266 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



FEBRUARY 3r, 1839. 



out New England, and all the states and territories 

 which extend westward, from the IJiulson, to the 

 base of the Rocky mountains ; and wliich are so 

 fatal to the hopes and labors of the cultivators of 

 the soil. The latter therefore have endeavored to 

 guard against their withering and destructive rava- 

 ges, by structures of various kinds, ;is well as to 

 invite the first beams of the sun, to smile upon 

 their cherished families of the vegetable realm. 



Have not the forest trees made a like effort and 

 are not the results in harmony with these well es- 

 tablished principles ? Vegetable physiology has 

 made great progress within tlie last half century ; 

 and more recently, the laws by which it is regulat- 

 ed, have been clearly illustrated, by numerous ex- 

 periments in England, France and Switzerland. A 

 tree is now considered, by the most able and dis- 

 tinguished writers on this subject, eitlier as an ag- 

 gregule of as many distinct plants, as there are buds 

 on its branches, or as one being, analagous to what 

 is called, when speaking of animals, an individual; 

 but in both cases, the mode of nutrition and incre- 

 ment is the same. The elementary substances be- 

 ing liquified are conveyed in the sap tlirough the 

 alburnum, and exposed to the light, air and heat of 

 the sdfc, on the upper surface of the leaf, where are 

 exhaled those vapors and gases which are not con- 

 ducive to the health, or support of the plant, and 

 others elaborated, or inspired from the atmosphere 

 indispensable to the form^bion of wood, bark, fruit, 

 gums, roBins, oils, aromas a'nd saccharine or other 

 matter peculiar to the several species, which are 

 transmitted by the returning circulation, that com- 

 mences on the inferior side of the leaf, and de- 

 scends in such a manner in the cortex, as to create 

 through the medium of the cambium, all the lig- 

 neous and other parts and substances, which have 

 been named. 



As these vessels, which like the arteries and 

 veins in animals, conduct the sap, from tire spon- 

 gioles of the roots to the highest leaf, and bark 

 through the cortex, are separate and independent, 

 for each bud, throughout the whole extent of the 

 tree, as so many isolated plaiits, those which are 

 most favorably situated for receiving the earliest 

 and greatest portion of heat and light, will be the 

 soonest in active operation, and continue to exer- 

 cise their functions, for the longest time, during 

 each day and from the dawn of spring, until 

 the autumnal frosts terminate all vegetation in the 

 foliage ; consequently the roots and branches, as 

 well as tl>e side of the trunk, on which those ves- 

 sels are arranged, will increase faster and for a 

 longer period, and tlius produce results, which you 

 have actually verified. Besides the trunk of the tree 

 is, itself, a thick and impervious wall to protect the 

 sap vessels and other parts of vegetation, of each 

 bud belonging to the south eastern siide.bf the tree 

 from the blasting winds of the north west, — while 

 it is also a vast combination of delicate pipes which 

 are constantly conducting heat from tlie. earth — -that 

 grand and inexhaustible reservoir .of xaloric, and 

 distributing itUu-ougiiout ilic whole mass, and to the 

 end of the minutest twig, wlicnever the tempera- 

 ture of external air is below that of the earth, or 

 tjie surface of the latter is frozen, but not so deep, 

 as to reach the extremities of all the roots. 



The theory I have attempted to establish has 

 been based on the facts presented in your letter, and 

 the practical operations of the cultivators of the 

 earth, as well as the accredited principles of veg- 

 etable physiology, the known eliects of heat, light 

 and air on plants, the characteristics of our climate 



and the general laws of nature in all her wonder- 

 ful works ; but whether it affords a satisfactory ex- 

 planation of the phenomenon, which you have been 

 the first to announce, I am not sufficiently confident 

 to affirm ; and have presented it, rather with the 

 hope, that others, more competent, may be induced to 

 make greater researches, and give the subject that 

 thorough examination which it so eniinently merits. 



I am ever highly gratified in becoming acquaint- 

 ed with those, who have a love for trees and a 

 taste for their cultivation ; it is therefore pleasing 

 to have commenced a correspondence, on a subject 

 of such congenial interest. 



In a country so eminently favored as this, by the 

 vast number of the beautiful and magnificent va- 

 rieties of trees which embellish our forests, com- 

 pared with those which are indigenous to Europe, 

 it is not a little surprising, that a deeper interest 

 has not been developed, for rendering them tribu- 

 tary to the health, comfort and pleasure of the peo- 

 ple, by considering them as indispensable to the 

 completeness of a country residence and the pub- 

 lic edifices, squares, grounds and higiiways, as are 

 any of the appendages, which are deemed useful, 

 ornamental or agreeable in either. 



It is time tliat some portion of the population 

 should begin to plant, and foster trees, and not all 

 continue united with tliose, who are for the indis- 

 criminate destruction ot our superb native groves. 

