rboriculturt. 
ORCHARD POLICY. 
Let the Orchard, and the Orchard Alone, 
Occupy the Land! 
I was talking witlx a lruit grower of three 
score and sixteen years, a few days since, 
upon the policy of permitting orchards to be 
occasionally cropped with corn, etc., and 
then left in grass live six, or more years. 
This old fruit grower has now over one hun¬ 
dred and fifty varieties of apples in cultiva¬ 
tion, and has grown hundreds of varieties of 
pears, while in cherries he is second to uo 
man in his knowledge and extensive prac¬ 
tice therewith; and in peaches, plums, and 
the small fruits, each year of his life has 
found him possessed of new varieties to test 
and compare with those already before the 
public. So that I felt his opinion was worth 
gathering. 
The result of our talk was an emphatic re¬ 
mark that “ he who thinks to grow fruit in 
an old settled or cultivated country, after 
the manner of the new sections, makes a 
mistake.” 
In the new settlements, where the ground 
is free from the larvce of insects, where, in 
fact the insects, found only after a period of 
civilization and cultivation are not, fruit 
growing is nothing more than to plant the 
tree or bush; it will take care of itself and 
yield a crop of perfect fruit. But as each 
section of country grows old in its settle¬ 
ment. and cultivation, so insects increase, 
and lie who expects to grow fruit profitably 
must make the orchard or garden alone a 
specialty; or, in other words, if he is to 
grow apples he must set apart land for ap¬ 
ples, plant the trees thickly, cultivate’the 
ground yearly by plowing light in the an 
tumn, turning the soil to the trees, and In 
spring and summer, until August, cultivate 
with a cultivator, stirring the ground two to 
three inches, sufficiently often to keep the 
surface mellow and open to light, air and 
moisture. As the trees grow and interfere 
with each other cut them out; they have 
probably paid in fruit more money than 
would have been obtained had the land 
been used for corn and potatoes. If the 
ground be naturally poor, apply yearly a top 
dressing of manure in the fall ju3t before 
turning up the soil to the trees with the 
plow. 
Occupy each plot of land separately to 
one variety of fruit rather than mingle pears 
among apples, peaches among cherries, or 
even small fruits, as raspberries, blackber¬ 
ries, &c., or strawberries among grapes, as 
many advise. Give the land to its speciality, 
care for that and that alone, and a paying 
success will result, nine years out often. 
I thought of these remarks, looked around 
my neighborhood, and counted who grew 
fruit, fuir and good, and profitably, and who 
failed, and grumbled because his gooseber¬ 
ries did not hear much, or his currants did 
not pay—there was either too much shade 
or something; his apples were all wormy, 
and I found my counting gave each time the 
lack of culture and attention as a specially 
to the last named, while the successes were 
all in the hands of those who attended to 
their fruits as to the growing of n premium 
crop of corn. A. Thorn. 
-♦♦♦- 
IN THE ORCHARD. 
I always carry my hand-shears and my 
pruning knife with me when I go into and 
through my orchard ; for just os sure as I go 
there, so sure am I to find, here and there, a 
twig that before escaped my eye and that 
should be cut away, and yet I am one who 
believes in very little pruning of standard 
trees, whether of apple, pear, cherry, or 
plum. I only believe in cutting away a 
crossing limb or twig or one that is growing 
so that in another year it will cross, and if a 
limb is evidently taking too much to itself 
and outreaching so as to cause a loss of bal¬ 
ance to the form of the tree, 1 prefer to rub 
away the terminal bud rather than cut the 
limb back, because I have found that in so 
doing that limb during the coming season 
makes little or no elougated growth ; but if 
I cut it back one-half or one-third to a good 
strong bud or two, it will from that bud 
push out as strong or stronger than eyer. 
But the writers pro and con on dwarf tree 
culture may write what they will; I do 
know that he who ever realizes anything 
permanently therefrom must yearly prune 
back the growth ; and if he wants to keep 
his trees down, let him not neglect to cut 
the upper shoots severely down whenever 
his tree has acquired a height of eight to 
ten feet. I have seen those who prune their 
dwarf trees to bare stems of two feet or 
more from the main body of the tree, grow¬ 
ing their fruit, on a few branches, on the 
outside; but I can't see the point gained 
over my own method of spore all over the 
body and along the branch, made by sliort- 
1 ening the weak shoots as they grew while 
*- llie tree was young, rather than cutting 
. them entirely away. 
