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Prefer a sandy loam, not less than two feet deep and good earth not of a binding nature in summer, nor retentive of rain in winter; but of such a texture that it can be worked without difficulty in any season of the year. There are few sorts of fruit-trees or esculent vegetables, which require less depth of earth to grow in than two feet to bring them to perfection, and if the earth of the kit hen-garden be three or more feet deep, so much the better; for when the plants are in a state of maturity, if the roots even of peas, spinach kidney beans, lettuce, etc., be minutely traced, they will be found to penetrate into the earth, in search of food, to the depth of two feet, provided the soil be of a nature that allows them; if it can be done, a garden should be made on land whose bottom is not of a springy wet nature. If this rule can be observed, draining will be unnecessary, for when land is well prepared for the growth of fruit trees and esculent vegetables, by trenching, manuring, and digging, it is by these means brought into such a porous temperament, that the rains pass through it without being detained longer than necessary. If the land of a garden be of too strong a nature, it should be well mixed with sand, or scrapings of roads, where stones have been ground to pieces by carriages.
The bottom should be laid with lime-rubbish large flint stones, or any other hard matter, for eight or ton inches, to keep weeds from growing through, and over this the gravel is to be laid six or eight inches thick. This should be lain rounding up in the middle, by which means the larger stones will run off to the sides, and may be raked away, for the gravel should never be screened before it is laid on. It is a common mistake to lay these walks too round, which not only makes them uneasy to walk upon, but takes off from their apparent breadth. One inch in five feet is a sufficient proportion for the rise in the middle; so that a walk twenty feet wide should be four inches higher at the middle than at the edges and so in proportion. As soon as the gravel is laid, it should be raked, and the large stones thrown back again; then the whole should be rolled both lengthwise and crosswise, and the person who draws the roller should wear shoes with flat heels that he may make no holes, because holes made in a new walk are not easily remedied. The walks should always he rolled three or four times after very hard showers, from which they will bind more firmly than otherwise they could ever be made to.
Stable-dung is in the most general use for forming hotbeds, which are masses of this dung after it has undergone its violent fermentation.
Bark is only preferable to dung because the substance which undergoes the process of putrid fermentation requires longer time to decay. Hence it is found useful in the bark pits of hot houses as requiring to be less often moved or renewed than dung or any other substance.
Leaves, and especially oak leaves, come the nearest to bark, and have the additional advantage that when perfectly rotten like dung they form a rich mould or excellent manure.
The object of preparation in these three substances being to get rid of the violent heat which is produced when the fermentation is most powerful, it is obvious that preparation must consist in facilitating the process. For this purpose a certain degree of moisture and air in the fermenting bodies are requisite, and hence the business of the gardener is to turn them over frequently and apply water when the process appears impeded, and exclude rain when chilled with too much water.
Recent stable-dung generally requires to lie a month in ridges or beds, and be turned over in that time thrice before it is fit for cucumber-beds of the common construction; but for McPhail's hot-beds, or for linings, or for frames with movable bottoms, three weeks, a fortnight, or less will suffice, or no time at all need be given, but the dung formed at once into linings. Tan and leaves require in general a month. Fermentation is always most rapid in Summer, and if the materials are spread abroad during the frost, it is totally impeded. In winter the process of preperation generally goes on under the back sheds which situation is also the best in summer, as full exposure to the sun and wind dries too much the exterior surface, but where sheds cannot be had, it will go on very well in the open air. Some cultivators have devised plans to economize heat by fermenting dung in vineries which are just beginning to be forced, or in vaults under pine pits, or plant stoves.
In general such beds are formed on a level surface, but Mr. T. A. Knight's plan is to form a surface of earth as a basis, which shall incline to the horizon to the extent of 15°; on this he forms the dung-bed to the same inclination, and finally the frame, when placed on such a bed, if as is usual, it be deepest behind, will present its glass at an angle of 20°, instead of six or eight, which is undoubtedly of great advantage in the winter season.
Ashes are often mixed with the dung of hot beds, and are supposed to promote the steadiness and duration of their heat, and at least to rev1ve it if somewhat decayed. Tan leaves have also been used for the same purpose, and it is generally found that about one-third of tan and two-thirds of dung will form a more durable and less violent heat than a bed wholly of dung. The heat of dung-beds is revived by linings or collateral and surrounding walls or banks of fresh dung, the old dung of the bed being previously cut down close to the frames, and in severe weather the sides of the beds are often protected by bundles of straw or faggots.
The residuum of heats, properly reduced by keeping, is a good simple manure for most fruit trees, and excellent in a compost; but where the soil is naturally cold a little ashes of coals, wood, straw, or burnt turf, or a minute proportion of soot, ought to be incorporated with it. Hog-dung has a peculiar virtue in invigorating weak trees. Rotten turf, or any vegetable refuse, is a general manure, excellent for all soils not already too rich. One of the best correctives of too rich a soil is drift sand. For an exhausted soil, where a fruit tree that has been an old, profitable occupant is wished to be continued, a dressing of animal matter is a powerful restorative, such as hogs' or bullooks blood, offal from the slaughter-house, refuse of skins and leather, decomposed carrion, etc. The drainings of dung laid on as mulch are highly serviceable.
It is very proper to crop the ground among new planted orchard trees for a few years, in order to defray the expense of hoeing and cultivating it, which should be done until the temporary plants are removed and the whole be sown down in grass. As the trees begin to produce fruit, begin also to relinquish cropping. When by their productions they defray all expenses, crop no longer.
