even in the nursery, that the branches may spread 

 naturally. A Delaware peach grower practises 

 cutting in the branches, after they have borne two 

 crops, and thereby gets newer and better bearing 

 wood. By plantiag thick, and heading in a portion 

 every year, altBjtfatffly, the fruit is very much im- 

 provedjWithout being sensibly diminished. 



Tii% extent of the peach plantations will seem 

 extravagant to some of our noithern readers. Many 

 gro^HlgjPy a S 0,000 trees, one 30,000; a:id at one 

 plac^WSnfewsbury, there are 50,000 trees grow- 

 ing contiguous and forming as it were one magnifi- 

 cent-orchard. 



Melons also constitute one ofthe staple products 

 of some ^arts of New Jersey. Sloop loads are 

 daily taken to the New York and Philadelphia 

 markets, and sold at ten and twelve dollan a hun- 

 dred Some idea of tlie profits of the melon cul- 

 ture may be formed from data which we obtained at 

 Key port. 



P. Hopkins bought twelve acres of land, in 1837, 

 in Middletown, for which he paid $30 jjer acre. In 

 1838, he put four acres in melons; his erop aver- 

 aged .$150 per acre. He put the same in rye in 

 the autumn, and in 1839, got 30 bushels the acre. 

 And in the present year he put six other acres in 

 melons, the average value of which is estimated at 

 $150 to $200 per acre. The expense of lime, ma- 

 nure and fish was $32, and of labor $10 per ' acre. 

 The account for the two years would therefore 

 stand as below. 



Cost of 12 acres of land, at $30 

 Cost of manure and labor on 10 acres, at 



Total outlay 

 Receipts from melons, 4 ac. $150 per ac. in 

 1837, 



do do 6 do 1838, 



do from rye, 4 acres, 120 bushels, 



Deduct cost of land and charges 

 Nett profits in two years, 

 arid the land in the bargain. 



$1,620 

 '600 



$i,oao 



Green Crop of Indian Corn. — N. Shotwell, of 

 Rahway, has made an experiment with corn as a 

 green crop, which proved highly advantageous, and 

 which, if we mistake not, affords a valuable sugo-es- 

 tion to the farmer ; as there is probably no o-reen 

 crop which will impart so much fertility to the soil 

 as Indian corn. Mr Shotwell sowed four acres 

 with corn, broadcast, four bushels to the acre, at 

 the u^ual planting time. When the corn -Was 

 about breast high, ho ploughed it under, affixing a 

 chain to the whifHetrees, to break down the stalks ; 

 at tlie usual time he sowed timothy sei-d, and ob- 

 tained a greater crop of grass than he ever gSt af- 

 ter clover, buckwheat, or other green crops. J 



JVew mode of preserving apples. — We were pre- 

 sented by our host at Trenton, Aug. 10, with a pip- 

 pin of last year's growth, as crisp, juicy, and. of as 

 fine flavor as those we have eaten at miBwinter ; 

 and on inquiry were told that they had been kept 

 in a tight cask in an icehouse. 



With regard to the state of society in I^e'w Jer- 

 sey, we are disposed, from the observation we were 

 able to make, to think highly favorable of it. jf 

 greater equality seems to exist among the inhabi- 

 tants, and more good feeling and kind-heartodijels 

 towards each other, than is commonly witnessed. 

 All seem to be well off to live ; and there ai;4 t'-'^^ 

 of those artificial or aristocratic distinctions which 

 are the bane of social and friendly interceurse','. and 

 inimical to republican habits and institfftions.^ 



Rev. Mr. Colman — Dear Sir — I enclose to you 

 the essay of an amateur farmer who takes great de- 

 light in tracing the links of cause and effect, where 

 they can be discovered, and in seeking for those 

 which are as ye;- beyond our reach. If you think 

 favorably of it, please use it as it was intended : if 

 not, I should like to have it returned to me. 



Yours, truly, N. C. KEEP. 



[We are very happy to give the subjoined com- 

 munication to the readers of the Farmer. It will 

 be justly appreciated. It shows an observing and 

 inquisitive mind. We are not prepared now to 

 enter into the discussion, because it has been made 

 matter of particular injunction by the government, 

 to prosecute the inquiries which are here presented, 

 and we do not therefore wish to anticipate our re- 

 port. But there is much reason in what is here 

 stated, and we shall deem it a favor to hear at any 

 time from our intelligent correspondent. — H. C] 



For ihe New Eagland Farmer. 



" The surplus crop of wheat in west New York 

 was one and a quarter million busliels jess in 1838 

 than it was in 1835. Whence this great diminu- 

 tion of product.' Not from there having been less 

 sown in 18,37 than there was in 1834, for it is be- 

 lieved that the quantity sown in 1837 was at least 

 one-tenth if not one-fifth greater than in 1834. The 

 deficiency was not owing to bad culture, for the 

 culture it is believed has been gradually improving; 

 nor to a bad season, that of 18.38 being at least 

 equal to those of ordinary occurrence." — Jilhuny 

 Cultivator. 



