30 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER 



AtJGl'ST 3. 1836. 



^mW IgSf<3!£»^^JS' si-i^mi^ssma 



BOSTON. WEDNESDAY EVENING, AUGUSTS, 1SS6. 



FARIIISRS' WORK. 



A writer in the New England Fnrnier, Ivlio dated 

 from Lynn, and used the signalure " Jl Farmer " made 

 the following remarks. 



"1 di'slroyed wli: t few tliisiles I found on my farm 

 last j'ear by soms refuse beef brine, willioiit the trouble 

 of cropping tltem down ; thougli 1 ihinic it best to crop 

 lliem even under ground. Indeed tlie cropping or cut- 

 ting down should be attended to before this time of the 

 year, [fore part of AugusI] if nothing more is dono in 

 order to prevent their spreading Its downy seeds are 

 now in this vicinity wa!ted about in the air by every 

 wind — they just begin to be let loose, and will propo- 

 gate fjr and wide. It is matter of astonishment that so 

 liltle attention is paid to the subject. Farmers were in 

 formed several years ago, of the efficacy of the above 

 method of destroying the thistle, or one quite similar in 

 Vol. II, p 411 of the New England Farmer, and yet they 

 still neglect to make use of it." » » * " 



Tlie following is an extract from the passage alluded 

 to; " Cut off each thistle about half an inch below the 

 surface of the ground and then pour on it a gill of coarse 

 salt. Fish brine may be used instead of salt, and will 

 answer the saine purpose. If in a bed of thistles a fe w 

 should escape the first year the above operation should 

 becarefullj' performed on them the year following. The 

 summer season, when the tliisiles are in full growth is 

 the proper time for doing the business." 



A correspondent of the N. E. Farmer, with the signa- 

 ture " Riisticus" Vol. VII, p. 137, ridicules the idea of 

 destroying thistles by salt, asad/ised by the writer of the 

 above article. Rusticus observes that " Philosophy as 

 well as experience conclusively proves that mowing this- 

 tles off two or three times in a season, particularly when 

 in blossom will effectually destroy this pestof our farms, 

 without the application of a gill of salt. Repeated d'efo- 

 liation will destroy any tree or plant with which I am 

 acquainted. Leaves are necessar}' to the growth of 

 plants, and they cannot live without them in summer. 

 A few years ag!>, wliole forests of sugar niuple were 

 killed by the caierpillar destroying iheir leaves about 

 iridsummer. The white mulberry is very tenacious of 

 life, and yet were it entirely and repeatedly stripped of 

 its leaves it would die. I have lost hundreds of young 

 plum and cheriy trees the last summer, by small black 

 lice which attached and destroyed the foliage of the new 

 budded stock. Leaves are to the vegetable what the 

 stomach is to the animal, the organs of digestion, which 

 converts food into nutriment, and without this nutriment 

 the plant nor the animal cannot long subsist. The Can- 

 ada thistle has diminished in West Vermont nine-tenths 

 within my rec(dlection. They are annually cut above 

 the ground, and have not I believe been dosed with salt 

 or pickle," 



To this it was replied by our friend of Lynn, as fol- 

 lows : that destroying thistles by his method is not mere 

 theory. '' I have destroyed them with brine and with- 

 out even cropping — nor do I believe the cropping es- 

 sential. As to the expense, I should suppose a horse 

 load of salt, which I have seen sold at the wharves for 

 one dollar and fifty cents, being salt which had been 

 used for salting imported hides, would be sufficient to de- 

 stroy the thistles of least half an acre, and a man would 

 perform all the labor required in three hours. 



*' 1 have seen the metliod of mowing them several 

 times in a season, practised several years in succession 



in Ipswich, where they abounil ; and could perceive no 

 other effect than a tendency to prevent their spreading 

 As to your corruS])ondenl's philosophy of defoliation, to 

 destroy trees and plants it may be correct as respects 

 some species ; but pray what will ho charge to come and 

 destroy by this jiroc^ss an acre of my barberry bushes, 

 blackberry vines, or of the various kinds of bushes that 

 infest our low lands I These I have cut in the height 

 of their vigor, without much effect, but have seen the 

 same killed with salt without much trouble 1 doubt 

 much iftlie common willow would be destroyed by di- 

 vesting it of its foliage at any season. If cutting a plant 

 so tenacious of life, as the thistle will kill it, how extra- 

 oidinary it must be that our tender grasses, (most of 

 which are cut in the bloom, and often more than once 

 in a season) are not destroyed by this means." 



It is well known that some shrubs, such as the Chin- 

 ese Mulberry, the Box, the Willow, &c. may be cut off, 

 or headed down for an indefinite period without effect- 

 ing their destruction. Old pastures which ha\e been 

 cropped for many years produce better and sweeter 

 grasses than are obtained from land recently laid down 

 to grass. Garden vegetables, used for salads produce 

 more as well as better foliage for seasonable cropping 

 Cropping thistles in the blow, we believe, will not at 

 once extirpate them, but it will prevent their being prop- 

 agated by seed, and thus infecting a whole neighborhood. 

