1863. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



129 



er it can be modified or changed to another year 

 by any art or manipuhition, is exceedingly doubt- 

 ful. Why have not the sudden changes of the 

 weather, canker worms and other insects, so equal- 

 ized the bearing seasons of fruit trees that one 

 season would be found to be about equal to an- 

 other, instead of being so much greater and so re- 

 liable as it is now ujion even years ? 



Col. AVilder further observed that the sudden 

 revulsions in our climate of late, had shown that 

 some varieties of pears are even more liurdji llicoi 

 tJie apple ; for, he added as an evidence thereof, 

 that his pear trees bore the succeeding year, while 

 his apple trees did not. I respectfully submit 

 whether this is a fair inference. Perhaps the ap- 

 ple trees would not have born even witliont these 

 sudden extremes of heat and cold ; for, upon Mr. 

 W.'s theory, they might have been exhausted the 

 previous year ; or it was not their bearing year ; 

 or they did not bear for some unaccountable 

 reason, as is frequently the case with fruit trees. 

 AVhen an apple tree is killed outright in winter 

 beside a pear tree which survives, this we should 

 call the ])rimary test of hardiness ; and where the 

 fruit buds of the apple are k-noirti, by ocular dem- 

 onstration, to have been destroyed, and those of 

 the pear saved, this is a secondary test. But the 

 speaker did not say that he had so proved the rel- 

 ative hardiness of the pear ; the fact of fruiting 

 and non-fruitiug decided the question. 



In I'cspcct to the supposed hardiness of some of 

 our choice varieties of the pear over the apple, a 

 relative of mine, in the southern part of VVisconsin, 

 informs me that he has not been al>le as yet to 

 procure pear trees that will endure the severity of 

 the winters in that region ; and that only a few 

 apple trees can survive them — among wliich are 

 the Williams, Ilubbardston Nonsuch, Kaule's Je- 

 nette, and a few others. And further upon this 

 point, Guslavus de Neveu, of the same State, ob- 

 serves, in the Patent Office Report, (18.34, p. 298,) 

 that "Pear trees do not stand our climate so well 

 as the apple or plum, a few having perished last 

 winter from the intense cold." He thinks, how- 

 ever, a few varieties may endure. 



Can trees detect and reject po('.?o?( in their food ? 

 Allusion being made by another speaker to the 

 presence of oxide of iron in the soil and its sup- 

 posed good effects, Mr. Wilder said he placed a 

 quantity of iron filings around a plum tree as an 

 experiment, and as some sap flowed from the 

 branches, running down and discoloring them, he 

 was satisfied the iron had gone up. The tree, 

 however, died ; and the speaker observed that veg- 

 etable physiologists had erroneously asserted that 

 a. tree would reject j^oison. For myself, I am not 

 aware tliat they ever had so asserted. I)e Can- 

 dolle does not ; and it is of very frequent occur- 

 rence that with brine or suds, (salt or jjotash.) 

 trees are killed outright. A little of these sub- 

 stances might do trees good, but they have no pow- 

 er to limit them when suppHed in great quantities. 



A word on the blnek knot will suthce. Mr. 

 Tower said that the way he got rid of this pest of 

 plum culture was to cut it oil' as fast as it a])peared. 

 I tried this for a time, till I found that every new 

 limb springing out was almost immediately aflfect- 

 ed by it, which if cut oft" would leave none for 

 fruit the following years. This evil is ])articularly 

 annoying when the trees reach about a dozen years. 

 The best way is to cut clean down to the ground, as 



the boy cut his dog's tail off up to the neck ! A 

 plum tree, in the vicinity of Huston, is one of the 

 meanest cumberers of the earth ; and if I were to 

 set fifty gardens, not one should have a place in 

 them. Reject ephemeral trees and plant those of 

 longevity. lloUTUS. 



Uak Vliff Cottage. 



J-'ur tlif Sfir luif^luiut fanner. 

 MAPLE SUGAR. 



Mk. Editor :— In your paper of Ft-bruary 21, 

 I find an article with the above heading, signed 

 "A. M. F." and on which you make remarks. 

 I sugar ofl' my syrup after it is cold. My man- 

 ner of boiling is to take two cast iron boiler 

 kettles, holding twenty and forty gallons, set them 

 in cast iron arch ])late wiih holes of suitable size 

 to let them rest firmly on the rim ; lay the plate 

 on two pillows of brick with a chimney. These 

 two kettles will boil the sap of two hundred trees, 

 and I i)refer them to two pans that will boil twice 

 the bulk of sap. I heat ui the siuall onu, and dip 

 into the large one, until I get in fifty paiifuls, or 

 .so, then 1 syrup it down so tliick that it will grain 

 when it is boiled away one-half I then strain it 

 through a fine strainer into a tin or wooden ves- 

 sel, and set away to cool. When intensely cold, I 

 put it into a brass or copper kettle or boiler, and 

 add one-lialf pint of skim milk, bring to a slow 

 boil and skim as it boils, until it is perfectlv clear. 

 When it becomes thick enough to be waxy, when 

 dropt upon clean snow, I pour it into a tub pre- 

 pared fur the purpose, and in about a week, I tap 

 the tub at the bottom and draw off the syrup, 

 which, for table use, is much before any sugar- 

 house syrup you can find. 



I would remark here, that I drain my syrup into 

 my brass kettle, and leave all the nitre and fine 

 dirt in the bottom, which I iiad much raiher would 

 remain there, than to be in the sugur, for I think 

 it blackens the siigar and destroys the flavor. Too 

 much pains cannot be taken to keep the sap, 

 syrup and sugar clean. 



" Do not let the women folks take the buckets in- 

 to the house, and put cream, sour milk, salt meat 

 soap-grease, &c., into them, for nothing will 

 cleanse them until the sap does it, and your sugar 

 is spoiled. 



I bore my trees with a five-eighth bit, and use a 

 tin spout and hang the bucket on a wrought nail 

 by a strip of leather nailed to the bucket. When 

 the sap season is over I take down my buckets, 

 wash them clean and ]nit into my sugar-house, 

 and they only need scalding the next season. I 

 prefer the machine buckets to any other, as they 

 are easier ke])t clean, and take up less room than 

 the homemade buckets. G. K. J. 



Daidjunj, N. 11., March 2, 1863. 



Splitting Wood. — S. Parsons says, the boys 

 engaged in splitting the year's fuel, can make it 

 easier, and lessen the danger of cutting their feet 

 by the following arrangement : Take a large 

 block of hard wood, say two feet or more in di- 

 ameter, and of convenient length ; set it up end- 

 wise, and in the middle dig out a Imle seven or 

 eight inches in diameter, and about six inches 

 deep. This will hold the sticks upriglit. and they 

 can be split into several pieces without handling. 

 The hole can be easily made in a very Ultle lime 

 with an auger and chisel. 



