288 



N E W ENGLAND FAR M E R 



FEB. ae, 1840.1 



the soil? Observation to be sure may determine land mature stages of growth, are so distinct as hard- 

 it, and life may hasten to its wane before we arrive ' ly to be recoonized as belonging to the same indi- 

 at facts ; and then, as book farming is denounced ' vidual species of plant. The present condition of 

 as a sort of unholy innovation, we must not record j Mr Lowell's specimen renders it an attractive ob- 

 the results for the benefit of our successors. We { je^t jn the ccllection of the green house. Its stem 

 may by a sort of instinct hit upon the right subject jg covered with those scale-like leaves which we 

 to transfer to the soil, but we are very likely to se- g^e in the fir balsam, while its a.xillary branches 

 lect something uncongenial to its circumstances, 'are entirely clothed with small, scimitar-formed fo- 



But if science holds its lamp, whose oil is like that 

 of the widow's cruise, unfailing, and the more we 

 use the more remains, around our path, we can de- 

 termine at once wherein the secret of our strength 

 lies, and apply accordingly. 



Plants, like men and animals, are liable to dis- 

 eases and premature decay : and in the vegetable 

 as in the animal kingdom, preventives when they 

 may be had, are miicli better than cures. Disease 

 is the result of various causes. Tt may result from 

 a plant's being located in a soil ill adapted to supply 

 its emergencies, while another of different family 

 would flourish well : — in such cases the disorder 

 may become hereditary, until at length the article 

 becomes valueless ; or it may by timely care be 

 cured. The atmosphere of different localities may 

 essentially affect vegetables, sucii as being too hot 

 or too cold, too wet or too dry. These are evils 

 which are to be avoided ; but how on introducing 

 a new plant or in pushing our experiments with 

 the old, are we to dodge them ? Just as the phy- 

 sician tells an individual what climates and expo- 

 sures he must avoid and what habits he must ad- 

 here to, as he values health and life, by a knowl- 

 edge of its systems, habits and predispositions. 

 Yours, truly, W. B. 



Mount Osceola, Feb. 4, 1840. 



For the N. E. Farmer. 



NORFOLK ISLAND PINE. 

 A beautiful plant of this majestic and lofty tree, 

 is in the possession of the Hon. John Lowell, and 

 has been reared by him in his green house at Rox- 

 bury. Whoever has visited the annual festival of 

 flowers and fruits of tbe Massachusetts Horticultu- 

 ral Society, for the two past years, must recollect 

 its elegant ccmtour and vivid foliage. Its age we 

 have reasons to suppose, is towards four years from 

 the seed, and its height something more than three 

 feet. Several seedlings were brought from the 

 island, which gives a specific name to the tree ; and 

 if our conjectures are correct, of this lot, (the only 

 one so imported tc this neighborhood) is the fine in- 

 dividual above mentioned. Others of the same are 

 growing in Salem and elsewhere, but none so fine 

 as that in possession of Mr Lowell. 



The Norfolk Island Pine belongs to a small 

 group of forest trees, remarkable for their great 

 height and peculiar proportions. Growina' at a 

 considerable altitude on the mountainous regions 

 of its native habitat, it was reasonable to sup- 

 pose that it might be gradually acclimated to some 

 portion of our own latitudes. Attempts to cultivate 

 it in the open air in Great Britain have failed. Cu- 

 rious however as it may seem, yet it is a well re- 

 ceived fact among English geologists, that a plant 

 very nearly identical with the Norfolk Island Pine, 

 once grew in Britain, as proved by the frequent dis- 

 covery of petrifactions or vegetable remains in the 

 lias of Dorsetshire, answering to this now foreign 

 species. 



The appearance of the Norfolk Island Pine, (sci- 

 entifically called Araucaria excelsa,) in its young 



liage, scarcely imbricated, and bifarious. Some 

 times this bifarious or parallel-rowed character is 

 inconstant,. as we once saw in another specimen, 

 where from some accident, a single row was present 

 on the branch. As the tree advances in height, 

 for this abundance of foliage is substituted long, 

 pendent branches, towards the extremities of which 

 only, clusters of leaves are to be seen. Rising to 

 the elevated growth of 228 feet, as in some instan- 

 ces, and being even 30 feet in circumference, it 

 would be presumable that its timber must be of 

 value. Its heaviness, however, renders it unfit for 

 spars, and from a liability to unsoundness, is only 

 used in in-door carpentry work. 



Another and more curious species we have seen 

 in this vicinity under cultivation — the Araucaria 

 imbricata, which grows spontaneously on the moun- 

 tains of South America, between 3(j^ and 39° S. 

 latitude. Its contour is much less graceful than 

 A. excdsa, while its foliage is most singular, being 

 of broad, lance-like, rigid and sharp-pointed dark 

 green leaves, and not a little reminding one of 

 some kind of Ruscus or batcher's broom. We 

 have seen a plant of this kind in the collection of 

 Col. M. P. Wilder. 