During hot weather, says Knight, I have all the offals in the garden, such as weeds, leaves of strawberries and other vegetables, short grass, peas, and asparagus haum, with the foliage of trees and shrubs when newly shed, carefully collected into a heap. These are all turned over and mixed during the winter, that they may be sufficiently rotted to mix with the dung against the end of summer. I have also another heap formed with the prunings from gooseberry and currant bushes, fruit-trees, raspberry shoots, clippings of box-edgings, and lappings from shrubs; also the roots of greens and cabbages, which are generally burnt at two different periods in the year, viz., in spring and autumn, but previous to each burning I endeavor to pare up all the coarse grasses around the garden, with a portion of the soil adhering thereto, and whenever these are sufficiently dried have them collected to the heap intended to be burnt. The fire is kindled at a convenient distance from the heaps and a portion of such as burn most easily is first applied, until the fire has gained a considerable power. After this the process of burning is continued by applying lighter and heavier substances alternately, that the one may preserve the action of the fire, and the other prevent it from reducing them too much to ashes. When the whole are thus consumed a quantity of mould is thrown over the heap to prevent the fire from breaking through, and whenever it can be broken into with safety it is then mixed up into a dunghill with the rotted vegetables, moss-earth and stable-yard dung in such proportions as is likely to insure a moderate fermentation, which is generally completed in three or four weeks, at which time it is most advantageously applied in having it carried to the ground and instantly dug in.
Composts are mixtures of several earths, or earthy substances, or dungs, either for the improvement of the general soil under culture or for the culture of particular plants.
In respect to composts for the amendment of the general soil of the garden, their quality must depend upon that of the natural soil; if this be light, loose, or sandy, it may be assisted by heavy loams, clays etc., from ponds and ditches, cleanings of sewers, etc. On the other hand, heavy clayey and all stubborn soils may be assisted by light composts of sandy earth, drift and sea-sand, the shovellings of turnpike roads, the cleansing of streets, all kinds of ashes, rotten tanner's bark,
rotten wood, saw dust, and other similar light opening materials that can be most conveniently procured.
These may be reduced to light sandy loam from old pastures: strong loam approaching nearly to brick earth from the same source; peat earth, from the surface of heaths or commons; bog earth, from bogs or morasses; vegetable earth, from decayed leaves, stalks, cow-dung, etc.; sand, either sea-sand, drift-sand, or powdered stone, so as to be as free as possible from iron; lime-rubbish; and, lastly, common garden earth. There are no known plants that will not grow or thrive in one or other of these earths, alone or mixed with some other earth, or with rotten dung or leaves. Nurserymen have seldom more than three sorts of earth: loam, approaching to the qualities of brick-earth, peat or bog-earth, and the common soil of their nursery. With these and the addition of a little sand for striking plants, some sifted lime-rubbish for succulents, and some well-rotted cow dung for bulbs, and some sorts of trees, they continue to grow thousands of different species in as great or greater perfection as in their native countries, and many, as the pine, vine, camellia, rose, etc., in a superior manner.
The preparation necessary for heavy and light composts for general enrichment, and or the above different earths, consists in collecting each soil in the compost ground, in separate ridges of three or four feet broad, and as high, turning them every six weeks or two months for a year or a year and a half before they are used. Peat earth, being generally procured in the state of turves full of the roots and tops of heath, requires two or three years to rot; but, after it has lain one year, it may be sifted, and what passes through a small sieve will be found fit for use. Some nurserymen use both these loams and peats as soon as procured, and find them answer perfectly for most plants; but for delicate flowers, and especially bulbs, and all florists' flowers, and for all composts in which manures enter not less than one year ought to be allowed for decomposition, and what is called sweetening.
The depth of green-houses should never be greater than their height in the clear; which, in small or middling houses may be sixteen or eighteen feet, but in large ones from twenty to twenty four feet; and the length of the windows should reach from about one foot and a half above the pavement, and within the same distance of the ceiling.
The floor of the greenhouse, which should be laid either with Bremen squares, Purbeck stone, or flat tiles, must be raised two feet above the surface of the adjoining ground, or, if the situation be damp, at least three feet; and if the whole is arched with low brick arches under the floor they will be of great service in preventing damp; and under the floor, about two feet from the front, it will be very advisable to make a flue of ten inches wide, and two feet deep, this should be carried the whole length of the house, and then returned back along the hinder part, and there be carried up into funnels adjoining to the tool-house, by which the smoke may be carried off. The fireplace may be contrived at one end of the house, and the door at which the fuel is put in, as also the ash-grate, may be contrived to open into the tool-house.
Whilst the front of the green-house is exactly south, one of the wings may be made to face the southeast, and the other the southwest. By this disposition the heat of the sun is reflected from one part of the building to the other all day, and the front of the main green-house is guarded from the cold winds. These two wings may be so contrived as to maintain plants of different degrees of hardiness, which may be easily effected by the situation and extent of the fireplace, and the manner of conducting the flues.
The sloping glasses of these houses should be made to slide and take off, so that they may be drawn down more or less in warm weather to admit air to the plants; and the upright glasses in the front may be so contrived as that every other may open as a door upon hinges, and the alternate glasses may be divided into two; the upper part of each should be so contrived as to be drawn down like a sash, so that either of them may be used to admit Air in a greater or less quantity, as there may be occasion. As to the management of plants in a green-house, open the mould about them from time to time, and sprinkle a little fresh mould in them, and a little warm dung on that; also water them when the leaves begin to wither and curl, and not oftener, which would make them fade and be sickly; and take off such leaves as wither and grow dry.
