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[For the Country Gentleman and Cultivator.] The Apple Tree Borer.

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ing it. With no further working, save the operation of continued drainage, it will in time become deep and mellow. It does this from three causes: First, the drains EDS. CULT. AND CO. GENT.-As much has been said and allow the surplus water to filter rapidly away through the done of late years about destroying the borer, which has soil, instead of remaining a long time just below the sur-proved so troublesome and destructive to young apple trees, face, hardening, and in a manner, puddling the soil. I thought I would communicate to you my experience and Second, if the soil is clayey, drying it by drainage instead successful treatment in relation to the same. four years since I grafted a thrifty young sprout from an of evaporation, causes it to shrink and crack, thus tending old apple tree stump with fall pippins; the graft was growto its deeper pulverization. And third, into the cracks ing finely, when one day I noticed the borer was making thus formed, surface mold is washed, which not only keeps sad work on the tree, from the ground upwards a foot or I had read about applying coal from coal pit botthe clay from again uniting, but invites the roots of plant more. to follow the vegetable food thus supplied, thus increasing toms around the roots of trees as good, and digging out the borer and stopping up the holes with gum shellac, &c. the pulverization until, in the course of time, it becomes I accordingly applied coal braize [the fine charcoal from equal to that of the drainage itself. coal pit bottoms] around the root of the tree, dug out all the borers I could find, cut away the dead bark, and apimplied a thick coat of tar on the tree where the bark had been removed, and washed the tree with a strong lye from wood ashes and lime. The borer has left the tree, and it looks well and promising. I applied another coat of tar this last spring where the bark had been destroyed. I think tar will prove useful in driving away the borer from young trees. JOHN R. BLAIR. Kent, Ct.

2. A more rapid method of deepening the soil is by the use of the subsoil plow, or by deep culture with any plement adapted to the purpose. After lowering the line of standing water, we may break up the hard subsoil at once; we shall find it to change its character rapidly as it becomes penetrable to the air-very soon instead of being shunned by the roots of cultivated plants it will be sought by them, and they will show by the larger growth above ground that there is a large and healthy growth of roots below. We cannot, we should remember, have the one without the other.

[For the Country Gentleman and Cultivator.] Improvement in Feeding-Boxes for Sheep. The old fashioned box for feeding sheep with hay, formed with two boards on a side-one a short distance above the other to admit the sheep's head-is a most useful thing

3. The soil may be deepened by a gradual increase in the depth of plowing given in the usual course of prepara-in thawing, muddy times; though at others its use may tion for crops. If we have a field which has never been be considered doubtful. If they could be made so as to cultivated beyond five inches deep, we may very safely be snugly packed away under shelter without much trouble, and profitably plow it six inches for the next crop, and go they would last much longer, and farmers perhaps would be more likely to have them. This may be done by makan inch deeper each time for several succeeding crops.ing mortices in the posts to receive the end pieces, instead There is no difficulty in turning a furrow nine or ten in- of nailing them on. The end pieces can be held in their ches deep with our usual teams and implements, after the places by pins, fitted loosely so as to be taken out easily, soil has been thoroughly broken up to that depth, and there which will hold the box together. The side pieces of When the box will not be few if any farm crops but will fill with roots a fertile soil are course are nailed to the post. one foot in depth. It may require more manure to enrich used, the end pieces can be taken out, the pins slipped in their places, and the whole thing packed away where it such a soil, but in the same proportion it will be more pro- will not be destroyed by being racked about, or exposed ductive than a shallower soil, and will continue much longer to the weather. to give profitable returns without additional manure.

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LUTHER TUCKER & SON-Your favor of 30th, with Hallenbeck Plums, came safely to hand, for which I am obliged. The stems were wanting, and the bloom mostly rubbed off, so that I had to guess at those portions. I have it growing, but it has not yet fruited. I consider it a very good" plum, but not "best." Its value depends much upon its bearing qualities, time of ripening, and

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whether much liable to rot on the tree.

DESCRIPTION.-Branches smooth or slightly downy; tree vigorous with straight upright shoots.

Fruit large, roundish oval, one side often enlarged. Suture broad and shallow, ending in a depressed apex. Skin deep reddish purple, sprinkled with numerous brown dots and covered with a blue bloom. Stalk [short, less than half an ineh,] in a pretty large cavity. Flesh greenish yellow, juicy, sugary, with a brisk flavor-quality "very good"-adheres closely to the pit, which is roundish oval. Ripe last of any.

CHAS. DOWNING.

We shall be much obliged if Mr. Hallenbeck, on whose farm this plum originated, will favor us with its history, bearing qualities, &c.

