1848. 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
367 
purchase and his care in their behalf? In too many in¬ 
stances common practice says they are not his, and 
how often he is doomed to look upon his trees with sor¬ 
rowing eyes, for the strange mutilations that have been 
inflicted upon them, in broken branches, bruised trunks, 
and all the destroying influence that could be adopted 
to secure the booty. 
Again, take the farmer’s field. Perhaps by negli¬ 
gence or perhaps by choice, he has permitted the rasp¬ 
berry or the gooseberry to grow along the old wall side, 
or the strawberry may have taken possession of the old 
field; such things, we will admit, are not in perfect ac¬ 
cordance with good husbandry. It is in most instances 
cheaper getting these fruits by cultivation in the garden, 
and more profitable keeping the meadow in luxuriant 
grass crops. But this is not always done. Even good 
farmers may have their grass killed out and have a 
strawberry harvest from the field before they can bring 
back their lands to usual fertility. Are the strawber¬ 
ries his or his neighbors? Is the fact that there is not 
much grass in the mowing field, or along the fences of 
the grain lot, a sufficient apology for Tom, Dick or Har¬ 
ry’s running over and trampling down what there is, 
provided they got and carried off none of the produce 
of the field ? A merchant once said, in apology for 
gathering his neighbor’s berries, i. e. his neighbor’s if 
purchase gives the right of property, that he did not 
hurt the grass much, for there was not much there. 
Supposing this neighbor had gone to the store of the 
merchant day after day, and thrust his hand into his 
raisin box, filled his basket, and said he did not hurt the 
i&oor much, it was made to walk on, would the merchant 
have suffered him to have taken his first toll? No. and 
he ought not, for the raisins were his by purchase and 
possession, and none other had a right to them. ' The 
farmer who did that would have been a thief, and the 
merchant in his own mind at least, would have branded 
him as such. 
Once more. You have a garden or an orchard. You 
set out trees in expectation of gathering choice fruit 
from them. After-years, it may be of anxious watch¬ 
ing and kindly culture, you see the first buds expand 
into beautiful flowers, and these flowers in their season 
succeeded by fruit. You watch its growth with daily 
solicitude, and as the season of maturity approaches, 
you see its gay colors taking tint from the sunbeams, 
and. in fancy, realize the triumph of your toil in its ex¬ 
quisite deliciousness. A few days more, perhaps to¬ 
morrow, it will fall in its richness to the earth. But 
to-morrow comes, you resume your watching, but oh, 
sad thought, the objects of your care are all gone. 
“ Ye have labored and other men have entered into your 
labor,” and taken the first fruit. What harm was 
there in it? only a few apples or pears or perhaps half a 
dozen clusters of grapes, surely none but a niggard 
would refuse his neighbor these; if he would, he ought 
to be drummed out of town.” 
Gentle reader, are these things right, or is it only 
owing to the frailty of our nature that we see them 
wrong? Is it giving that protection to the property of 
others, which we in turn demand from them? If so, 
let the matter be understood, so that all who occupy 
lands may be ready at all times to see others enter upon 
their premises at any time and take and destroy what 
they please and as much as they please, and set down, 
complacently looking at the result. 
If they are wrong, it is high time for a reform in this 
matter, which is growing worse and worse, we believe, 
in almost every section of our country. Do you ask, 
where shall we seek a remedy? In the first place we 
would direct to a right education of the young. Teach 
them by your example that you will no sooner take the 
property from your neighbor’s woodlands or his fields or 
his.orchard or his garden, than you would his money from 
his desk. Teach your own children these facts, and 
they will teach your neighbors. 
Let it be one of the chief lessons taught in all of our 
common schools. What greater wisdom can your child 
imbibe at tlmse institutions than the great principles of 
honesty, fidelity in the minutia to his neighbor’s goods, 
however trifling may be their value? Consider the 
teacher unqualified for his station, who fails to instruct 
in these things, and who allows his scholars needlessly 
to ramble in the neighboring fields, acquiring territory 
by conquest to which he has no right. Let a voice come 
from every pulpit, saying, “thou shalt not steal,” and 
exhorting every one to work diligently with his hands 
to provide the good things which nature gives to those 
who labor for their attainment. Let all teach and all 
practice the principles of right, and gardens, fields and 
forests, will be as secure as the merchant’s or mechan¬ 
ic’s wares under his own eyes. W'illiam Bacon. 
Charring Rails. 
On almost all farms may be seen patches of rail 
fence which have been accidentally scorched by fire. 
Such rails never decay. Sun, wind or rain seem to 
have little or no effect upon them. The question natu¬ 
rally arises, whether in building new fences they might 
not be made much more valuable by charring? It has 
been shown conclusively that the best time for cutting 
fencing timber is in May or June, when the bark will 
peel. This should be immediately stripped cff and the 
rails split and piled up in order to dry. After being 
seasoned two or three months, take them to the bank 
of a small stream, and having built a fire of chips or 
brush, heave on the rails. When they are sufficiently 
charred, they can be hauled into the stream by means 
of a potatoe hook, or s >me similar implement, and 
when the fire is extinguished, they can be hauled out 
on the other side. I believe that a fence made of char¬ 
red rails, and put up with an iron rod inserted through 
each corner of the fence, and soldered to the underpin¬ 
ning stone, as directed in a former number of the Culti¬ 
vator, would last fifty years, or five times as long as 
one riot charred, with no trouble at all. after being once 
put up.-' It,-is true the first cost would be considerable, 
but it Would te cheap in the end. If farmers would 
take tbe trouble to charr their rails, they would not 
have to spend weeks in the spring of the year mending 
up old rotten fence, nor have their crops half eaten up 
by unruly cattle. 
If any of your correspondents have had any experience 
in charring rails, they would confer a favor by making 
it known through the columns of your paper. A Young 
Farmer. Madison , Conn., Sept. 22, 1848. 
Watering Transplanted Trees. —The following 
skilful treatment for newly transplanted shrubs and 
trees, which are in danger of suffering by drying, is 
worthy of attention,—We have had occasion to make 
trial of this [wetting the tops instead of the roots] the 
present season. In one case, a rose imported i’roiai 
Paris, was much injured by long packing. It was, be¬ 
sides, poorly provided with roots, and wculd have been 
doubtful if only removed a rod from its plnee of growth. 
It has been covered with a barrel having one head du¬ 
ring the day, which has been removed at night, for some 
four weeks. Night and morning, the top of the plant 
has been wet during the whole time. It is now push¬ 
ing forth shoots, and the barrel with one head has been 
replaced by one without any—and which may be soon 
dispensed with altogether .—Prairie Farmer. 
Cost of Corn. — S. Williams says in the Genesee 
Farmer , “ A farmer told me yesterday that the actual 
cost of his last year’s crop of corn was but 9£ cents 
per bushel, interest on land included. 
