vob. XVII. NO. a ■ 



AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL 



179 



25 cents each, retaining 10,000 for liis own use 

 thus realizing a profit of nearly $7,500 upon tlie 

 tlay. In ten days, the seller might have re- 

 ivetl SICOO more for those disposed of. This 

 IS in September. In October, the fever of spec- 

 ition had reached, if not its clima.K, at least a 

 nuerous height to buyers; for the U. S. Gazette 

 fo'ms us, that at a great auction sale of these 

 ;es, at Baltiuiorc, on the 4th inst. 120,000 of them 

 are sold, "at prices varying from 20 to 22 cents 

 ■r foot, measuring to the utmost extremity, and 

 lunting the roots also. This amounts to $1,21 

 r each tree of five feet high." At a sale at Ger- 

 antown the prices e.'iceedod 20 cents per foot, 

 t Burlington, N. J. a sale of 2430 was made by 

 r Greenmere, for SS500, and another of 1000 

 iilectcd trees for $2000, being two dollars each. 

 ' this is not a "JJotm's alive" business, in which 

 ,me one will get sorely " saddle-hacktd," we are 

 ■eatly mistaken. 



There is no tree more rapidly multiplied, proba- 

 y, than the morus uiulticaulis. Every uninjured 

 jd will produce a plant in a summer. The prac- 

 ce is, among proficients in the art of propagating, 

 , take off every branch and the top, or to take up 

 ,e entire young plants, in the autumn— to bury 

 lem in the ground, or put them in a cellar during 

 inter, and to plant them in the spring, either in 

 uttin.^s of one or two eyes, or by covering the 

 ranch or young plant, laid horizontally m a furrow, 

 ith an inch or two of earth. Almost every bud 

 ill o-row from two to four feet the first season, and 

 Itimltely become a tree. This will explain to 

 le reader, -why select trees, abounding in branches 

 nd buds, sold'for two dollars at Burlington. They 

 ■ere clieap, if the prices can be kept up another 

 ear. 



In regard to the culture of this mulberry in our 

 ititude," we have only to repeat the opinion we 

 ave often expressed, that the tree will not stand 

 ur winters, except, perhaps, upon a poor dry soil, 

 ?hcn the growth ceases, and the wood hardens, be- 

 ore the occurrence of severe frosts. Indeed this 

 3 now virtually conceded by the growers ; for we 

 jelievc it is the general practice to secure seed- 

 ings in the cellar, or to bury them in the ground, 

 ,nd to cut down tlie trees, cover the stumps, and 

 jecure the tops and branches for propagation. 

 "!uttin(r down at autumn is recommended as the 

 3est m° de of increasing the foliage, and as facili- 

 tating the gathering of the leaves— as many 

 sprovrts spring from the stump in the spring, and 

 the leaves of which may be gathered without climb- 

 ing. 



That the silk business will ultimately prosper 

 among us, we have nojaoubt; but that the multi- 

 caulis'^is to supersede all other species of the mul- 

 berry, or that it possesses very remarkable proper- 

 ties not common to the family, we must be permit- 

 ted to entertain doubts. Gen. Tallmadge, who 

 visited the silk establishments of Italy, and was 

 minute in his inquiries, tells us that the European 

 black mulberry had a preference there. In Prance 

 the white mulberry, it is alleged, produces the best 

 silk We have seen beautiful fabrics from our 

 I native red species. While those who have seen, at 

 Constantinople, the silks produced from the Brussa, 

 affirm that they exceed all others for lustre and 

 value. Men are prone to recommend that which 

 they wish to sell. In our mind, it matters little 



■hat species of mulberry we cultivate, provided it 

 hardy enough for the climate. If any kind is 



well managed by household industry, they will in 

 our opinion, become a certain source of profit to 

 the owner. — Cultivator. 



EXPERIMENT IN HARVESTING CORN. 



In our last November No. we gave the result of 

 an experiment in harvesting corn, going to show, 

 that it is better to cut it up than to top it. We 

 now give the result of another experiment of the 

 .same kind. 



In the first week of September, we went with 

 two neighbors into our corn-field where our men 

 were cutting up corn, and caused .36 hills to be cut 

 up, where we found them at work, which was of 

 the fair average quality of the field, and stooked 

 separately ; adloining which 3(3 hills were topped, 

 in the usual way ; and a third parcel of 30 hills, 

 immediately adjoining the last, was left to ripen 

 upon the entire stock. On the 23d September we 

 proceeded to pick, husk and weigh the corn on the 

 several "parcels. The result was as follows : 

 No. 1. cut up,Jiad 126 ears, which weighed 56 1 -2 lbs. 

 No. 2, topped, " 127 « " 52 lbs. 2 oz. 



No. 3, standing, 125 " " 52 lbs. 10 oz. 



We found on trial, the same evening; that it le- 

 quired 78 lbs. of ears to give a bushel of shelled 

 corn. The field was planted at exactly three feet 

 between the rows, and at about two feet four inches 

 in the rows ; but assuming that the distance was 

 three by two and a half feet, it would give to the 

 acre 5,808 hills — and there probably was not 20 

 hills deficient in five acres. Upon these data the 

 product on an acre, under the diflferent modes of 

 harvesting, would be as follows, omitting frac- 

 tions : 



No. 1 would give 9,274 lbs. or 119 bushels. 

