26 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
use of some of the recipes, which have ap¬ 
peared in the Ladies Department, and trust 
your lady readers will furnish many more ; 
but pray, Mr. Editor, banish all medicated 
cake and bread from your columns, that we 
may the sooner see them banished from the 
“ Recipe Rooks ” and tables of our house¬ 
keepers. I have a horror of this mode of 
cooking and beg you will use your influence 
in inducing your lady friends to lay it aside. 
Brooklyn, Conn. R- 
For the American Agriculturist 
CATTLE AND SHADE TREES. 
In a late number of the American Agri¬ 
culturist, there is an article on the subject of 
shade trees, as being injurious to pasture- 
lands, &c. This article is the practical ex¬ 
perience of Mr. A. B. Dickinson, of Hornby, 
Steuben, Co., N. Y. Mr. Dickinson has 
come to the conclusion that shade trees in 
pastures are an injury and a nuisance, caus¬ 
ing his cattle to spend so much time under 
the “ shade,” that they will not eat, and of 
course will not fatten so well as in open pas¬ 
tures ; so he has commenced a general 
“ death” to the trees by laying the ax at the 
root. Very well. Now I shall not attempt 
to say that Mr. D. is not right, when he says 
that his cattle do much better in open pas¬ 
tures—that is to say, they make more beef 
in such pastures than when fed in well 
shaded fields. Still, this policy, to me, looks 
like a narrow-contracted and short-sighted 
management, even where farming is carried 
on for “ profit” and nothing else. 
Mr. Dickinson has a lone farm of some 
2,500 acres, probably owning in all some 
3.000 acres of land, and he buys about 1,000 
head of steers every spring for fattening, 
and still he has come to the conclusion that 
he can not afford to let his cattle have shade 
to stand under during the heat of the season, 
as he looses money by the operation. * * 
But, in some editorial remarks upon the 
article, you, Mr. Editor, say in substance 
that trees injuriously affect young crops un¬ 
der them ; that grass will not contain as 
much nutriment when grown in shade as in 
the open sunlight, and that cattle will not 
feed as well under trees as out, owing to the 
grass being of an inferior quality. And, 
that although cattle and sheep may appear 
to enjoy themselves much better under the 
shade in a very hot day than in the sun, yet 
flies and insects follow them under the shade 
and annoy them quite as much as in the sun. 
Very well. Now, allowing all this to be 
true, yet the shaded cattle have an advan¬ 
tage—namely, they are protected from the 
sun, and can afford to whip off and kick flies 
under the shade better than when grazing. 
But I claim that this is only one side of the 
question. 
How much groups or shade trees protect 
cattle and sheep from storms throughout the 
season, is a consideration not entered in the 
account. It is well known that, in our cli¬ 
mate, from the middle of May to the middle 
of June, we have many cold storms of rain, 
and also from September to the 20th of Oc¬ 
tober, including the usual equinoctial storms, 
of more or less severity. Every farmer can 
see that the trees break a storm of two- 
thirds its force, and the cattle will resort to 
such shelters in all cases when they are at 
hand. Is not this fact worth something, and 
did Mr. D. consider this point well when he 
commenced a general “ onslaught” upon his 
shade trees'? 
Again, Mr. D. is opposed to running 
streams and ponds of water for cattle to 
stand in, as they are an injury to the growth 
of fatting cattle. Rather a new idea, but it 
may be a true one after all. But one thing 
is certain, cattle should at all times have 
pure, running water to drink, whether in 
large quantities or small. And would not 
our cold, drenching storms of rain, in spring 
and fall, wuthout any protection whatever 
by trees, be as injurious to cattle as resting 
about or in a pond of water during the heat 
of summer'? Neither is it always true that 
grass growing under trees is rejected by 
grazing stock, as I have often seen instances 
to the contrary, where grass has been fed 
down quite as closely as in the open pasture. 
But when such grass is rejected, it is gene¬ 
rally owing to the stamping of the cattle and 
their droppings. 
Pasture lands remain green much longer 
when they are well protected by trees, than 
if the lands are entirely open. This fact, I 
think, every grazier could see for himself 
during the season just past, if he gave the 
subject any attention. L. Durand. 
Derby, Ct., March 1855. 
HOP GROWING. 
SOIL AND MODE OF CULTURE, CONTINUED. 
The preliminary processes are well de¬ 
scribed in a letter from a hop grower of 
great experience in the town of Wilmington. 
“ Deep, loamy soil,” says he, “ is the best for 
hops. Good com land is always good hop 
land. To prepare land for hops, plow nine 
or ten inches deep ; spread eight cords of 
manure to the acre ; mix it with the soil by 
cross-plowing; furrow or mark out the land 
the same as for corn ; plant the hop roots in 
every other hill; this gives three-fourths of 
the ground for corn or potatoes the first year. 
Hops have running roots, from one foot to 
three feet long, with joints or eyes to them. 