Plants are universally propagated by seed, but partially also by germs or bulbs, suckers, runners, slips, and offsets, and artificially by layers, inarching, grafting, budding, and cutting.
The propagation by seed is to make sure of live seeds; for some lose their vitality very early after being gathered, while others retain it only for one or perhaps two seasons; some seeds also are injured, and others improved by keeping. The size of seeds requires also to be taker' into consideration, for on this most frequently depends the depth which they require to be buried in the soil; the texture of their skin or covering must be attended to, as on this often depends the time they require to be buried in the soil previously to germination. On the form and surface of the outer coating of seeds sometimes depends the mode of sowing, as in the carrot, and on their qualities in general depends their liability to be attacked by insects. The nature of the offspring expects it, and the proper climate, soil, and season, require also to be kept in view in determining how, where, when, and in what quantity any seed must be sown.
Germs or bulbs, cauline or radical, require in general to be planted immediately, or soon after removal from the parent plant, in light earth, about their own depth from the surface. Matured bulbs may be preserved out of the soil for some months, without injury to the vitality, but infant bulbs are easily dried up and injured when so treated.
Slips are shoots which spring from the collar or the upper part of the roots of herbaceous plants as in auricular, and under shrubs, as thymes, etc. The shoot, when the lower part from whence the roots proceed begins to ripen or acquire a firm texture, is to be slipped or drawn from the parent plant, so far as to bring off a heel or claw of old wood, stem, or root, on which generally some roots, or rudiments of roots, are attached. The ragged parts and edges of this claw or rough section are then to be smoothed with a sharp knife and the slip to be planted in suitable soil and shaded till it strikes root afresh.
The division of the plant is adopted in many species, as in grasses, the daisy, polyanthus, and a great variety of pthers. The plant is taken up the earth shaken from its roots, the whole is then separated, each piece containing a portion of root and stem, which may be planted without further preparation.
With certain species taking runners is a convenient and sure mode of propagation. All that is requisite is to allow the plantlet on the shoot or runner to be well rooted before being separated from the parent. It may then be planted where it is finally to remain on posts or stands, or supported from the tree, etc.
To perform the operation, having made one of the most convenient branches or shoots approach the stock, mark, on the body of the shoot, the part where it will most easily join to the stock; and in that part of each shoot pare away the bark and part of the wood two or three inches in length and in the same manner pare the stock in the proper place for the junction of the shoot next make a slit upwards in that part of the branch or shoot, as in layering, and make a slit downward in the stock to admit it. Let the parts be then joined, slipping the tongue of the shoot into the slit of the stock, making both join in an exact manner, and tie them closely together with bags. Cover the whole afterward with a due quantity of tempered or grafting clay or moss. In hothouses care must be taken not to disturb the pots containing the plants operated on.
Budding, or, as it is sometimes called, grafting, by germs, consists in taking an eye or bud attached to a portion of the bark of a ligneous vegetable, of various size and form, and generally called a shield, and transplanting it to another or a different ligneous vegetable. Nursery-men now generally prefer budding to any other mode of propagation. The object in view is precisely that of grafting, and depends on the same principle; all the differences between a bud and a scion being that a bud is a shoot or scion in embryo. Budded trees are two years later in producing their fruit than grafted ones: but the advantage of budding is that, where a tree is rare, a new plant can be got from every eye, whereas by grafting it can only be got from every three or four eyes. There are also trees which propagate much more readily by budding than grafting; and others, as most of the stone fruits, are apt to throw out gum when grafted. Budding is formed from the beginning of July to the middle of August, the criterion the formation of the buds in the axillae of the leaf of the present year.
The buds are known to be ready by the shield, or portion of bark to which they are attached, easily parting with the wood.
Is performed as follows: Fix on a smooth part on the side of the stock, rather from than towards the sun, and of a height depending, as in grafting, on whether dwarf, half, or whole standard trees are desired; then, with the buddingknife, make a horizontal cut across the rind, quite through the firm wood; from the middle of this transverse cut make a slit downward perpendicularly, an inch or more long, going also quite through to the wood. Proceed with expedition to take off a bud; holding the cutting or scion in one hand, with the thickest end outward, and with the knife in the other hand, enter it about half an inch or more below a bud, cutting nearly half-way into the wood of the shoot, continuing it, with one clean slanting cut, about half an inch or more above the bud, so deep as to take off part of the wood along with it, the whole about an inch and a half long, then directly with the thumb and finger, or point of the knife, slip off the woody part remaining to the bud, which done, observe whether the eye or germ of the kind remains perfect, if not and a little hole appears in that part, the bud has lost its root, and another must be prepared. This done, place the back part of the bud or shield between the lips, and with the flat heft of the knife separate the bark of the stock on each side of the perpendicular cut clear to the wood, for the admission of the bud, which directly slip down, close between the wood and bark, to the bottom of the slit. Next cut off the top part of the shield even with the horizontal cut, in order to let it completely into its place, and to join exactly the upper edge of the shield with the transverse cut, that the descending sap may immediately enter the back of the shield, and protrude granulated matter between it and the wood, so as to effect a living union. The parts are to he bound round with a ligament of fresh bass, previously soaked in water, to render it pliable and tough. Begin a little below the bottom of the perpendicular slit, proceeding upward closely round every part, except just over the eye of the bud, and continue it a little above the horizontal cut, not too tight, but just sufficient to keep the hole close, and exclude the air, sun, and wet.
