412 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Sept. 



The most important improvements, perhaps — 

 not "inventions" — have been in the p^or<». On 

 many of our farms men may occasionally be heard 

 relating their experience with the old Dutch plow, 

 as it is called, over which they stood and subdued 

 the stubborn glebe in their youth. We have 

 known them to grow eloquent, even, in describing 

 its processes in rocky land, as to how it would 

 throw them across its handles, first on the land 

 side and then on the plowed — until their very 

 bones ached with the concussions. If it were on 

 level land, free from stones, its movements would 

 be disturbed by every pebble or variation in the 

 compactness of the soil, so that it was forever 

 poking its nose out of the ground when its propri- 

 etor least desired to see it ! 



Place it side by side, now, with one of Mr. Jo- 

 el Nourse's iron plows, with the same power to 

 draw them, and we think it will be found that 

 twice as much work will be accomplished in a giv- 

 en time by the iron plow as can be got out of the 

 old Dutch. The mould-boards of the old plow 

 were of wood — but sometimes in the hands of a 

 progressive farmer, who meant to have everything 

 in the "top of the mode," the mould-board would 

 be strapped with hoop-iron, running longitudinally 

 with the mould-board itself. This was a step in 

 advance, allowing the plow to pass with greater 

 ease through the soil, and requiring much less 

 team to draw it. There are many other plows, al- 

 so, of great excellence, which reduce the prime op- 

 eration of i^lowing very considerably from its for- 

 mer cost. 



We have said that the prejudices which have 

 80 long existed against the use of viachinery, es- 

 pecially on the farm, have greatly abated. In- 

 deed, they seem to be almost gone, for the manu- 

 facturer finds it impossible to answer the demand 

 upon him for several articles of established excel- 

 lence. 



These thoughts have been suggested by listen- 

 ing to a conversation which occurred in the ware- 

 house of Messrs. Parker, Gannett & Osgood, 

 of Boston, a few days since. A gentleman came 

 from Boxford, Mass., and ordered two Buckeye 

 mowing machines, another from Danvers, and 

 still one from another town. "We have not got 

 them," was the reply. One of the firm then said 

 he had recently returned from the manufactory, 

 and he found them there eleven hundred behind 

 their orders !" We learn, also, that the agent of 

 the Wood machine in Boston, has been unable to 

 meet the great demand upon him. The Davis' 

 Improved Ketchum has been sold freely by O. 

 Ames & Sons, Boston, and in one or two instances 

 at the rate of nineteen or twenty a day, without 

 the aid of out-door agency. The New England 

 machine, which is a new one, is gaining favor, and 

 we Tuiderstand has had a large sale. 



We are glad to notice this spirit of progi-ess. 

 It will tend to preserve health, and increase the 

 happiness and profits of the farmer and his house- 

 hold. 



THE BLACK KNOT. 



The knots are now making their appearance on 

 the plum and cherry trees, and require attention. 

 Those who will make a careful examination of the 

 excrescence will be able to find small marks upon 

 them, sometimes crescent-shaped like the curculio 

 mark upon the fruit. By a very careful dissec- 

 tion, a minute white speck may be found in the mid- 

 dle of the concave portion of this crescent. This is 

 an e^g of an insect. It is believed that the q^^^ 

 causes this excrescence, and we suppose so, be- 

 cause we know that this eg^ becomes a grub, and 

 burrows in and feeds upon the substance of this 

 knot. These grubs, if raised to maturity, become 

 so like the curculio that stings the fruit, as not to 

 be distinguished from each other. Still they may 

 be diff"erent. There are many diff'erent kinds of 

 beetles that look much alike. The peabug and 

 the worm in the chestnut, both look much like 

 the ourcuHo, but differ greatly in their habits. 



When we cut into the little balls found grow- 

 ing upon an oak leaf, and find there a full-grown 

 perfect fly, and no possible way it could have got 

 there from without, we suppose that the parent of 

 that fly, in some way or other, caused that ball to 

 grow, and that it grew to afibrd protection and 

 food for her young. This is a natural supposition, 

 and is probably true, although it would be hard to 

 prove. Acting upon such a theory as regards the 

 black knot, we should say cut them oS" as soon as 

 they appear, and you destroy the embryo insect 

 that would cause similar knots another year. 



We have seen both plum and cherry trees about 

 this city, and indeed almost wherever we travel, 

 perfectly deformed with these excrescences, and 

 permitted to stand year after year, mere nurseries 

 for spreading this evil. 



Many people carefully cut off these knots early 

 in the spring, and it is well enough to do so even 

 then, as it certainly removes a defoi-mity, but it 

 then avails nothing towards getting rid of the 

 cause. 



By careful watching and prompt cutting away 

 during the early part of July, you may keej) the 

 enemy under your control, but by neglecting them 

 for a year or two, valuable trees, or even orchards, 

 will become worthless. — Newark Mercury. 



CURRANTS, TREES AND SMALL BIRDS. 



As currants are now becoming ripe I would ad- 

 vise all those who cultivate this fruit to allow them 

 to hang upon the bushes until they are perfectly 

 ripe. I give this advice because I am aware that 

 this fruit is too commonly pulled before it has at- 

 tained to maturity and has become sweet and 

 pleasant to the taste. Currants and gooseberries 

 make most excellent wine, but not as they are us- 

 ually pulled, namely, when quite sour. 



If peach trees were cultivated like currant 1)ush- 

 es by allowing them to spread out around the roots 

 they would ])erhaps be more healthy and yield 

 more regularly. I have found that leached ashes 

 when placed around the root of a valual^le fruit 

 tree that has become in a measure decaved reno- 



