456 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Oct. 



and the worms found there destroyed, and the 

 boards put back into position again. Three sets 

 of the boards are usually placed under a tree, on 

 its different sides, which, Mr. W. says he thinks, 

 will soon draw the worms from the fallen apples 

 into their beneficent shelter ! lie also gave it as 

 his opinion, that all old apple trees under the 

 walls and in pa';tures that are not attended to, are 

 so many nurseries of these pests, and that if they 

 were cut down, or all the fallen apples were eaten 

 by swine or cattle, and the same care observed 

 with cultivated trees, this great evil would be 

 abated or entirely removed. 



We hope ten thousand traps will be set at once, 

 and clean off these vermin while the apple crop 

 is not abundant. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 WINTER BARLEY. 



Frif.nd Brown: — In the Farmer of August 

 21lh, I saw that you mentioned my name in your 

 remarks on Winter Barley. 



I will say from what I have seen and heard 

 that I consider it a great acquisition to our cere- 

 al grains. There are several points to be taken 

 into consideration in regard to it: 



First, its early maturity, thereby escaping al- 

 most all danger of mildew, rust, weevil, &c., 

 which are liable to attack all late grains. 



Second, my experience has proved it to be 

 very hardy, when sown in good season, say the 

 last of August or the fore part of September. 



Third, it is very prolific. 



The gentleman of whom I had my seed, wrote 

 me that the average yield on the lightest sandy 

 soil was fifty bushels per acre ; but I suppose the 

 soil of Niagara County, Western New York, is 

 somewhat better than our pine plains in old Mid- 

 dlesex. 



In the Fall of 1850 I received some seed from 

 a friend in Niagara County, which I sowed very 

 late, barely giving it time to come up before the 

 ground froze. The Spring following was very 

 dry, and when the rains came in the fore part of 

 June, there was apparently but a vestige of life 

 remaining in the plants; but to my surprise, 

 they started, and about the middle of August, I 

 harvested ten bushels of barley on sixty square 

 rods of ground. This weighed fifty pounds per 

 bushel. The soil was a sandy loam, not rich, on 

 which I had raised a crop of corn that season, 

 harvesting it some time before sowing the barley. 

 I feel confident that if I had sown any other 

 grain as much out of season as I did the barley, 

 that I should have had no return. 



Now for the second crop. Some time in Au- 

 gust, ISOO, I plowed the i)lot on which the bar- 

 ley grew for the purpose of destroying the weeds, 

 not tliinking of the few scattering grains ; and 

 left it unharrowed, intending to plant the follow- 

 ing Spring with early potatoes. As time passed, 

 there came here and there a blade of barley. I 

 did nothing to it, and its vigorous growth further 

 determined me (thin as it was and without man- 

 ure,) to U't it alone. The result was that on the 

 20th of June last, I reaped eight bushels of good 

 clean barley from the few scattering grains. 



plowed under as above. I have no doubt but on 

 a part of the piece the yield was at the rate of 

 sixty bushels per acre. Some of the barley 

 threshed, and in the straw, can be seen at Nourse 

 & Co.'s, Merchants' Bow, Boston, the sight of 

 which will satisfy any one better than any story 

 which I can relate. I would recommend sowing 

 it by the first week in September, at the rate of 

 one or one and a half bushels per acre, covering it 

 from three to four inches. The greatest number 

 of heads I found on any one stool was eighty-five. 

 In height it was from 3;^ to 4.^ feet. 



Concord, Auj., 1801. J. B. Farmer. 



Hemarks. — We saw the barley alluded to 

 above, several times during its growth, and found 

 that it made a wonderful development from the 

 smallest beginnings. A single kernel had til- 

 lered out, in some instances, to a broad and vig- 

 orous stool, giving fifty, sixty, seventy and even 

 upwards of eighty heads, all springing from a 

 single grain. We agree with Mr. F. in the belief 

 that this barley will become a profitable crop for 



THE ROOT FAMILY. 



Do you know who are the most industrious 

 and hardiest laborers in the world ? The root 

 family. They work night and day, summer and 

 winter, without stopping and without tiring. 

 What they have to do, they do without grum- 

 bling or discontent, or asking any why or where- 

 fore. 



Roots are of various forms ; sometimes they 

 are in slender threads, to penetrate loose, sandy 

 soil, like the grasses ; sometimes wedgelike, as 

 in l)eets, to pierce firm and solid ground ; some- 

 times in long, flat scales, to fasten themselves to 

 the bare rocks. But, tender and delicate as they 

 often seem to be, they possess wonderful strength; 

 to the forest trees they serve as gigantic anchors, 

 chaining them to the solid earth and supporting 

 them against the battling of the storms. They 

 dive down into the ground, and let nothing hin- 

 der their progress. The roots of a large chest- 

 nut tree on Mount Etna, under which a hundred 

 horsemen can find shelter, penetrate through 

 rocks and lava to the springs at the very foot of 

 the mountain. 



Roots serve not only as fastenings, they pump 

 up the nutriment which the plant needs, and sup- 

 ])ly it with drink and food. There are delicate 

 fibres at the end of the roots, called spongioles, 

 which have minute holes, opening and shutting, 

 to take in or reject what is necessary for the 

 health and life of the plant, and they know what to 

 take, and what to leave. Suppose wheat and peas 

 to grow side by side — the spongioles of the wheat 

 are open to receive all the flinty matters of the soil 

 which the water can take up, Avhile the spongioles 

 of the pea will not have the flint, but prefer lime, 

 and take whatever lime the water of the soil may 

 contain — the wheat and the pea having different 

 tastes for their dinner. Sometimes tliey draw 

 nourishment directly from the water, as in duck 

 weed, when each small leaf has its own little root 

 hanging from under the surface. 



In the mangrove of the tropics, they form an 



