1864. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



87 



will many a time lighten the load which burdens 

 poor humanity, and at other times will lift it up, 

 and elevate, and waken it to nobler purposes and 

 higher resolves." Do not check, then, the prompt- 

 ings for more imaginative feelings, or the desire 

 for more Poetry, Music and Health. 



Whoever labors to this end is a public benefac- 

 tor. He pleases and purifies at the same time. 

 He fills the mind with kindly and healthful reflec- 

 tions, which come into the family circles like 

 streams of sunshine in a cloudy day. He who 

 writes a good book, or scrap of poetry, and sends 

 it into the world, makes the world better for his 

 effort. And so it is with works of art, statuary, 

 painting, bridges or ships. Messrs. Prang & 

 Co., Lithographers, of this city, have exerted an 

 influence through their charming pictures, that a 

 lifetime of talking would have failed to secure. 

 It is not by bread alone that we live, in more 

 senses than that in which our Saviour uttered it. 



EXTRACTS AND REPLIES. 



APPLE TKEES — BOOTS FROM LIMBS — TOPS FROM ROOTS 

 — MAPLE SAP. 



On page 321 of the Neva England Farmer, monthly, 

 for 1863, I find the following. "It is a fact that apple 

 trees raised from the seed of grafted fruit do not bear." 

 In reply I would say that I planted the seeds of Pound- 

 sweet apples, (taken from scions that my father set, 

 about twenty years ago,) in the fall of 1849. I have 

 three trees from them that bear apples. They are a 

 very pleasant sour. Two of the trees have been trans- 

 planted, and one stands where it came up. Facts are 

 stubborn things. 



Will you or some of your correspondents tell me 

 how to have roots grow from the limb of an apple 

 tree ? I can take a root and grow a handsome top. 

 Also, who first made the discovery that the sap of the 

 maple tree would make sugar ? In what year, and 

 what place ? Orrin Hager. 



Wallingford, Jan., 1864. 



APPLES EVERY YEAR. 



On page 30, in the January number of the Neto Eng- 

 land Farmer, I read with pleasure the remarks of "R. 

 C," of Joppa. It is a well known fact that if you 

 graft part of a tree one year and the other part the 

 next year, your trees will bear fruit every year. I 

 have tried it, and recommended it to the late Messrs. 

 Jones, and in almost every trial it was successful. 

 The fact is, that the branch put in is put back one year. 

 If the graft is vigorous it will make leaf buds the first 

 year, fruit buds the second year, and bear fruit the 

 third year ; at any rate, if you graft or take scions 

 from the same trees and insert them two j^ears in suc- 

 cession, you will be pretty sure of having fruit every 

 summer. Farmer Jones' Baldwin apple trees bear 

 every year, about one-half on odd years, and the other 

 half on even years. Farmers, try it. 



Spring Grove, Jan., 1864. S. A. Shurtleff. 



INDIAN CORN — POP CORN — HUNGARIAN GRASS — WORK- 

 ING COWS. 



I see by the January number of the Monthly that 

 you think very favorably of Indian corn as a crop for 

 our New England farms. It has always been a favor- 

 ite crop on my farm for several generations. 



I propose in the spring to plant a little "pop corn." 

 Will "E. C. P." give some directions for planting it ? 

 How far apart should it stand, and what kind should 

 be selected ? I planted a small field of red rice corn a 

 few years since, but I found it was too thick to do 

 well, and too late to ripen before the early frosts of 

 September. In other respects it fully met my expec- 



tations. I planted three rows much nearer together 

 than common field corn, say three feet apart. 



I wish to make some inquiries about Hungarian 

 grass. Has it given good satisfaction in New England, 

 and how much seed is required, and how much hay is 

 expected per acre ? 



I see in an old number of the Farmer a working 

 team of cows recommended. Are they ever used in 

 New England, and is there any law to prevent peo- 

 ple from stoning the driver should they appear on the 

 street or public road ? c. c. 



North Blackstone, Jan., 1864. 



Remarks. — We believe the Hungarian grass crop 

 has given satisfaction to those who have cultivated it. 

 Eight quarts of seed per acre is the amount common- 

 ly used for seed. It yields bountifully on a good 

 gravelly or sandy loam ; perhaps would average two 

 tons to the acre, on an average soil. Some persons 

 report a much larger crop, and it is, undoubtedly, ob- 

 tained in many instances. We have raised it in drills, 

 and hoed the crops as they do wheat in England, and 

 produced four or five tons per acre. It is an annual 

 plant, and of course, the land must be plowed and the 

 seed sown each spring. 



The subject of loorking cows is occasionally discussed 

 in agricultural papers, and in many cases writers ap- 

 prove the plan. We can see no objection to it, when 

 properly managed. There are many farms that are 

 devoted to milk-raising, and the stock upon which is 

 cows, with the exception, perhaps, of one or two hors- 

 es, quite often only one. This team is not sufficient 

 to perform all the work of plowing, harvesting, &c., 

 which a farm feeding fifteen or twenty head of stock 

 requires. In such a case a couple of five or six ye<vrs 

 old cows, broken to the yoke by a skilful and merci- 

 ful master, would plow two or three hours each day, 

 not only without injury, but with decided benefit to 

 the health and growth of the animals. Of course, they 

 must be taken when not approaching the maturity of 

 gestation, or when yielding a full flow of milk. It 

 would afford them exercise in the open air, give them 

 the breath of the sweet fields and the freshly-turned 

 furrow, and perhaps not exhaust any more of their 

 power than they would voluntarily exhaust in frolic- 

 some rambles if they were occasionally let loose. 



Why not work them, moderately and tenderly ? 

 What are the objections ? Does not the farmer plow 

 with his mare, drive her upon the road, and use her 

 carefully m all sorts of work until quite near the pe- 

 riod of casting her foal? Is it not the common opin- 

 ion of farmers, breeders and surgeons, that such labor 

 is healthful, and should always be observed ? The 

 same rule holds good with regard to a higher type of 

 animals. In our own race, constant, but moderate ex- 

 ercise, and especially in the open air, is uniformly re- 

 commended by physicians. 



On such farms as we have referred to, there is no 

 barn room or pasturage for oxen, and not half labor 

 enough to keep them employed, if other things were 

 convenient. In such cases cows might be prufiiably 

 employed and not suffer the least injustice, degrada- 

 tion or hardship. 



HOW 8HALL I CARRY SAP IN SUGAR ORCHARD ? — 

 GUTTA PERCHA PIPE. 



Having a large sugar orchard situated on a side hill, 

 and help -being scarce, I wish to economize in time 

 and labor, and desire some of your many readers to 

 inform me of the best and most economical meihod of 

 conveying my sap to the camp, which is at the foot of 

 the hill ? I also wish to ascertain if there is not gutta 

 percha pipe of small size, say half-inch, that would 



