234 



KEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



May 



been known to prevent the growth of grass for 

 many years in succession ; and when plowed and 

 planted, aquatic grasses and plants spring up in 

 profusion, and can only be eradicated by a most 

 careful and expensive process of cultivation. In- 

 deed, cases have come under our own knowledge, 

 where the cost of cultivating a corn crop has been 

 doubled by the introduction of these plants in 

 using this kind of muck before it had been sea- 

 soned or composted ; and it was only by high 

 manuring, constantly stirring the ground, and the 

 most careful culture, that they were finally sub- 

 dued. If a few plants only are suffered to come to 

 maturity, their seeds will find their way to every 

 wet spot on the high or low lands in their vicini- 

 ty, and before the cultivator is fully aware of the 

 evil, an inroad of intruders will be established 

 upon his premises, which he will find it exceed- 

 ingly difficult to eject. The farmer must exercise 

 the nicest discrimination in regard to the matter 

 of quality in the use of muck, or he will be led in- 

 to errors which may require years of patient toil 

 to correct. 



For the New England Farmer. 



DISEASED APPLE TREES, &c. 



Mr. Editor : — In your December number of 

 the monthly Farmer of 18j9, you did me the fa- 

 vor to publish a communication which I sent you 

 respecting the condition of my apple trees. I have 

 been much gratified by the interest manifested in 

 the subject by several individuals who have re- 

 plied to it, giving their opinions of the cause of 

 the troul)le. There is a wide difference in those 

 opinions, and with all due deference to the better 

 judgment of the writers of the articles, I think no 

 one of the theories satisfactorily accounts for the 

 cause that has so deeply, and I fear fatally afi"ect- 

 ed my trees. Mr. Bassett, of Ashfield, in an ar- 

 ticle in this same number, expresses the opinion 

 that the bark borer is the enemy I am sutfering 

 from. In your number for March, 1860, he has 

 an article on the subject, in which he refers to 

 your Sandy River correspondent, a slight mistake, 

 I presume, for Still River, [No, Sandy River is 

 right.— /i'd.] in which he holds to the same opinion, 

 if I understand his meaning. I cannot see, on 

 this theory, how to account for the circumstance 

 of the trees being invariably affected on the south 

 side, and the black, scorched appearance of the 

 barlv the whole distance from the lower limbs to 

 the roots of the trees, an operation too extensive I 

 should think, for any borer to perform. I will 

 here add some facts in relation to the age and size 

 of my trees about which I was not sufficiently ex- 

 plicit in my communication, and for want of which 

 knowledge "O. W. D.," of Goshen, Vt., was led 

 into a misapprehension in his article in your Feb- 

 ruary number. My trees were set out where they 

 now stand in the spring of 1844, and eight years 

 afterward in the spring of 1852, finding that 

 the fruit was not what I exjjected, I had them en- 

 grafted, at which time a large part of the top was 

 cut away. The elevated position of the trees ex- 

 posed them to the action of the wind, which has 



given them an inclination toward the northeast, 

 and also the loss of nearly the entire top by 

 engrafting has left the body exposed to the full 

 action of the sun. The grafts, although they took 

 and grew well, have not attained to nearly the ox- 

 tent of top ofthe original tree, affording very little 

 shade. The size of the trees, which are now six- 

 teen years old from the nursery, is from five to 

 six inches in diameter, and some of the spaces 

 left bare by the loss of the bark are one and a half 

 to two feet long and four to five inches wide, and 

 present appearances indicate a further extension 

 of the parts aflected. With a knowledge of the 

 facts, "O. W. D." will perceive that his views 

 are not applicable to my case, except, perhaps, in 

 the application of manure to the ti'ees and the 

 cultivation of the land, and the article of grafting 

 wax to be applied to the parts affected, and that it 

 seems to me would be rather an expensive article 

 to be used on so extensive a scale as would be re- 

 quired. Is there not some other article, less ex- 

 pensive and more easily prepared, that would do 

 as well for the purpose ? I propose to close over 

 the ])arts affected with something, and shall feel 

 obliged for any information on this point. 



]\Ir. Whipple's theory, of Lowell, is the agency 

 of heat and cold causing the trouble complained 

 of. Looking to all the circumstiinces of the case, 

 cannot a satisfactory solution be found in the 

 agency of the sun alone, causing all the mischief; 

 lo exposure of the parts affected by injudiciously 

 destroying too great a share of the tops of the 

 trees at the time of engrafting ? I will leave these 

 suggestions with the single remark, that if my 

 unfortunate experience should prove a warning to 

 any to avoid the mischievous practice of too much 

 pruning, especially on the side of the trees most 

 exposed to the action ofthe sun, I shall feel grat- 

 ified. I hope to hear again from some of your 

 correspondents who may be able to shed some new 

 light on the subject. L. B. H. 



Still Elver, March 20, 1880. 



The Onion Maggot. — Mr. David Fisher, of 

 Walpole, N. H., succeeded, last year, in raising a 

 good crop, after having had his onions destroyed 

 by maggots for a number of years previously. He 

 prepared the ground carefully, plowing, manuring, 

 raking, &c. ; he then coTercd the surface with old 

 pea brush, and other combustible materials, and 

 burnt them. Then sowed the seed. On his bed, 

 12 by 3 feet, he placed three bowls about half 

 full of sweetened water, as soon as the onions were 

 one or two inches high. Each morning the sur- 

 face of the water was cleared of the flies and in- 

 sects that had been caught, adding a little water 

 occasionally. On part of his bed he raised some 

 excellent onion seed. AVe find his statement in 

 the Boston Cultivator. 



AVheat Crops. — Mr. G. W. Wilson writes us 

 from Fitzwilliam, N. H., that he has raised wheat 

 on his farm for forty years in succession, and has 

 never failed of getting a good crop, the largest of 

 which was 28 bushels an acre. 