I grow dwarf trees of apples, peare, &c., 
as bushes, branching as near the ground as 
1 can, ami aiming to make all the branches 
main stems, rather than confining the tree 
to one single main trunk, to be scalded by 
sun, stung by saperda, or blighted bysporule 
disease, T have shade, sunshine—no where 
the former being too dense—and no bare 
stem, even for a half hour, free from shadow, 
but yet open to the sun sufficient to drive 
away excessive moisture, should it possibly 
occur. 
If among my trees there be those that did 
not, the past season, make over four or five 
inches of wood, I cut that back to a good 
hud on each shoot, and I reduce the bearing 
spurs to proportion the tree to its require¬ 
ments. Again, if among my trees there are 
those having made growths of three or four 
feet, 1 rub out. the terminal hud; and if the 
tree is not already of sufficient height, I do 
not use a knife to it.; but if it has got to a 
height above which L do not wish it to go, 1 
cut the top shoots of last year’s growth all 
out down to spur buds. Frank Amon. 
-- 
ih 
ARBORICULTURAL notes. 
Value of Osage Orange us Timber. 
V. P. Richmond is reported as saying at 
the Madison Co., Ill, Farmers’ Club" You 
have doubtless heard that the wood does not 
shrink and can ho worked into wagons, etc., 
from the tree. I have doubted the fact, but 
here is a mallet, sawed in the present shape 
about a year ago; a limb, cut at the same 
time, is the handle ; a wedge of the same, 
made and driven in at the same time. It has 
taken tin* weather as it came, and has heat 
the mortices to an addition to my bam of 
28x00 feet. The handle was a little loose 
once, but never enough so to come out. 
Here are some sections of limbs cut and 
thrown Into a shallow ditch in 1863. They 
have all been in a good situation to decay. 
Have vve any timber that will be ns sound 
after seven years exposure ? No matter how 
many hedges we have, we shall always want 
some fences, and nothing in my opinion can 
lie grown quicker, or will last better than 
Osage Orange. Nothing will make better 
fire wood. I t makes bean-poles and tomato 
stakes that, will last, for years. I have tried 
it in all t he ways that could be so far, and am 
so well satisfied that 1 shall begin a grove 
this spring. I have ordered the plants.” 
A Utah IIimIkij I’liiut. 
A Utah paper says there is a shrub, a 
native of that region, similar in leaf to the 
Iioney Locust, called “Musqult,” which 
has plenty of thorns, is considerably used 
for fences, and stock fears it. It is asserted 
that it. will make a quick, strong hedge, by 
planting the seeds where the hedge is de¬ 
sired, and weaving the tough limbs of the 
plant together. Do any of our readers know 
what this “ Musquit” shrub is? 
Urine for Pear Trees. 
Mr. Howard, a very successful Western 
pear culturlst, recommends washing pear 
trees in spring with strong brine, and states 
that if clay is mixed with the brine it will 
adhere to the tree for some time. The speci¬ 
fic object of thus washing pear trees is not 
given. 
Hoy* Grafting. 
Now is an excellent time for boys to com¬ 
mence grafting. Around almost every farm¬ 
house are plenty of stocks, cherry, apple, 
pear, Ac. If you do graft, be sure to use 
cions of sorts that succeed best In your lo¬ 
cality; don’t graft merely lor amusement, 
but for profit. Bo sure to work upon healthy 
young wood, as on that depends your success 
in raising u good, thrifty tree. A few trees 
thus raised are useful to fill up vacancies in 
the orchard.— Clermont. 
Ritter Rot. 
A Montgomery Co., Ohio, correspondent 
has apple trees, the fruit of which, before it 
matures, is affected with the bitter rot. He 
asks if, after grafting the limbs of those trees; 
the fruit of the grafts will ho so affected. 
Biller rot is not peculiar to any particular 
variety. We believe it is generally regarded 
by pomologists as a fungus, or the result of 
fungus growth. We doubt if re-grafting the 
trees will prevent rot; we should have more 
faith iu giving good culture to the trees, 
stimulating them with manure, and thor¬ 
oughly washing them with soap suds. 
To Prevent Forked Tree* Splitting. 
A CORRESPONDENT writes: —“I see the 
former owner of my orchard took a good 
plan to keep forked trees from splitting, by 
drawing a limb of one fork across in the 
crotch of the other, and securing it there till 
it grew fast and served for a lie.” 
Hark Uiirsting on Apple Trees. 
I iiave some young trees that I planted 
three years next fall. They were growing 
very fast, and the bark burst off them above 
the ground—some of them as high as one 
and a-balt feet. There was no water about 
them. The cause was, I think, that there 
was so much sap in them, and the frost came 
so soon that they were not matured for win¬ 
ter. I have some that I planted two years 
this spring, in the same field; they were of 
very slow growth, and did not burst half so 
much as the others did. I would like to 
know the best way to straighten young apple 
trees.— r. d. 