FINING WINE.

J. L. B.

MESSRS. TUCKER-A very long experience in the wine trade enables me to say to those of your readers who are making wines of any sort, that the whites of eggs are superior to any other fining. They should be entirely separated from the yolk-beat only so as to seperate them, and not to the frothy condition prepared for cake-making. Three or four and a tablespoonful of fine salt; mix these well together in a whites to a quarter cask, adding the shells pulverized fine, gallon or more of the wine, pour this into the cask, and see that your measure holds back none of the fining; then give it a thorough stirring from the bottom with a stout stick put in at the bunghole. If you have more shells, it will be beneficial to use them, especially if the juice appears to partake of strong vinous acid. The eggs should be fresh, and if the first fining fails give it a second one, but do not stir from the bottom, or let your stirrer go more than half the depth of the cask; the bung should be left loose, a faucet put in the head of the tle of the lees drawn off for a few times, and at intervals of cask, and after a while by a sudden turn of the faucet, a litsome days, until it appears bright in a glass. If the process of fining is very tardy, a small quantity of brandy poured gently in at the bung, and stirred on the surface of the juice, sometimes aids the precipitation of lees.

Elder for Striped Bugs.

E.

the common elder upon vines to keep off the striped bug.
I saw a notice in the COUNTRY GENTLEMAN of placing
Ours were very thrifty, and in two days after the bugs
made their appearance, the vines were completely covered
and eaten. I then placed on some elder, and the next
day they were all gone.
MARIA BROWN.

CURING SOWN CORN FODDER.

MESSRS. EDITORS—I wish to beg some information through your valuable columns in relation to a piece of corn sown broadcast-which is the proper manner of curing it, cutting and bundling the same as field corn, or cutting and laying flat in the same manner as hay. Would it be advisable to put on the same land winter wheat after removing the corn in case it was taken off by the 4th or 5th of September? I have been a constant reader of the COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, and had it in our family for the last three years, and found it of great interest. G. A. S.

term pippin among apples, the Fall pippin being very large, the Golden pippin very small; the Newtown pippin is green, the Ribston red, the Downton yellow, &c.; the Sugar-loaf is oblong, the Michael Henry conical, the Vandervere pippin flat; the Blenheim pippin sweet, the Ribston sour, &c., the term, in fact, applying to all apples of whatever size, form, color or quality.

Fruit in the Shade---Balling Trees.

EDS. Co. GENT.-Are the sun's rays absolutely necessary to ripen fruit? I have a spot of ground so shaded that at this season not more than four hours of sunshine are upon it. Will you or your readers say whether grapes, pears or apples will ripen in such a place? Will you also please explain the process of "balling" New-York. tree for winter transplanting? H.

a

Corn fodder, raised by sowing the seed broadcast at the rate of four bushels per acre, or much better if in furrows or drills at the rate of two and a half bushels per acre, gives a much finer and softer stalk than common fodder. It will be all eaten by cattle, but at the same time it packs more solidly in the stack, and is in greater danger of heating and spoiling by fermentation. We have known whole stacks to become completely spoiled, even after the fodder had remained some weeks in the shock, and was apparently quite dry. The stacks must be small, with three rails set upright in the middle so as to leave an opening for the escape of heat; or better, if spread on poles in the loft of a shed. It may be stacked better, handled better, and it will dry better, if bound in bundle; but will a do very well if not bound, but raked with a horse rake and pitched with a horse fork. If for binding, the corn grown in drills may be cut with a common scythe so as to fall in even swaths; if for the horse-rake, it may be cut with a mowing machine.

It is a good crop to precede wheat, if it has been sown early enough in spring to be cut by the end of summer; for as it bears no corn, it does not exhaust the soil, but leaves more in the soil in the form of roots, than it carries off.

MAHALEB STOCKS.

MESSRS. EDITORS—As you are supposed to know every thing, I wish to ask five questions about the Mahaleb-a stock used for budding the cherry upon. Does it make a dwarf tree, or will they grow to be as large as those budded upon a Mazzard stock ?(1) Are the stocks obtained from seed ?(2) Where can the seed be obtained ?(3) When to be planted?(4) Is the fruit as good as when budded upon the Mazzard ?(5) Please answer through the CULTIVATOR and oblige Jos. E. PHELPS. Mass.

1. The tree grows rapidly at first, but does not attain the size of those worked on Mazzard stocks. 2. The Mahaleb is raised from seed. 3. Some nurserymen have begun to raise their own seed in this country, but we do not know of any in market. 4. They may be planted in autumn or early spring, as other cherry seed, having been gathered and treated in the same way.

PLUMS AND GAGES.

