VOL. XV. KO. 50. 



AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL 



895 



(t'ortlieNevv England Farmer.) 



Mansfield, May 1837. 

 Mr Editor : — If you (ileasp, you may pulilisli 

 the follow'ui<; taSiIe, containing ohservalions of lln^ 

 times tliut Apple trees have been notieed to be in 

 full blossom, in Mansfield, County of Bristol, J!s., 

 from 179S, to the present year, inclusive, making 

 40 years. Tlie first 30 years were published in 

 the New England Farmer, Vol. v. No. 46, — June 



8th, 1827. 



Isaac Stearns, Jr. 



Observations.— June 2, 1812, and May 9, 1830, 

 ars the two extremes, tlie mean of which is May 

 21st. The mean amiual blossoming of the whole 

 40 years, is May 21st. Tlie first ten years, from 

 1798 to 1807, including the average annual blos- 

 soming, is May 20tli ; hut the second ten years, 

 from 1808 to 1817, inclusive, is May 23<1 ; the 

 third ten years, from 1818 to 1827, inclusive, is 

 May 20tU ; the l.ist tpn years, from 1828 to the 

 present year 1837, is also May 20lh. 



The time in the preceding table \vas taken when 

 the apple tree blossoms were out the fidlest, and 

 the trees appeared the whitest, and some of the 

 5ietals began to blow off by the wind ; except the 

 Russet and some hue kinds, which expand their 

 blossoms more gralually and come out later. 



I. S. 



" That won't make the Pot boil." — " That 

 won't make tbe pot boil," said an old snug-fisted 

 farmer, who had served a long apprenticeship in 

 closely counting his dollars and cents, — as he 

 drove his rawboned horse up to the neat new cot- 

 tage of one of his thriving neighbors, whose sons 

 were that moment engaged in painting a neat fence 

 which they had just finished in front of his house. 

 " For one, I likes to look out for the stone wall 

 round my sixteen acre lot, and the hedge fence 

 around tjiy turnip yard, but I never troubles my- 

 self about gingerbread work about the homestead, 

 and your daubing with white paint. I'd rath 

 er see a good wood pile in my yard, and a 

 good barn full of hay, than all these little ^iierte* 

 you could fix in a month." 



The old gentleman said several other very char- 

 acteristic things, and then rode on his way, — and 

 was presently brought within sight of his own 

 more unadorned dwelling ; the duties pertaining 

 to whicb he and his hired man had performed for 

 the last several years, — while his three sons un- 



willing to drudge on in his uninteresting and 

 tasteless way of living, had all left bim to go 

 to the city, wlicre they coidd perhaps have a more 

 successful business, or perhaps fiiil by and by for 

 a million of dollars. 



This is but a picture, but is tlirre not some 

 truth in it.' Have not many of our lariiurs and 

 laboring men been accustomed to look out so 

 sharply for the main chance, as to forget that tliey 

 were laying the foundation for loneliness in their 

 old age.' It cannot he dispuTtd tll^t tlicre has 

 been a great disi)Ositiou among farmer's sons to 

 go from homo, and engage for 'weal or for woe,' 

 in other scenes and other labors. We cannot help 

 thinking that a part of the diflicidly has origina- 

 ted in that sordid love of money, at the expense 

 of every thing like good taste, which has held out 

 but few attractions to the young to become far- 

 mers, except where necessity or parental authori- 

 ty has compelled it. 



We wish the time might come when there could 

 be more time and money given by farmers to the I 

 beautifying of their places. A neat farm house 

 with a kw simple ornaments, is always spoken of 

 by the passer by, with interest and delight. If 

 more such places could gieet the eye of the trav- 

 eller aa he passes through our farjiiing districts, 

 there would be a greater willingness to engage in 

 the business, among those who now bend their 

 talents to other occujiations. 



The expense of such little improvements is but 

 very trifling, — r.nd tbe time may be saved in a 

 thousand of those listless hours which are often 

 spent to no particular piu'posc. We repeat again 

 with new emphasis, because with new conviction 

 of its truth, what we said a year ago — that the 

 man, especially a farmer, who plants a honeysuc- 

 kle by his door, who paints or even whitewashes 

 his fences, who jjlants a tree by the roadside, or 

 iirnaments his garden, docs much toward the 

 growth of patriotism — as well as toward continu- 

 iiij5 U'<itn i«otivoB oT ^liotii-fiihiess and enjoyment, 

 his posterity in the business from which he has 

 gained his living — on the spot which he in his 

 life has rendered dear, and in his death has ren- 

 dered more so, by entrusting to it his slumbering 

 dust. Children grow up in the love of home un- 

 der such circumstances, and their attachments are 

 not easily eradicated ; but for the want of proper 

 attention, they will seek a separate home and a 

 separate interest, lu the end-then it is not true, 

 that such efforts " do not make the pot boil." — 

 Essex Register. 



