536 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Sept. 



some experiments made, we think the following 

 process will bring nearly or quite a smooth sur- 

 face : — 



Wet the parts with warm water ; ilonhle a piece 

 of brown pajier live or six times, soak it in the 

 warm water and lay it on the place ; api)ly on that 

 a warm l)ut not hot flatiron till the moisture is 

 evaporated. If the bruises are not gone repeat the 

 process. After two applications tiie dent or bruise 

 will be raised to the surface. If the bruise be 

 small, merely soak it with warm water, and hold 

 a red hot iron near the surface, keeping tlie surface 

 continually wet — the bruise Mill soon disappear. 



Degeneracy of Faem Horses. — On copying 

 the substance of a late article in the Farmer on 

 this subject, the Germantown Telegraph remarks : — 



We trust these statements M'ill luwe due influ- 

 ence in opening the eyes of our agricultural so- 

 cieties in order that they m.ay see clearer the error 

 they have committed and the absolute importance 

 of doing something — doing a great deal — to stop 

 the degeneracy of our working horses and for the 

 improvement of them. Some weeks ago the Ger- 

 mantown Telegraph contained an ex(^ellent article 

 from a western con-espondcnt, on the Conestoga 

 horse, which has been copied far and near, and we 

 hope with good etfect! The Percheron horse, now 

 being introduced, otFers the very op])ortunity de- 

 sired to set about improving the v.orking horse, 

 and may be regarded as the very animal for the 

 purpose. 



NEW THEORY OF OKCHAKD 

 TURE. 



CUL- 



Mr. IMeehan, editor of, the Gardener^s 

 Montlily, who is not only a scientific botanist 

 and horticulturist, but a close and careful ob- 

 server of nature, says : 



Nearly twenty-five years ago, we found that 

 the root fibres of trees were only ahniial — 

 like the leaves they died every year. In 1853 

 we published it as a fact ; we have fought it 

 through until we believe it is now accepted as 

 i-cientijic truth. ' They have the same relation 

 to the main roots as the leaves have to the 

 branches excei)t that while the leaves are the 

 pre{)arers of the food — the cooks, — the fibres 

 are the providers — the Inisbandmen of the 

 cooks. Just as the branches are of use only 

 as supporters of the leaves, which, like the 

 ancijBnt rib of Adam, are formed by morpho- 

 logical laws out of tree bodies ; so the main roots 

 are only of benefit in so far as they allbrd the 

 material out of which fibres are funned, to 

 hold the tree in position, and possibly, in a 

 very small degree, to draw in moisture. 



Rememberingthis, now take up very carefully 

 a young tree, and we fhid that the fibres are 

 nearly all on the SKr/'arc, and that they de- 

 crease in number and importance with every 

 inch of depth. In the largest trees scarcely 

 a fibre will be found one foot from the toj) ; 

 large roots — ta[) roots — you may and will find, 

 but no root tliat is of the slightest benefit to 

 the nutrition of tlie tree. How then a tree can 

 be benefited by tlie destruction of this large 

 army of agricultural laborers, toiling at the 



surface to maintain the gi-owing nation thriving 

 in its many industrial occupations above them, 

 we do not understand. 



Mr. Meehau therefore advocates the non- 

 culture of the orchard, allowing it to grow up 

 to grass, in preference ; though mulching, to 

 prevent the growth of grass, is better. 



SCRAPING TREES, 



The object in scraping the trunks of old ap- 

 [)le trees is to remove the scales of dead bark, 

 under which insects hide : but as a general 

 rule there is not much advantage in the opera- 

 tion, as there are hundreds of other hiding 

 places nearly as accessible as the trees. The 

 codling moth, for example, if not hiding un- 

 der these scales to undergo its transformation, 

 will find fences, boards, grass, weeds, &c., 

 from which the Hying insect will readily reach 

 the young apples. "Washing the trunks of 

 young trees may assist in promoting a healthy 

 surface bark, in some instances. Soapsuds 

 answers well, and if weak may be used at any 

 time of year ; if stronger, or if a solution of 

 potash is used, it should be done when the 

 leaves are off, or the tree not growing. 

 Rough bark may be scraped at any time. We 

 desire it, however, to be distinctly understood 

 that we attach very little importance to these 

 operations; but that good cultivation, for 

 promoting a thrifty, healthy growth, is far 

 more important, and will give a healthy bark 

 in a much better manner. Those who wash 

 the stems of their trees, it is true, usually have 

 good orchards ; but it is because the same in- 

 dustry and attention which induces them to do 

 it, also leads them to attend to good manage- 

 ment generally. — Country Gentleman. 



The Cost of Raising Cattle North. — 

 I will try and tell you wliat it costs to raise a 

 ste(ir till he is three years old. First, take a 

 calf at the first of May. Feeding him milk 

 and a little meal for the first six mouths, §5 ; 

 then he wants a pint of meal a day for the 

 first winter — say four bushels, at 7."jc., about 

 market rates, $3 ; three-quarters of a ton of 

 hay at $10 per ton, .$7.50. The second year, 

 thirty weeks at pasture, 25c. per week, $7.50 ; 

 a (juart of meal a day for twenty-two weeks, 

 $3.75; a ton of hay, §10, beside running to 

 a straw stack. Third year, twenty-six weeks 

 pasturing at 50c. \wv week, $13 ; two tons of 

 hay, $20 ; foin- quarts of meal a day for six 

 months, twent\'-foiir bushels, $18. 



We now have a three-jear-old steer at the 

 cost of $87.75. The steer will now, if he has- 

 not been jjinched nmch during the summer, 

 weigli 1,()00 pounds or over, and will sell for 

 Gc. to 6 l-2c. a pound — probably the latter 

 price— say $108, or a profit of "$20. The 

 manure will pay for the care and more too. 

 If I am wrong, will not Mr. J. M. Ri'eder, or 

 some one that has had more experience, tell 

 me ? — Cor. liural Ncic Yorker. 



