The Planters' banner. [volume] (Franklin, Attakapas Co., Lou.) 1849-1872, 1853-11-10

nor tnat coatlnS OF VarnlSL, SeaSona-
bly, applied, wiIPalways save girdled
trees; for do not know such TO be the
fact. [ trust further experience and
inquiry will cast light Oh both points
that soap-suds will be withheld from
the door-yard and given to the grape
vines; and that every tree that any
prowling rascal may girdIe will bA
promptly coated with varniSh-until we
shall determine under what circum-
stances, and with what limitations,
potash or soda is beneficial to grapes
and varnish an antidote for girdling.-
The point make is this, that no sane
farmer, having heard this relation, will
henceforth throw away his soap-suds
or neglect vanishing his girdled trees,
unless he learns some reason for doing
otherwise; and that, if he would do so
on the strength of my mere narration,
he ought many times rather 10 do so
had he found these same recipes in an
agricultural paper or manual. where
the chances are ten 10 one that il would
not have found a place unless on the
strength of testimony more reliable
than mine. because founded on a wider
and ntore varied experience, and sub
jected to more rigid scrutiny.
Take another case: My friend Df.
r. T. Underhill was physician in ex-
tensive practice some twenty years
ago. when, in the prime of life, having
become heartily tired of eallipots and
bone-sawing, he shook off The dust of
our city from his feet, and resolved
henceforth to live an honest life as
grower of fruits He went forty miles
up the Hudson, bought neck of land,
and commenced the cultivation of the
grape, which he has since prosecuted
with scientific knowledge, nntiring en-
ergy, and at length with decided sue
cess. He has probably assuaged more
suffering with his grapes than he ever
created by his drugs; be has grown
considerably younger by his twenty
years farming, and is now taking his
proper place among the most brisk and
genial of our youth-an admirable
specimen of that branch of :. Young
America which does not hate 10 work
nor long for opportunity TO steal.
Well: the Doctor, since the nntimely
death of the lamented Downing, stands.
at the head ef our fruit growers, with
whom one knotty problem of the last
few years has been-how TO counteract
the ravages of the CuFcuIio, which is
nearly robbing us of plums. for which
his taste is equal to ours, while in the
matter of gratifying il he is decidedly
ahead of US. By the time he has taken
his quota, the plums left on a tree, or
score OF trees. are not worth gathering.
But DR.. Underhill, by long study and
careful observation, has discovered the
means of completely outwitting him
He has found, by watching and noting
her movements, that the female Cur
culio will not deposit her eggs where
they, when the plums containing them
drop, will fall into water, her instinc
teaching her that they will thus be
drowned Taking advantage of this
instinct, the doctor plants his plum
rees on the bank of a stream or pond, |
md gives the trunks such an inclina-
ion that all their branches overhang
he wafer Thus the desolater is check
mated by his own instinct, aud the fruit
preserved from his ravages. know
lothing cieyerer in lis way than this
levice.
Now suppose there is no contemner
# book farming" so mulish or so dull
hat he would not, after hearing of this
levice, take advantage of any brook OF
,ond he might have on his premises.
nd set his plum-trees where they will
,e safe from the Curcnlio. But sup
,ose the discovery had been made by
ONE fruit-grower Of the last century,
nd duly recorded in book, had since
'een subjected to thousand ordeals,
nd had passed triumphant through
hem aIl-would it have been less ac-
eptable OF less valuable than ii now
5! If it be worth our while to learn
t all. what difference can be imagined
etween the knowledge founded on a
eighboE's experience and that con-
aimed in book? If there be any. are
ot the odds altogether in favor of that
description which has undergone the
7ider scrutiny and been subjected to
ne more rigorous criticism?
And here let me speak Of another,
Tho more recently shook off the dust
f our city's pavements to spend the
lter half of his life on a farm. | al
lde 10 Professor James ]. Mapes, whose
lme as an Agriculturist must have
cached very many among you. II
annot be many years-it seems 10 me
ut FIVE or six-sInce Prof Mapes,
no was extensively engaged in sugar
,fning and had heavy dealings in su-
arcane to a dead halt, or rather
cad smash, Stripped of means and
credit, he felt TOO old to launch again
] the dangerous sea of Commerce,
hose waves had so lately and SO deep
engulphed him; so he hired a bit of
nd in New Jersey, removed his family
ither, and resolved to turn the chemi-
il and other scientific knowledge
hich had so little avaiIed him as a
gar-refner. to account in the novel
,cation of farmer. He was very de-
itute, and of course got on but slowly
first. and when he first undertake