234 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Mat 



der useful. Strawberries seldom do well in low, 

 wet ground. Raspberries and gooseberries do bet- 

 ter there. 



In planting raspberries, they should be cut down 

 nearly to the ground when planted. You lose the 

 crop, of course, but you get good strong canes for 

 next year. If you leave the canes long enough to 

 bear, it will probably be the only crop you will ever 

 get from them. Never expect anything to bear 

 the year after transplanting. It is generally at 

 the expense of the future health of the tree. 



Grapes that have become weak from age may be 

 renewed by layering down a branch some feet just 

 under the surface, and then cut back, so that one 

 good eye only be left at the sm-face of the soil. 



OUR MECHAiaCAL PRODUCTIVENESS. 

 The Avork of preparing the statistics of the last 

 national census for publication has so far pro- 

 gressed, as to afford valuable information to the 

 Committee on Ways and Means, and the Treas- 

 ury Department, in preparing a tax bill. The dif- 

 ferent branches of manufacturing industry have 

 expanded marvelously since the census of 1850. 

 In that census the cotton manufacturers were set 

 down at $65,500,687. The returns from New 

 England alone in 1860 amount to $79,000,000. 

 The woolen goods of the United States were esti- 

 mated at $39,848,557, but New England alone in 

 1860 returns the value of woolen goods at $32,- 

 ,000,000. In boots and shoes the census of 1850 

 for the whole United States returned only $53,- 

 967,408 ; Massachusetts alone in 1860 estimates 

 her production in this branch of industry at $46,- 

 060,000. Philadelphia returns nearly $6,000,000. 

 The production of pig, bar, railroad and rolled 

 iron, which in 1850 was of the value of $30,823,- 

 374, in 1860 has reached $62,055,000, having 

 doubled in ten years. The malt liquors produced 

 in 1850 were valued at $5,728,508. In 1800 the 

 amount is 3,235,000 barrels, valued at $18,000,- 

 000, or more than three times greater. The spiritu- 

 ous liquors in 1850 were valued at $15,770,240; 

 in 1860 the production is 86,000,000 gallons, 

 vauled at $23,500,000. The value of the products 

 of industry of all branches in 1850 was computed 

 at $1,019,'106,616. In 1860 it will reach $1,900,- 

 000,000, or an increase of about eighty-seven 

 percent! The greatest increase since 1850 is in 

 agricultural implements, iron, malt liquors, ma- 

 chinery, clothing, cotton goods, refined sugar, gold 

 mining, &c. 



HO^W MIST IS GEMERATED. 

 The production of mist is the subject of a note 

 by the veteran Dr. John Davy (brother of Humph- 

 rey) in the Edinburgh Pliilosophical Journal. The 

 cause usually assigned for mist is the access of 

 cold air and its admixture with warmer air, satu- 

 rated, or nearly saturated, with moisture (such as 

 that resting on the surface of large bodies of wa- 

 ter,) and strikingly exemplified in our autumnal 

 and winter fogs, when the water, owing to the heat 

 absorbed during summer, is of a higher tempera- 

 ture than the inflowing air. Dr. Davy, however, 

 refers to another cause, not so much noticed, viz., 

 a mild moist air coming in contact with a cooler 

 air, equally humid, resting on cold surfaces, wheth- 

 er of land or water, about the end of winter or be- 

 ginning of spring. He describes mists which he 



considers to have been thus formed in the lake 

 district of Cumberland. To a similar cause, also, 

 he refers the phenomenon termed sweating, which 

 is the precipitation of moisture on walls and 

 flagged floors excluded from the influence of fire. 

 He also attributes to a warm south wind succeed- 

 ing to a cold north wind, the deposition of a large 

 quantity of moisture in the gallery of a nobleman 

 in Devonshire, and quotes the saying in Homer, 

 .'The south wind wraps the mountain top in mist." 



LOOK OUT FOR YOUR FRUIT TREES I 

 We have seen sad havoc among shrubbery and 

 fruit trees, this spring, by mice, and have heard of 

 it from various directions. These little creatures 

 have been cut off" from their usual resources in a 

 great degree by the ice Avliich has covered the 

 ground for several weeks past. This has com- 

 pletely shut them out from the low shi-ubs and 

 grass roots, and in order to preserve life they have 

 been compelled to go to the stems of our cultivat- 

 ed shubbery and fruit trees. In some cases, we 

 have heard of great damage done to apple trees, 

 where they are of eight or ten years' growth. K 

 such trees are gnawed mostly, or entirely, around 

 their stems, they will be lilcely to die, unless they 

 receive immediate attention — and the loss and dis- 

 appointment will be severe. But sldlful and pa- 

 tient hands may save many, by attending to tliem 

 at once. 



The first thing to be done is, to visit each tree, 

 and, wherever it is mutilated, cover the wounded 

 part with a cloth or something else, so that it shall 

 not become dry. The bark should be kept fresh 

 and succulent until scions can be cut and placed 

 vertically between the lower and upper portions 

 of the wound ; then take scions from any vigorous 

 tree of the same family, and with a sharp knife 

 make a slanting cut of a half inch or more at each 

 end, but on the same side, raise the bark on the 

 edge of the wound a little, and place the sciofl in 

 so that it Avill pass under the bark at each end 

 about an eighth to a quarter of an inch. The 

 slanting cut will then rest on the alburnum or sap 

 wood that has been laid bare. The scions should 

 be set Avithin an inch of each other as far as the 

 wood is laid bare, and nearer still would be better. 

 A piece of bass matting, or if that is not at hand, 

 some soft twine or narrow strips of cloth should 

 be tied over the ends of the scions to prevent them 

 from moving, as a trifling misplacement would be 

 likely to prevent their taking. When this has 

 been done, the whole should be covered with a 

 plaster composed of equal parts of cow manure 

 and clay, thoroughly mixed, and tliis kept from 

 being washed off" by rains by a cloth or matting 

 tied over the whole. 



This may seem a tedious process, but it will be 

 found to be much more rapidly done than one sup- 

 poses, until he engages in it. At any rate, if a 