Trees are generally budded by making a transverse section in the bark of the stock, and a perpendicular slit beneath it, the bud is then pushed down to give it the position which it is to have. This operation is not always successful, and it is better to employ an inverse or contrary method by making the vertical slit above the transverse section or cut, and pushing the bark containing the bud upwards into its proper position. This method very rarely fails of success, because as the sap descends by the bark, the kind placed above the transverse section receives abundance, whereas if it be placed below the section very little sap can ever get to it to promote the growth of the bud. Oil rubbed upon the stems and branches of fruit trees destroys insects and increases the fruit. buds. Used upon the stems of carnations, it guards them against the depredations of the ear-wig. The coarsest oil will suit, and only a small quantity is required.
This is an expeditious mode of budding by Mr. T. A. Knight. The operations are performed in the manner above stated, but instead of one ligature two are applied, one above the bud, inserted upon the transverse section, through the bark; the other applied below in the usual way. As soon as the buds have attached themselves the lower ligatures are taken off, but the others are suffered to remain. The passage of the sap upwards is in consequence much obstructed, and the inserted buds begin to vegetate strongly in July (being inserted in June), and when these have afforded shoots about four inches long the remaining ligatures are taken off, to permit the excess of sap to pass on, and the young shoots are nailed to the wall. Being there properly exposed to light, their wood will ripen well, and afford blossoms in the succeeding spring.
This is a mode of propagation applicable to most sorts of trees and shrubs, but not easily to very small undershrubs, as heath, or herbaceous vegetables. It is chiefly used for continuing varieties of fruit trees. A grafted tree consists of two parts, the scion and the stock; their union constitutes the graft, and the performance of the operation is called grafting.
The end of grafting is, first, to preserve and multiply varieties and sub-varieties of fruit-trees, endowed accidentally or otherwise with particular qualities, which cannot be with certainty transferred to their offspring by seeds, and which would be multiplied too slowly or ineffectually by any other mode of propagation.
Second, to accelerate the fructification of trees, barren as well as fruit bearing; for example, suppose two acorns of a new species of oak received from a distant country; sow both, and after they have grown one or two years cut one of them over and graft the part cut off on a common oak of five or six years' growth; the consequence will be that the whole nourishment of this young tree of five years' growth being directed towards nourishing the scion of one or two years, it will grow much faster, and consequently arrive at perfection much sooner than its fellow, or its own root left in the ground,
The third use of grafting is to improve the quality of fruits, and the fourth to perpetuate varieties of ornamental trees or shrubs.
Procure a strong pruning-knife for cutting off the heads of the stocks previous to their preperation by the grafting-knife for the scion, a small saw for larger stocks, and a penknife for very small scions, chisel and mallet for cleft grafting, bass ribbons for ligatures, and grafting clay.
Grafting-clay is prepared either from stiff yellow or blue clay, or from clayey loam or brick earth; in either case adding thereto about a fourth part of fresh horse dung, free from litter, and a portion of cut hay, mixing the whole well together and adding a little water; then let the whole be well beaten with a stick upon a floor or other hard substance, and as it becomes too dry apply more water, at every beating turning it over, and continue beating it well at top till it becomes flat and soft. This process must be repeated more or less according as the nature of the clay may require to render it ductile, and yet not so tough as to be apt to crack in dry weather.
Whip, or as it is sometimes called tongue grafting, is the most generally adopted in nurseries for propagating fruittrees. To effect this mode in the best style, the top of the stock and the extremity of the scions should be nearly of equal diameter. Hence this variety admits of being performed on smaller stocks than any other. It is called whip-grafting from the method of cutting the stock and scions sloping on one side so as to fit each other, and thus tied together in the manner of a whip-thong to the shaft or handle.
The scion and stock being cut off obliquely, at corresponding angles, as near as the operator can guess, then cut off the tip of the stock obliquely, or nearly horizontally, make now a slit nearly in the centre of the sloped face of the stock downwards and a similar one in the scion upwards. The tongue or wedge-like process forming the upper part of the sloping face of the scion, is then inserted downwards in the cleft of the stock, the inner barks of both being brought closely to unite on one side, so as not to be displaced in tying, which ought to be done immediately with a riband of brass, brought in a neat manner several times round the stock, and which is generally done from right to left, or in the course of the sun. The next operation is to clay the whole over an inch thick on every side from about half an inch or more below the bottom of the graft to an inch over the top of the stock, finishing the whole coat of clay in a kind of oval globular form, rather longways up and down, closing it effectually about the scion and every part, so as no light, wet, nor wind may penetrate, to prevent which is the whole intention of claying.
This is resorted to in the case of strong stocks, or in heading down and re-grafting old trees. The head of the stock or branch is first cut off obliquely, and then the sloped part is cut over horizontally near the middle of the slope, a cleft nearly two inches long is made with a stout knife or chisel in the crown downward, at right angles to the sloped part, taking care not to divide the pith. This cleft is kept open by the knife. The scion has its extremity for about an inch and a half, cut into the form of a wedge; it is left about the eighth of an inch thicker on the outer side, and brought to a fine edge on the inside. It is then inserted into the opening prepared for it, and the knife being withdrawn the stock closes firmly upon it.