CONVENIENT FARM-HOUSE. 
I herewith inclose a plan of a plain, but 
convenient farm house. It is entirely origi¬ 
nal. There will be more or less variations 
from specifications, by economy or waste, as 
the case may be. They are for a house 26 
by 30 feet; posts 16 feet; balloon frame; 
lower floor 9 feet, and upper floor 8 feet, be¬ 
tween joists; roof square or half pitch; pro¬ 
jection of cornice two feet. The following 
are specifications: 
E S S SSSBSSg C 
H 
F 
“i 3 
G> 
- qg| 
W 3 — 
tsx— 
GROUND PLAN. 
A, Living Room, 12)4x16 ; U, Pantry, 5Xx6 ; C, 
Kitchen, 13x10; D, llath-room, 6x6)4; K, Closet; F, 
Bed-room, 10x12; G,Porch; II, Back Entrance. 
Three sills 6 by 8 inches, 3 feet long; 2, 
same size, 26 feet long; 60 joists, 2 by 8 
inches, 13 1-2 feet, long for first and second 
floors; 17 joists 2 by 6 inches,2 feet long for 
third floor, Lo he spiked on rafters; 4 corner 
posts 4 by 4 inches, 16 feet long ; 50 posts 8 
by 4 inches, 16 feel long for sides; 35 posts 
3 by 4 inches, 22 feel long (average) for 
gable ends and plates; 4 posts in cellar, 4 by 
4 inches, 7 feel long, to support middle sill; 
50 posts 2 by 4 inches, 9 1-2 feet long, for 
first floor partitions ; 60 posts 2 by 4 inches, 
8 1-2 feet long for second floor partitions, 
2,500 feet, hemlock boards for weather 
hoarding, &c.; 2,000 feet flooring for the 
two floors; 2,500 feet siding ; 2,500 feet 
while pine hoards fur stairs, cornice, finish¬ 
ing porch, Ac ; 800 feet 6-inch boards for 
PLAN OP CHAMBERS. 
I, Bed-room, 16x9 and 12)£; g, g, g, Closets-, K, Bed¬ 
room. 12)4x14; L, Bed-room, 12)4X18 i M. Clothes- 
press, 3x5. 
stringers, cellar beams, Ac.; 1,500 feet roof 
boards, stagings, Ac.; 32 rafters, 2 by 4 
inches, 20 feet long; 8 inside doors, 2 feet 8 
by 6 feet 8; 7 closet doors 2 feet 6 by 6 feet 
6; 2 outside doors; 16 windows; 2 gable 
windows ; floor and window frames to 
match; 9,000 white pin© shingles; 1,000 
brick for chimney; 8,000 lath ; 17 barrels of 
lime; 2 barrels cement for cellar; cellar 
walls 7 feet—35 perch (mason’s count) laid 
wall; of nails 100 lbs. 3’s fine; 50 lbs. 10’s; 
50 lbs. 8’s; 10 lbs. 6’s. Moulding caps and 
ornaments according to taste; bath and fix¬ 
tures ; locks, knobs, butts, shelf - brackets, 
Ac. Use 8-penny fine nails for both shingles 
and laths. c. a. h. 
Vineland, N. J. 
EXTRACTS FOR BUILDERS. 
The Right Use ot Nail*. 
A writer in the Manufacturer and 
Builder says: — “ That when nailing on 
fence hoards or clapboards, if the nail is to 
enter a very hard piece of timber, the work¬ 
man should be careful to use a nail that will 
pass through the board, and a short distance 
into the hard wood without bending up. 
When a workman attempts to drive a ten- 
penuy nail, for example, through a board in 
a hard oak post, or into a maple beam, after 
the point has entered about one inch, the 
middle of the nail will often bend and split 
the board, especially if the nail be driven 
near one end of the board. When siding or 
thin clapboards are nailed to hard wood 
studs of a house, six-penny nails will he 
more satisfactory than those of a larger size. 
In finishing many other kinds of work, it is 
often desirable to have nails adapted to the 
work, and especially to the kind of timber 
into which the nails are to he driven. If 
ten-penny nails or twelve-penny nails are 
employed where six-penny nails will serve 
the purpose more satisfactorily, there will he 
a loss in the cost of the nails, besides the 
consideration alluded to—the want of proper 
adaptation of the size of nails to the work. 
