Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1871-08-12
Correspondence.
FARMERS BOYS AND APPLE TREES.

f$N'''N'
In your paper of June 24th, which is be-
fore me- is I'm article entitled, The Boy who
was Encouraged" That way of doing bust
ness is all right us far us it reaches But,
who are the boys that get discouraged?
Space forbids the attempt to tell of all the
ways in which our farmers boys are driven
from the farm from home, and to the -
well, no matter where, so long Us they can
find sympathy and companionship.
us heartily dislike ''band-box'' gentle
man as any one by that mean boy who
struts in n pair of ragged cotton gloves, and
because his doting papa has told him he was
handsome enough to live without work,
thinks he must he intended for president.
and expects to become one some day with
out making the necessary effort Unless
that boy has too much common sense to be
spoiled, his end is plain.
There is another extreme in the manage
ment of the male juveniles of the farm. which
is sure to do its work, one example of which
came under our observation. 1t was in this
wise. \ lady who had taught school in the
neighborhood the season before, was on Il
visit to the family. The young ladies, of
course, were in the parlor dressed in all the
good clothes the family could afford, while
the boys were over in the back meadow
picking stone. After the tea table had been
cleared of every trace of luxury. the boys
were called to supper which was of sour
scorched johnny cake and milk which was
gtliltlcss of any trace of cream The aching
back. and burning brow, caused by continued
labor in II STOPPING position, were rs nothing
compared to the heart-burnng wrath of
those two boys us they, with muttered curses.
lett their unsavory meal half eaten. Both of
those boys ran away from home long before
they had reached their majority, and if they
were ultimately saved from ruin, it was not
burned johnny cake and skinned milk that
did it. Hoping that other pens than mine
will ventilate this subject, leave it for the
present.
iShouM -Ippie Trees be Trimmed? Experi-
ence and observation tell us that many fruit
trees are injured, or ruined, by too much
trimming. \ case to the point.
ID. +. Newton, of this town, formerly of
Massachusetts, has II young orchard which
has never been touched with knife or saw
since the trees were of proper height to be
allowed to branch out. His trees are thrifty.
with smooth bark, and loaded with fruit.
have been in the fruit business more or
less ever since was big enough to eat an
apple, and, as far us my observation extends, |
the trees that have been MANFRED the most
mt the bottom and trimmed the least mt the
top, give the best crop of fruit.
No kind of manure comes amiss with i'm
apple tree. Dairy carcasses, sheep that from
grub in the head or lack of grub in the stom-
ach' have been cut down by dispensation
OF Providence (?), cats that have ceased to
yawl, woodchucks that have ceased to crawl.
on any other animal matter buried ut any
time OF year, near the tree, deep enough so
that the grass will not reach it with its roots.
Will soon be found by the roots of the tree
and turned to good account.
X. ID. NJ.
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