330 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER 



JAN. S, 18-10 



wheels, drawn by four heavy horses, should still be 

 retained even on the liijht soils of some of onr south- 

 ern counties. Still it is yet a question whether the 

 adl'ocates of the swing plougli have not gone too 

 far wlien they have asserted that there is no land so 

 stiff in wliich it may not be worked by a pair of 

 horses; and it is indeed almost admitted that, on 

 parts of tlie London clay formation, they have been 

 beaten by the strength of tlie ground. It is even 

 doubted whether one wheel might not be advanta- 

 geously restored to the plough; and those ingeni- 

 ous media nicians, the .Messrs Ransome, of Ipswich, 

 have constructed a plough which admits of being 

 used without a wheel, witli one wheel, or with two. 

 These doubts should be cleared up with regard to 

 different soils by observation ; and it may bo worth 

 inquiry whether plouglis of different constructions, 

 with different amount of horse power, may not be 

 applicable to the same soil in various stages of cul- 

 tivation, in firjt breaking the stubble, for instance, 

 on heavy land, and in the cross-ploughings which 

 follow. The other ancient implement, the harrow, 

 is confessedly a most imperfect one, as its down- 

 ward pressure is insufficient, and in the wrong di- 

 rection, for cleansing from weeds the ground which 

 it scarcely penetrates. Mr Finlayson's harrow, 

 however, as it is called, though in fact a new and 

 ingenious implement, is little used by practical far- 

 mers in some of our .sauthern counties ; but this 

 harrow, as well as tlie further improvement, inade- 

 quately named a scarifier, is not only efficient for 

 cleansing the land, but may sometimes be made 

 also to supply the place of the plough. The use 

 of another instrument, the drill machine, a more 

 complicated one, by which the sefed is laid in regu- 

 lar rows, has lately become frequent in southern as 

 well as in northern England, though it has estab- 

 lished itself so slowly, that fof .q. long time, travel- 

 ling machines of this kind have made yearly jour- 

 neys from Suffolk as far as O.xfordshire, for the use 

 of those distant farmers by whom their services are 

 required. 



Hut, before the seed is sown, manure must 

 have been applied, either immediately or in some 

 former stage of cultivation ;' and here questions 

 large and numerous open them.selves to the inqui- 

 ries, and demand the experiments of a body which 

 aims at raising the art of husbandry to the rank of 

 a. science possessing definite laws. Whether farm- 

 yard dung should be applied, recently made or in a 

 more advanced stage of fermentation ; whether it 

 should be laid on tlie field in the aulumn, and cov- 

 ered over for the winter by ploughing alternate fur- 

 rows only — a process technically known as rafter- 

 ing, from the ribbed appearance which it gives to 

 the field ; or should be laid on in the spring, imme- 

 ately before the turnip is sown ; whether its effica- 

 cy be increased by nii.ving it in heaps with earth, 

 technically known as compost heaps ; whether the 

 manure of a farm should be applied entirely to the 

 green crops ; or whether, as is a common course, 

 recommended by the hope of immediate gain, it 

 should be shared by the wheat; — these are all ques- 

 tions in the minds of practical farmers, at least — as 

 is shown by their opposite conduct upon these heads 

 — which the science of agriculture, if it ever be- 

 come a science, is bound therefore to answer. Tliere 

 is also, as to the very formation of farm manure, an 

 important differenci; of management between our- 

 selves on the one hand, and the oldest practical 

 farmers, our neighbors the Flemings, on the other. 

 The Flemish cattle are not allowed to run at large 

 on the pastures, but are tied up in buildings, where 



they receive a daily supply of green food newly cut, 

 and a tank is formed near at hand, which receives 

 the runnings of the stalls, and from which the liquid 

 manure is carried in tumbrils to the arable ground. 

 Not only are our farm-yards managed less closely 

 in this important particular, but, as our cattle are in 

 the field for a gre.at part of the twelvemonth, it may 

 be questioned whether their dropp:ngs do not in a 

 great degree lose their fertilizing pioperty by the 

 aclion of the atmosphere as they lie scattered upon 

 the surface. There is no doubt that, on the other 

 hand, rank tufts of herbage are produced by the ex- 

 cess of manure in spots of ground upon which it 

 falls. The advocates of the soiling system, as it is 

 called, have acted upon that system for centuries, 

 and they assert that a very large saving is effected 

 by the uniform consumption of the grass, which is 

 another result of this mode of management. A 

 system backed by such high and ancient authority, 

 must surely deserve inquiry into its merits. This 

 last question, however, is a double one, involving 

 on the one side the comparative amount of fertili- 

 zing substance produced for the use of the soil, and 

 on the other the beneficial effect of the food on the 

 condition of the animals themselves ; — but this se- 

 cond branch belongs to a distinct head of inquiry — 

 the feeding of cattle. 



(To be continued ) 



TRANSPLANTING TREES. 

