1871. 



NEW ENGLAOT) FARIMER. 



39J 



the feeding box to a level with their knees, thus al- 

 lowing them to take their natural position in mas- 

 ticating and swallowing their food. The benelicial 

 efiect of a tight strap around the neck of a cribber 

 is, in ray opinion, the result of the relief it atibrds 

 to the irritated throat. I have never experienced 

 any benefit from medicine, or any other treatment 

 in case of confirmed cribljers. Hence as an ounce 

 of prevention is better tlian a pound of cure, I 

 would recommend low feeding boxes, and exercise 

 in proportion to feed and condition of the animal. 

 E. Richardson. 

 Fitchburg, Mass., June, 1871. 



AGE of apple TKEES I'OR BUDDING OR GRAFTING. 



I 



Having some four or five hundred young apple | 

 seedlings, raised with especial care, I would es- j 

 teem it a favor, if you would inform me in your j 

 most valuable paper about them. They are not | 

 grown for sale, but to transplant for my o\m, or j 

 at least, my children's benefit. They are in the 

 third year from the seed, and looking finely, i 

 Shall I have better trees in the end if I postpone j 

 budding or grafting them for another season or j 

 two, than if I have it done this summer ? I do not \ 

 ■wish to force their growth or hasten their period i 

 of fruitage at the expense of the best results by ' 

 and by. I would be glad to know if giving age to ; 

 their roots before budding or grafting will add 

 essentially to their chance of becoming perfect 

 trees. S. B. Keach. 



Providence, R. I., June 18,1871. 



Remarks. — If the truth of the adage that "it is 

 hard to learn old dogs new tricks," is applicable 

 to the roots of the seedling which we wish to learn 

 to feed a tree of a different kind ; or if we avail 

 ourselves of the practice of experienced nursery- 

 men, our conclusion must be that budding or 

 grafting should be done earl}% and that you will 

 not gain anything by delaying another year or two 

 longer, if your trees are of suitable size for bud- 

 dmg. Budding, which is applicable to stocks of 

 from one-fourth to three-fourths of an inch in 

 diameter, has several advantages over grafting, 

 which is usually performed where the stock is one 

 inch or more in diameter. Budding is a much less 

 laborious, or rather much more expeditious process 

 than grafting ; and if the bud fails, the operation 

 is far less injurious to the stock than that of graft- 

 ing. For either process the trees should be in a 

 thrifty condition at the time the work is performed. 

 Our impression is that nurserymen bud largely 

 stocks two yeai's of age, where the trees are on 

 good soil, and from that up to four j'ears of age, — 

 but are governed more by size than age. 



K. O. and j. 11. ON CORN GROWING. 



I notice an article from K. 0. He complains of 

 some writer that thinks his statement is too indefi- 

 nite. A farmer who writes to benefit his brother 

 fiirmers ought to give his name, place of residence, 

 his method of doing his work, with all the items of 

 expense; also the number of acres under cultiva- 

 tion, with the income in bushels or pounds, as the 

 case may be, with the market price of such pro- 

 ducts. 



I would be willing to go a long distance to hear 

 a discussion on farming, between Mr. J. H. of 

 Shrewsbury, and Mr. K. O. of some indefinite place. 

 I will make a definite point. K. 0. says it has 

 been a practice to put on from forty to forty-six 



cords of manure, worth as much as stable manure, 

 then from fifty to seventy-five barrels of fish, and 

 after this, an indefinite amount of manure in the 

 hills. All this for an indefinite number of bushels 

 of corn, and a crop of oats, at a two years' expense 

 to raise them. Then go over the same indefinite 

 course again for a second crop of corn and grain, 

 with hay seed — (Does K. O. mean to be under- 

 stood that he sows some or all kinds of grain and 

 hay seed with his corn) — which completes the rota- 

 tion (what a rotation) ! and gives five or six crops 

 of hay ? 



K. O. thinks it difficult to give corn too much 

 manure. He says it must not bo put in the hill. 

 To be more definite he should have said it should 

 not be put where the corn could be affected by it. 

 He compares manure in the hill to rum in man. 

 What an idea! Let us define. Give to every man 

 a ban-el of rum, he would soon kill himself, and 

 the race would soon be extinct ; but let the mod- 

 erate drinker go to the saloon and Iniy a glass at a 

 time, and he may live long enough to raise up 

 quite a crop of drunkards. So with corn ; you 

 spread on some fifty cords, more or less, of ma- 

 nure, and you can raise a small crop of com for 

 years, but should you put that quantity of ma- 

 nure in the hills, you would probably burn up the 

 crop at once. Let us keep some kind of a medium 

 course. For instance, when more than sixty 

 bushels of shelled corn are raised to the acre, we 

 get beyond what is profitable. 



There are several questions of magnitude in- 

 volved in the article of K. 0. which I should be 

 glad to review, but I am limited to seventy-five 

 minutes, at this time. If J. H. of Shrewsliury, 

 and K. O. of somewhere, will continue the discus- 

 sion in reference to the corn crop, I will willingly 

 write my views over my own name. We three 

 might form a triangle, that would give some kind 

 of limitation, (as the surveyor of land would say) 

 to the subject of the corn crop. 



RoDERT Mansfield. 



Wellesley, Mass., June 2, 1811. 



bark lice on trees. 



I wish to call the attention of farmers to the im- 

 portance of destroying the bark scale both on pear 

 and apple trees. It is not generally known hov/ 

 much injury is done by these small insects. Many 

 orchards are almost destroyed by them, for want 

 of due care. The oyster-shell scale is by many en- 

 tirely overlooked, it being of nearly the color 

 of tiie l)ark of the tree. The white scale is more 

 visible and easier detected. In 1838, I bcL^an to ex- 

 terminate them by a wash of potash, and suc- 

 ceeded to clear my trees that were overrun with 

 both kinds. I continued it yearly, in the spring of 

 the year, and my trees have not sutfered since, 

 while many others are complaining of the injury 

 their trees are suffering. For the last three years 

 I have used the crude wood ashes, unleached. I 

 put about thi-ee quarts of ashes into a bucket of 

 water, and mix it well, and with an old broom put 

 it on the trees, rubliing them well with the broom. 

 It leaves a quantity of the ashes on the tree, and 

 every rain gives a new wash from the ashes left on 

 the "bark. I have found this a perfect remedy if 

 done faithfully. It should be stirred often, so as 

 to give a due ([uantity of the ashes to eveiy tree. 

 It may be put on at any time. But I would re- 

 cominend April and August as the Ijest times for 

 application. The ashes and old broom are in pos- 

 session of every one, so no excuse can be made for 

 not exterminating the great evil of bark lice or 

 scale. S. A. Shurtleff. 



Spring Grove, Brookline, Mass., 1871. 



Remarks. — We thank our correspondent for his 

 valuable suggestions in regard to this evil. Per- 



