voT,. xvm. jfo. *i. 



AND HORTICULTURAL REGISTER 



343 



unmior to Inve rcaclieJ the manure, and my crop 

 n uliI iKit hive been probably one-half what it was. 

 Circiiiiistni\ces alter cases." A man having ma- 

 ure siitricii'iit for his land ami incorporating; it with 

 he soil at'ler plononing deep, sntTering the inverted 

 od to remain, i.s '.\st in my opinion, and will be so 

 onsidurcd by every practical farmer. — My motto 

 3, OniMitl — and I find in opcratini;, there is sure 

 1 be results ; and from these I find myself under 

 10 tnilion of that excellent s( hunlmaster, e.\peri- 

 ncc. 



A few words will suffice in respect to stacking 



y. I have the last year made an addition of a 

 onsiderable e.\(ent to my barns, by building, and 

 len was under the necessity of making nine hay- 

 acks (if four Ions or liiore iu each, having my 

 arns, cow-houSe and straw-house all as full as 

 icy could be stowed. I am of the opinion of the 

 iinuiiitce of their being a loss in hay stacked out, 



d also that stock suffers much by not having a 

 lelter. But this is not my plan : my stock is all 

 lellejed, or have the means of shelter either at 

 irns or slianteys. My intention is to liuild anoth- 



barn as soon as I consistently can. 



JOSHUA K. LAWTON. 



ON STAKING NEWLY SET TREES. 



We give the subjoined communication without 

 ly knowledge whatever of the person or paper re- 

 rred to ; having never seen the directions forsup- 

 irting newly set trees, to which the writer refers, 

 id having never heard of them before. If any 

 oper ai'swer is received, it shall certainly have a 

 ace; but should it unfortunately lead to a chal- 

 nge, (for editors are a very combustible sort of 



imal,) wo give it to be distinctly understood that 

 J are no parties in the case, and sliall carry no 

 •tes and not even prime tlie pistol nor hold the co- 

 ^ne bottle. As to the percussion caps, after 

 arirg of the dreadful accident of the child that 



allowed half a dozen of them and then exploded 

 on drinking a tumbler of cold water, into (as one 



cnr female acquaintances eays) a million of at- 

 is ! ne should hardly venture to come within 

 ;ht of one. H. C. 



For the N. E. Furmor. 



Mr Editor — Some years ago I had some little 

 perience in transplanting trees, and knew some- 

 ;ng about that business, or — thought I did ; which 

 3 now, I believe, pretty generally admitted to be 

 e and tliesame thing. I have not yet forgotten 

 ite all, and feel desirous of giving to the lover 

 antiquities, what little there is left, before I for- 

 t it. I do not select your paper because it is the 

 st, but only because it is (dder than some others. 



I distinctly rrmember that in regard to "staking 

 ," sonietiiing like the following wandered in my 

 nd. 



The broken roots, like a broken bone, when set 

 ain, require to bo hept still. The little particles 

 nutritious matter m the earth, obtdient to the 



II and laws of their Creator, set themselves in 

 ition to enter the roots, to heal their wounds and 

 urease their size. These little things, as seems 

 ry reasonable, desire to know where the root is to 

 found. The least distance is to them more than 



mile is to us. If the root is kept perfectly still, 

 eat numbers of them will find it in a short time — 

 rhaps the lirst day. But if it be frequently mov- 



ed, the least conceivable distance, they will never 

 find it at all, and the tree will not grow. 



To prevent this evil by keeping the roots still, I 

 used to have a way of " staking np," which I tliouglit 

 a good one enough, and itscemtd to answer the 

 purpose. But a native modesty, which I could nev- 

 er get entirely rid of, prevents me from stating it 

 till after giving another method from a better and 

 higher source. 



The editor of a certain paper, whose name, in 

 tenderness to his modesty, will not be made public 

 has given us the method in his last paper. It was 

 not entirely new to me, inasmuch as it had been in 

 perfectly shadowed forth in preceding nuuibers ( 

 the same paper. But it is justice to the editor to 

 say tliat, so far as my limited researches have ex- 

 tended, the method is believed to be original with 

 him. 



Well, as I was a sayii'g, in answer to an inquiry 

 from one of his numerous, laudatory, and confiding 

 correspondents, (which some, with a sneer border- 

 ing upon impudence, have wickedly intimated are 

 manufactured to order,) our editor gives his method 

 in the following language : 



" When the tree is carefully set, stake it up ti'ith 

 a lot of old slraw, poor hay, sea weed, or litter from 

 the barn-yard. Let this be pressed down close 

 about the body of the tree, and no further support 

 will be needed for one that is of decent size. 



" A little racking by the winds will not prove 

 injurious, when there is litter about the body, so 

 that the air will not get in to dry up the roots." 



