380 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



MAY 29, 184 4. 



to 



THE SEASON FOR TRIMMING TREES. 

 As sonn as planting is over, we should look to 

 our applo trees and cut. olT the surplus brnnclies. 

 We c:inuot recommend cuttincr larjje brnnfhes in 

 any case ; we usually do more hurt than good 

 when we take ofT a limb that is more than two in- 

 ches in diameter, for the wound will not heal soon 

 enoujrh to prevent decay at the heart. A tree will 

 sometimes look more thriftily for a time, in conse- 

 quence of lopping large branches, but the improve- 

 ment will not ho lastinir. If trees are attended to 

 annually, there will be no need of cutting large 

 hnibs. If they have been long neglected, we 

 should content our.-telves with trimming out the 

 small limbs and suffer the tree to continue in the 

 shape that it has already formed. 



We may not be able to give any satisfactory 

 reason for preferring May to March lor trimming 

 apple trees. Most farmers, however, agree that 

 the sooner the wound is healed the better, and that 

 it is not of service to draw forth much sap at the 

 wound. Now it is certain that a wound never be- 

 gins to heal till the tree has put forth its leaf. It 

 has no means of making new wood before it has 

 leaves, for the sap that forms the new wood passes 

 through the leaf. From the time of trimming, then, 

 to the forming of the leal", your wound is exposed 

 to the weather and the process of healing has not 

 commenced. 



We find that when a limb is cut in July, there 

 will be about as much new wood made to cover 

 the wound during the season, as when the limb is 

 cut earlier. There is a critical time, however, in 

 July, between the first and second growth of the 

 season, when the sap will run from a wound, and 

 will discolor the bark fir a foot or more below it ; 

 we notice this in trimming nursery trees, and we 

 think trimming in July is not judicious. 



As to the comparative waste of sap in March and 

 May, we call the a'.tention of our readers to the 

 practice of tapping the maple for the purpose of 

 gathering sap. All know that no sap can be gath- 

 ered in May, and not much in April, in our latitude. 

 Sap runs most freely in March. For this reason 

 wo never trim grape-vines in March. But after 

 the leaf is formed the vines will not bleed. 



You want a fine saw to trim with, to make as 

 smooth a wound as may be, and if a knife is used 

 after the saw, the wound will heal the sooner. 

 Yet we often see trees trimmed with an axe ! We 

 also see the bark torn off of the limbs by the heavy 

 boots of the trimmer. All will own this is barba- 

 rous. If you stand on the tree while trimming, 

 you should wear slippers or thin shoes. 



When no limbs larger than one inch in diameter 

 are cut, the wound may be expected to heal over 

 in a couple of years; in a thrifty tree it will heal 

 in one year. When only small limbs are cut, 

 there will be no need of covering the wound with 

 clay or ivith any kind of plaster. We cannot find 

 that limbs which have been grafted and then cov- 

 ered over with any kind of compost heal faster 

 than limbs uncovered. A limb should always be 

 cut in such a manner as to let no rainwater stand 

 in the little cup that will be formed by the healing 

 of the wound Ploughman. 



supplied by the disintegration, or waste of the ii' 

 rocks under the cmnmon influences of theele-P 

 ments, where the soil is suflTerod to lie at rest oifin 

 f.illnw." Clover generally dies out of mowing 

 fields after two or three cuttings, probably from t 

 deficiency of some of the essential salts or ele- i 

 ments in the soil necessary for its growth, for in lie 

 some particular spots I know that it will continue tf 

 for many years. I have a field that was stocke 

 ! down with clover, herdsgrass and red top in 1839, 

 and the clover has always predominated, and now 

 appears as flourishing as at any former period. It le 



For the N. E. Farmiir. 



"SUDDEN APPEARANCE OP CLOVER." 



Mr. Breck: — In the N. E. Farmer of the 24tli 

 of April, under the editorial department, you have 

 an article upon the " sudden appearance of clover," 

 in which you say, '■ it is an occurrence which has 

 been often noticed, and excited much wonder." I 

 have witnessed several such phenomena, and 

 think they can be accounted for upon scientific 

 principles; and will attempt a solution of the 



mystery if there is any mystery about it. , , , ,. . , . 



^ ' ^ .< J l,gg been mowed lour limes, and the coming sea 



To multiply and replenish the earth was one of, ^„„ ^ „.,|| ^..j ^^1, f^, g„jb]e hay, in consequenceli! 

 the first commands of Infinite Wisdom, but to | ^f ,he great proportion of clover, and 1 believe f 

 fulfil that command, certain conditions are neces- j j^gy ^re the sau.e ro ts that first made their ap- 

 sary, in both the animal and vegetable world. Cer- j pparance. I know of another patch that has yield 

 tain, but different kinds of food are necessary to ; gj ^ f^i^ ^^..p ^.f clover for at least ten years, 



Shctp Husbandry. — J. S. Skinner, Esq., former- 

 ly editor of the American Farmer, and one of the 

 most in.structive writers on agriculture in this coun- 

 try, is preparing a treatise on shee)) husbandry in 

 the United. States. — Louisville Jour. 



the most healthy growth, maturity, and contin 

 nation of the different species of animals, and so 

 in the vegetable creation. The different kinds of 

 plants, when left to themselves, always flourish 

 best in those particular soils best adapted to their 

 perfect growth, and the full developement of all 

 their varied parts; and the labors and discover- 

 ies of agricultural chemists, in their laboratories, 

 by their minute and accurate analyses, tell us 

 why certain soils are thus favorable to the growth 

 of certain plants: it is because those soils con- 

 tain all those elements, or combinations of those 

 elements ; those organic and .inorganic matters, 

 required for the growth of this, or that particular 

 plant, or species of plants. 



