1860. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



437 



plants and breeds of stock, a better knowl- 

 edge of the modes of securing them through 

 the winter, and the advantages derived from 

 the use of labor-saving machinery, vastly 

 more is produced than formerly on the same 

 extent of land. 



2. Farmers have found that mountainous and 



rocky lands, remote from markets that de- 

 mand vegetables and grains, are more valua- 

 ble for timber which they will produce once 

 in twenty to forty years, than to be devoted 

 to any other purpose — and that in nearly all 

 cases, the moist low lands are the best ad- 

 apted to cultivation. 



3. The forests of the hills being cut off for manu- 



facturing purposes, the persons living in their 

 vicinity are naturally called upon to aid in 

 the process of the manufacture of innumera- 

 ble articles of convenience and value that 

 find their way into the remotest regions of 

 the earth. So that it is neither a want of per- 

 ception, nor decaying energies that prompt 

 them to leave the farm, but an intelligent 

 foresight that induces them to engage in 

 some remunerating employment, while na- 

 ' ture in her steady processes of beneficence 

 recuperates the soil and restores the crops 

 which man had exhausted for his convenience 

 and comfort. 



HAY FOR ONE SHEEP. 

 In reply to the question. How much hay will a 

 sheep consume during the winter months, the 

 Michigan Fanner remarks as follows : 



"The usual rate of the consumption of food 

 is at the rate of 3^ pounds of hay daily for every 

 100 pounds of live v»-eight. If we take the aver- 

 age of flocks the live weight of 100 common sheep 

 would be about T.jOO pounds, or from that up to 

 8000. It is rare that a whole flock of fine M'ooled 

 sheep will average more than 70 pounds for each 

 head, though it maybe that this Aveight is exceed- 

 ed in some instances. At the rate mentioned, a 

 flock of 100 sheep should use up or consume 280 

 pounds of hay per day, or a total of 2.5 tons in the 

 winter season that lasted 180 days. This would 

 also equal 501 pounds to each single sheep, or it 

 may be stated as a general rule that a full grown 

 Merino sheep averaging in live weight from 75 

 pounds to 100, will consume during the winter 

 season a quarter of a ton of hay, or its equivalent, 

 if comfortably kept. If grain forms a part of the 

 ration, of course some of the hay may be saved ; 

 but if the animal is to be kept growing wool, it 

 will need its full ration of hay, and a little grain, 

 too." 



Agricultural Papers. — The following testi- 

 mony of Horace Greeley to the value of agricul- 

 tural papers, we presume will have weight even 

 where liis political opinions would be deemed he- 

 retical : 



"Th(.'V;5 are at present some fifty or sixty peri- 



odicals published in our country devoted to farm- 

 ing — as many, I presume, as in all the world be- 

 side. They have been built up at great expense 

 of talent, labor, and money ; for when Col. Skin- 

 ner started the first of them at Baltimore, some 

 forty or fifty years ago, the idea of teaching farm- 

 ers anything in that way was hooted by them as 

 ridiculous, and he found it hardly possible to give 

 his early numbers away. Hundreds of thousands 

 of dollars have been spent on these publications ; 

 and they are this day, in my judgment, doing 

 more to promote the true growth of the country 

 and the substantial, enduring welfare of our peo- 

 ple, than Congress, the Army and the Navy, for 

 the support of which they are taxed some forty 

 millions per annum." 



SUMMER PRUNHSTG OP FRUIT TREES 

 AND THE VINE. 



A system of pinching off" the shoots of trees in 

 the growing season, is gaining favor constantly ; 

 as yet, however, it is only followed, so far as we 

 have observed, by gardeners bred and by ama- 

 teurs. It is anticipating pruning, by preventing 

 the growth of any thing to be removed in prun- 

 ing ; hence it is performed on the same princi- 

 ples as pruning, that is, to accomplish the same 

 ends by similar means. 



It has many advantages over pruning, as may 

 be readily perceived, especially in directing 

 growth, and checking it so as to secure perfect 

 maturity of the young wood. It is performed by 

 pinching off" between the finger and thumb, espe- 

 cially making use of the thumb-nail, shoots as soon 

 as they pass the fixed limit. It may be performed 

 throughout the growing season, but in some cases, 

 too early pinching causes an undesirable growth 

 of lateral branches, while in the proper season, 

 this same growth of laterals is what makes the 

 practice so useful in directing growth, and form- 

 ing the branches exactly to suit the orchardist. 



Barry quotes Dubreuil at considerable length, 

 and we give the heads under which the objects of 

 pruning are classified : 



I. The vigor of a tree, subject to pruning, de- 

 pends, in a great measure, on the equal distribu- 

 tion of sap in all its branches. This may be done 

 by the following means : 



1. Prune the branches of the most vigorous 

 parts very short, and those of the weak parts long. 



2. Leave a quantity of fruit on the strong part, 

 and remove the whole, or greater part, from the 

 feeble. 



3. Bend the strong parts ; keep the weak erect. 



4. Remove from the vigorous parts of the su- 

 perfiuous shoots as early in the season as possi- 

 ble, and from the feeble parts as late as possible. 



5. Pinch early the soft extremities of the shoots 

 on the vigorous parts, and as late as possible on 

 the feeble parts, excepting always any shoots which 

 may be too vigorous for their position. 



6. Lay in the strong shoots on the trellis early, 

 and leave the feeble parts loose as long as possi- 

 ble. 



7. In espalier trees, giving the feeble parts the 

 benefit of the light, and confining the strong parts 

 more in the shade, restores a balance. 



II. The sap acts with greater force, and produ- 

 ces more vigorous growth on a branch, or shoot 

 pruned short, than on one pruned long. 