What is the distinguishing difference between a plum and gage? is the gage round and plum long? J. W. L. All gages are plums, but there are some plums which are not gages. The term gage, originally from the name of the man who introduced the Queen Claude into a part of England where it was unknown, is generally understood to apply to plums of moderate size and rather rich quality, varying, however, in form and color. The Green gage is round, the Imperial gage is oval. The former is green, the Yellow gage yellow, the Purple gage violet, &c. But the term is never applied to very large, or very coarse plums, nor to that peculiar class known as prunes.

The same or a more obscure meaning attaches to the

The sun's rays are not absolutely essential to the ripening of fruit, as is proved by the growth and maturity of specimens on the shaded side of large dense trees. If the shaded trees are fully open to the northern sky, so that they will receive a full share of light from sky and clouds, they will probably succeed pretty well. Apples, grapes and pears will do better in such a place than peaches. As general rule, if the leaves, which furnish the food to the growing and ripening fruit are fully exposed to light and air, the fruit, although itself in the shade, will become fully perfected.

The usual practice in removing a tree with a ball of earth, is to dig a trench about the tree in autumn, fill the trench partly with leaves, to protect its bottom from the frost, and then, when the earth within the trench is frozen solid, to lift the tree and remove it on a sled to its place of destination, where a hole of corresponding size has also been cut for it in autumn. If of considerable size, we should prefer cutting a narrow trench a year previously, so as to cut off all the long roots, that the tree might send out a new supply of shorter fibres. In this way it would sustain less check in transplanting.

[For the Country Gentleman and Cultivator.] REMEDY FOR BED BUGS.

"A highly respectable lady who has especial abhorrence" of bed-bugs, has our sympathy, and is welcome to our plan, which has not only kept them from the beds, but banished them from the house within the last month.

Take a cup one-third full of tar-put in candlewick, (say about four feet in length to each bed,)-when properly saturated, wind two or three times around each foot of the bedstead in the smallest part, or on the castor just above the roller; Cleanse the bed tie loosely, so that it will retain the tar. thoroughly several times during the first week. Apply the tar as often as necessary to keep the wick properly saturated, with a brush or feather, and the bugs will soon disappear.

By putting the bandage where the bedstead will protect it from coming in contact with the bed-clothing, the tar will be Icss inconvenience than bugs. M. G. Leavenworth, Kansas.

Take five cents' worth of quicksilver, and a piece of lard as large as a hen's egg. Rub them together in a stone mortar or earthen bowl until the quicksilver is well mixed with the lard. This mixture is similar to blue ointment. Put a small quantity in the crevices of your bedsteads. This ointment has the advantage of liquids, as it does not dry and become useless and will remain for years unless it is washed off.

V.

During last year, no less than 629 agricultural articles were patented in this country. Of these, 117 were seed-planters, 113 harvesters, 58 cultivators, 43 plows, 42 churns, &c.

[For the Country Gentleman and Cultivator.] SHEEP IN TEXAS..

EDS. Co. GENT.-The flocks of Col. C. B. Shepard, near Long Point, in Washington county, prove that many of the prairies in Texas are well adapted to sheep. His sheep, composed of merinos and mixed blood, are now in such excellent condition, notwithstanding the severe drouth, that I give the following items, condensed from his books, for the encouragement of Texas wool growers.

DR.

Col. S. began wool growing in 1807 by the purchase of 684 sheep at 1,600.00

a cost of.

In 1858, he bought 302 at..

do.

1859 do. 14 bucks and 20 ewes, (Merinos,)..
do. 8 South Downs...
Total

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$3,367.50

910.00
142.00

$6,179.50

1,662.15

tion is going on, some latent valve is opened, by which the gas is liberated and escapes.

I have never known any other remedy recommended that would not be quite as bad, if not worse than the disorder. In a case of pure hoven, so short and sudden are its beginning and ending, there would not be time to prepare and adininister drugs, if they could avail, before the case would terminate fatally or be relieved by Nature, while stabbing is so revolting and dangerous as not to be taken into account. The swallowing of a piece of turnip, potato, apple, or the like, is a different condition from that of hoven, and should be treated differently. The probang instead of the straw rope must be used to get rid of substances lodged in the gullet.

Every one having cattle should have one or more ropes ready made for service, so that no time would be lost in $ 962.41 constructing one-time is all important in the matter of 735.25 hoven. If there is any tar at hand it would not be amiss 1,001.00 to besmear that part of the rope with it that is to go into 1,890.40 the mouth of the animal. I can give no reason for the $6,211.21 tar accelerating the process, other than it increases, perhaps, the revulsion or repugnance to the rope, and causes the saliva to flow more freely. But tar or no tar, let the rope be applied as directed.