 No. 2 " 8,409 1-2 " 108 " 



No. 3 " 8,490 " 109 « 



Although the parcels selected were supposed to 

 be similar, it was perceived, after the corn was 

 gathered, that an apple tree, giving a shade 6 or 7 

 feet brnad, stood in No. 3 — the whole field being a 

 young orchard— which undoubtedly had an influ- 

 ence in lessening the product of that parcel — as it 

 might reasonably have been expected to have ex- 

 ceeded tliat of No. 1. 



In regard to the condition of the grain, of the 

 different parcels, that of No. 1, which had been cut 

 up and stooked, was unquestionably best ; it was 

 dry, sound and bright ; while much of Nos. 2 and 

 3, which had been topped, or left standing entire, 

 had fallen upon tiie ground, was wet or mouldy, 

 .and some of it had actually grown. The difference 

 in the fodder was still more palpably in favor of 



No. 1 it evidently exceeding m value either of 



the otiier parcels more than one half. 



Our neighbors, C. N. ISement and Sidney Chapin, 

 were prese^nt, and assisted, in the cutting up, top- 

 ping, picking, husking, weighing, and examining, 

 the° several parcels, and have authorized us to 

 say that they fully concur in the preceding state- 

 ment. 



In our experiment of last year, the loss in top- 

 ping, over cutting up, was found to be about six 

 bushels ; in the above detailed experiment, it ap- 

 pears to be eleven bushels on the acre. It will 

 also be observed, on referring to our former exper- 

 iment, that the number of ears, and the product, 

 is less this than it was last year. This has been 

 caused bv the drought. None of the succors pro- 



duced ears this year, though many produced them 

 last year. 



This experiment confirms us in the opinion we 

 have long entertained, that there is a prodigious 

 waste, both in corn and forage, and we insist in la- 

 bor also, in the still common practice of topping 

 corn. And we again beg, that those who remain 

 incredulous in the matter, will make the experi- 

 ment, as we have repeatedly done, and satisfy 

 themselves. Say there are 300,000 acres of corn 

 cultivated in this state, and that the loss by topping 

 is only five bushels to the acre, the aggregate loss 

 would amount to 1,500,000 bushels, equal at least 

 in value to one million of dollars annually, to say 

 nothing of the loss in labor and forage. 



The cause of the topped corn having produced 

 less than that which was cut up, although often 

 stated, is here repeated : the topped corn was de- 

 prived of its elaborating organs — its lungs — the 

 leaves above the grain, and of course received no 

 farther accession of growth, or but very little; 

 while the corn cut up retained these organs, which 

 continued to send down nourishment to the grain 

 for some days through its green succulent stocks. 

 Any farmer may satisfy himself readily that leaves 

 are indispensable to growth, by a simple and easy 

 experiment : — let him pluck all the leaves from a 

 fruit-bearing branch of the apple, plum, or other 

 fruit tree, at any stage of giowlh of the fruit — and 

 he will find that the fruit on such limb will neither 

 urow nor mature its flavor where there are no 

 feaves — though it may change its color — Cultt- 

 valor. 



Massachusetts Horticultnral Society. 



EiHiBiTioN OF Fruits. 



Sulurday, DccA, 1838. 

 From S. Walker, Roxbury, Nonpariel Apples 

 and-Chaumontelle pears. , 



From B. V. French, Braintree, Wilkinson pears. 



From James Eustis, South Reading, TrUnnell, 



Spice and Ben apples; the latter a handsome and 



fine flavored fruit of medium size, and the ?.nneaed 



letter accompanied the specimens. 



For the Committee, E. M. RICHARI*S. 



To THE Committee on Fudits, — 



Gentlemen — By request I send yon further 

 specimens of the Ben apple. The original tree 

 was standing till within a few years past on land 

 belonging to the late Doct. Hart of this place. 

 Said land formerly belonging to a Benjamin Smith, 

 therefore called the Ben apple, it is supposed to be 

 a native. It can be traced back for a great num- 

 ber of years, and probably was never grafted, as a. 

 person has now a tree growing which bears the 

 same fruit, which he pulled from the roots of the 

 old tree when a sucker. Yours, &c. 



JAMES EUSTIS. 

 S. Reading, Dec. 1, 1838. 



Saturday, Dec. 8, 1838. 

 Yellow Winter Pears, from W. S. Packar-J^ 

 Dorchester. Dix Pears, from Mr Wm. O. Go'don, 

 Dorchester. Baldwin Apples, from Chever New- 

 hall, do. Danvers Winter Sweet, Hooper Apple, a 

 fine Red and Pomme Sons Pippin, of Bouman's 

 catalogue, from Robert Manning, Salem. Mr Wan- 

 ning also exhibited fine specimens of the Winter 

 Orange, Glout Morceau Buorgomaster, (of !?oston,) 

 and Princes St Permain Pears. For the committee. 

 HENJ. V. FRENCH, 