This is another mode adopted for thick stocks, shortened branches, or headed down trees, It is sometimes called grafting in the bark or rind, from the scion being inserted between the bark and wood. This mode of grafting is performed with best effect somewhat later than the others, as the motion of the sap renders the bark and wood of the stock much more easily separated for the admission of the scions.
In performing this operation, first cut or saw off the head of the stock or branch horizontally or level, and pare the top smooth; then having the scions cut one side of each flat and somewhat sloping, an inch and a half long, forming a sort of shoulder at the top of the slope, to rest upon the crown of the stock; and then raise the rind of the stock with the ivory wedge forming the handle of the budding knife, so as to admit the scion between that and the wood two inches down, which done, place the scion with the cut side next the wood, thrusting it down far enough for the shoulder to rest upon the top of the stock; and in this manner may be put three, four, five or more scions in one large stock or branch. It is alleged as a disadvantage attending this method in exposed situations, that the ingrafted shoots for two or three years are liable to be blown out of the stock by violent winds; the only remedy for which is tying long rods to the body of the stock or branch, and tying up each scion and its shoots to one of the rods.
This method resembles whip grafting, but differs in being performed on the side of the stock, without bending down. It is practised on wall trees to fill up vacancies, and sometimes in order to have a variety of fruits upon the same tree. Having fixed upon those parts of the branches where wood is wanting to furnish the head or any part of the tree, then slope off the bark and a little of the wood, and cut the lower end of the scions to fit the part as nearly as possible,, then join them to the branch, and tie them with bass and clay them over.
This is performed by first cutting the top of the Stock into a wedge-like form,, and then splitting up the end of the scion and thinning off each half to a tongue-shape; it is then placed on the wedge embracing it on each side, and the inner barks are made to join on one side of the stock, as in cleft grafting. This is a very strong and handsome mode for standard trees, when grafted at the standard height. It is also desirable for orange-trees and rose-standards, as it makes a handsome finish, covering a part of the stock, which, by the other methods, long remains a black sear, and sometimes never becomes covered with bark. The stocks fur this purpose should not be much than the scions, or two scions may be inserted.
This is performed with a shoulder, and sometimes also with a stay at the bottom of the slope. It is chiefly used for ornamental trees, where the scion and stock are of the same size.
Root grafting is sometimes performed in nurseries on parts of the roots of removed trees, when the proper stocks are scarce; in which case the root of the white thorn has been resorted to as a stock both for the apple and pear. In general however, a piece of the root of the tree of the same genus is selected, well furnished with fibres, and a scion placed on it in any of' the ordinary ways for small stocks. Thus united, they are planted so deep as to cover the ball of clay, and leave only a few eyes of the scion above ground.
In a month after grafting it may be ascertained whether the scion has united with the stock by observing the progress of its buds, but, in general, it is not safe to remove the clay for three months or more, till the graft be completely cicatrized. The clay may generally be taken off in July or August, and at the same time the ligatures loosened where the scion seems to require more room to expand: a few weeks afterwards, when the parts have been thus partially inured to the air, and when there is no danger of the scion being blown off by winds, the whole of the ligatures may be removed.
Scions are those shoots which, united with the stock, form the graft. They should be gathered several weeks before the season for grafting arrives, It is desirable that the sap of the stock should be in brisk motion at the time of grafting; but by this time the buds of the scion, if left on the parent tree, would be equally advanced, whereas the scions, being gathered early, the buds are kept buck, and ready only to swell out when placed on the stock. Scions of pears, plums and cherries, are collected in the end of January or beginning of February. They are kept at full length sunk in dry earth, and out of the reach of frost till wanted, which is sometimes from the middle of February to the middle of March. Scions of apples are collected any time in February, and put in from the middle to the end of March. In July grafting the scions are used as gathered.
In respect to the choice of cuttings, those branches of trees and shrubs which are thrown out nearest the ground, and especially such as recline, or nearly so, on the earth's surface, have always the most tendency to produce roots. Even the brunches of resinous trees, which are extremely difficult to propagate by cuttings, when reclining on the ground, if accidentally or otherwise covered with earth in any part, will there throw out roots, and the extremity of the lateral shoot will assume the character of a main stem, as may be sometimes seen in the larch, spruce and silver fir.
The choice of cuttings then is to be made from the side shoots of plants rather than from their summits or main stems, and the strength and health of side shoots being equal, those nearest the ground should be preferred. The proper time for taking cuttings from the mother plant is when the sap is in full motion, in order that, in returning by the bask, it may form a callus or protruding ring of granular substance between the bark and wood, whence the roots proceed. As this callus or ring of spongy matter is generally best formed in ripened wood, the cutting, when taken from the mother plant, should contain a part of the former year, or in plants which grow twice a year, of the wood of the former growth, or in the case of plants which are continually growing, as most evergreen exotics, such wood as has begun to ripen or assume a brownish color. This is the true principle of the choice of cuttings as to time; but there are many sorts of trees, as willow, elder etc., the cuttings of which will grow almost at any season, and especially if removed from the mother plant in winter, when the sap is at rest.
These ought always to be cut across, with the smoothest and soundest section possible at an eye or joint. And as buds are in a more advanced state in wood somewhat ripened or fully formed than in forming wood, this section ought to be made in the wood of the growth of the preceding season; or as it were in the point between the two growths. It is a common practice to cut off the whole or a part of the leaves of cuttings, which is always attended with bad effects in evergreens, in which the leaves may be said to supply nourishment to the cutting till it can sustain itself. This is very obvious in the case of striking from buds, which, without a leaf attached, speedily rot and die. Leaves alone will even strike root, and form plants in some instances, and the same may be stated of certain flowers and fruits.