Twelve-penny nails are frequently used to 
nail down floor boards, when, by em¬ 
ploying eight-penny nails, several pounds 
might he saved. The ordinary eight-penny 
building nails are often employed when 
building board fence; whereas, * fence- 
eighths,’ if the posts be hard wood, or 
1 fence-tens,’ if the timber were soft, like 
butternut and cedar, would be far preferable 
to any other size.” 
Number of Nn.il* per Pound. 
The following is a useful table, showing’ 
the length of the various sizes of nails and 
the number of each in a pound : 
Number. 
557 per pound 
1* 
Size. 
3-penny, 
s 
10 “ 
12 *• 
20 “ 
Spikes, 
» 
F 
3)4 
4 
5* 
G 
7 
353 
232 
167 
141 
101 
98 
54 
34 
16 
12 
10 
7 
5 
figgkrar Information. 
KEEPING CHILDREN WELL. 
A young mother inquires if any one 
knows how to keep the children well. I 
think it can be done if we but give some at¬ 
tention to the laws of their being; the most 
important of which is, I think, regularity in 
eating. It is a mistaken kindness which 
thinks a child needs to cat so much oftener 
than adults. I know children who have lmd 
only three meals after they were one year 
old, and nothing between meals, and were 
remarkably healthy. When the stomach 
has digested a meal it needs rest; but if the 
digestive organs are continually taxed, by 
constant nibbling, the system becomes de¬ 
ranged, and the child is ready to take a hard 
cold or a malicious disease at the slightest 
provocation. 
Attention should he paid to the quality of 
food. Children should not have stimulating 
or blood-heating food; and if all greasy 
substances arc kept ftrom them they are 
much less liable to become sick. Grains 
and vegetables, with plenty of fruit, (at 
meals, not between meals,) is their best food. 
Care should he taken with regard lo dress; 
the entire surface of the body should be 
clothed with equal warmth ; if one part is 
thinly clad and hecames chilled the blood 
rushes to some other part, over heating it and 
producing disease. There should ho no 
ligatures to prevent the free circulation of 
the blood to the extremities. 
A word about fastening children’s stock¬ 
ings, skirts, Ac. M v plan is to make a sacque 
waist, with long sleeves, reaching a little be¬ 
low the waist, with two rows of buttons at 
the bottom, one row to fasten the drawers to, 
the other the skirts, which are made with 
button holes in the hand to correspond; then 
have two elastic tapes long enough to reach 
from the waist to the toys of the stockings; 
these are buttoned to the waist and passing 
inside the drawers are fastened in like man¬ 
ner to the tops of the stockings on the out¬ 
side of each leg. 
When children arc comfortably clothed 
give them plenty of pure air and sunshine, 
ami do not he afraid of their petting tanned. 
Let them live out of doors, and you will feel 
repaid In seeing them hearty, rosy-cheeked, 
and full of fun. Mkh. R 
Ohio, 1870. 
- 4 -*-*- 
WHY DO CHILDREN DIE. 
In answer to this question, the Medical 
Recorder holds the following language: 
“ The reason why children die is because 
they are not taken care of. From the day 
of birth they are stuffed with food, choked 
with physic, splashed with water, suffocated 
in hot rooms and Steamed in bed clothes. 
So much for indoor. When permitted to 
breathe a breath of pure air once a week iu 
summer, and once or twice during the colder 
months, only the nose is permitted to peer 
into daylight. A little later they are sent 
out witii no clothes at all on the parts of the 
body which most need protection. Bare legs, 
bare arms, Bare necks, girted 'middles, with 
an inverted umbrella to collect the air and 
chill the other parts of the body. A stout, 
strong mail goes out in a cold day with gloves 
and overcoat, woolen stockings and thick 
doubled soled hoots, with cork bet ween and 
rubbers over. The same day, a child of three 
years old, an infant of flesh and blood, and 
Done and constitution, goes out with hose as 
thin as paper, cotton socks, legs uncovered 
to the knees, neck bare, an exposure which 
would disable the nurse, kill the mother out¬ 
right, and make the father an invalid for 
weeks. And why V To harden them to a 
mode of dress which they are never expected 
to practice. To accustom them to exposure 
which a dozen years later would be consider¬ 
ed downright foolery. To rear children thus 
for the slaughter pen, and then lay it to the 
Lord, is toe bad. We don’t think the Al¬ 
mighty had any hand in it.” 
(Tlif liorstimtn. 
NOTES FOR HORSEMEN. 
Founder in lluvaes. 