Many of the prairies are yet unfenced, hence there has been no expense for food, except a small amount of hay and millet, given during the northers of last winter. The Bock had little attendance in 1857, save that given by a Mexican dog of great intelligence. It is said that he kept constantly with the flock except when hungry, when he went to the nearest house, and by barking and gestures asked for food, after receiving which he returned immediately to his charge. The dog mixed freely with the sheep. In crossing streams and dangerous places, he would go ahead and encourage them to follow.

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200

$685

This remedy has been long known to me, and frequent-
JAMES GOWEN,
ly adverted to through many years.
Mount Airy, Philadelphia, Aug. 10, 1860.

(For the Country Gentleman and Cultivator.] GOOD SHEEP IN CANADA.

EDs. Co. GENT.-In your issue of the 2d inst., I perceived you gave an extract from the "Southern Planter," $125 which stated that a gentleman of Virginia had been making 60 importations of stock from England. Among the sheep imported, was a Cotswold ram of such size that the editor had the curiosity to measure him. He then gives the di$320 mensions which are certainly large, but we are pleased in being able to state that we can produce something still larger, and we would at the same time, most respectfully inform the editor of that paper, as well as any other of our American cousins who may wish to excel in sheep, that they might possibly be as well accommodated in Canada, and thus save the trouble and expense (not to say risk,) of going across the Atlantic for the desired object.

130

$470

No. of sheep June 1860, 2,430, worth at least $6 each, $14,580, and Col. S. would not sell at $7 per head. No estimate is made of the interest of money used in buying flock, enough being already given to show that Col. S. has large profits. His sheep have always been very healthy. Col. S says they have increased in size and yield of wool. The number lost by death can be found from the preceding items.

The location of Col. Shepard is amid fine rolling prairies, traversed by well watered ravines, where cedars and other trees grow, giving shelter from the northers in winter. There also the sheep have water, and shade in summer. There is so little dew in Texas that sheep cannot thrive without plenty of good water. S. B. BUCKLEY.

Evergreen, Washington Co., Texas, Aug. 11.

(For the Country Gentleman and Cultivator.] HOVE OR HOVEN IN CATTLE. MESSES. EDITORS-Observing in one of your recent issues some special remarks on the cause and cure of “Hoven," allow me to recommend a simple remedy for the evil, one in which I have so much confidence as to feel perfect freedom in recommending its application.

Let a straw or hay rope (made of two strands of thumb rope laid or twisted together) be introduced between the jaws of the animal, bridlewise, drawing it back by both ends, and tieing it tightly around the roots of the horns at the back of the head, till the jaws are fully opened and gagged. If this is done in the stall and the animal is able to stand or walk, it should be turned out at once and kept moving about, when in a few minutes the distention will subside and all will be well again.

The philosophy of this, simplified, is that the animal finding itself gagged, is excited to effort to get rid of the obstruction, and for this purpose the tongue is brought into requisition to eject the rope, and while this muscular ac

I have a ram of the Improved Leicester breed, which, after seeing the aforesaid extract, I had the curiosity to measure, and which I found as follows: Length from the top of his eyes to the foot of his tail, (which, by the bye, was cut very short,) five feet two inches-girth behind the shoulders, five feet ten inches-width across the back twenty-four inches-weight 12th August, 353 lbs. The measurement is given irrespective of wool.

But before I conclude, I would just remark that "size" is not the only desired qualification in sheep, no more than other animals. Our great object should be to combine quality, symmetry, and wool, to correspond with their weight of carcass.

Now, gentlemen, since I have taken the liberty to trouble you thus far, allow me to ask of you a little information as to what encouragement is given to foreign or Canadian exhibitors, at your State Fairs. If your terms are liberal, I might probably show the sheep above noticed, as well as some others of my flock, at your next exhibition at Elmira, should they not be disposed of before that time. THOMAS GUY. Sydenham Farm, Port Oshawa, C. W. The N. Y. State Ag. Society offer prizes of $10 for the best ram-$10 for the best pen of five ewes, and $5 for the best pen of three lambs, for the different breeds of sheep, from out of the State. We shall hope to see some of our correspondent's sheep at Elmira.

Richard S. Fay of Lynn, Mass., one of the best sheepraisers and agriculturists in that State, has recently imported two Oxford-Down bucks, one of which is two years old and weighs 230 lbs.

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THE BEZI MAI PEAR.

