1862. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMEE. 



531 



mound of ashes or lime about the collar of the 

 tree, to wash with potash water, soap-suds or 

 lime, and various other remedies. But the true 

 one, after all, we believe to be the use of the wire. 

 It is said by Downing, that where orchards have 

 already become gi'eatly infested with this insect, 

 the beetles may be destroyed by thousands, in 

 June, by building small bonfires of shavings in 

 various parts of the orchard. 



Cole says, keep the trees smooth and well 

 washed, that insects may have no harbor. Wash 

 them in June, July and August, in a rather strong 

 lye of wood ashes ; or with 

 two quarts of soft soap and 

 one-quarter of a pound of 

 sulphur to two gallons of 

 water, which is still better 

 by adding tobacco, hen ma- 

 nure, and a little clay to 

 make it adhesive. 

 AVe present herewith a cut of the borer in its 

 perfect state, and of the full grown borer in the 

 grub form. It occa- 

 sionally deposits its ..leiflfflillW^ 

 eggs in the trunk of 

 the tree several feet 

 above the ground, — but this is rarely the case, — 

 and it very seldom penetrates the limbs. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 CATTLE SHOWS. 



This is the season of the year for these institu- 

 tions to flourish. But the war, or some other 

 cause, has in a great measure put an extinguisher 

 upon them. If the same feeling should continue 

 for several years, they would have to be given up 

 entirely. I have seen no adequate reasons for 

 this feeling, and only speak of the fact, as it has 

 come to my obervation. On reflecting upon it, 

 the question has arisen, whether the plan hitherto 

 pursued, of exhibiting a few select superior ani- 

 mals, was the best to be adopted for improving 

 the breeds of animals ; or whether it would not 

 be better to bring forward entire herds of twenty, 

 or more, bred and reared on the same farm, in a 

 period of four or five years. This would lead to a 

 selection of the best animals as breeders, and 

 would establish the best modes of managing them. 



October, 1862. Mass. 



Keeping Winter Squashes. — There is just 

 this one simple rule for keeping winter squashes : 

 Put them in a dry, warm place, and they will not 

 rot. It is a warm, damp atmosphere, like that in 

 moist cellars, that causes decay. A dry stove- 

 room or furnace heated room, which never gets 

 cold, or a closet near the fire-place, which never 

 gets cool enough to freeze, are good places in 

 which to winter squashes and pumpkins. They 

 also keep well hung up in baskets or bags over- 

 head in the kitchen or on a hanging shelf. They 

 should always be stowed singly — never in piles — 

 when you wish to preserve them a long time. 



THINNING OP FRUITS. 



We attended the meetings of the U. S. Pomo- 

 logical Society, recently held in this city, and lis- 

 tened to the proceedings with much interest. We 

 found the members as earnest in debate, and as 

 tenacious of their opinions as though discussing 

 some grave question of a material character, and 

 the enthusiasm manifested gave the whole a lively 

 and pleasant character. Enthusiasm gives tone, 

 color and attraction to everything we do, and even 

 in our deliberative assemblies, without it, they 

 seem but a dignified set of owls or automatons. 



The address of President Wilder was an ex- 

 cellent one, and was listened to with an unmista- 

 kable gratification. Below, we give some of its 

 leading thoughts, with the intention of quoting 

 again at a future time. What we present now, is 

 earnestly commended to every reader. 



One lesson which experience has taught us, is 

 the importance of thinning the fruit, especially of 

 apples and pears. This branch of pomology has 

 received comparatively but little attention. There 

 is a limit to the capacity of all created things. If 

 you lax the energies of an animal too severely for 

 a long time, the result will be premature age and 

 decaj . Subject any vegetable or mineral substance 

 to too great pressure, and you destroy its powers 

 of cohesion. So if you permit a tree to bear be- 

 yond its strength, you injure its fruit, retard its 

 growth, and shorten its life. All have observed 

 that superfecundity one year, produces barrenness 

 the next. Hence we hear among our farmers and 

 gardeners of what they term the bearing year. 

 They invariably designate the Baldwin apple as a 

 tree that bears on alternate years. But is not the 

 cause of this alternation found in the fact that the 

 abundant crop of the bearing year exhausts the 

 energies of the tree, and absorbs the pabulum so 

 as not to leave sufiicient aliment for the formation 

 of fruit spurs the succeeding year ? Many varie- 

 ties have a tendency to overbearing, especially 

 those which produce their fruit in clusters. Na- 

 ture herself teaches us the remedy for this evil, 

 and a superabundance of blossom is generally fol- 

 lowed by a profuse falling of the embryo fruit. 

 When and where this dropping is not sufficient to 

 prevent overbearing, we should resort to the pro- 

 cess of relieving the tree of a portion of its fruit. 



The organism which carries on healthful devel- 

 opment, in order to repeat its cycle of functions 

 from year to year, cannot be overworked without 

 time for recuperation. Whatever of nutrition goes 

 to the support of useless branches, or a redundan- 

 cy of fruit, abstracts that strength from the tree 

 which would otherwise be appropriated to the per- 

 fection of the croj), and the development of the 

 spurs which Avould bear fruit the next year. One 

 of the best cultivators in the vicinity of Boston, 

 has reduced this theory to pi-actice, with the hap- 

 piest efi'ect, in the cultivation of the pear. His 

 system allows no useless wood, nor more fruit, 

 than the tree can properly sustain. As a conse- 

 quence, he produces every year superior fruit, 

 which commands the highest price. Some have 

 doubted whether this practice can be made remu- 

 nerative, except in its application to the finer fruits. 

 But another cultivator, who raises an annual crop 



