316 



NEW ENGLAND FAE^IER. 



July 



land, which have never been grafted, to pro- 

 duce immense quantities of fruit, if properly 

 grafted and cared for. 



It is amazing how little care and judgment 

 has been shown in this regard by many far- 

 mers among us. Trees have been stuck full 

 of grafts, and then the natural shoots left to 

 overpower and kill them all. If there is any 

 one thing in which there is a greater appear- 

 ance of imbecility than in anything else in 

 farm management in country towns remote 

 from our large cities, it is, it seems to me, in 

 relation to tree-culture. 



One item in relating to manuring, I would 

 not omit. I think I have many proofs that 

 the droppings of hens or turkeys, even when 

 composted with muck, are a dangerous and de- 

 structive stimulant for trees. It may cause 

 them to flourish for a short time, but then die. 

 I have numerous facts in mind which seem to 

 declare as above, but this paper is too long 

 already, and I will not narrate them. 



Lee, N. H., May, 1867. a. g. c. 



MATERIAL FOR COMPOSTS. 



The truth of the axiom, that no man, how 

 great soever may be his zeal and industry, 

 can hope to succeed as a farmer, without the 

 aid of manure, is probably what every practi- 

 cal person will at once admit. 



Want of maniu-e, indeed, is one of the most 

 perplexing annoyances with which the intelli- 

 gent cultivator is called to contend. Yet it is 

 one which the exercise of proper forethought 

 and economy in accumulating materials will 

 enable him to obviate. There is probably not 

 a farm in the land which does not contain with- 

 in its own limits the resources for its fertility, 

 and which might not be rendered productive 

 without the application of a single particle of 

 manure from abroad. 



By composting, by turning in green crops, 

 by seeing that all the numerous fertilizing 

 agents in the yai-ds, cow, sheep, and hog cotes, 

 in the kitchen, privy, and other places, are 

 rigidly turned into the appropriate channel, 

 the land would soon assume a new character, 

 and the richest harvests salute the hand of the 

 proprietor, where only barrenness and sterility 

 were seen before. 



If the farmer could only realize the advan- 

 tages which would accrue to him from a rigid 

 economization of those fecundating substances 

 which are too frequently neglected and turned 

 to waste about his buildings, he would at once 

 reform his practice, and devote a portion of 

 his time to a department of labor which is to 



be regarded as the initial employment of every 

 one who is successful in the prosecution of ag- 

 riculture as an art. 



Collect all Vegetable Matters. 

 The woodlands afford an inexhaustible sup- 

 ply of materials for manure, as do also the 

 pastures, road-sides and commons. Wherever 

 vegetable matter can be obtained, there exists 

 the food of plants. Not a particle of matter 

 which has once been animated with the vital- 

 izing principle of life, is to be considered 

 worthless. Even iho. fungi — the low mosses, 

 and the reeds and rushes of the ravine and 

 the swamp — are all suitable and valuable mate- 

 rials for the compost heap, and may be re- 

 solved into a healthy aliment for plants. 



SHEEP SHEAKIlXra TN VEKMOJSTT. 



About 1000 of the sheep breeders of Rut- 

 land county were present at the first annual 

 shearing of their association at Rutland, on 

 Wednesday, May 1st. The display of ani- 

 mals was very fine, and the shearing process 

 was carried through with enthusiasm. The 

 animal which produced the greatest weight of 

 fleece in proportion to weight of carcass be- 

 longed to Mr. A. E. Smith, of Clarendon ; 

 live weight, Q)'d>k lbs. ; fleece 14| lbs. Next, 

 "Matchless," owned by Gleason«& Jones, live 

 weight 76 lbs. ; fleece, 151 lbs. On the same 

 day there was a shearing in Shelburne, at 

 which prizes were awarded for the best fleeces, 

 and 16 sheep were sheared, whose average 

 weight of cai'case was 13 lbs. 8 oz. The 

 lightest fleece of the 15 weighed 7 lbs. 14 oz. 

 from an animal which weighed 58 lbs. ; while 

 the largest fleece weighed 20 lbs. and 10 oz. 

 from an animal whose weight was 120 lbs. 3 

 oz. One weighing 91 lbs. yielded a fleece of 



15 lbs. 12^ oz. ; another which weighed 97 lbs. 

 furnished a fleece of 15 lbs. 12^ oz. ; and an- 

 other furnished a fleece of 10 lbs. 15^ oz. from 

 a carcass which weighed only 56 lbs. Still 

 another carcass weighing only 63 lbs. yielded 



16 lbs. 12 oz. of wool. Premiums were award- 

 ed to Henry Thorp and H. II. Newell, Char- 

 lotte, and L. S. Drew, South Burlington. 



Snakes. — We seldom destroy snakes of any 

 kind. There is a powerful prejudice, howev- 

 er, existing in the popular mind against these 

 reptiles, though as a general thing few are 

 more harmless. The common striped snake, 