This is a mode of propagation by cuttings, and is adopted with plants having jointed tubular stems, as the dianthus tribe, and several of the grasses and the arundines may be propagated in this manner. When the shoot has nearly done growing, its extremity is to be separated at a part of the stem where it is nearly indurated or ripened. This operation is effected by holding the root end between the finger and thumb of one hand, below a pair of leaves, and with the other pulling the top part above the pair of leaves, so as to separate it from the root part of the stem at the socket, formed by the axillae of the leaves leaving the stem to remain with a tubular termination. These pipings are inserted without any further preparation in finely sifted earth to the depth of the first joint or pipe.
Cuttings, if inserted in a mere mass of earth will hardly throw out roots, while, if inserted at the sides of the pots so as to touch the pot in their whole length, they seldom fail to become rooted plants. The art is, to place them to touch the bottom of the pot; they are then to be plunged in a bark or hot-bed and kept moist.
No cutting requires to be planted deep, though the large ought to be inserted deeper than such as are small. In the case of evergreens the leaved should be kept from touching the soil, otherwise they will damp or rot off; and in the case of tubular-stalked plants, which are in general not very easily struck, owing to the water lodging in the tube and rotting the cutting, both ends may be advantageously inserted in the soil, and besides a greater certainty of success, two plants will be produced. Too much light, air, water, heat or cold, are alike injurious. To guard against these extremes in tender sorts, the means hitherto devised is that of inclosing an atmosphere over that cuttings by means of a hand or bell-glass, according to their delicacy. This preserves a uniform stillness and moisture of atmosphere. Immersing the pot in earth has a tendency to preserve a steady, uniform degree of moisture at the roots; and shading, or placating the cuttings if in the open air in a shady situation, prevents the bad effects of excess of light. The only method of regulating the heat is by double or single coverings of glass or mats, or both. A hand glass placed over a bell-glass will preserve, in a shady situation, a very constant degree of heat.
What the degree of heat ought to be is decided by the degree of heat requisite for the mother plant. Most species of the erica, dahlia, and geranium, strike better when supplied with rather more heat than is requisite for the growth of these plants in green-houses. The myrtle tribe and camellias require rather less: and in general a lesser portion of heat, and of everything else proper for plums, in their rooted and growing state, is the safest.
This is the first operation of rearing. Where seeds are deposited singly, as in rows of beans or large nuts, they are said to be planted; where dropped in numbers together, to be sown. The operation of sowing is either performed in drills patches or broadcast. Drills are small excavations formed with the draw-hoe, generally in straight lines parallel to each other, and in depth and distance apart varying according to the size of the seeds. In these drills the seeds are strewed from the hand of the operator, who, taking a small quantity in the palm of his hand and fingers. regulates its emission by the thumb. Some seeds are very thinly sown, as the pea and spinach; others thick, as the cress and small salading.
Patches are small circular excavations made with the trowel; in these seeds are either sown or planted, thicker or thinner, and covered more or less, according to their natures. This is the mode adopted in sowing in pots and generally in flower borders.
In broadcast sowing the operator scatters the seed over a considerable breadth of surface, previously prepared by digging, or otherwise being minutely pulverized. The seed is taken up in portions in the hand and dispersed by a horizontal movement of the arm to the extent of a semicircle, opening the hand at the same time and scattering the seeds in the air so that they may full as equally as possible over the breadth taken in by the sower at once, and which is generally six feet - that being the diameter of the circle in which his hand moves through half the circumference. In sowing broadcast on beds and narrow strips or borders, the seeds are dispersed between the thumb and fingers by horizontal movements of the hand in segments of smaller circles.
Dry weather is essentially requisite for sowing and more especially for the operation of covering in the seed, which in broadcast sowing is done by treading or gently rolling the surface, and then raking it; and in drill-sowing by treading in the larger seeds, as peas, and covering with the rake smaller seeds, sown in drills, are covered with the same implement without treading.
Planting, as applied to seeds or seed-like roots as potatoes, bulbs, etc., is most frequently performed in drills or in separate holes made with the dibbler; in these the seed or bulb is dropped from the hand, and covered with or without treading, according to its nature. Sometimes planting is performed in patches, as in pots or borders, in which ease the trowel is the chief instrument used.
Quincunx is a mode of planting in rows, by which the plants in the one row are always oposed to the blanks in the other, so that when a plot of ground is planted in this way the plant appear in rows in four directions.
Planting, as applied to plants already originated consists generally in inserting them in the soil of the same depth, and in the same position as they were before removal, but with various exceptions. The principal object is to preserve the fibrous roots entire, to distribute them equally around the stem among the mould or finer soil, and to preserve the plant upright. The plant should not be planted deeper than it stood in the soil before removal, and commonly the same side should be kept towards the sun. Planting should as much as possible be accompanied by abundant watering, in order to consolidate the soil about the roots; and where the soil is dry, or not a stiff clay, it may be performed in the beginning of wet weather, in gardens; and in forest planting, on dry soils, in all open weather during autumn, winter and spring.