A third species is A. Braziliensis, growing in 

 the southern provinces of Brazil, and much more 

 impatient of cold. It resembles the last, but its 

 leaves are longer, weaker and less densely and 

 compactly imbricate. 



Forest trees of the magnitude and superb pro- 

 portion of these sorts of pines, are worthy the atten- 

 tion of the curious culturist. The second kind 

 above mentioned, has been reared in the open air 

 near London, and in a country like ours, embra- 

 cing all temperatures, the intelligence and enter- 

 prize of its widely spread population should insti- 

 tute such series of experiments in the branches of 

 arboriculture, as would render eminent service 

 hereafter to the value and fertility of its soils. 



DENDROPHILUS. 



them. For putting up, take the rail next to 1 

 first, which will be the under one, and put the ej 

 next to him down, and so of all the others, j 

 this way the rails are always in their place, 

 hired men, until they are otherwise taught, I 

 take the rails out and throv/ them off, crossed i 

 mixed up ; and if it is a rail fence that adjoins 

 post, perhaps tiie top rail is broken ; or if a sti 

 wall, some of the top stones are thrown off; bi 

 no mischief is done, when they come to put tf 

 up again, they no go — then the post is rac! 

 about, and perhaps broken, and if no damage 

 done, there is twice the time spent that would 

 necessary to do it in a proper manner 



It may be said, this is all a small concern 

 may be so in the opinion of some ; but let any r 

 carry on a farm for fifty years and try to keep 

 his bars as well as other things in order, and h 

 as much mischief and loss of time as I have, by 

 one small thing, and he will think it is worth 

 tending to. Most hired men and some mast 

 when they are passing with a team from a past 

 where there are cattle, find it quite too mucli w 

 to put the bars up sufficiently to stop cattle, 

 only a single rail, and that higher at one end t 

 at the other, so that if the cattle come, they car 

 over or under, as suits their convenience, and t 

 certainly will one or the other ; and in this waj 

 the cattle on a farm will soon be made rogues. P 

 a calculating kind of man will say, "sure bind,! 

 find,", and U'i'H have all his bars left so that t 

 are known to be safe. A PARMER 



For the N. E. Farmer. 



HINTS ON HANDLING BARS. 



Since I commenced farming, I have hired many 

 men, and never one that knew liow to take out a 

 pair of bars and put them up again in a proper man- 

 ner. Farmers' bars are comroonly made of split 

 posts and split rails, and it sometimes happens that 

 the posts or some of the rajls, are a little winding, 

 or some of the post holes are of a little diflierent 

 size from the others, so that a rail will go well in 

 one place and not at all in another ; that is, if they 

 have been properly fitted, so that they will t,ake 

 out and put up well, if always put in the same 

 place, where they were fitted to go, which is always 

 easy, by observing the following method. 



When a man takes hold of a bar rail to take it 

 out, he always puts one hand on the under side of 

 it: he should take tlie upper rail first, and lay it 

 far enough off to make room for all the others ; and 

 lay it with the under side next to him, and so of 

 all the others ; it being perfectly natural so to lay 



MANUFACTURE OF SILK. 

 That silk can be raised with perfect ease in 

 country — that our climate from north to south 

 admirably adapted to the constitution and healt 

 the worm, far better than that of Europe, and to 

 growth of the mulberry tree in its different va 

 ties, has been satisfactorily proved by thousand 

 experiments. While in Europe, owing to the 

 midity of their climate, nearly one half of the ( 

 of worms usually die from disease, and they 

 obliged to have their cocooneries nicely reguh 

 in their temperature by the thermometer, here, 

 ing to the dryness and warmth of our atrnosph 

 with proper care, scarce a worm dies, from dise< 

 and a building of the cheapest construction — 

 out-house, shed or barn — answers perfectly 

 for a cocoonery. That the silk made in this c( 

 try is of the very best quality, for fineness, lu 

 and strength, equal to any in the world, has I 

 decided by competent judges. Specimens of 

 silk have been sent to European manufacturers, 

 pronounced by them to be superior. There ii 

 more mystery or difiiculty in raising the wr 

 than in raising chickens. Persons have succes 

 perfectly well, even to the reeling and spinnin 

 the silk into beautiful sewing silk, who never 

 a silkworm or a cocoon before. If, then, al 

 dance of the raw material, of the best quality 

 be produced without any difficulty, what should 

 derus from becoming a silk growing country, 

 from manufacturing it, not only into sewing 

 but into all the variety of silk stufls used by 

 people ; and thus save the millions which are ai 

 ally drained from us, to pay foreigners for rail 

 and manufacturing our silk ? We prophecy thi 

 ten years we shall raise, if not manufacture our 

 silk, and that in fifteen years, raw silk will fori 

 important an article for foreign exportation, as i 

 now our cotton. — Albany Cultivator. 



