154 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Oct. 



and the proportion of each variety of tree ascer- 

 tained, 49,500,000 survej-ed, but the trees not 

 classified, 5,500,000 trees planted, 30,000 acres 

 drained for tree plantations, and 2000 pounds of 

 seeds sown. The saving by protection from the 

 former waste had been $3,500,000 in three years. 

 They had learned to plant trees in barren, shifting 

 sands, 4000 acres of this formerly worthless land 

 having been set in trees. 



HOGS IN THE APPLE OBOHARD. 



Nobody sends such apples to market as my 

 neighbor John Jacobs, He always has apples to 

 sell, and gets the highest price. Folks prefer fair, 

 large apples, and such are always packed in Ja- 

 cobs' barrels. You might search them with a 

 candle and not find a knotty fruit or a worm hole. 

 Such Rhode Island Greenings and Roxbury Rus- 

 sets I have never met with in the old States. They 

 are as handsome as anything in the virgin soils of 

 the West. 



I was going by Jacobs' orchard last summer, 

 and I had the curiosity to call and examine for 

 myself. Says 1, "Neighbor, -what is there in your 

 soil that makes such smooth, large apples ? They 

 are a third bigger than I can»get, and my trees 

 look as well as yours. 



"The secret is not in the soil," John replied 

 with a twinkle in his eye. "Do you see those 

 grunters there ? My pork brings me fifty cents a 

 pound — eight in flesh and the balance in fruit. I 

 began to pasture my orchard ten years ago with 

 hogs, and since that time I have had no trouble 

 with wormy fruit. Apples, as a general thing, 

 don't fall from the tree unless something is the 

 matter with them. The a])])le-worm and curcu- 

 lio lay their eggs in the fruit, and the apples drop 

 early. The pigs devour the a^^ples, and by Sep- 

 tember every unsound apple is gone, and I have 

 nothing but fair fruit left. The crop of insects for 

 the next year is destroyed by the pigs. They root 

 around under the trees, keep the soil loose, man- 

 ure the land some, and work over what manure I 

 spread. The apples help the pigs, and the pigs 

 help the apples." 



I saw John's secret at once, and have profited 

 by it. I never had so few insects as this spi'ing, 

 and I give the pigs the credit for it. In turning 

 the orchard into a pasture put in pigs — not land- 

 pikes with snouts like levers. You might lose 

 trees as well as insects in that case. But well 

 bred animals with judicious snouts, will root in a 

 subdued and Christian-like manner. — American 

 Agriculturist. 



A Trout Factory in Connecticut. — Messrs. 

 Dunham, Kellogg & Ives, of Hartford, have a 

 large trout factory in Glastenbury, Conn., where 

 trout are hatched by artificial means. The num- 

 ber now in the pond is between 40,000 and 50,000 

 and rapidly increasing. When the stock reaches 

 the number of half a million, they estimate a yield 

 of 58,000 pounds per annum. As they will bring 

 in the market from 25 to 50 cents per pound, this 

 amount would afford a very pleasant net income. 

 The fishes are fed regularly, and they have a man 

 in constant attendance. Their food consists of 

 small fishes and shad spawn in season. Millions 

 of suckers are raised to feed the hungry beauties 

 of the pond. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 "A PAIS. OF TWINS." 



Mr. Editor: — I was quite interested in read- 

 ing a few lines in your last week's Farmer, under 

 the above words. Your deserving Vermont cor- 

 respondent questions the propriety of saying "a 

 pair of twins." So common has been the usage, 

 I presume the question seldom presents itself as 

 to whether it be strictly a correct expression. But 

 let us examine it a little more minutely, and see 

 if the conclusion at which our friend arrives be 

 correct. 



"Is it true," asks your coi'respondent, "that two 

 produced at the same birth constitute a ^^air of 

 twins ?" This, in substance, he answers in the 

 negative. Nom' the definition of a pair we all 

 understand to be a couple, or tM'o of the same 

 sort ; and this, our friend will admit, we have in 

 two twin children. Here, then, is a pair — of what? 

 Why not a pair of twins? They are certainly 

 twins, and there is a pair of them. Our friend 

 may say twin itself implies that there is more than 

 one, and may suggest that if we prefer to use the 

 word pair, we say "a pair of children." But does 

 this really express the idea ? No, I think not ; 

 we should not know they were twins. On the 

 other hand, if we say simply "twins," that gives 

 us too wide a range, for it may refer to either two 

 or a dozen. Take an assembly, for instance, w^here 

 we will suppose — which would not be an impossi- 

 bility — that there were a dozen twin children. 

 Each child according to the lexicographers, may 

 be properly called a twin. Are there, then, in the 

 dozen, six pairs or three ? According to your cor- 

 respondent's reasoning, only three. But I believe 

 the majority of your readers will be of my opinion, 

 that it takes six pairs to make a dozen. 



In short, Mr. Editor, I see no more objection 

 to saying "a pair of twins," than "a pair of oxen." 

 Because the thought of one hay-pole suggests an- 

 other, its mate, is it any reason that we should 

 hesitate to say a pair of hay-poles ? P. Paige. 



South Hamjyfon, N. H., Aug. 12, 1862. 



How TO Make a Cement for Stoves. — Take 

 fine salt one part, and two parts of fresh, hard 

 Avood ashes, mix well together, then take cold 

 water, and mix into a mortar. Apply to the crack 

 either warm or cold, and you will find a cement 

 Avhich will answer all common purposes, and found 

 to be very useful where the stove-pipe joints are 

 not as tight as is desirable. 



Still Another. — Take iron filings, and mix to 

 about the consistency of putty for glazing, with 

 white lead and linseed oil. Fill in the joints as 

 securely as possible, while the stove is cold, and 

 let it stand a day or two before using. 



Keeping Grapes. — The Gardener's Chronicle 

 states that Mr. Thomson, of Dalkeith, adopted the 

 following method of keeping grapes, with great 

 success : In cutting the grapes he left the bunches 

 attached to the branches that bore them ; sharp- 

 ened the points of the branches where they had 

 been detached from the parent stem, and ran them 

 a couple of inches into mangel wurzel roots. They 

 were laid on the shelf of the fruit room, and the 

 grapes allowed to hang over the shelf, where they 

 could be cut as required. They kept perfectly 

 plump till the last bunch was consumed. 



