1867. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



301 



Mr. Tudor has succeeded in clothing this part 

 of the promontory with rich varieties of plants. 

 We saw pear trees only transplanted four 

 years, loaded with fruit. The Northern Spy 

 fruited in perfection. There were tender rasp- 

 berries, and nearly all the fruits found in our 

 gardens. 



Mr. Tudor has set 10,000 trees among the 

 rocks on the handfid of earth he could come 

 at, where he desired to plant, so that now the 

 currents of wind being broken, and evaporation 

 in a measure retarded, vegetation will spring 

 into life spontaneously, and trees of a less hardy 

 character than those commenced with, will suc- 

 ceed. His example is widely felt, and other 

 cultivators take the hint from his operations, 

 and by means of fences and shubbery are en- 

 abled to rear plants which it would be otherwise 

 impossible to do. 



On Cape Ann, — another promontory still 

 farther North than Nahant, — is a granite wall 

 fifteen feet high, erected by the owner of a 

 quarry, for the purpose of protecting his gar- 

 den from the east wind. 



The market gardeners in Belmont, West 

 Cambridge, and other towns in the vicinity of 

 Boston, erect light board fences on the north- 

 erly and easterly sides of their grounds, and 

 against them arrange long rows of hot beds, 

 covered with glass, and in addition straw mat- 

 ting during the night. Here, with the assist- 

 ance of horse manure from the city stables, 

 they raise lettuce, radishes, early cabbages, 

 turnips, beets, cucumbers and tomatoes, and 

 large quantities of similar plants, which, at the 

 proper season, are either transplanted into 

 their own fields, or sold to gentlemen in the 

 vicinity. Indeed, quite a profitable trade has 

 recently sprung up between these gardeners 

 and the people from the country, who resort to 

 them for early plants to be transplanted into 

 their own gardens. 



The proof of the benefit of shelter to the 

 garden in our climate, meets one on every 

 hand. There are few good grapes that ripen 

 ia New England on unprotected grounds, but 

 sheltered by a wall or hedge, many fine grapes 

 will attain perfection. One of the finest nur- 

 series within our knowledge is protected by a 

 thick belt of forest trees, and here the finest 

 pears yield their fruit in perfection, Avhich will 

 rarely pay for cultivation in unsheltered local- 

 ities. For the early maturity of fruits, so that 

 they may escape the autumnal frosts, high cul- 



ture and heavy manuring cannot take the place 

 of shelter. These, in tlie culture of grapes 

 and pears, will produce a luxuriant growth of 

 wood, and large, plump fruit, but the wood is 

 so filled with sap, that the maturing of the 

 fruit is rather retarded than hastened by it. 

 For this purpose, the atmosphere needs to be 

 cultivated rather than the soil, and this can 

 only be effected by shelter, which protects the 

 fruits from the searching Avinds, and surrounds 

 them with a warmer and more uniform temper- 

 ature. 



We formerly attempted to produce early 

 maturity by high culture, but experience has 

 proved its futility. This will give us fine fruits 

 where the season is long enough, but will not 

 insure their early maturity, which is the great 

 desideratum in the northern States, especially 

 with respect to those fruits and plants that 

 have been brought to us from regions where 

 the climate is warmer and the seasons are 

 longer. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 NOXIOUS ANIMALS, INCLUDUyTG IN- 

 SECTS.— KTO. IV. 

 Cut 'Worms. 



We resume our notice of noxious insects 

 with some remarks concerning cut worms, the 

 Agrotididce of entomologists. Of these, ac- 

 cording to Walsh, there are two genera, Ag- 

 rotis and Hadena. Those which are commonly 

 known as Cut Worms by the farmers and gar- 

 deners of New England, are the larvas of a 

 few species of the genus Agrotis, similar in 

 appearance and habits, described by Harris as 

 "thick, greasy-looking caterpillars, from IJ 

 inches to 2 inches in length, when fully grown, 

 of a dark, ashen-gray color, with a brown 

 head, a blackish horny spot on the top of the 

 first and last rings, a pale stripe along the 

 back, and several minute black dots on each 

 ring." 



Dr. Melsheimer, of Pennsylvania, calls the 

 chief culprit of this genus, the "corn cut 

 worm, varying in color from a pale ash to a 

 deep or obscure brown." They take their 

 qualifying name — "cut" — from their manner 

 of attacking vegetation. Lying concealed 

 during the day, at a small depth in the soil, 

 they come out in the night, and cut off, near 

 the surface of the ground, Avhatever young and 

 tender plant they may chance to reach, some- 

 times dragging the amputated part down to 

 and over their retreat, that they may feed on 

 the same during the day. 



I know of no young plant, red pepper not 

 excepted, either of the field or garden, that 

 is not sometimes attacked by these indiscrimi- 

 nate devourers ; though they seem to prefer 



