. The liarrowing of winter grain in the spring 

 ■will be of service to the grain, though some of the 

 plants will be torn up by the process. It is said that 

 the mixture of unleached ashes and plaster of Paris, 

 about equal quantities, and sowing a few bushels 

 of the compound to the acre composes tlie best top 

 dressing for winter wheat or rye. 



You may now sow spring wheat, or as soon as it can 

 well be got into the ground. Payson Williams, Esq. of 

 Fitchburg, Mass. raised fiftyfive bushels and three 

 pecks of Black Sea Wheat on an acre. For raising 

 this prodigious crop the land was ploughed fine and 

 deep. On the 10th of April 2i bushels of Black Sea 

 Wheat were sown, harrowed in across the furrows, and 

 rolled in. Mr Williams states that " a wheat crop 

 should not be attempted on our worn soils, with less 

 than sixteen cords of unfermented [or long] animal 

 manure or 12 cords of fermented [or short] contributed 

 to the preceding crop.. It is believed that potatoes are 

 the best preparatory crop. Let it be understood like- 

 wise that the tilth for wheat must be more fine and 

 particular than for rye : sowing on 20 bushels of un- 

 leached wood ashes to the acre, soon after the wheat is 

 up, will not only make its kernel better, but will check 

 the ravages of the white maggot, which, sometimes 

 attacks its root. A further advantage of wheat may be 

 found in its being the most proper for protecting the 

 young and tender grass plants, wliich are designed to 

 give a crop the year following." 



APRIL 1, 183S' 



from plants, many of them new, the following kind; 

 were included, viz. 



Eutaxia myrtifolia; Epacris grandiflora ; Hibiscus 

 rosea sinensis; Billardiera longiflora ; Sollya^a teiero 

 phylla; Pittosporum undulatum; Pelargonium Queer 

 of Scots ; do. Man of Koss ; do. magnum bonum 

 Erica exiinia ; do. herbacea ; Gardenia fiorida ; Ascle 

 pias curassavica ; Echium grandiflora ; Oxalis caprina 

 Petunia nyctaginiflora ; Azalia phrenicia ; Ixia croca 

 ta; Camellia myrtifolia; Carnations; Moss, Yellow 

 Tea, Unique, and other fine varieties of roses, &c. 

 For the Committee. 



JONA. WINSHIP, Chairman. 



Messrs Prince and Sons deem it proper to state that 

 their trees have been in no wise injured by the late 

 winter, which result is probably lobe accounted for by 

 the proximity of their Nurseries to the ocean on one 

 side and to the Sound or East river on the other. It 

 will also be recollected that during the severe winter of 

 1831-2 when thousands of fruit trees were destroyed in 

 various sections of the country, their Nurseries escap- 

 ed without injury. These circumstances argue strong- 

 ly in favour of the location of Nurseries and Oichards 

 on elevated ground wherethe soil does not retain a su- 

 perabundance of humidity , in preference to valleys and 

 low grounds which being retentive of moisture are sub- 

 ject to all the evils incident thereto during seasons of 

 extreme severity, and the frequent freezings and thaw- 

 ings of which are so destructive to vegetation. 



Lin. Bot. (iarilen ami Nurseries, ( 

 near New York, iMarcli H, ISiiJ. 1 



fFroiii tlie Unston Courier.} 

 A ride to Brighton, even in a cold day, and at tin 

 hazard of a red nose, would be repaid by an examina 

 tion of the Strelitzia regina, even if there were noth 

 ingclseto captivate the senses in Winship's Greei 

 House. But it is surrounded with innumerable othe 

 productions of equal ddicacij, though less gaudi/ am 

 imposing. The Geraniums and Roses are next in at 

 traction to the eye, and crowd every step of the flowe 

 stand. The Amaryllis Johnsonia, the Amaryllis regi 

 iia, and the Amaryllis atamasca, are extremely curiou; 

 and beautiful ; and no less can be said ef the Melalucr 

 the Mimulus aurea, and the Mimulus floribund; 

 The Mespilus Japonica exposes its fruit, about the siz 

 of a lime, in a most curious cluster. But a plar 

 which, in its perfect flower, must be still more wondei 

 full for the singularity of its structure and appearand 

 is the Mctriosideros lanceolata, or Bottle- Brush. Th 

 last appellation has been given doubtless from the stril 

 inir resemblance which the flower bears to a round c 

 spTralbrush, made of black, scarlet, and white hair: 

 The Green-house is rich in all the varieties of th 

 Cactus— one of which will be in flower in a few day 

 The Double-flowering Almond— a shrub which wi 

 o-row incur climate and endure the winter without pri 

 tection, flowering in May or June— is now in full bloi 

 som at the Grecu-house. It is a delicious plant, an 

 we commend it to the notice of all floral amateurs, j 

 lady may decorate her parlor v/ith it, at little troub: 

 and expense, and its beauty, in our opinion, surpassf 

 that of any of the bulbs. 



When Nature shall have spread her carpet of flowei 

 upon the now frozen earth, (should such an event haj 

 pen within a reasonable time.) we shall take a recoi 

 Hoisstincc of Winship's Nursery and Garden—' 

 which, reader, you shall hear an account. 



Gkf.at Sale or A Sf.kd Stork.— We learn that the 

 large and well known establishment in New York, for 

 the°sale of seeds &c., owned by Mr Grant Thorburn 

 and his son George C. Thorburn has recently been 

 sold for the very handsome sum of $100,000. It origi- 

 nally cost $27,000. The business of the same concern 

 we are told will be continued in some other part of the 

 city by G. C. Thorburn. 



MASS. HORTICULTURAl. SOCIETY. 



EXHIBITION OF FLOWERS. 



tJatiirday, Marcli 38, isn'.. 



By Mr Tlios. Mason, Charlestown Vineyard, Cycla- 

 men persicuin; Azelia Indica ; Camellia japonica ; do. 

 sesanqua ; Tea and other roses ; Pelargoniums ; Phlox, 

 2 varieties: Pyrethrum, &c. 



By Messrs Winship, a bouquet of flowers.— They 

 also had the pleasure of exhibiting a splendid bouquet 

 of flowers, comprising a rare collection of specimens 



Floral.— There was a fine display of flowers at tl 

 Horticultural Rooms on Saturday. A bouquet was e; 

 hibited that surpassed everything of the kind that hi 

 yet been produced near Boston. The contributor 

 name wa,s not attached to it, but we were told tliat 

 was from Mr Cushing's Conservatory. It was a cor 

 bination of the rarest and most recently imported kim 

 of flowers, among which the Echium grandiflora excitt 

 more admiration than any production ever exhibited 

 tlie Society's rooms. It was truly elegant. The 

 were also the beautiful Eutaxia myrtifolia, Epaci 

 srandiflora. Hibiscus rosenleliincnsis, Azalias, Camellii 

 Moss roses. Yellow Tea rose, unique, and other superi 

 varieties, blended with Carnations, new and supe 

 varieties of Geraniums, Ericas, &c. and compiisil 

 about sixty different kinds of flowers. 



Second only to this was a bouquet from the Winshi] 

 establishment, composed of fftythrce kinds of t 

 choicest treasures of their green house.— Transcript. 



