306 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



July 



the buckle with a piece of leather about two and a 

 half inches long, with a rivet in each end, which 

 keeps all in its place. I have composted manure 

 for 25 years, and think I have learnt something of 

 muck and the way of treating it. o. f. 



Tmibridge, Vt., April, 1867. 



Remarks. — Well, now, we should like to know 

 what you have learned of muck, and something 

 of your way of treating it. 



OLD APPLE TREES. 



I would inquire when is the best time to cut the 

 "tops" from some large apple trees that I have 

 just dug up and transplanted ? How much should 

 I cut off? The trees are about ten years old and 

 bore last year. 



As I want to set out a few creeping flowers, that 

 will gi-ow up this summer, will you be kind enough 

 to name a few ? I also want to raise a nice cluster 

 of showy flowers ; please name a few that would 

 look well, and also, a handsome bush; which looks 

 the best, flowering or otherwise ? A Reader. 



East Kingston, N. H., April, 1867. 



Remarks.— It is a very unsuitable time to cut 

 a tree now,— that is, April or May,— but as it is 

 doubtful whether the trees would have sufficient 

 root power to send out leaves on all their branches, 

 the safest way will be to shorten in most of the 

 twigs, so as to reduce the branches considerably 

 in that way. Cut an inch or two from one twig, 

 twice as many from another, and a foot from a 

 third, if it will bear it. Then take out limbs from 

 the inside of the tree, until the top is reduced to 

 about one-half its original size— being careful all 

 the time to preserve a true balance and graceful 

 fonn of the tree. Wherever you cut, take the 

 branch off close to the one from which it grew, 

 pare the cut smooth, and cover it with a little gum 

 shellac, dissolved in alcohol. Have it nearly as 

 thin as water, and apply with a small brash. 



We removed a twelve years old apple tree last 

 spring when in leaf and blossom, treating it as we 

 have described above. The foliage all fell off, but 

 a new gi'owth immediately succeeded, which was 

 quite full and vigorous, and there was a slight 

 j^rowth of some of the terminal branches. This 

 spring the tree looks as well as its fellows about it. 



For three climbing plants take the Yellow Trum- 

 pet Monthly, and the Evergreen Scarlet Monthly 

 Honeysuckle, and the Virginia Creeper, {Ampe- 

 lopsis quinqupfoUa,) or American Woodlnnc. 



For a cluster of showy flowers, take Asters in 

 variety, Canterbury Bell, Cardinal Flower and 

 Phloxes in variety. 



For handsome bushes take the Rose-colored 

 Wicgela, Japan Quince, {Cgdonia Japonica,) and 

 the Forsythia. 



Tlicse few flowers about any house, set in proper 

 positions and growing vigorously, will give it a 

 charm and attraction that it never had before. 

 Thank you for starting in the good work. 



advertising in FARMER — RAISING POTATOES. 



My advertisement in the Farmer ot "Seed Po- 

 tatoes," brought in the orders to such an ex- 

 tent that I don't know but I will have to expend 



all the small profit on the sales to inform my pat- 

 rons that I am not able to fill any more orders. 



As I have been requested to detail my method 

 of raising potatoes, perhaps I had better do it 

 through the Farmer, though I presume but few 

 if any will be benefited by the practice of one liv- 

 ing among the rocks of Vermont from which the 

 mountain streams run both north and south to 

 meet, if at all, somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean. 

 My custom is to break up greensward in the fall 

 of the year; next spring sow with oats, and the 

 following season spread and plow in a suitable 

 coat of green manure to make the land sufficiently 

 rich, after taking off a crop of potatoes, to bear a 

 crop of grain, and stock down to grass. Thus a 

 single piece is kept up but three seasons, taking 

 two crops of grain and one hoed crop. 



I have tried various methods of potato seeding, 

 but my greatest success has been when I have 

 used the least seed, cutting potatoes into pieces 

 containing only two or three eyes and dropping 

 about eighteen inches apart, one piece in a i>lace, 

 with rows three feet apart. The first that I ever 

 planted in this way was a choice variety, and the 

 amount of seed seemed so small, that after all were 

 covered except the last two rows, I took up the seed 

 from the last i-owand put it into the other, making 

 tv/o pieces instead of one in a hill in that row. In 

 harvesting I found the potatoes were very much 

 smaller in this row, and not much if any greater 

 yield than where only a single piece was put in a 

 hill. It may be necessary generally to hoe them 

 twice in order to destroy weeds ; but, if it is, the 

 work should be done before they are large enough 

 to be injured by doing it. If stray weeds come up 

 afterward they should be pulled and destroyed. 

 I am not obliged to hoe but once, and that not par- 

 ticularly on account of weeds, for my farm was not 

 remarkably weedy when I bought it, and they 

 have been growing beautifully less ever since. 

 W. I. Simonds. 



Roxbury, Vt., April 19, 1867. 



Remarks. — Friend Simonds is not the only one 

 who has experienced the good results of advertis- 

 ing in the Farmer. Our circulation is so large, 

 and among such a ixading class, that any an- 

 nouncement in our columns cannot fail to attract 

 attention. 



CHANGING SEED. 



The belief in the beneficial effects of changing 

 seed for potatoes and other roots is very prevalent 

 among English farmers. They also favor a fre- 

 quent change in the seed of wheat and other grain. 

 If the objections to in-and-in breeding of animals 

 is based on philosophical principles, why should 

 we not expect that a similar practice with roots 

 and grains would result equally disastrously ? 

 From my own experience and observation, I be- 

 lieve that all kinds of roots grown year after year 

 from the same seed and on the same quality of 

 land will gradually deteriorate. If I go to my 

 neighbors across the way and buy my seed pota- 

 toes grown upon land and with manure sinular to 

 my own, I should not expect to sec much dilFer- 

 ence; but if I go several miles and obtain thosQ 

 grown upon a ilifilrcnt soil and under dillbrcnt 

 treatment, I should look for a difference l)oth in 

 quality and in quantity. Exposure is also iiiipor- 

 tant. Potato and other root crops, grown upon 

 land that is exposed to heavy winds and storms 

 will be more stunted in their growth than those 

 grown in a more sheltered and warm place. Five 

 or six years ago I bought of a neighbor a mixture 

 of Irish Greys and King potatoes. I told him I 

 should sort them when I got home, as I had always 

 kept my varieties separate. He advised me 

 not to do so; remarking that the Irish Greys 