 When I resided on the banks of tlie Kennebeck 

 river, as a boy, the county of Kennebeck was as 

 much a wilderness and lumbering region, as any 

 on the waters of the Penobscot river: but so reck- 

 less and wide spreading has been the devastation'of 

 every variety of tree, and in which work of repen- 

 tance, the farmers have been so actively conspicu- 

 -OHS, that many of them are now obliged to go many 

 miles for their fuel, and pay a high price for it- 

 These lessons of sad experience should not be ne- 

 glected ; and the gentlemen of JJangor, who have 

 with such commendable zeal, formed an association 

 for ornamenting tliat young and thrifty city, with 

 trees, appear determined to leave honorable memo- 

 rials, that they liave not been either heedless of 

 the errors of the past generations, negligent of the 

 interests of the present, or indifl'erent to those of 

 the future. 



Such demonstrations of an enlightened and mu- 

 nificent public spirit are worthj' of all praise ; and 

 may their meritorious example induce tbe citizens of 

 all our towns, to exclaim, witli the determined en- 

 ergy of the venerable Evelyn, " Let us also 

 RISE UP AND PLAKT." With great esteem. 



Your most obedient servant. 

 J. Herrick, Es(j. H. a. a'DEARBORN. 



(Frnm the Farmer's Cabinet.) 



POULTRY. 



The rearing of pordtry produces much profit on a 

 sinaU investment 

 Those who increased their stock of poultry dur- 

 ing the last year, have been reaping a rich reward 

 in return for their increased attention to this inter- 

 esting branch of domestic economy. It has brought 

 a very generous price, and eggs have not been less 

 liberally paid for. Many chubby boys and rosy 

 cheeked girls have often had their heart made glad, 

 when " father" has returned from market, and an- 

 nounced the grand price for which he sold the tur- 

 keys, the duel s, the chickens and the eggs ; for 

 there is in many farmers' families a perquisite aris- 

 ing from sales of this description of stock, which en- 

 ures to the younger branches of the family as a 



reward for their ingenuity, care and industrv, in 

 attending to the rearing and protecting the pouliry. 

 and an encouragement to future good conduct and 

 obedience. 



The multitude of grass-hoppers which inundated 

 the country last summer, with myriads of other in- 

 sects, furnished an abundant supply of meat for the 

 fowls without apparently reducing the supply of it, 

 and there was but little necessity for giving tliciii 

 other descriptions of food during the season. \ 

 farmer who regularly attends market, sold duniiL' 

 the last year poultry and eggs to the amount of 

 about one hundred and fifty dollars, and the ex- 

 pense incurred in their production was so small as 

 scarcely to be appreciable ; this should encourage 

 others to do likewise, and tliey will have their re- 

 ward proportionate to their works. 



Guinea fowls make an agreeable variety in a 

 poultry yard, and they furnish more eggs than com- 

 mon hens; they sell well in market without being 

 picked, and their vigilance in guarding against 

 danger, and the great alarm they sound when it ap- 

 proaches, so terrifies the hawk, that he rarelv ven- 

 tures to pounce on a chicken when guinea fowls 

 are in the vicinity. Some people rear and Iceep 

 them on purpose to guard the poultry from the dep- 

 redations of their enemies, and it is thought they 

 find their interest promoted by it. Rome was once 

 preserved, it is said, by the noise made by geese 

 producing an alarm amongst tlie inhabitants in time 

 to preserve them from their enemies, who were 

 approaching. The writer of this recollects a case 

 that occurred many years since of a barn being i 

 preserved from being fired by an incendiary ,by a flock 

 of geese,'which were aroused from their slumbers by i 

 him as he was about to execute his vile purpose : this i 

 was afterwards testified to by an accomplice in the | 

 intended mischief I state these facts in order to lei | 

 young people know that geese have been of some I 

 use in the world besides furnishing us with good ; 

 feather beds, and quills to make pens. 



Those who design to profit by rearing poultry i 

 the approaching season, should give attention to it 

 early in the spring and follow it up with vigilance ! 

 and care until the young ones are well feathered, 

 wh«n they will require but little attention. Tliere i 

 should be always a shelter provided for fowls 

 whether they be old or young, and those farmers 

 who are destitute of proper winter quarters for 

 their poultry should not let another season pass by 

 withou.t making suitable provision to protect them 

 from the inclemency of the weather ; for with prop- 

 er winter protection eggs would be abundant all the 

 year, and what pays a better profit than eggs .' 

 Ova. 



{From the Review of •• Loudon's Arhoretium, in the London 

 Quarlerly.) 

 By the far greater part of Mr Loudon's work con- 

 sists of what may be called a descriptive catalogue 

 of all the trees and shrubs which will grow in tiie 

 open air in Britain, illustrated by engravings on 

 wood. This catalogue is arranged according to the 

 natural system, beginning with the Clematis, and 

 other ligneous plants of the order Ranunculacere, 

 and taking in succession all the other orders which 

 contain either trees or shrubs. According to this 

 arrangement, one of the first trees described it the 

 Evergreen Magnolia, so well known for the splen- 

 dor and fragrance of its blossoms. This fine tree 

 appears to have been first brought to Europe, from 

 the banks of the Mississippi, in 1732, by a French 

 officer of marines, who planted it in his native 

 place, Maillardiere, about four miles from Nantes, 



