APPLE ORCHARDS.—-NO. 6. 
43 
tions of Mr. Charles Henry Hall of New York. 
The cows are noble animals, well bred, and ex¬ 
cellent milkers. 
Farm of Mr. Joseph hatting. —This is one of 
the few farms on Long Island which is still chiefly 
devoted to the production of wool. Formerly large 
flocks of fine-wooled sheep were kept here; but 
the low price of the article, in consequence of the 
great competition from the boundless prairies of the 
west, has obliged the farmers here, generally to re¬ 
linquish the wool-growftig business for some¬ 
thing more profitable. Mr. Latting’s farm contains 
150 acres. His flock is composed of about 300 
Saxon sheep, which are among the largest and 
strongest of this breed we have yet seen. Their 
wool is fine, and the fleeces average 2| lbs. per 
head. His system is to plow up sod in the spring, 
which has been pastured a few years by the sheep ; 
on this he sows oats or wheat and gets good crops. 
"He raises his own corn, hay, &c., and sells wool to 
the amount of $300 per annum. This is his chief 
selling product. The farm is in fine condition and 
well managed. The buildings are excellent and 
surrounded by large thrifty orchards. 
Locust Groves. —While on the subject of sheep, 
it may not be unknown to our readers, that locust 
groves may be grown on very poor soil, averaging 
from $4 to $7 worth of timber per annum, per acre, 
and still yield as much grass for sheep as if no 
trees grew there ; and all this time the land is be¬ 
coming richer rather than poorer. The reason of 
this is, that if the light sandy soil is not covered 
with shade trees, the grass, except during a very 
wet season, dries up and yields little. The trees 
keep the ground cool and moist, and the grass con¬ 
tinues growing all summer. We are of opinion 
that if a top dressing of two or three bushels per 
acre of plaster of Paris were sown early in the 
spring, it would add considerably to the grass pro¬ 
duct. We have known instances of locust groves 
on Long Island, growing up to be worth $300 per 
acre, within forty years. Nothing can exceed their 
beauty and comfort as sheep pastures. 
APPLE ORCHARDS.—No. 6. 
Accidents , Diseases , fyc. —The apple tree, as a 
standard, is more liable to accidents, the attacks of 
insects, and to diseases, than the pear tree. Its 
branches are more frequently broken by tempes¬ 
tuous winds, whereby their wounded parts, in be¬ 
ing exposed to the vicissitudes of the weather, 
sooner decay, and tend greatly to lessen the pro¬ 
ductiveness and duration of the tree. When 
situated near the borders of woods, orchards are 
often injured by the American grouse, or partridge 
(Tetrao umbellus ), which greedily devours the 
flower buds, in winter, when the ground is covered 
with snow. The apple tree is also subject to canker ; 
more especially when planted deep, or in a soil 
which is annually dug round it to some depth, and 
cropped with vegetables. In some soils, also, par¬ 
ticularly those which contain much oxide of iron, 
the tree is liable to canker under any mode of cul¬ 
ture ; and the remedy, or palliative, in such soils, 
is liming abundantly, to neutralize the oxide; and 
planting on the surface, without digging the ground, 
but only hoeing, or keeping it entirely in pasture. 
The trunk and branches in some soils, and in moist 
situations, are liable to be infested with lichens and 
moss, which must be scraped off; and in others, 
the mistletoe is apt to take root, which must be cut 
out. The fungus ( JEcidium cancellatum ), which 
also grows on the leaves of the pear tree, and pro¬ 
duces what is called mildew , is not unfrequent on 
those of the apple tree. 
American Blight. — The leaves, flowers, fruit, and 
wood of the apple tree are subject to the attacks of 
numerous insects, or their larvae, against which 
there are few or no remedies. One of the most 
common enemies to this tree in Europe, particularly 
in England, is the cotton insect, or woolly aphis 
{Aphis lanigera , of Linnaeus and Eriosoma mali , 
of Leach). This insect was first described by 
Hausmann, m 1801, as infesting the orchards of 
Germany ; but it was noticed in England as early 
as the year 1787, and has since acquired in that 
country, though improperly, thename-of “American 
blight,” from the belief that it had been imported 
from America. Although it exists in the United 
States, it is exceedingly rare ; but it is thought not 
to be indigenous, but was brought to this country 
on fruit trees from Europe. It appears to have 
been known, also, by the French gardeners for 
a long time previous to either of the above 
named dates ; and according to Mr. Rennie, it is 
found in the orchards in the vicinity of Harfleur, 
in Normandy, and is very destructive to the trees 
in the department of Calvados. The eggs of this 
insect are so small that they cannot be distinguished 
without the aid of a microscope. They are envel¬ 
oped in a cotton-like substance, furnished by the 
body of the insect, and are deposited in the forks of 
the branches, and in the chinks of the bark, at or 
near the surface of the ground, especially if there 
are suckers springing from that place. The young, 
when first hatched, are covered with a very short, 
fine down, and appear, in the spring of the year, 
like so many little specks of mould. As the sea¬ 
son advances, and the insects increase in size, their 
downy coats become more distinct, and grow in 
length daily. This down is very easily removed, 
adheres to the fingers when touched, and appears 
to issue from all the pores of the skin of the abdo¬ 
men. When fully grown, the insects of the first 
brood are one tenth of an inch in length, and, 
when the down is rubbed off, the head, antennae, 
sucker, and shins, are found to be of a blackish 
color, and the abdomen of a honey yellow. The 
young are produced alive during the summer, are 
buried in masses of the down, and derive their 
nourishment from the sap of the bark and of the 
alburnum or young wood directly under the bark. 
The adult insects, it is said, never acquire wings 
nor honey tubes, but from time to time, they emit 
drops of an adhesive fluid from the extremities of 
their bodies. Although destitute of wings, they 
are conveyed from tree to tree by means'of their 
long down, which is so plentiful and so light, that 
they are easily wafted by the winds of autumn, and 
thus the evil will gradually spread throughout an 
extensive orchard. The numerous punctures of 
these insects produce on the tender shoqts a cellu¬ 
lar appearance, and wherever a colonj of them is 
established warts or excrescences arise on the bark, 
the limbs thus attacked, become sickly, the leaves 
turn yellow and drop off; and, as the infection 