Benjamtn W. Wood writes the Southern 
Cultivator as follows:—“Many years ago I 
learned a cure for founder in horses which 
is so simple, and has proved so successful in 
my hands, that I send it to you, thinking it 
may he of service to some of your readers. 
Clean out bottom of foot thoroughly, hold 
up the leg so as to bring the bottom of the 
hoof upward, holding it up firmly in a hori¬ 
zontal position, and pour in, say a table¬ 
spoonful of spirits turpentine, if the cavity 
of the hoof will hold that much; if not, 
pour in what it will hold, without danger of 
running over ; touch the turpentine with a 
red-hot iron, (this will set it on fire,) hold the 
hoof firmly in position until it all burns out. 
Great, care must be taken that none runs 
over on the hair of the hoof, lest the skin be 
burned. If all the feet are affected, burn 
turpentine In each of them. Relief will 
speedily follow, aud the animal be ready for 
service in a short time. I once applied this 
remedy to a horse that, had been foundered 
twenty-four hours before I saw him, and he 
was promptly relieved. In another case, 
where the animal could hardly be induced 
to move, his suffering was so great, he was 
treated in the same manner as soon as his 
trouble was discovered, and less than an 
hour afterward ho was hitched t.o a buggy 
and driven some twenty-five miles the same 
day—all lameness disappearing after he had 
traveled a few miles, 
Tho Rent Place for :i Horse. 
“Gossipper,” in the Rural World, says: 
“ Winter or summer, except in stormy time, 
there is no place so Comfortable for colts or 
tired work horses, as a good pasture lot. To 
tie up a tired horse at night in a narrow cell, 
with a plank floor to stand on, is a species 
of cruelty that civilization ought to ho 
ashamed of. If the poor animal must be 
confined like a convict iu a dungeon, for 
pity’s sake let him have his head, and give 
him at least twelve feet square, with a soft 
dry floor to stand or lie on. 
“In the large cities land is worthmore in 
money than horses; but on the farm there is 
no excuse for any such wicked economy. 
A.slc the horse what, he wants, and he will 
tell you that a place where he can walk 
around, lie down and stretch his tired limbs 
and roll over -from one side to the other, 
gives him more ease and comfort, after a day 
of hard work, than the most costly plank 
stall, with all the accompaniments of curry 
combs, stiff bristle brushes, rubber cloths and 
dexterous hostlers, that can be produced.” 
How to Drive n Young Horse. 
We find the following flouting, and do not 
know its paternity, hut it is good advice: 
“ In teaching a young horse to drive well, 
do not hurry to see liow fast he will trot. 
Keep each pace clear and distinct from the 
other: that is, in walking make him walk, 
and do not allow him to trot. While trot¬ 
ting be equally careful that lie keeps steady 
at Ills pace, and do not allow him to slack 
into a Avails. The reins, while driving, 
should be kept snug; and when pushed to 
the top of his speed, keep him well iu hand, 
that he may learn to bear well upon the bit, 
so that when going at a high rale of speed he 
can beheld at his pace; but do not allow 
him to pull too hard, for it is not only un¬ 
pleasant, but it makes it often difficult to 
manage him.” 
File* «u Horses. 
The Journal of Chemistry gives the fol¬ 
lowing as a preventive of horses being teased 
by flies:—Take two or three small handfuls 
of walnut leaves, upon which pour two or 
three quarts of cold water; let it infuse one 
night, and pour the whole next morning into 
a kettle, and let it boil for a quarter of an 
hour. When cold, it will be fit for use. No 
more is required than to moisten a sponge, 
and before the horse goes out of the stable, 
let those parts which arc most irirtable be 
smeared over with the liquor, viz.: between 
and upon the ears, the neck, the flanks, etc. 
Not only the gentleman or lady who rides 
out for pleasure will derive pleasure from the 
walnut leaves thus prepared, but the coach¬ 
man, the wagoner and all others who use 
horses during the hut months. 
Cure Tor Yellow Wnti-r, 
A correspondent of the New England 
Farmer recommends the following:—“ Take 
one ounce of antimony, one table,spoonful of 
aloes, and same of sulphur and Peruvian 
bark; put them into a bottle with a gill of 
rum, and after shaking well, add one and a- 
faalf pints of water, shake well again and 
turn down. My mode of giving such a dose 
is to put on a bridle, throw the lines over a 
joist, so as to bring the horse’s head pretty 
well up, then insert, the neck of the bottle 
into one side of the mouth (never pull out 
the tongue) and turn in as fast as (ho horse 
can swallow. 
-*-*-♦- 
Let Horsemen send us practical items for this 
Department which they know will be useful to 
each other. * 