In a letter from Dr. Dana to Mr. Colman, as 

 published in Mr. C.'s 2d report, the Dr. says: "I 

 omitted an answer to one of your questions, in my 

 letter of last week ; I know of no particular affin- 

 ity between plaster, or ashes, and ivhite clover; 

 the same crop follows a free use of bone-ma- 

 nure. This effect is due in all cases to a pecu- 

 liar developement of geine. A peculiar state of 

 geine is necessary for each variety of crop." 1 

 suppose the Dr. means by " geine," such a combi- 

 nation of the elements, or food, as is best adapted 

 to each variety of plants, for he says "we know 

 that ' fungi' always germinate best in decaying 

 wood. Always we find crops of ' fungi' — (toad 

 stools) about the decaying slumps of trees." Pro- 

 fessor Johnston says "each variety of plant, when 

 burned, leaves a weight of ash more or less pecu- 

 liar to itself" The growing plant finds in the 

 soil the various kinds of food necessary to its 

 growth, and has the power of appropriating it to 

 that purpose, and when the plant is burned and the 

 ashes are analysed, it shews pretty clearly what 

 substances are necessary to the growth of the 

 plant analysed. The clovers upon analysis of their 

 ashes show very appreciable quantities of potash, 

 lime and sulphuric acid, and these substances are 

 derived from the soil. •' But the effects of the cul- 

 tivation of the soil in the growth of plants, is to 

 exhaust the earth of particular elements, which are 

 essential to their growth, and form a substantial 

 part of them, and which are carried off friun the 

 soil in the form of seeds, or hay, or straw, or vege- 

 tables. These are alkaline substances, such as 

 potash, soda, and the phosphate, sulphate and 

 carbonate of lime. These are found in very mi- 

 nute quantities — in some plants more than in oth- 

 ers, but are to almost all, in n certain measure, ab- 



this spot is saturated with sulpliuret of iron, &c. 



But clover will never suddenly make its ap. 

 pearance unless the seed was naturally or artifi 

 cially in the soil — and under certain circumstan- 

 ces it will lie dormant an indefinite length of 

 time, and as far as my observation extend.s, it never 

 makes its appearance only after dry seasons, fol- 

 lowed by very wet and warm autumns. 



The summers of 1840 and '41 were remarkable 

 for the droughts of both seasons, consequently the' 

 evaporation of water from the soil during those dry 

 summers was unusually great, and the amount of 

 the soluble matter, or salts of the subsoil, such as 

 poiash, lime, sulphates and phosphates were in the 

 ratio of the ascending water. 



For when warm weather comes, and the surface 

 soil dries rapidly, then, by capillary action, the 

 water rises from beneath, bringing with it the solu- 

 ble substances that exist in the subsoil through 

 which it ascends, and in such dry seasons this as- 

 cent of water goes on without intermission. And I 

 as each new particle of water that ascends, brings ! 

 wilh it a particle, however small, of saline matter, 

 (for such waters are never pure) which it leaves 

 behind (in the dry soil,) when it rises into the air 

 in the form of vapor. Successive portions of this 

 water evaporate from the surface leaving the saline 

 matter behind them. And as this ascent and eva- 

 poration goes on as long as the dry weather con- 

 tinues, the saline matters accumulate about the 

 roots of plants so as to put within their reach an 

 ample supply of every soluble substance which is 

 nut really defective in the soil. 



The dry summer of '40 and '41 had by the 

 drought, prepared a supply of the saline matters so 

 much needed for the growth of clover near the siir- 

 lace — in the latter part of July, '42 it commenced 

 raining and continued warm and wet for many 

 weeks, which caused the dormant clover and ho- 

 ney suckle seed to germinate, and finding in the 

 old bound out mowing fields what Dr. Dana calls 

 the " right developement ofgeine," these old spear 

 grass fields produced a heavy crop of clover the 

 past season ; when there had scarcely been a leaf 

 or blossom seen for years befiire. 



Tlie summers of 1825 and 26 were very dry and 

 warm, and so short was the crop of hay in 182G 

 that it was sold in this town, as drawn from the 

 field in the hay season, for twenty dollars per ton. 

 The usual or average price for a number of years 

 previous, was about eight dollars. From the fail- 

 ure of the grass seed sown those two years, and 



solutely essential. Now these may he artificially the deficiency of the old fields, I heard it fre- 

 supplied, either in a crude form or in combination quently remarked, lliat it would take at least five 

 with other substances; or they will be gradually of the most favorable years to again fetch the 