4. For the best managed grass and stock 

 farm, of not less than one hundred and 

 fifty acres, 10 00 



5. For the second best, 7 00 



6. For the third best, 5 00 

 As ^,!r Garbutt's object is to elicit and dissemi- 

 nate useful information arjiong his brother far- 

 mers, for tbeconnnon good, the better to produce 

 the desired result, he imposes upon competitors 

 lor the above premiums, the following condi- 

 tions : — 



1. That the competitor shall live iifion and 

 manage his farm, either as owner or occupant. 



2. That the statement of management shall em- 

 brace a perioil of 3 years. 



3. That such statement shall exhibit the char- 

 acter of the sod, the description of the crops and 

 stock, the mode of management, estimated value 

 of all the crops and stock, mode of managing ma- 

 nures, expense of labor, &c. In short, it must 

 exhibit a true account of the profits of the farm 

 for three years, in such detail as to enable others 

 t 



o profit by the examples of the successful com- 

 petitors." 



While upon this subject, we venture to suggest 

 to land holders, and others who feel a deep inter- 

 est in the substantial improvements of oui- coun- 

 try, whether they would nut subserve their indi- 

 vidual as well as public iiiteri'sts, by following the 

 patriotic example of our worthy friend Garhutt, 

 in offering premiimis for im|)rovements in hus- 

 bandry. These will do more to enhance the val- 

 ue of real estate, and to promote the common 

 weal, than the multiplication of banks, or the mad 

 schemes of speculation, which have raised thou- 

 sands to tniaginary opulence, but which, in real- 

 ity have reduced tens of thousands to absolute 

 ruin. Productive industry, after ail, is the true 

 source of national wealth and greatness ; and the 

 more we enlighten and honor labor, the more we 

 shall have of it, and the better it will be for its. — 

 Albany Cult. 



MR GARBUTT^S PREMIUMS. 



Mr William Garbutt, a very intelligent, ex- 

 cellent and enterprising farmer of Wheatland, 

 .Monroe, has instructed us to o^cv, in his name, 

 the six following premiums. "I have long wish- 

 ed," says Mr G. in his letter to us, " that culti- 

 vators would exhibit, through the medium of ag- 

 ricultural journals, their m sthods of farnning, to- 

 gether with the amount of labor, and the product 

 of their farms. It would open an immense vol- 

 ume of useful knowledge, and give a powerful 

 impulse to agricultural improvement. With the 

 view of furthering so desirable an object, I will 

 add two classes of premiums to your list, viz : 



1. For the best managed grain and grass 

 farm, being the staple of not less than 



100 acres, $10 00 



2. For the second best, 7 00 



3. For the third best, 5 00. 



To prevent Abortion in Fruit Tree.?.— A 

 respectable gentleman assures us, that he has 

 strewn plaster upon his fruit trees, for suecessive 

 years, when in bloom, as a means of indncitig fe- 

 cundity, with unvarying success. The discovery 

 was the result of accident. A tree which had 

 flowered freely, but fruited shyly, had by accident 

 got a dusting of gypsum while in flower, and it 

 was loaded with fruit. The male and female or- 

 gans, in most fruits, are in the same flower ; and 

 it is well known, that if heavy rains or strong 

 winds occur when frees are in bloom, they seri- 

 ously diminish the fruit and often destroy it. The 

 reason of this is, that the jiollen, which slioukl 

 fecundate the female-organ, is prematm-ely blowu 

 away or destroyed, before it has performed its of- 

 fice. The gypsum may prevent this. 



A Sweet Town. — The Democrat says the Wil- 

 mington farmers have manufactured, the present 

 season, sixty thousand jiounds of maple sugar, to- 

 gether with a large quantity of molasses. It is a 

 sweet town, say we, when well filled with 'lasses. 

 — Bellows Falls Jour. 



Misfortunes are, in morals, what bitters are in 

 medicine. — French. Each is at first disagreea. 

 ble ; but as the bitters act as corroborants to the 

 stomach, so adversity chastens and ameliorates 

 the disposition. 