It is true that I have not given this method the 

 deliberate meditation and study which its intrinsic 

 merits doubtless deserve. And it is unquestionably 

 for that reason, that I am not able very clearly to 

 discern how the roots are to be kept still, if the 

 wind should happen to be stronger than the straw ; 

 and I cannot get rid of the old exploded maxim, 

 that "straws .'•how which way the wind blows" ; — 

 nor can I see what is to keep the boys and other un- 

 manageables, away from the trees. But I will be 

 candid, and confess that, if by a "decent size," is 

 meant a tree so small as to be beyond the reach of 

 the wind and the boys, the main difficulties are re- 

 moved. 



It is not probahle that the old-fashioned way of 

 " staking lip," which 1 adopted, de bonis jion, (to 

 speak in English) for the want of a better, can, in 

 this age of enlightened improvement, bn of mucli 

 interest to any one ; but I have promised to give it, 

 and it must therefore be done. 



Take three genuine, bona fide stakes, and set 

 them round the tree at about equal distances from 

 each other, and eight inches or more from the tree. 

 It is best to set them when the tree is set ; as they 

 rnay thus be made to stand firm, without any dan- 

 ger of interfering with the roots. 'J'lieir size and 

 length must of course be proportionate to the height 

 of the tree. Take three strips of leather, or strong 

 cloth, an inch or more in width, and pass them round 

 the tree, nailing both ends of each to a stake. The 

 straps should be upas near the limbs as convenient. 

 Before putting them on, tie some rags or hay about 

 the body of the tree, to prevent them from chafing 

 the bark — taking care to tie it so loosely as to ad- 

 mit the air to pass through. Two stakes will do, 

 but three are belter. The body of the tree will 

 thus be kept still, and consequently the roots. The 

 incipient process of their growth cannot be inter- 

 rupted. They will very soon feel at home, and 

 the growth of the tree will be but little retarded by 

 its change of place. 



If the body of the tree be crooked, it may bo 

 made to grow straight by putting the straps in the 

 proper places. 



The two methods seem, it i.?true, to be difl^rcnt ; 



but not more so than is to be expected in this age 



( of improvement ; and I submit it to a cfnidid pub. 



lie to say if they do not resemble each other as 



much as a sub treasury and a national bank. 



Yours, L. II. 



ON THE CURCULIO. 



Plf/motilh, March ]8//i, 1840. 

 Tu the Eiliior ofllie New England Farmer : 



Dear Sir — 1 have been gratified by the perusal 

 of Dr Burnett's communication in the Farmer of 

 the 1 1th inst., on the subject of the Curculio. There 

 are few insects more destructive to our cultivated 

 fruit than the various species of Curculio; and it 

 has long been my desire to see among fruit culti- 

 vators a union of efforts for its entire extermination. 

 That the extirmination of this pestiferous race is 

 in our power, I have no doubt. But however valua- 

 ble the experience and observations of Dr Burnett, 

 according to my experience something more is 

 r.ti-ussiiiy to iCiider tlio romcdies infallible. It is 

 well understood that it is by the mode of propaga- 

 tion that this insect efiects the destruction of our 

 fruit. The female parent is led by unerring instinct 

 tO'deposite her eggs where the grubs or worms will 

 be supplied with nutriment as soon as required: it 

 continues however, but a short tirne to receive its 

 iHipply from the plum or apple in which it is em- 

 bedded, and a continuance of existence d-epends on 

 its finding and entering the earth, where in its 

 chrysalis state, it remains during the ensuing win- 

 ter. A part of this progeny find a vehicle of con- 

 veyance to the earth in the immature fruit, contain- 

 ing them, falling to the ground ; but a considerable 

 portion are known to anticipate their future destiny 

 by means of a web of their own forming, by which 

 they web themselves down, leaving the fruit in its 

 ruined state on the tree. Thus they elude our vigi- 

 lenco and cheat us of our finest fruits. We should 

 now use our best endeavors to intercept their pro- 

 gress into the earth. In the first place, let all 

 wormy fruit as soon as discovered, be immediately 

 destroyed, and not sufTered to be one hour on the 

 ground for the worm to escape. Next, there are 

 many materials which if spread under the tree to 

 the extent of its branches, will effectually prevent 

 the descent of the grub into the earth: these are 

 lime, wood ashes, fresh sea-weed, ground bark from 

 tan-pits, coal ashes, &c. These substances, except 

 the two last, are very beneficial to the soil. In 

 the spring the same materials must be employed to 

 prevent the ascent of the female beetle to deposite 

 Iter eggs on the tree. 



This course if adopted in addition to the judi- 

 cious measures recommended by Dr Burnett, we 

 may be assured will in a few years extirniinate not 

 only the curculio, but the canker-worm, and many 

 other noxious insects. It is possible that the cur- 

 culio may. fly over a fence from a neighbor's gar- 

 den, but if all the cultivators will unite in the meas- 

 es recommended, no mischief need be apprehend- 

 ed from that source. Lot us then be vigilant in 

 our warfare. 



Not many years since an old English pear tree 

 came into my possession : it had for several years 

 been so greatly infested by the curculio, that one- 

 half of the fruit fell to the ground in a wormy, im- 

 mature state. For four years last past, I destroyed 