 In many cases, where the plague of tliistles is limited to 

 small locations we believe that the application of strong 

 solutions of salt will be the cheapest as well as the most 

 effectual mode of destroying them ; but in all cases this- 

 tles should be cut in season to prevent their being prop- 

 agated by seeds. 



Large RnoBARB Stalk. — A stalk of Rhubarb meas' 

 uring thirteen feet six inches, may be seen at this Office 

 — from the House of Industry. 



MASSACHUSETTS HORTICri.TCRAL. SOCIETT, 



Saturday, July 3(1, li33C. 

 Proceedings of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society 



at a meeting held at the Hall of the institution on Sat. 



urday, July 30, 183C. 



The following Report was made by the President of 

 the Society- 



I have the pleasure to lay before the Society two com. 

 munications from M. Emilien deWael. This gentle 

 man it will be recollected was the bearer of letters to the 

 Society from Doct. Van Mens and M. A. Poiteau, ac- 

 companying a donation of books, received a short time 

 since. Mr de Wael is an amateur cultivator and the 

 Secretary of the Horticultural Society of Antwerp; lie 

 is now on a tour of the United States for scientific pur- 

 poses, connected with Entomology and the examination 

 of the marine plants of our country, and I have to con- 

 gratulate the Society on the addition to its list of cor- 

 responding members of the name of an individual who 

 is not only highly qualified, but who is entirely disposed 

 to subserve its purposes at Antwerp, located as lie is, 

 in a country to which Horticulture, so far as pomology 

 is concerned, is indebted for more numerous and valua- 

 ble acquisitions, than to any other. 



Mr de Wael's remarks on the results of various expe- 

 riments made in Belgium to protect the Morus Multicau - 

 lis from the effects of cold must be interesting to those 

 who are endeavoring to protect that plant from the se- 

 verity of our own winters; it is desirable to know what 

 is now considered the best method of cultivating it in 

 other countries ; for it is by a careful collation of facts, 

 connected with its culture abroad in aid of the actual 

 experiments making here, that we may hope shortly to 



overcome every <ibstacle to the extensive cultivation of 

 that invaluable plant. 



Respectfully submitted 'sy 



ELIJAH VOSE, 

 President of the Mass. Hor. Society. 



Boston, July 25, 1830. 



Since I have been in this country I have heard of sev- 

 eral complaints, chiefly from tlie Hartford .Mulberry tree 

 planters, of tho difficulty experienced the last two years 

 in making the Morus Multicaulis stand your winters 

 well. 



This kind of mulberry is easily acclimated if a proper 

 mode of culture be adopted in the places wliere it is 

 planted. 



In Belgium, tho winters, notwithstanding they are not 

 so severe as yours, often give us great trouble, and the 

 influence of the cold was repeatedly experienced on these 

 Mulberries, which were often killed down to the roots. 



The late J. Le Cundele of Humbeck, near Brussells, 

 suggested the idea of having different modes of experi- 

 ment adopted in distant places. And the one which 

 proved most efficient, was to cut down yearly, the 

 Morus Multicaulis, in the same manner as is done with 

 willows in a Saliclum, that is to say, at a few inches 

 above the soil, and to cover the remaining trunk with 

 dead leaves ; in three or four years, he roots being stout 

 enough, they did not require any more covering. From 

 the buds preserved on the plants, fine and hardy shoots 

 came forth, giving larger and more lively leaves to feed 

 the silk worms upon. 



It has been since stated to me in a letter from Batavia, 

 (island of Java,) that this mode of culture is much in 

 use near Manilla and in parts of China, not on account 

 of the cold, but in order to keep the Morus in a shrubby 

 slate, which affords greater facility for gathering the 

 leaves in the season when desired. There the mulberry 

 seems to be planted in fields as Indian corn is here, — 

 in the fall of the year the plants are deprived of their 

 branches, the number of which is continually increasing, 

 and growing in one season from live to eight fiict — 

 which growth is fully equalled by our own. I would 

 advise a similar experiment in this State; it might, per- 

 haps, answer well. 



Most respectfully, your ob't servant, 



EMILIEN DE WAEL. 

 To Hon. Elijah Vose, 



President Mass. Hort. Society. 



A communication was also received from M. Soulange 

 Bodin, of the garden at Fromont. Thanks were voted 

 for the same. Adj. to Sat. next. 



EXHIBITION OF FRUITS. 



Pears, by Mr Downer — A branch loaded with Petit 

 Muscat pears, an early but on other accounts not a very 

 desirable variety. 



Gooseberries, by Mr Walker — Roaring Lion, Hop- 

 ley's Globe, Crown Bob, Viper, Lancaster Lad, Golden 

 Lion, Whitesmith, Bank of England, and a Seedling of 

 a dark green color — all fine specimens. 



By John Hovey, Roxbury — Whitesmith, Princess 

 Royal, Hopley's Globe and Red Lion — large and 

 fine. 



By Mr J. L. L. F. Warren, Brighton — Roaring Lion, 

 very large. 



Currants, by Mr Walker — A specimen of a Red Seed- 

 ling of fine promise, the foliage very large and of a deep 

 green color, with long clusters of fruit — the berries of 

 g ood size. 



Melons and Squashes — Two Musk Melons and one 

 S quash, were exhibited by Mr Warren. 

 For the Committee, 



E. M. RICHARDS. 