These roots are cut from the old hill every 
spring after they have been planted two years. 
The joints or eyes are two or three inches 
apart. These are the roots to plant; cut 
them so as to have three joints to a piece, 
and put three pieces to a hill. Cover them 
three inches deep. The first year they pro¬ 
duce no hops. The second year the quan¬ 
tity and quality are likely to be as good as 
ever from the same field. Hops are com¬ 
monly planted at a distance which gives eight 
hundred hills to the acre. They do not com¬ 
monly receive, after being planted, more than 
two shovelfuls of manure to each hill. This 
makes about four cords to the acre. They 
are on poles from thirteen to twenty feet 
long. There are some farmers in the west 
part of our town who are making some im¬ 
provements in growing hops. As I pass by 
their yards, I notice the poles are longer than 
they were in former years. 
“ In the early part of my life I lived with 
the largest hop grower then in Reading. 
After leaving him I raised hops for myself 
four years, and from experience I am satis¬ 
fied that it is as easy with new white birch 
poles twenty-five feet long, instead of poles 
from thirteen to twenty feet long, and with 
eight cords of manure to the acre in the place 
of four cords, to raise from one thousand to 
sixteen hundred pounds to the acre, as to 
raise one-half that quantity with the short 
poles and small quantity of manure. The 
hoeing would be the same, and the picking 
would be less. The long pole, if it has ever 
so many hops on it, is always easier and 
quicker picked than the short pole. It is 
seldom we see first-rate hops growing on 
a short pole ; equally as seldom do we see 
refuse hops growing on a long pole. Tt is 
said by some that long poles strain the roots. 
I think it more straining to the roots to have 
vines go beyond the top of the short pole, 
bend and split open, the sap of the vine run¬ 
ning out, and the hops starving for the want 
of it. I once knew a man who tried the ex¬ 
periment of white birch poles twenty-five 
feet long. The result was, that two men 
built a hop bin in the morning, carried it out 
into the field, and picked forty-two hills, 
which produced one hundred and one pounds 
of first-sort hops, inspected by Col. Jaques, 
and pronounced by him to be the best that 
season. Fifty pounds would have been a 
great day’s work of short poles.” 
Another practical hop grower, writing from 
Lunenburg, says : “ In answer to your re¬ 
quest for information respecting the cultiva¬ 
tion of hops in this town, I would reply, that 
there are fifteen hop growers, and the quan¬ 
tity yielded the present year was about fif¬ 
teen thousand pounds. With respect to the 
mode of cultivation, the ground is plowed as 
early in the spring as it can conveniently be 
done. The hills are then opened and the 
running roots cut off. They are then ma¬ 
nured upon the hill with one or two shovel¬ 
fuls of good compost manure, which is im¬ 
mediately covered with the hoe. They are 
then ready for the poles. After these are 
set, and the vines are of suitable length for 
tying, this is done. They are then plowed 
and hoed. This is usually performed three 
times before haying, and once after, this last 
being principally for the purpose of keeping 
down the weeds. At the proper time, usu¬ 
ally about the first of September, picking is 
commenced. Some two or three weeks af¬ 
ter picking and drying they are pressed into 
bales of suitable size, and are then ready for 
the market.” 
From what has been said, it will be seen 
that the proper time for setting out the roots 
or cuttings is in the spring. These do not 
grow luxuriafitly, and need not be poled the 
first year. Some cultivators are accustomed 
to cover the hills in the winter with a shovel¬ 
ful of manure, to prevent any liability to in¬ 
jury by the frost. What has been said above 
from practical and experienced cultivators in 
this State will give an idea of the mode of 
treatment during the first season, and to 
some extent during subsequent seasons, of 
the hop plantation. From the following ex¬ 
tract from the British Husbandry, it will be 
seen that the practice is a little more thor¬ 
ough in England, though substantially the 
same: “ When the spots for the different 
hills have been marked out, the earth is dug- 
out of each to the depth of about two feet, 
and of nearly the same width; and then, if 
a portion of fine garden mold can be got, or, 
if not, a compost of well-rotted dung and 
earth, it is placed in the holes, which are 
filled with finely-pulverized soil. The plants 
are then put in. Some put three or more in 
a circle, [hill,] others two, and some only one 
good plant; put the most general plan is to 
place three in each hole, at the depth of 
about six inches, and great nicety should be 
observed in fixing them. The holes made by 
the dibble for that purpose are in a slanting 
direction, outward, so that the roots of the 
hop may grow in an inclined position, in 
which the poles are afterward placed, with¬ 
out allowing their vines to be interlaced. 
Some careful growers, indeed, put the fine 
mold gently in, around and upon the plants, 
with the land. The plants should also be 
raised above the natural level of the ground, 
both in order that the hop may rise high 
enough to form the hillock to be made around 
them, and that the roots may have a great 
depth of loose earth below them ; for, when 