Watering becomes requisite in gardens for various purposes, as aliment to plants in a growing state, as support to newly-transplanted plants, for keeping under insects, and keeping clean the leaves of vegetables. One general rule must be ever kept in mind during the employment of water in a garden, that is, never to water the top or leaves of a plant when the sun shines. All watering should be carried on in the evening or early in the morning, unless it be confined to watering the roots, in which case transplanted plants, and others in a growing state, may be watered at any time; and if they are shaded from the sun, they may also be watered over their tops. Watering over the tops is performed with the rose, or dispenser attached to the spout of the watering-pot, or by the syringe or engine. Watering the roots is best done with the rose, but in the case of watering pots in haste, and where the earth is hardened, it is done with the naked spout. In now-laid turf, or lawn of a loose, porous soil, and too mossy surface, the water-barrel may be advantageously used.
Many kitchen crops are lost, or produced of very inferior quality, for want of watering. Lettuces and cabbages are often hard and stringy, turnips and radishes do not swell, onions decay cauliflowers die off; and, in general, in dry soils copious waterings in the evenings, during the dry season, would produce that fullness of succulency, which is found in the vegetables produced in the low countries, and in the Marsh Gardens at Paris and in this country at the beginning and latter end of the season.
The watering of the foliage of small trees, to prevent the increase of insects, and of strawberries and fruit shrubs, to swell the fruit, is also of importance.
Water is to be supplied to a garden from a reservoir, situated on an eminence, a considerable height above the garden walls. Around the whole garden, four inches below the surface of the ground, a groove, between two and three inches deep, has been formed in the walls, to receive a threequarter inch pipe for conducting the water. About fifty feet distant from each other are apertures through the wall, two and a half feet high, and ten inches wide, in which a cock is placed, so that on turning the handle to either side of the wall, the water issues from that side. The nozzles of the cocks have screws on each side, to which is attached at pleasure a leathern pipe, with a brass cock and director; roses, pierced with holes of different sizes, being fitted to the latter. By this contrivance, all the trees, inside and outside the wall can be most effectually watered and washed, in a very short space of time, and with little trouble. One man may go over the whole in two hours. At the same time the borders, and even a considerable part of the quarters, can be watered with the greatest ease, when required.
Transplanting consists in removing propagated plants, whether from seeds, cuttings, or grafts, according to their kinds and other circumstances to a situation prepared to receive them. Transplanting, there fore, involves three things: first the propagation of the soil, to which the plant is to be removed; secondly, the removal of the plant; thirdly, the insertion in the prepared soil.
The preparation of the soil implies, in all cases stirring, loosening, mixing, and comminution and, in many cases, the addition of manure or compost, according to the nature of the soil and plant to be inserted, and according as the same may be in open grounds, or pots, or hot-houses.
The removal of the plant is generally effected by loosening the earth around it, and then drawing it out of the soil with the hand; in all cases avoiding as much as possible to break, or bruise, or otherwise injure the roots. In the ease of small seedling plants, merely inserting the spade, and raising the portion of earth in which they grow will suffice; but in removing larger plants, it is necessary to dig a trench round the plant.
In some cases, the plant may be lifted with a ball of earth, containing all its roots, by means of the trowel; and in others, as in large shrubs or trees, it may be necessary to cut the roots at a certain distance from the plant, one year before removal, in order to furnish them with young fibres, to enable them to support the change. In pots less care is necessary, as the roots and ball of earth may be preserved entire.
There are two leading modes of accelerating plants in these buildings; the first is by placing them there permanently, as in the case of the peach, vine, etc., planted in the ground, and the second is by having the plants in pots, and introducing or withdrawing them at pleasure. As far as respects trees, the longest crops, and with far less care, are produced by the first method; but in respect to herbaceous plants and shrubs, whether culinary, as the strawberry and kidney-bean, or ornamental, as the rose and the pink, the latter is by far the most convenient method. Where large pots are used, the peach, cherry, fig, etc., will produce tolerable crops. Vines and other fruit trees, when abundantly supplied with water and manure in a liquid state, require but a very small quantity of mould.
This is effected by throwing the ropes in different directions over the trees, and sometimes depositing their ends in pails of water. It has been tried successfully on wall-trees, and on potatoes and other herbaceous vegetables. As soon as the buds of the trees become turgid, place poles against the wall, in front of the trees, at from four to six feet asunder, thrusting their lower ends info the earth, about a foot from the wall, and fastening them at the top with a strong nail, either to the wall or coping. Then procure a quantity of straw or hay-ropes and begin at the top of one of the outer poles, making fast the end, and pass the rope from pole to pole, taking a round turn upon each, until the end is reached, when, after securing it well, begin about eighteen inches below, and return in the same manner to the other end, and so on till within two feet of the ground. Straw-ropes have also been found very useful in protecting other early crops from the effects of frost, a. peas, potatoes, or kidney-beans, by fixing them along the rows with pins driven into the ground.
The net should be placed out at the distance of fifteen or eighteen inches from the tree, being kept off by looped sticks, with their butts placed against the wall, and at a distance of about a yard from each other. In order to make them stand firmly, the net should be first stretched tightly on, and be fastened on all sides. If the nets were doubled or trebled, and put on in this way, they would be a more effectual screen, as the meshes or openings would, in that case, be rendered very small. Woollen nets are deemed the best, and are now in general use in Scotland. In screening with nets of any kind, they are always to be left on night and day, till all danger be over.
This is effected either by placing movable canvas screens over or around detached trees, portable hand-cases over herbaceous plants, tents or open sheds over the forests' productions, or frames or sheets against trees trained on walls. In all cases they should be placed clear of the tree or plant, either by extended, forked or hooked sticks, or any other obvious resource.