 I notice in your valuable journal, an article in 

 whicli one of the editors opposes his experi- 

 ence to the notion of a Boston brother, in regard 

 to the proper time for transplanting trees. It may 

 not be amiss to state for the benefit of those far- 

 mers who despise book-learning, that in tliis case, 

 theory and fact agree. It is well known that all 

 the food which plants draw from the soil, is absorb- 

 ed by tiie extremities of the root fibres, or rootlets ; 

 and that the difficulty of transplanting, arises from 

 the impossibility of preserving all those fibres, what- 

 I ever care may be used in the operation. When a 

 tree has been moved, it is deprived of a portion of 

 its nourishment, till new fibres have been emitted 

 from the roots in sufficient numbers to supply the 

 place of the injured ernes: and if many have been 

 broken, or the tree is not able to replace them quick- 

 ly, it languishes and dies. The best time for trans- 

 planting is evidently that at which plants are in the 

 best state to emit new fibres, and best able to sub- 

 sist with little nourishment from the earlh; and the 

 worst that at which these conditions are reversed. 

 In autumn, trees are employed in laying up a 

 store of food for the coming year. As the leaves 

 fall off, the sap thickens, deposites a saccharine sub- 

 stance on the sides of its vessels, and finally entire- 

 ly ceases to flow, and the tree becomes torpid and 

 remains lifeless through the winter. This then is 

 not the time to transplant. Young trees may in- 

 deed be taken up at this season, and having been 

 kept in doors, may be set out again in the S|iring, 

 without danger. But it is quite a different matter 

 to put a plant into the ground when all its powers 

 are going to decay, and it is not able to form a sin- 

 gle new fibre, or even to preserve those it already 

 has. Except for the shelter from the cold which 

 the dirt round its roots affords, it might as well be 

 exposed to the winter on a bare rock. In spring, 

 however, the case is quite different. Then tlie 

 plant derives its nourishment in a great measure 

 from the saccharine matter deposited the preceding 

 year, and is employed in putting out new fibres to 



absoib sap from the earth, and new leaves to e 

 or.ite it. If moved at this time, its means of li' 

 are liardly affected at all ; only its situatioi 

 changed. Evergreens, however, may be transp 

 ted at any time except when perfecting their f 

 as tliey have a constant flow of sap. 



If you will allow me, it may be well to men 

 some other results which follow from the princi 

 mentioned above. One of these relates to the p 

 er time for cutting timber. The winter is not 

 time ; for tlien the wood contains more soli 

 matter than at any other season. It is the soli 

 saccharine matter contained in timber, which 

 its easy decomposition, induces that of the wt 

 fibre. 



The liquid sap evidently has nothing to do ' 

 it, for it is all dried out in the process of season 

 What is the best time, may admit of a quest 

 but it must be after the saccharine matter has 1: 

 exhausted in the spring, and before it has begu 

 be deposited again in the fall. 



Trees should also be pruned in the spring, w 

 new wood is forming ; for then the wounds 

 soon healed; and the plants being in their i 

 flourishing state, are best able to bear injury, 

 a wound made in the fall, remains open and 

 posed to the influence of air and water till the 

 season. For the same reasons grafting shouli 

 performed in the early part of the year, tiioug 

 till the sap is in full flow. — Jour, of Com. 



THE CONSERVATORY. 

 We advise our friends who are seeking at 

 ment, to look in at the Public Conservatory. 

 are above one thousand Camellia Japonica p 

 some of the largest now in full splendor, and 

 qo the pointof bursting their beautiful buds. A 

 them are at least twenty full grown trees 

 well known that the former possessor of this s 

 Cfdiection of Camellias, M. P. Wilder, of Do: 

 ter, spared neither pains nor expense to procu 

 finest plants from the justly celebrated nursei 

 Europe, and that the most recent and most I 

 estimated seedling varieties are comprised 

 But it is too well known that one of his nioti^ 

 disposing of this collection to the society at a 

 pecuniary sacrifice to himself, was, the desip 

 his fellow citizens might conveniently and fie 

 ly enjoy the pleasure of viewing it. It is c; 

 ted that during the next five or six weeks s 

 tliousand Camellia blossoms will expand — hu 

 are now in full bloom and contrast beautiful! 

 the dark glossy foliage, the perfect cleanlii 

 which is highly creditable to Mr Donald, th 

 dener. Several of the Acacia tribe, the pt 

 the Flora of New South Wales, are liken 

 beauty — as is also the fine Poinsettia pulch 

 named in compliment to our former mini; 

 Mexico, Mr Poinsett, who sent it thence to C 

 ton, in 18'<:S, whence it found its way to I 

 Tliis plant was presented by the Hon. John 

 of Roxbury. We are also informed that th« 

 ty has recently received ten or twelve c; 

 plants from Rio Janeiro, containing about oi 

 dred varieties of the curious air plants now 

 ing so much attention in Europe; most oftl 

 beginning to vegetate in a small stove ere 

 this purpose below ; these will no doubt be 

 ted in the Conservatory as they come into 

 We trust the public will not fail liberally 

 port this cstablishnrent, which promises to 

 an ornament to the city. — Transcript. 



