18 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Jan. 



from thieves and burglars, -vve have them only, 

 and not ourselves to curse. 



Some simple-minded people will, to tliis day, 

 insist that all these devices for the protection of 

 our persons and jjroperty argue distrust both 

 of God and man. So they object to lightning- 

 rods, as well as front-door locks, and feel sure 

 that Providence will care for them better than 

 for those who act on the principle that Provi- 

 dence cares for those who care for themselves — 

 until some day the house is struck or robbed, 

 and that shock shakes pretty effectually the 

 scales from their eyes. 



LoLk:^ may be picked, and trunks broken 

 open, and cunning rascals seem to crawl through 

 key-ho'es ; the lightning may now and then set 

 all conductors at defiance, and the devouring 

 element baffle all efforts of man and machine 

 to subdue it, but this only reminds us that hav- 

 ing done what we could, above all God is our 

 refuge and defence. 



Neither does this resort to lock and key nec- 

 essarily impute dishonesty to our domestic and 

 farm help. Of course much depends on their 

 characters as developed day by day. Some 

 prove themselves such good and faithful ser- 

 vants that we could almost surrender to them 

 the keys, and give them the freedom of the 

 house ; while others have a mania for pilfering 

 and tliieving, and not conscience enough to 

 keep from lying when caught in the ac'*. To 

 such it is a mercy that bolts and bars have been 

 invented, and that such an institution as the 

 "lock-up" was devised. And even the former 

 class may be kept safe and uncontaminated 

 from temptation by this very device of lock and 

 key. 



But let us not press this too far. To my 

 mind there always seemed something ungra- 

 cious in the policy of distrusting every man 

 till he has proved himself trustworthy. To be 

 sure, in this present evil world, confidence 

 must be a plant of slow growth, and no stran- 

 ger can claim at once our trust. But how 

 many poor, simple souls have been the victims 

 of needless suspicions. How many originally 

 honest hearts have been driven into dishonesty 

 by a withdrawal of confidence. And into how 

 many souls is iron driven by the bolted lid or 

 door that bears false witness to their real in- 

 tentions. 



1 remember an estimable Kentucky lady who 

 conceded that the peculiar institution under 

 which she had been born and educated was a 

 great inconvenience because it obliged her to 

 keep everything imder lock and key, conse- 

 quently her slaves grew up with the idea that 

 they were all a thievish set, and were not slow 

 to do credit to their training. 



But even our Yankee housewives may be in 

 danger of the same extreme by dividing their 

 time between tlie "lock stitch" and their bunch 

 of keys. IIowev(!r it is better to err on the 

 safe .side than to leave everything lying around 



loose. W. K. B. 



Longmeadow, Mass., 1866. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 OKCHAKD OF ISAAC EMEBSON. 



We were much pleased with a visit to the 

 orchard of Isaac Emerson, in Windham, Rock- 

 ingham Co., N. II. This gentleman has made 

 a business of cultivating fruit, apples and 

 peaches in particular ; and now devotes his 

 whole attention to this branch of farming. 

 His tret^s are very thrifty, and a large part of 

 them show a most remarkable growth ; not 

 second, in this resjject, to the very beautiful or- 

 chard of Mr. John French, of Northampton, 

 which took the first State and County premi- 

 ums. The soil on which a large part of Mr. 

 Emerson's trees grow is not well adapted to 

 the cultivation of ordinary farm crops, as there 

 is only a depth of from one to three feet before 

 striking a solid ledge. 



One orchard of four acres is twenty years 

 old from the bud and has been set nineteen 

 years. In the winter of 18i33-4 about one- 

 third of the trees were killed by freezing of the 

 trunks. This induced Mr. Emerson to con- 

 trive some method to j^rotect them for the fu- 

 ture ; and he thinks he has a complete remedy, 

 lie places rocks on the Northwest side some 

 eight inches from the trunks and piled about 

 Ih feet in height. This causes the snow to 

 drift about the trunk and thus forms a protec- 

 tion. Where it is not convenient to place 

 rocks in this way, he jjiles muck about the 

 same distance from the trees. lie thinks that 

 muck should never be heaped up against the 

 trees, as it injures the bark. In the spring, 

 these piles of muck are leveled aromid under 

 the branches. 



On three acres of this orchard, crops have 

 been raised every year until the two last. In 

 cultivating, care should be taken to plough the 

 soil towards the trees rather than from them. 

 They were set 27 feet apart each way, and a 

 peach tree between ; but Mr. Emerson thinks 

 that forty feet is a better distance even if no 

 peach trees were set between the apple trees. 

 Mr. French, of Northampton, N. II. is also of 

 the same opinion, as he finds his orchard has 

 attained such a luxuriant growth that he has 

 had to remove a part of" his trees. One acre 

 of this orchard has been kept in grass con- 

 stantly, but the trees have been carefully hoed 

 around under the branches. This acre has 

 made a growth which would be called good on 

 most farms, as trees are generally cultivated ; 

 but there is a very marked difference between 

 tlu'm and those on the part that has been cul- 

 tivated ; the trees being much smaller and have 

 not borne as wi'll in proportion to their size. 

 One great peculiarity of i\Ir. Emerson's trees, 

 is, that they have not been trimmed up, but 

 liave been allowed to branch out so low that 

 the limbs reach very near the ground. He 

 thinks, howevi'r, as the result of his experi- 

 ence, that he should not have them quite so low, 

 were he to train an orchard again. The peach 

 trees, from eighteen to nineteen vears okl, are 