We might add to the above quotation that nearly 

 the whole of New England was once a wheat-grow- 

 ing district, and that now it is rare to find a field of 

 wheat on the Atlantic border. How is this change 

 to be accounted for ? I answer, first, in the good 

 old way, negatively. It is not because we do not 

 manure our lands. The contents ofthe dung heap 

 and the barn yard are dispensed with a more liber- 

 al hand than they were in the days of our ancestors. 

 Second : it is not owing to a change of climate ; 

 for on some of our soils in New England, wheat is 

 still raised without difficulty. To what then is this 

 general failure of the wheat crop in New England 

 and its great diminution in New York to be attrib- \ 

 uted ? In my opinion chiefly to this — the vegeta- j 

 hie matter of the soil has been exhausted, or so 

 much reduced as to be unable to bear a good crop 

 of wheat. Let us look at the facts which may be 

 brought forward in confirmation of this opinion. 



First — an abundant crop of the finest wheat can 

 still be obtained on new lands. Here are the vege- 

 table deposits of ages — the very food which, accord- 

 ing to our supposition, the wheat demands. It is 

 true that interval lands are sometimes found so ex- 

 ceedingly rich in vegetable deposits that they will 

 not bear wheatuntil after several years cultivation: 

 the .reason pi'cbably is, there is not enough silex 

 witiiin reach ofthe wheat roots to form the straw, 

 and though the growth is luxuriant, the straw is 

 unable to sustain its weight, and lodges as the far- 

 mers term it. 



Second — a liberal supply of ashes sown upon the 

 growing wheat will sometimes bring up a good 

 crop. The office which the ashes perform in this 

 case, I apprehend to be J;his : they render what 

 vegetable matter there is in the soil soluble, so that 

 it may all be appropriated by the growing crop. 



Third — it has been ascertained by experiments 

 which have been lately instituted in France, that 

 certain saline manures which have a wonderful en- 

 ergy in increasing the foliage of plants, have no 

 tendency whatever to increase or perfect the seed. 

 Now these saline substances are constituent parts 

 of our animal manures. No wonder then, if when 

 our barns are filled with sheaves we find but little 

 grain. 



Fourth — on the intervals of Connecticut river 

 the best crops of rye are those which grow on the 

 decomposing sod of turf. We plough grass'land 

 in the spring — plant it with corn — in the fall we 

 plough it again and sow rye ; a large crop is almost 

 sure to follow such a course. 



Fifth — a crop of wheat has sometimes been se- 

 cured by very deep ploughing. Might not this 

 case be explained by supposing that while the veg- 

 etable matter in the surface was exhausted, there 

 still remained enough in the subsoil to carry up a 

 crop? 



These are some of the reasons which have 

 wrought in my own mind a strong impression that 

 the failure of our wheat crops in New England and 

 their alarming diminution in New York, is to be 

 attributed to a deficiency of vegetable matter in the 

 soil. If this impression is well founded, may we 

 not infer also that for the perfection of other seed- 

 bearing crops, mote vegetable matter must be added 

 to the soil. Where shall it be obtained ? I an- 

 swer, from the peat bogs; or if this is impractica- 

 ble, let resort be had to that exhaustless store-house 

 from which the vast deposits of peat have them- 

 selves been drawn. Any one who know s that peat 

 is formed solely from air and water, and that it has 

 accumulated in some places to the depth of sixty 

 feet, will readily understand why such extraordina- 

 ry fertility should be imparted to the soil by turn- 

 ing into it successive crops of clover or other vege- 

 table products of large growth and abundant foli- 

 age, formed also mostly from air and water. 



Lot no hasty reader ofthe preceding remarks infer 

 that vegetable matter is the only requisite for the 

 successful culture of wheat and other grain crops. 

 We must have sunshine and rain — we must have 

 the earths — we must have alkalies or alkaline earths 

 to prepare the vegetable food, so far as it may be 

 wanted, to enter itself into the substance of the 

 plant J. R. K. 



Longmeadow, 1st Sept., 1839. 



[For the New England Farmer.] 



Dedham, Sept. 17, 1839. 



Dear Sir — Though I have not the pleasure of 

 knowing you personally, I take the liberty of re- 

 questing the benefit of your advice as to the best 

 mode of planting forest trees, such as acorns, ches- 

 nuts, walnuts and ash seeds — all of which I plant- 

 ed two successive years in the month of Novem- 

 ber, and covered very lightly with earth, sometimes 

 only with grass or leaves ; yet with all my pains, 

 not one seed in fifty has come up — these have 

 grown very slowly : none of the walnuts, though 

 three years old, are six inches high: the ashes and 

 the rest are no better. They were planted in 

 grass land, of which some is dry and solid, the rest 

 meadow — all favorable to the growth of wood, a 

 large forest having grown there m times back, and 

 there are a great many thrifty young trees of a nat- 

 ural growth there still in the north end of the field. 



I propose to plant again this season. What is 

 the proper time .' Should the seeds be buried or 