We present herewith an Engraving of this Pear, which is a Seedling originally produced by DE JONGHE of Brussels. He describes it in a late number of the Gardener's Chronicle as possessing some points of excellence, which if it would retain on trial in this country, would render it a decided acquisition-a consideration which has lead us to copy the Engraving for the COUNTRY GENTLEMAN from the Revue Horticole for June last. Mr. De Jonghe says: In 1856, when it first bore fruit, it was 11 years old. The fruit, seventeen in number in 1857, were of the Chaumontel form. In 1858 the fruit remaining on the tree after the hurricane of July 25th and at the time, of gathering were only thirty. I carefully tasted the fruits of 1856, 1857, and 1858, and determined their quality. From three seasons' experience the ordinary time of ripening is in May, hence the name which is added to that designating its form. At the time of gathering, its skin is of a dull green, marked with brown dots. The eye is

small with short stiff open segments; the stalk is brown, woody, of the length represented in the figure. Towards the ripening period the skin becomes of a lighter and more uniform green, with a yellowish tinge, and softening near the stalk. The flesh is as buttery as that of the Easter Beurré, as close as that of the Glout Morceau, and free the filaments forming the axis of the fruit are very slender from grit; the juice is abundant, sugary, and high flavored; and scarcely apparent; the seeds, 4-6, are large, oval, of a coffee-brown color. The fruit is hard and heavy. It is to be remarked that the fruits gathered from the 23d of September to the 20th of October, all ripened equally in May. Those gathered latest were, however, the largest, and proved of best quality. Another point worthy of notice is, that the fruit blown down by the wind in the end of September and beginning of October in 1857 and 1858, have not suffered from their fall.

In conclusion, the Bezi Mai is recommended for the good appearance of the tree, its hardiness, productiveness, the beauty of its fruit, its late and prolonged period of ripening, its good quality, sound keeping, and adaptation for bearing carriage.

Pike's Defiance Cucumber.

We present herewith an Engraving representing upon a scale of one-third its natural size, this favorite English cucumber, especially noted for its abundant product and the precocity and rapidity of its growth. The Revue Horticole mentions an instance in which 13 seeds sown by one of the large Paris vegetable gardeners, gave birth to 13 plants which at the end of five weeks had a kilogramme's weight of fruit upon them, about 2 lbs., fit for marketing, while another of the best early varieties under the same treatment, furnished nothing at all that could be sold until a fortnight later. This grower reckoned the product of the 13 plants at 25 cucumbers apiece, or a total of 300, and expressed so much satisfaction with it, that it was his determination the present year to occupy no less than a hundred sash with this sort alone.

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The Pike's Defiance resembles somewhat the Gladiator and Man of Kent, but is said to excel both in the qualities above remarked-earliness, rapidity of growth, and abundant yield. It is well adapted for forcing, for which purpose some particulars of the French system may be read with interest. The seed is there sown at any time from the beginning of February into May, in pots. of about an inch and a half diameter (4 centimetres) plunged in the hot-bed. Re-potted ten days later in a larger size, at the end of a second ten days it is a third time shifted into a pot still larger and at the end of six weeks to its final ocation in the bed, four plants to each frame about 3 feet 3 inches by 4 feet 7 inches. The culture adopted is to pinch successively to three eyes the stalk and the two principal shoots put out after the first pinching. The plant is then left to itself, except as regards directing the branches in a suitable way; the cucumber should be ready for picking, if there has been a fair degree of sunshine, him a helping hand in his theory, or practice if you prein six or seven weeks, and it is particularly recommended, if an abundant crop rather than large size is the object sought for, to remove the cucumbers as fast as they become eatable, so as not to fatigue the plant. A successive development of new fruits in very large number is thus secured. Similar pains and similar training are recommended for those grown out of doors, and an equally abundant crop, although not so quick a one, is promised-say toward the end of the second month.

fer that word. Some twelve years since I began a new flock of sheep by the purchase of twenty head from a large flock that were in rather poor condition. I fitted a loose stable with boards and floor, in which they were kept nights and stormy days, having boards hung on hinges at the sides, that could be opened and shut at pleasure for the purpose of ventilation. The result was, my sheep gained all winter without grain of any kind or roots, and in the spring not a tick was seen on any of them. Such has been my practice from that time to the present, and some years have wintered eighty-commonly about forty or fifty-have never fed any oil meal, and have never seen a tick on either sheep or lamb during the whole of that time. I think the doctrine of protection from cold wet storms in late fall, winter and spring, with good care and keep, will eradicate all the ticks in America. An experience of twelve years is satisfactory to me at least. Now is the time for those that raise ticks and wish to get rid of them, to prepare a shelter for their sheep, and see that they are taken care of in our cold wet storms, and all will be safe. Such at least is my experience.

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