taken, in time to save the life of the tree. As it is well known that these larvæ came from the last brood of perfect insects, we are not to expect that trees planted since the last locust year will be troubled by these root-suckers. We are informed that by cutting down the tree the insects will perish for want of food. The only fact which contravenes this position, is furnished by the statements on record, of swarms of locusts rising from the ground in open fields where oak trees, their favorite places of resort, had been cut down some years previously.

Transplanting Shrubs.

IN. transplanting shrubs as well as very small trees, a common error is too place them too deep in the earth. This has arisen from the fact, that by receiving more moisture, they often succeed best the first summer, at the expense however of their subsequent healthy growth. It is much better to plant shallow, imparting the necessary moisture by means of a deep, mellow soil beneath, and by mulching above. The material for the latter may be short litter, manure, moss, spent tan, inverted turf or leaves and leaf mould. A raised surface consisting of these materials, to the height of six inches, will occasion no injury whatever for a year or two, and admirably equalize the moisture of the soil. Manure used in this way, operates beneficially not only in preserving the moisture, but in increasing the fertility by the liquid manure carried down in solution by rains, especially if applied in autumn or winter. The contrast between the hard and baked surface too often witnessed when the ground is left bare, and the moist and softened earth beneath a coat of manure or litter, can be only sufficiently understood by actual experiment. Its advantages were strikingly exemplified a year or two since, in planting out a bed of strawberries in the middle of an excessively dry summer. The roots, after being fixed by water in transplanting, were protected from drouth by a coat of manure three inches thick, and although they were watered but once, not a plant perished.

be given by encircling the stem with a small tempo rary mound of earth.

In transplanting roses and some other small shrubs, sufficient pruning of the top is rarely given. Climbing roses and those generally which throw up rapid and vigorous shoots will make a better growth by autumn, by cutting down to a few good buds when set out, than by leaving a long portion of stem and branches, which indeed not unfrequently draw so hard upon the roots as to cause the death of the plant. On the other hand we have seen shrubs' transplanted in wet weather with entire success, after having grown six inches, by taking up full roots, and drenching the soil well with water, at the same time very freely shortening back the shoots and lopping most of the leaves.

It is usually difficult to succeed with the grafts or buds during the early stages of their growth, most of them commonly failing the first year or two; but those which become established grow better, and often last many years. A dwarf tree four feet high, branching from the ground, and six years from the graft, bore about one peck of beautiful fruit the past season, larger in size than common, more pyriform in shape, and not perceptibly inferior in quality.

ROOT-GRAFTING APPLE TREES.

nursery, will small pieces of the roots of large apple "In planting a small trees produce trees large enough for market sooner than the seed, and how long ought the pieces to be? Are triple buds as well as single used in budding?" J. A. D., Ravenna, O.

The

better pieces of roots than older and feebler ones. length should be about six inches, and when set out, the

Staking may be in some instances necessary to Cutting up the roots of large trees to graft upon has prevent swaying by the wind, or a one-sided growth never been much practiced, and is not so certain of prowhere there are imperfect or unequal roots. But ducing uniformly fine and thrifty trees, as the vigorous usually, if the shrub is furnished with good roots, and evenly formed roots of one or two-year seedlings, and if care is taken while the earth is shovelled in, neither is it so cheap nor economical of labor. But in to spread them all out like the arms of an umbrella, the absence of seedlings, it may be performed on a limithey will serve to brace it evenly, and prevent a one-ted scale. Younger and thriftier trees would furnish sided growth. Fixing by water, as it is termed, is often sufficient alone, to preclude the necessity of staking. It is most conveniently done by three persons, one spreading out the roots with his fingers, a second sifting in the earth, while the third settles it by pouring water from the rose of a watering-pot. Although soft at first, the soil in a few hours dries and hardens sufficiently to hold firmly the newly set roots. An additional stiffening, if needed, may

soil should cover all but the tip of the graft.

Triple buds, when the center is a leaf bud, succeed well in propagating. This is nearly always the case with triple peach buds, and when cut from old or slowly growing trees, they are more likely to withstand the winter than any other. The best buds however arc those strong and well formed on the large and vigorous shoots of young trees.

We cannot answer the inquiry about the gnawing of rabits, having had no experience with them.

TRAINING DWARF PEARS.-"Is it proper where a dwarf pear seems inclined to run up too high, to cut the top off?" S. P. M.

Inquiries of this kind are often made, and we therefore subjoin a few figures by way of illustrating the mode of training dwarf pears. They are most usually trained in the form of a pyramid, as shown by figure 1; but some prefer them in the form of dwarf standards, as indicated by fig. 2.

