1871. 



NEW ENGLAirt) FAEMER. 



603 



For the New England Farmer, 

 FIRE IN THE 'WOODS. 



Twice, very recently, we hear of very de- 

 structive fires in the great forest of the West. 

 In both cases the damage, estimated pecunia- 

 rily, is stated at a very high figure. It is safe 

 to say that this kind of injury is always under- 

 stated. The loss is not only for the present 

 time, but still more for the future, and its 

 amount cannot easily be calculated. The ef- 

 fect of a forest on climate cannot be estimat- 

 ed ; the pecuniary value, only very imperfect- 



This manifold loss ought to be prevented. 

 Especially ought it to be in the Northern and 

 Eastern States. We cannot afford to lose our 

 forests. It takes many years to restore them. 

 We ought, at once, to take measures to pre- 

 vent the recurrence of these losses. 



Everywhere iu Xew England, the forests 

 are shamefully neglected. Everywhere they 

 need care. Whoever will look into a forest, 

 will find that nearly every tree needs to be cared 

 for. The old, dead branches, near the ground, 

 are injuring the growth and the value of the 

 whole tree. There are many white pines, for 

 example, which, if properly managed, will be- 

 come valuable timber trees, but which, if neg- 

 lected, will be of very little value. Every tim- 

 ber-man knows that a dead branch left near 

 the base of a tree becomes a knot, which al- 

 most destroys the value of the tree as lumber. 

 In every forest therefore, all the dead and dy- 

 ing limbs should be carefully cut off. These 

 limbs are always of value as fire-wood, espe- 

 cially if cut off as soon as they begin to die. 



Then, in many places, the trees are too 

 close. The earth cannot furnish sufficient 

 nourishment to give them a profitably rapid 

 growth. Wherever they are too thick, some 

 of them, the poorest, crookedest, and most 

 unsightly, should be cut down to the ground. 

 Everywhere they are now valuable as fuel. 

 The same is true of all evergreens. Where- 

 ever they have grown up naturally, they are 

 usually too thick. One half would be better 

 than the whole. The same is true in regard to 

 many of the hard-wood trees ; not so strikingly 

 true, however, as in regard to evergreens. 



If all these superfluous trees and old decay- 

 ing branches were removed, indeed, if only 

 the dead or dying branches vere taken away, 

 the danger from fire would be very much di- 

 minished ; in many forests, entirely guarded 

 against. G. b. e. 



1,800 pounds to the horse, and they display 

 a,great developement of bone and muscle, 

 and from their appearance in the street they 

 show you a very lively and easy gait, and look 

 tough and hardy, and are a breed well adapt- 

 ed to this country. I should prefer this breed 

 of horses to any other imported from Europe 

 on account of their feet, which is one of the 

 most essential points with us. And this is one 

 of the worst fejtures of European draught 

 horses, — they have very poor feet, and cannot 

 stand our pavements but a very few months 

 at the furthest, on account of their feet giving 

 out. But this is not the case with the Perche- 

 ron horse ; I think these have as fine a set of 

 feet as I ever saw under a horse, and I think 

 that the above gentlemen could not have se- 

 lected a better breed of horses in Europe, so 

 well adapted to this country, if they had 

 sought to do so. I wish them a hearty success 

 in introducing this valuable stock into Ameri 

 ca, and I think that the many friends of the 

 equine race will join with me and say they 

 have done great credit to themselves, and ful- 

 filled the demand of the American people in 

 draught horses. Friend Stoddard expects an- 

 other stable of studs in a few days, from Scot- 

 land, which he says will be fine, and I have 

 no reason to doubt his word. He generally 

 means what he says, and is a great lover of 

 good horses. 



MOKE PERCHEROJSTS. 



A correspondent of the Turf, Field and 

 Farm writes that he has lately examined in 

 New York, at the stable of Robert Stoddard, 

 Greenwich St., five fine stallions, imported 

 from France by Messrs. M. D. & E. C. Covell, 

 of Delaware, Delaware County, Ohio, at a cost 

 of nearly $4,000 per head. They are of the 

 Percheron breed, and weigh, on an average, 



HO"W MONEY "WAS MADE BY FARM- 

 ING. 



A correspondent of the Canada Farmer de- 

 tails a conversation he had with a man from 

 Devonshire County, England, who was appren- 



' ticed when a boy to a farmer there by a par- 



, ish. On landing in Canada he had half a sov- 

 ereign left, a wife and one child. He soon 

 found work and better pay than in England 



j where he could earn only fourteen pence a 

 day. He worked for wages six years, when 

 having saved "a bit of money," he hired a 



. farm. We quote from the conversation : — 

 "Master had a farm that he let. He could 



' not get any one to keep it more than one or 

 two years, and they generally made a poor 

 mouth at the rent, as the farm was so bad ; and 



j well it might be bad, for they sold everything 

 off it, and never fed even the hay or straw ; 

 it was very foul, too, with weeds. At last no 

 one would take it, and I told master that the 

 reason no one could do well was because they 

 did not know how to farm. I knew this from 

 my experience in England, where we used to 

 farm well and raise lots of stock on our tur- 

 nips, and get plenty of manure. Besides, we 

 always used there with our turnips guano and 

 bone dust, and were sure of a good crop. So 

 master let me the place at rather more than 

 three dollars per acre^ which is too much 

 rent ; but I was glad to get it any way. I got 



