34 



THE NEW GENESEE FARMER, 



Board Fence. 



There are three methods of making board fence, all 

 of which without doubt are familiar to our readers; 

 but our motive for describing them here, is for the pur- 

 pose of comment. 



The simplest kind is made by setting the poets, and 

 nailing on the boards — nothing more. It is deficient 

 in strength, and ought never to be adopted nor recom- 

 mended. 



The second kind is made by adding a strip on the 

 top ot the posts, which adds materially to the strength 

 of the fence; but it affords no protection from the rain 

 either to the nails or to that part of the boards that are 

 in contact with the posts. In consequence of being 

 thus exposed to the wet, the wood decays, the nails 

 rust, and in a few years dilapidation commences. * 



The beet kind of board fence resembles the latter 

 method, by having a strip on the top of the poets; but 

 it reaches far enough in front to cover upright stripe 

 which are fastened by nails passing through the boards 

 into the poets. These protect the joints and most of 

 the nails frem the wet. This kind of fence is not 

 only very strong, but very durable; and not liable to 

 get out ol order if a nail or two should chance to be 

 defective, as the upright strip must give way before the 

 boards can fall down, or get out of place. The ad- 

 ditional expense may be considered as insurance. 



There is another kind of insurance however, that 

 ihould not be forgotten: This is plugging the poets 

 with salt. In 1824 William Phillips, of Philadelphia 

 county, wrote to the secretary of the Pennsylvania 

 Agricultural Society as follows:— 



n»r^"f ^^"^ ■^P-'""^'' '""'■ g"'^ P°s's of Delaware 

 oak, of very inferior quality; a two inch auger hole 



Va at!']t -^^ ""^ T'''- '" «"PP°« highly finish- 

 ed gates they were cased with boards, and some salt 

 put inside of the case near the ground. The vosts 

 are now as sound as when put down, and bid fair to 

 last lor some generations to come." 



We should presume however, that posts already set, 

 or to be set, would not require to be bored lhrot,<rh if 

 the direction of the auger be properly gauged^ and 

 then one plug would answer. ^ 



Preservation of Woodlands. 



In looking round the country, we find the most 

 common management of wood-lots to be as iollowe- 

 Cattle and sheep are allowed to range through them- 

 and all young trees within their reach which they are 

 fond ol browsing, such as the maple, the basswood, or 

 the elm, are effectually destroyed. Oak and hickory 

 also suffer; and between being overshadowed by large 

 trees and nipped by live stock, they soon become 

 worthless and stunted even if they survive. 



In the mean time the axe and the tempest are grad- 

 ually thinning the primeval array of the forest A 

 sound tree is wanted for a sill or a beam; or the ne 

 cessary supply of rails for the farm; and declinin<r 

 ones are prostrated by the storm, or cut for fire wood° 

 As the residue stand more distant from each other, the 

 leaves which formerly supplied an annual covering for 

 the roots, are now swept away by the winds; the 

 grass gets possession; and though young trees will of- 

 ten flourish in the open pasture, old trees which have 

 always stood in the crowded forest, cramped and con- 

 fined in their roots, are not prepared for the change- 

 imd the lot from a wood gradually becomes a sha'dy 

 l)a3ture. 



Yet it is necessary for landed proprietors to look 

 fi^irwardto the ne.xt generation; and our advice would 



be: Inclose your woodlands, allowing no live stock to 

 run through it that can damage the smallest tree; for 

 though there may be a convenience sometimes in vio- 

 lating this rule, yet it will be paU for at a dear rate; 

 and it will be cheaper to hire pasture of a neighbor 

 even at a high price. Let this incloeure be sacred 

 from all intrusion of the kind. 



But large trees and small ones will not flourish to. 

 gether; and when large trees are felled there is fre- 

 quently a destructive smashing among the juniors of 

 the wood. When the farmer therefore wants rails 

 and fire-wood, let him cut down a portion annually, 

 say a quarter or a half an acre, sparing nothing that 

 he finds on the ground, but let the axe and the brush- 

 hook perform their respective parts. Even saplings 

 will make durable rails, if cut at the right season— not 

 of the moon but of the sun,— in summer, autumn, or 

 the early part of winter; and then the young growth 

 will have nothing to overshadow it. On the reverse, it 

 will soon overshadow the whole ground, retain the 

 leaves as they fall, and have their roots protected from 

 the cold of winter, and the heat and drought of sum- 

 mer. 



We believe it is not an uncommon opinion that oak, 

 chestnut, or hickory lands, are the only kinds worth 

 preserving for an undergrowth; but we have never 

 seen a more thrifty wood than one that was principally 

 maple, elm. ash, butternut, and basswood. The lat- 

 ter kinds indeed are more injured by cattle than the 

 former; but when they have not been destroyed, and 

 have a clear field, their growth is very rapid. f 



Vol. 2 . 



by our admonition. Were we mistaken? We will 

 state the facts: Its tail has been snipped off, but the 

 nucleous is left to shine with its original splendor. 



Some son of an apology might possibly have been 

 invented, if the Dictionary had contained a notice of 

 other professions, such as botanist, horticulturist, 

 *c., but nothing of the kind has been found; and we 

 apprehend that some will not resist the impression 

 that he has run off the track to have a cut at vegetable 

 "monsters." 