When a pyramid is intended, a mode of pruning must be adopted quite similar in principle to that applied to the trimming of young hedges; that is, to induce a broad and sufficiently thick growth at the bottom by successive'y cutting back. For example, if we have a young tree of one seasons' growth from the bud, Fig. 3, about two thirds of the top should be cut off as shown by the dotted line, leaving a stump with eight to twelve buds, as in Fig. 4. During the second year, these buds throw out shoots, and form the tree represented by Fig. 5; and if, during the growth of these shoots, the upper one or leader

Fig. 1. does not keep decidedly ahead of the others, the tips of the side shoots, are to be nipped by midsummer. The same operation is repeated the second year, but at a greater height, and so on till the pyramid in Fig. 1, is formed. This is merely an outline of the work; there are several more minute details observed by skilful pruners, which may be pointed out on a future occasion.

The Spanish Chestnut.

THE heavy loam of this neighborhood is unsuitable for the chestnut; and I believe the nearest tree that grows wild, is seven or eight miles from this place. When transplanted into common soil, the leaves assume a sickly, whitish cast. I have a Spanish(?) chestnut however, in my garden, which grows in a border of selected earth about three feet wide and fifteen inches deep; and it would be very productive, if the anthers were not so far diseased as to yield little or no pollen. Previous to the present season, it had not produced to my knowledge more than four or five chestnuts in ten years. In the summer of 1849, I ascertained the cause of its barrenness, and thought of applying pollen from the wild kind; but it was not convenient to do so then, and the thing was omitted. In the last summer however, a branch was accidently brought home by one of my family; and though I knew it not till next day when it was withered, I shook it over the lower limbs, and the result has been several dozens of fine chestnuts.

I intend to plant a wild tree in the same border. The theory of this process has been known since the days of Linnæus; but persons who are botanists have been surprised and amused at the result. D. T. Greatfield, near Aurora, N. Y., 11 mo. 1, 1850. Experiment with a Plum tree-Curculio repelled? WILLIAM HOOPER of Kelloggsville, Cayuga Co., has a plum tree which had regularly dropped its fruit prematurely until the present season, when it bore a fine crop. Its productiveness is ascribed to the following experiment:-Round the tree, at the distance of a foot or more, a small trench was cut last spring, and filled with several quarts of salt. The Pyramidal training need not be directions (which were found in a newspaper) menconfined to pears on quince; some of the finest specimens we ever saw tioned a peck to each tree; but apprehensive that so were pyramids on pear stocks, this mode of manage- much might prove injurious, they lessened the quanment keeping them within limited bounds, and contributity. The tree appears quite healthy. D. T. 11 ting towards their productiveness.

If the young tree is left untouched, it will form a head similar to that shown by Fig. 6, resulting in the dwarf standard, Fig. 2; requiring however, in most cases, a slight shortening back, to preserve a good form.

Fig. 2.

Fig. 6. It may be well to add that there exists a serious difficulty in the way of the general introduction of dwarf pears. They require richer soil and higher culture than other trees, at the same time that more than nine-tenths of all trees not dwarfs generally planted by our land owners suffer greatly by neglected and deficient culture. Still more so then, would these.

mo. 4, 1850.

Sharp Frosts in Valleys.

LAWRENCE YOUNG, Chairman of the State Fruit Committee for Kentucky to the Pomological Congress, states the following fact in illustration of the advantages of planting tender fruit trees on elevated ground instead of in valleys. Lieut. Maury placed a thermometer on a high portion of his orchard grounds, and another at the bottom, thirty-five feet lower. At 1 A. M. he found the thermometer at the bottom at 28°, and being surprised to see that on the hill at 33°, changed their position, but was soon convinced that there was a difference in temperature between the two points of five degrees.

ENGLISH AND SCOTCH ACRES.-The English acre contains 4,840 square yards-the Scotch, 6,150. The Bitter and useless experience is too little for the Scotch acre, therefore, is rather more than one-fourth mind, but too much for the heart. the largest.

The Farmer's Lote-Book.

Black-Faced Sheep of Scotland.

In the pastoral districts of the Highlands of Scotland, the Black-Faced breed of sheep has been kept from time immemorial. The Cheviots have latterly been introduced to some extent, but it is still held, that "in the bleakest and wildest pastures of the mountain ranges, no sheep but the Black-Faced can exist." The breed is uncommonly hardy, and the mutton is remarkable for its fineness and delicacy of flavor. Good wethers average sixteen pounds per quarter. The wool is chiefly used for carpets and the coarser kinds of worsteds. It weighs about four pounds to the fleece. It is thought by some who have seen these sheep in their native country, that they might be advantageously introduced in some of our mountainous districts-as the Allegany range, &c., where they would subsist chiefly on the natural vegetation.

In our last volume, pages 48, 49, we gave some remarks, together with a cut, in regard to the management of sheep in the Highlands, and suggested that some of the practices there pursued might be properly adopted in this country. Our readers may be interested in a few observations in reference to the mode of living, and the character of the Scottish shepherds. Martin remarks—

ing on his employer's land from ten to fifty sheep,
sometimes more, during summer and winter, with
their lambs, to a certain time. In addition to these
privileges, he has a certain allowance of oats, barley,
and peas, for the sustenance of himself and family.
In this lone hut upon the mountain's side, dwells the
shepherd, his family, and his dog. During the
summer all is pleasant. True, his life is monoto-
nous,
but the Scottish shepherd, peasant though he
be, is not uneducated, and his own mind affords him
resources against ennui. Men celebrated in the paths
of literature have been for years the tenants of such

a cottage, and keepers of another's flock. But win-
ter comes on with its storms and tempests, and then
the utmost activity, vigilance and experience of the
shepherd are called into full exercise. He is ever
anxious, ever on the watch for changes of weather,
and his family, nay his faithful dog, participate in

his solicitude."

