618 



NEW ENGLAND FARIVIER. 



Nov 



ashes, well sifted, and three parts lime ground up 

 with oil, and mix them well tojrether. Apply this 

 o the fence with a brush— the first coat thin, the 

 second thick. This adheiVs to the boards or planks 

 so strongly as to resist either an iron tool or fire, 

 and is, besides, impenetrable by water. 



EXTRACTS AND REPLIES. 



WHITE-WASHIXG TREES. 



I would like to ask the New Entcland Farmer's 

 Club if whitewashing fruit trees in spring is of anv 

 benefit to the trees ? t. b. " 



Addison County, VI., SejJt., 1871. 



REMARKS.— Injurious or not, we should never 

 advise it to be done. A thousand times better 

 thing would be to wash them with strong soap 

 suds. That would tend to kill insects, soften the 

 bark, so that the trees may lie easily scraped, if one 

 wishes to make them look a little more neatly, and 

 the suds that diip upon the ground about the 

 roots will be an excellent fertilizer. 



A tree is an organic living thing; always in ac- 

 tion in greater or less degree. In many particu- 

 lars it may be fairly compared to our own bodies. 

 There is undoiilitedly action going on, all the time, 

 through its bark, because the bark has interstices 

 containing cells, and these cells are filled with 

 juices of varying qualities. 



Will not a coat of whitewash, spread over the 

 bark of a tree, impede its action, and if so, injure 

 the tree ? 



How would a coat of whitewash operate on the 

 skin of a man ? The skin is full of pores, or holes, 

 which must be kept open in order to preserve 

 health. Indeed, it is said that if a coat of varnish, 

 or other substance impervious to moisture, be ap- 

 plied to the exterior of the body, death will ensue 

 in about six hours. The experiment was once 

 tried on a child at Florence. On the occasion of 

 Pope Leo the Tenth's accession to the Papal chair, 

 it was desired to have a living figure to represent 

 the Golden Age, and so a child was gilded all over 

 with varnish and gold leaf. The child died in a 

 few hours. If the skin of a pig be covered with a 

 solution of India rubber iu iiaptha, the animal will 

 cease to breath in a couple of hours. 



If, then, the tree lives and acts partly by the 

 agency of its bark, it Avould seem that coating over 

 that l)ark, so as to exclude the external air, would 

 be injurious to the tree. 



To our eye, it is bad taste to whitewash a tree. 

 It does not look Itadly on a fence, a pigpen or even 

 a house, but on a tree it makes a hideous object in 

 the landscape. 



of Brighton, Mass., wrote a book of 356 pages, for 

 which a large price, we think, .fS was asked; Geo. 

 Ilusniaim of Missouri wrote a book of 192 pages, 

 for one dollar, which appears to be the details of 

 his own practice. Two or three translations of 

 European Works with notes by American editors 

 have been printed in this country. We do not feel 

 competent to advise which is the best. 



HOOK ox GRAI'E GROWING. 



I wish to learn what treatise on grape culture 

 affords the best directions as to the" selection of 

 varieties, mode of cultivation, and general manage- 

 ■lent of the vine and its produce. j. x. m. 



Carver, Mass., 8cpt. 25, 1811. 



Remarks. — A few years ago there were several 

 treatises on grape culture published. W. C. Strong 



FIFE AND RED AUSTRALIAN SPRING WHEAT. 



I saw m the Farmer an account of some wheat 

 raised in Vermont, and now enclose a few heads of 

 two different kinds, raised by myself. The bearded 

 wheat is called the Fife wheat, and is a very extra 

 kind. The bald wheat I received from the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, Washington, (a small pack- 

 age) called Red Australian spring wheat. I think 

 it an excellent kind and very productive. From 

 eight common sized bundles I obtained half a 

 bushel. S. M. Baker. 



Rillshoro Bridge, N. II., Sept. 10, 1871. 



Remarks. — For size of ears and plumpness of 

 kernel your specimens are somewhat superior to 

 those from Vermont. Your land was probably 

 the richest, as your straw indiciites a more vigorous 

 growth. We congi-atulate you on your success in 

 wheat raising and thank you for the fine speci- 

 mens of New Hampshire wheat to compare with 

 those of Vermont. 



RULES FOR USE OF BAROMETERS. 



I saw in the New England Farmer a request 

 by a correspondent for a few simple practical rules 

 as a guide to farmers in the use of the barometer. 

 Numerous sugirestions and rules are given by writ- 

 ers on the subject, which are worthy of careful con- 

 sideration, some being valuable; but, after all the 

 rules and directions of others are read and 

 pcmdered, a personal and careful record of the 

 changes of the height of the mercury in toe tube of 

 the instrument, as they occur each day, will bene- 

 fit the ol)server more than mere rules and printed 

 directions. Still they are useful In drawing conclu- 

 sions, if applied at the right time and the results ot 

 directions carefully observed. 



The pressure of the atmosphere sustaining a col- 

 umn of mercury is due to the weight of air and 

 the moisture it contains. Heat and cold also effect 

 changes in the height of mercury in the tuIie of the 

 barometer — heat causing the column to rise, and 

 cold to fall, in that instrument as well as in the 

 thermometer; therefore to render observations of 

 the instrument perfect, it is necessary to reduce 

 it to the freezing point bj' means of the attached 

 thermometer, which indicates the temperature of the 

 mercury in the barometer. Some instruments, like 

 those manufactured by J. Green of New York, are 

 fitted with a mechanical contrivance for doing this, 

 but for common barometers, a table of numbers to be 

 added or subtracted from the observed height, as 

 the attached thermometer indicates a higher or 

 lower temperature, is necessary ; else, reading 

 the of)served height without applying the reduc- 

 tion the mercury would seem to be rising when ac- 

 tually falling; at times apparently jjresaging a 

 storm, or standing at rest, when reduction would 

 show coming changes in tlie weather. Tables suit- 

 ctl to various kinds of barometers are published 

 Ijy the Smithsonian Institute. I use the "Wood- 

 ruff l)arometer," manufactured by Charles Wilder, 

 Feterboro', N. H., and having noted the results of 

 ol)scrvations of the instrument, wil} merely give a 

 few general rules by which I am guided in using 



