186 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



April 



This illustrates the whole matter, and notwith- 

 standing you are ''past the meridian of life," if 

 you wish to drain and briii^ into cultivation your 

 "spruce swamp," or that "large tract of flat land 

 with white sand at the bottom, seven miles from 

 the sea-shore," we advise you to call upon some 

 candid person of experience to examine it, and 

 give you the benefit of his judgment, and if he 

 charges you $10 for his day's labor, you will be 

 quite likely to save more than ten times that sum 

 for the outlay. 



It seeins to us, that you have the means of mak- 

 ing your old age glad with competence, and that 

 your "sons may be as plants grov/n up in 

 their youth," to comfort your declining years. 

 That flat land, with white sand at bottom, is pro- 

 bably just what the cranberry requires. Try a small 

 piece of it by clearing ofi" all vegetation, and set 

 the best native plants you can find about you as 

 soon as you can work the ground this spring. Set 

 the plants in bunches of two or three, or more 

 vines together, twelve inches apart, or even near- 

 er, if you have time and patience ; then do not al- 

 low a weed or spear of grass to grow among them. 

 Try a square rod, if you have not made arrange- 

 ments to do more, and the success, or want of 

 success of this, will indicate whether you should 

 do more. 



With these "crumbs of comfort" we must leave 

 you, and will add for the general reader, that the 

 letter upon which we have been commenting, is 

 one of a class of which we are receiving many, 

 and which cause us some anxiety, because we have 

 so little power of returning satisfactory replies. 

 There are some branches of farming as yet very 

 little understood, and before the farmer embarks 

 upon them who has not had experience, he should 

 call in the aid of some person who has, if he 

 would make his operations pleasant and profita- 

 ble. The true mode of cranberry culture is known 

 to very few, merely because they have never given 

 attention to the subject. A wise man will not risk 

 his reputation and his money in an enterprise 

 which he knows little or nothing about. 



Animal Food. — Dr. Hayes, in his "Arctic 

 Boat Journey," reports that the Esquimaux live 

 upon exclusively animal diet, their daily allow- 

 ance of food being from twelve to fifteen pounc^, 

 about one-third of it being fat. The doctor states 

 that he has seen an Esquimaux eat fully ten 

 pounds of walrus flesh and blubber at a single 

 meal, after a hunt, or when about to begin a diffi- 

 cult journey. This large consumption of hearty 

 food is a great shield against the cold. White 

 men in Arctic regions are continually craving a 

 strong animal diet, and will drink the contents of 

 an oil-kettle with evident relish. A choice Esqui- 

 maux lunch consists of raw birds washed down 

 with oil ; the great luxury of the tribe is a soup 

 made by boiling together blood, oil and seal meat. 



1 For the New England Farmer. 



ON PKUNIWa APPLE TREES. 



Mr. Editor : — Having been an attentive read- 

 er of agricultural papers, I notice that many peo- 

 ple are in doubt when and how to prune their ap- 

 ple trees. Some say the fall, others spring, but 

 many recommend the summer, while most trim in 

 spring. 



I wish to ask you, and through you, the readers 

 of the Farmer, why you prune at all, (I mean af- 

 ter the tree has been set six to ten years, and be- 

 gins to bear fruit ?) Is nature at fault in growth 

 and formation of the tree, or is the fault some- 

 where else ? Of what possible benefit can it be to 

 rob a tree or plant of its leaves or lungs ? I am in 

 doubt whether this generally prevalent desire to 

 cut, saw, scrape, and wash apple trees, is an ac- 

 quired one, or whether it is instinct, as in the 

 hawk to eat the bird, or dog to bite the cat •, but 

 certainly we cannot ride in the cars, or along the 

 highways, without seeing orchards whose owners 

 seem to have the same ideal for a shaved and 

 cropped tree, that the fancy have for a shaved and 

 cropped horse or dog, and the limbs of the trees, 

 after they have riglited nature a little, resemble 

 as many dogs' tails with a tuft at the extremity. 



We will suppose the proprietor of an orchard 

 about to commence upon a thrifty tree with a com- 

 pact head ; he thinks a moment, can it be that 

 there is too much leaf or branch ? Would it not 

 be beneficial in the hot and scalding days of July 

 and August, to have the trunk and limbs protect- 

 ed by a dense foliage ? He also recollected of' 

 hearing Farmer Thrifty's old gardener say that a 

 tree breathed through its leaves, and that the 

 leaves are to the tree, what the lungs are to the 

 animal, to purify and vitalize the "river of life." 

 Now it so happened that Captain Cut-and-slash 

 had an orchard adjoining his, that had been 

 pruned after the fashion of the times, and he 

 thought he woidd wait and see the result. In a 

 year or two, he obseiwed that the captain's trees 

 began to have moss on them, they did not grow 

 as formerly ; some of the limbs died out, and 

 what did not, had black spots upon many of them, 

 and by cutting into the black, dead bark, he could 

 discover white wonns there. Farmer Thrifty was 

 called ; he said his trees did the same when he 

 pruned heavily, but since he had left off, his trees 

 did better, bore quicker, and more perfect fruit. 

 He said the tree being robbed of its lungs, was 

 unable to elaborate its sap ; it became sour, bit- 

 ter, poisonous — decay and death were the result. 

 He termed it "consumption." 



Now, Mr. Editor, my experience has taught me, 

 that to remove limbs in spring time, before the 

 leaf has started, is entirely and altogether wrong, 

 and also any time after the tree has begun to 

 fruit, to remove to any amount is injurious : bet- 

 ter plow, and manure rightly, remove the dead 

 wood, and leave nature to do the rest. H. 



Bedford, Mass., 18G0. 



Sandcracks in Horses. — The following recipe 

 for sandcracks I have used for many years with 

 uniform success : Common tar, honey, elder oint- 

 ment, (equal portions,) to bo rubbed in between 

 the hair and the hoof, twice a week, or oftcner, if 

 necessary. — London Field. 



