162 



NEW ENGLAND FARIMER. 



April 



are all weak in constitution, are constantly in- 

 jured by the extremes of temperature, and will 

 die from causes that a healthy vine would not 

 be injuriously affected by. 



A great many vines sold in New England re- 

 quire long nursing, and sometimes uprooting, 

 owing to the injuries received by careless trans- 

 portation and by passing through too many 

 hands before reaching the cultivator. 



That vines raised out of New England will 

 not do well here, I do not say ; but, that vines 

 grown hero, from healthy wood that is fully 

 ripe, either by layers or by cuttings, and in the 

 open air, are the vines above all others for 

 New England culture, I think but few observ- 

 ing men will deny. I do say, that of all 

 the vines sent here from the States of New .Jer- 

 sey and New York, from one or the other of 

 the causes I have mentioned, a very large pro- 

 portion of them die, and that to make sure of 

 having the vines we want, it is best to get 

 them as near as possible to the place in which 

 they are to be planted. 



In the flanuary number of the Horticulturist 

 George Husmann of Missouri says : — "My ad- 

 vice to your readers. North, South, East and 

 West, is to try for themselves for their loca- 

 tions, and, after trying, plant that which suits 

 them best, not what some would-be authority, 

 a thousand miles off, recommends as the best 

 grape, superior over all others." 



Now, provided the soil be suited to the 

 grape, and the culture be adapted to the wants 

 of the variety cultivated, what has been said 

 will suggest why many that have caught the 

 "grape lever" have lost much strength through 

 the pocket ; while on the other hand, all who 

 have been affected with "grape fever," and 

 have been treated properly by Dr. Grant and 

 other doctors in our profession, have, under 

 the conditions herein indicated, in all cases, 

 found "grape fever" useful in saving them from 

 worse forms of excitement, and proved that on 

 the rod or the acre of land, more profit is 

 made than can be realized by the culture of 

 any other fruit on the same kind of soil. 



I have not Avi-itten a word for a newspaper 

 since the "Basket- Willow Fever" was so de- 

 structive. If I am considered as correct in my 

 views of "grape fever," as it has been proved 

 I was in regard to the "Willow fever," and 

 my remarks as acceptable, I have seme other 

 things to communicate, which, in the last ten 

 years, I have learned while growing, buying 

 and selling grape vines. John Fleming. 



Sherborn, Mass., Feb., 1867. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 PHILANTHROPY IN PASTUEE. 



It is certainly an honor to a Christian peo- 

 ple to be engaged in multiplied measures to 

 better the condition of communities and indi- 

 viduals. The building of light-houses and the 

 improvement of iiarbors, at a nation's cost, is 

 Justified by the consideration of a publTc bene- 



fit. Philanthropy may plead for a better com- 

 pensation to seamstress or scavenger, because 

 of the demands in either case ; and those who 

 scant the wages of the workingman or work- 

 ingwoman may claim plain rebukes from Chris- 

 tian pulpits. But we are after another idea 

 now, — out in a New England pasture. 



Our idea is, that he who will show a true and 

 proper way, within the means ot the many, to 

 revive the productive power of the pastures of 

 New England, to meet our natural wants in 

 that direction, will be a greater benefactor of 

 the poor than he who makes tlte best breech- 

 loading rifle, or constructs the best telegraph, 

 or builds a college, or founds an oiphan asy- 

 lum. Those who have thought little about it, 

 may think that this is extravagant thinking. 



We have walked among the workers, and 

 looked among the horses, cattle, sheep and 

 children ; and the workers on the hill-side have 

 wondered how the pastures could be made pro- 

 ductive ; the horses, cattle and sheep have 

 shown their hair or ribs in sympathy with our 

 subject ; and the little rosy cherub has ci'owed 

 over the full-flowing pail at milking time. And 

 so our suljject is full of the very fat of farming 

 interest and necessity. 



We will not — dare not — claim to be equal to 

 the emergency, able to give an answer to those 

 who ask most anxious questions — and mourn 

 over the mosses and other mischiefs of our pas- 

 ture-picture. We would make haste to seize 

 the honor if we only could. But a few simple 

 suggestions may do some good. 



A valued and honorable farmer asked the 

 simple question, "How can I do what is need- 

 ed to make that pastui'e productive?" In an- 

 swer, it was suggested that very much pasture 

 land, that cannot easily be plowed, needs to 

 become acquainted with the power of a mattock, 

 until its junipers and similar intruders and nui- 

 sances find that "axe laid at the root," to 

 their destruction. Why let a thousand such 

 thieves steal the sunlight and soil-strength from 

 the growing grass ? 



To find how, best and cheapest, the soil may 

 be made most productive, measui-e off a narrow 

 strip, say a rod wide, right through the pas- 

 ture, and set sufficient bound-marks. Make a 

 record of the time of doing it. Then on one 

 rod sow evenly a quart of good, gror.nd plas- 

 ter, which will be nearly at the rate of 500 lbs. 

 to the acre ; on the next rod sow two quarts, 

 the next four, and the next six, and the next 

 eight quarts to the rod, — which would be about 

 equal to one-half ton, or three-tburths of a 

 ton, a ton, &c., to the acre. And if you will, 

 try a mixture of plaster and superphosphate of 

 huie, half and half, a quart on one rod, two 

 quarts, tiu-ee quarts, four quarts, &c., to the 

 rod, on as many as you like. Alake a critical 

 record of all, so that results may be clearly 

 understood. Take also hard-wood ashes, and 

 try a lialf-peck to the rod, a peck, &c. Also 

 soft-wood ashes, or lime, or any agent within 

 reach, in varied quantities, one, two or any 