"I know of no scene," says the Shepherd-poet of Ettrick, "so impressive as that of a Shepherd's family, sequestered in a lone glen during the time of a winter storm. They are left to the protection of Heaven alone, and they know and feel it. Before retiring to rest, the shepherd uniformly goes out to examine the state of the weather, and make his report to the little dependant group within. Nothing is to be seen but the conflict of the elements, nor heard but the raving of the storm. Then they all kneel around him while he recommends them to the protection of Heaven; and though their little hymn of praise can scarcely be heard even by themselves, For example, if the shepherd be a married and mixes with the roar of the tempest, they never man he is allowed a cottage, generally consisting of fail to rise from their devotions with their spirits two apartments, with a little garden or kail-yard cheered and their confidence renewed. Often have I and a potato patch. He has also grazing ground been a sharer in such scenes, and never in my youngfor one or even two cows, and the liberty of pastur- est years, without having my heart deeply impressed.

"The plan on which these men are engaged is admirable, and binds them to their employer's interest, or rather makes their mutual interests the

same.

We lived as it were, inmates of the cloud and the storm, but we stood in relationship to Him who directed and governed them."

Center-Draft Plow, No. 40.

THIS is a new pattern, brought out by Messrs. PROUTY and MEARS, Boston. It is constructed with special reference to deep and narrow furrows, and may be called a stiff-soil plow. We had the opportunity of seeing it tried, in November last, on the farm of E. P. PRENTICE, Esq., near this city, where its operation was in the highest degree satisfactory. It was gauged to work ten inches wide and seven inches deep, and cut the furrows according to these dimensions, with remarkable exactness, running at the same time with great steadiness, and requiring comparatively little aid from the plowman. It leaves the soil in an open and friable condition, and effectually buries the vegetation.

First Wheat raised in Western New-York. EDS. CULTIVATOR-In the commencement of the summer of the year 1788, about twenty men, some of whom were accompanied by their families, met at Schenectady, in New-York, and embarked on batteaux for the western part of the State. They were followers of Jemima Wilkinson, who styled herself the "Universal Friend," and were going to the "promised land" which three of their agents had discovered the preceding year on the banks of a beautiful lake, now called the Seneca. They had horses and wagons to use when water carriage failed. They found but two log houses at Utica, one at Whitestown or Fort Stanwix. A pioneer by the name of Jennings had just moved into a log house, which the Indians had assisted in raising, near where the Franklin house now stands, in Geneva. This was the only house in Geneva, the only one they had found since leaving Fort Stanwix. With their batteaux, they proceeded up the lake to where the Ovid Landing now is. Here they staid about a week, searching after a stream on which to erect a mill. Not being able to find one, they crossed to the west shore of the lake, about a mile south of West Dres

den-were pleased with the mill seats on the outlet of Crooked Lake, and with the country. It was now the month of August, and they began the "Settlement" with vigor, agreeing to sow the first wheat in common. They cleared about 40 or 50 acres, judging that there would be two acres for each man. It was about the first of November before the wheat was sown-the quantity being at the rate of about one bushel per acre. No plow was used in preparing the ground-harrows, with wooden teeth, mellowed the newly-cleared soil, and covered the seed. It was harvested the succeeding July, and yielded about fifteen bushels per acre.

It may be interesting to add, that the first and second season, some of the settlers cut wild grass on the alluvial deposit at the head of the lake, where Jefferson now is, and conveyed it down the lake on batteaux, 25 miles, to the "Settlement." This, with what the cattle obtained from shrubs and trees, enabled them to live through the winter. I should have stated that the ground first sown, is now under cultivation, and often produces 30 to 40 bushels of wheat per acre. It belongs to Joseph Ketchum and Robert Norman. S. B. BUCKLEY. West Dresden, Yates Co., N. Y., Nov. 11, 1850.

"Small Potatoes" for Planting.

MESSRS. EDITORS-In the November number of the Cultivator, is an article on this subject, stating that superior crops have been raised from the use of small potatoes for seed, and asking further information.

Formerly, I believed in the common opinion, that large potatoes must be used for seed, to insure a good crop; but in 1845, owing to the failure of the previous crop, I was obliged to use small ones, none larger than a hen's egg, and the result was truly surprising. The yield was about 100 bushels from half an acre of unmanured ground, and they were almost uniformly of fine size. Many hills had none that were so small as the largest I planted.

But old opinions require a long time to root them out; and ever since, my potato field has been an experimental one, to determine this point. In no case have I been able to decide that large potatoes were