A more serious view of the matter however may be 

 taken. Was the learned professor in the line of his 

 duty, as an instructor of the yovng, when he wrote 

 that definition ? It is a caricature, uncalled for, and 

 unworthy of such a place. The true definition, which 

 we copy from Webster, is as follows:— 



Florist. A cultivator of flowers; one skilled in 

 flowers." I 



Working Butter. 



It has been a custom in our family, time out of 

 mind, not to use any water in working butter, under 

 the impression that the latter would be injured by such 

 contact, and disposed to become rancid. Instead 

 therefore of washing out the buUermilk, it is carefully 

 worked out with a wooden ladle. The following ex- 

 tract from the account of the Holetein dairy syetem 

 lately copied into the New Geneeee Farmer,* will ex- 

 plain the whole affair. We copy it again leet some of 

 our readers might pass it without notice. 



"The churning being completed, the butter is ta- 

 ken offby means of a large wooden ladle, and carried 

 in a tub directly to the butter cellar, where, in a Inrae 

 trough, very emoothly polished off inside, and provi- 

 ded with a plughole at the lower extremity, the butter 

 le slightly wx>rked, and salted with the purest salt; 

 then moulded with a wooden ladle into a mass at the 

 upper end of the trough, and left for some hours to 

 sla'""ed — '^'■'^"'"S " '« 'boroughly beat or rather 

 " The butter in Holstein is seldom if ever washed, 

 as water is believed not only to rob it of its richness 

 and flavor, bm as being itself susceptible of putrefac- 

 tion, and inimical to the preservation of the but 

 ter. J 



' Volume 2, page 3. 



Florist. 



From Eaton's Botanical Dictionary modernized for 

 1840 we copy the following: 



" Florist. One whose employment is that of cre- 

 ating monsters; that is double and various colored- 

 as carnations, double roses, &c." 



judicious precaution. If throwing hot nails into oil ^t7 

 x^eme their rusting, a boarj C.ncli.V."'ery%°X% 



folks who are fond of queer things will be pleased 

 with this definition; but those who look more grave- 

 ly at such matters, may wonder how it ever found its 

 way into a Dictionary of Scientific terms ! They 

 may even be inclined to think it not only vituperative 

 but unjust; and unfortunately the learned professor 

 has furnished his old friends with no evidence to the 

 contrary. 



As early as the year 1832, * we ventured to call his 

 attentujn t# this impropriety-forso we must consider 

 it; and indulged the hope for a time that he had profited 



* Geiicscc Farmer, volun.e 2, p.igc 77. 



Field Beets. 

 A respected correspondent at page 23, ascribes the 

 loss of his beet crop to their having been planted so 

 late as " May 24th;" but we did not plant our Mangel 

 Wurtzel (Vol. 1, p. 130) until about the 7th of the 

 month following; and we think that if he had seen 

 them a short time before they were gathered, he would 

 have spoken more favorably of the beet culture. 



There is a great difference between the labor neces- 

 sary to secure a crop of potatoes and a crop of beets. 

 In topping the latter we used no knife; but wrenched 

 off the leaves with our hands— a much more expedi- 

 tious way; and the beets scarcely required any dig- 

 ging. A great proportion of them came up very ea- 

 sily; and we filled our corn baskets long before a pota- 

 to digger would have unearthed half the quantity. 



That experiment of ours which ran counter to the 

 opinions of some good farmers in several particulars, 

 and succeeded in all of them,— has given us much sat- 

 isfaction. The time of planting however, was later 

 than we would recommend, except in a case of neces- 

 sity like our own; but the exemption from hard frosts 

 until late in autumn, was most favorable,— for they 

 were not gathered till in the 11th month. In some 

 years undoubtedly they would have been damaged by 

 such exposure. 



We think one cause of our success was in the scald- 

 ing, which hastened the germination of the seeds. 

 They were put into a vessel containing about two 

 quarts which was then filled with boiling water, and 

 left to stand for several days. Those who are afraid of 

 hot water hov^;ever, may use that which is only tepid; 

 but we would earnestly recommend that the seed in 

 no case, be planted dry or without soaking. 



Another cause of our success was in using fresh 

 vianure from the stable in all its rankness ; and we 

 hope that the practice of our friend "Seneca" » on 

 this point, as well as our own experiment, will re- 

 move all fears in regard to this important auxiliary, t 



Trimming Orchards. 



This is a very necessary and important operation. 

 Large apples of the same sort are better than small 

 ones, not only on account of the size, but the fla- 

 vor is more perfectly developed,— especially when 

 they grow well exposed to the sun and air. Our rule 

 is, the higher the color, the higher the flavor, of that 

 particular kind. Now when the branches become 

 crowded and proportionately stunted, we have no 

 right to expect fine fruit; and the only remedy is judi- 

 cious pruning. 



Writers have differed in regard to the best time of 

 performing this operation, some preferring the winter 



New Genesee Fnrmer, volume 1, page 147. He would 

 render our journal more interesting by using his own proper 