In the removal or transplantation of trees, gardeners and nurserymen are generally very careless and inattentive in taking them up, and care not how much the roots are broken or lessened in number, provided they have enough left to keep the tree alive; the consequence is that although the branches left on remain alive, there is so great a deficiency of sap, from the loss of roots, that the vessels cannot be filled the following spring.
The roots are broken or cut off at random, and generally diminished more than one-half, or they are doubled back and distorted, and if there be enough left to keep the plant alive, it is thought quite sufficient, and by these means the appearance of blossoms and fruit being prematurely produced, those stinted and deformed plants are sold as half or full-trained trees for four times the price of others, and when sold they are again taken up and the roots treated and diminished in the same careless manner.
When the soil of a garden wherein fruit-trees are to be planted is not naturally comfortable or congenial to the first principle, it must be made so.
The top of a wall should be so formed as to throw off water, for otherwise it will generally be damped, which renders the trees unhealthy and when the substance against which the branches are fixed is dry, the temperature on all sides will be more equal.
In preparing beds or borders, due attention must be paid both to the soil and subsoil, as each equally affects the health and fruitfulness of trees, and principally as it retains or discharges water, stagnant water being at all times particularly detrimental to the fructification of trees.
For peaches, nectarines, etc., a border of ten or twelve feet wide will generally prove sufficient. In cases where the soil has been too close and retentive, and the roots apt to grow deep on the substratum, lay a stratum of six inches of the common soil of the garden and then form a stratum of about six inches for the roots to run and repose in, composed of two-third parts of fine drift sand (the scrapings of a public road that has been made or repaired with flints), and one-third part of rich vegetable mould, well mixed together; and the better way to perform this is first to lay on about three inches of the composition and on this place the roots of the plant, and over them spread the other three inches, and cover the whole down with from nine to twelve inches of the common soil of the place.
Where it is not found necessary to form an artificial substratum, it will be sufficient to remove the soil to the depth of fifteen or eighteen inches and there form the stratum of the roots, covering it down with afoot or nine inches of the common soil.
The operation of inserting plants in the soil is performed in various ways; the most general mode recommended by Marshal and Nicol is pitting, in which two persons are employed, one to operate on the soil with a spade, and the other to insert the plant and hold it till the earth is pat round it, and then press down the soil with the foot. The pit having been dug for several months, the surface will therefore be incrusted by the rains or probably covered with weeds The man first strikes the spade downwards to the bottom two or three times, in order to loosen the soil, then poaches it, as if mixing mortar for the builder; he next lifts up a spadeful of the earth, or if necessary two spadesful, so as to make room for all the fibres without their being anywise crowded together; he then chops the rotten turf remaining in the bottom and levels the whole. The boy now places the plant perfectly upright an inch deeper than when it stood in the nursery, and holds it firm in that position. The man trindles in the mould gently; the boy gently moves the plant not from side to side, but upwards and downwards until the fibres be covered. the man then fills in all the remaining mould, and immediately proceeds to chop and poach the next pit, leaving the boy to set the plant upright and to tread the mould about it. This in stiff, wet soil he does lightly, but in sandy or gravelly soil he continues to tread until the soil no longer retains the impression of his foot. The man has by this time got the pit ready for the next plant; the boy is also ready with it in his hand, and in this manner the operation goes on.
One general rule, and one of considerable importance in transplanting, is to set the plant or tree no deeper in the ground than it was originally; deep planting very often causes a delay, if not sudden destruction.
The following mode has been practised for many years on the Duke of Montrose's estate, in Scotland: The operator with his spade makes three cuts twelve or fifteen inches long, crossing each other in the centre at an angle of 60 degrees the whole having the form of a star. He inserts his spade across one of the rays, a few inches from the centre, and on the side next himself; then bending the handle towards himself, and almost to the ground the earth opening in fissures from the centre in the direction of the cuts which had been made, he at the same instant inserts his plant at the point where the spade intersected the ray pushing it forward to the centre and assisting the roots in rambling through the fissures. He then lets down the earth by removing his spade, having pressed it into a compact state with his heel; the operation is finished by adding a little earth with the grass side down, completely covering the fissures for the purpose of retaining the moisture at the root, and likewise as a top-dressing, which greatly encourages the plant to put fresh roots between the swards.
With a sharp knife make a cut in the bark of the branch which is meant to be forced to bear, and not far from the place where it is connected with the stem, or if it is a small branch or shoot, near where it is joined to the large bough; the' cut is to go round the branch, or to encircle It, and penetrate to the wood. A quarter of an inch from this cut make a second like the first, round the branch, so that by both encircling the branch a ring is formed upon the branch a quarter of an inch broad between the two cuts. The bark between these two cuts is taken clean away with a knife down to the wood, removing even the fine inner bark, which lies immediately upon the wood so that no connexion whatever remains between the two parts of' the bark, but the bare and naked wood appears white and smooth; but this bark ring, to compel the tree to bear, must be made at the time when the buds are strongly swelling or breaking out into bloom.
The best soil for the apple is a dry loamy, rich soil, with a light clay subsoil that the roots can easily penetrate to a considerable depth; with an easterly or southern exposure. The best fertilizers are barnyard manure, lime and bone-dust. Care should be taken to apply the manure generally over the surface.
The best varieties for cultivation are the following, which ripen in succession: the Early Harvest; Red Astrachan; Summer Rose; American Summer Pearmain; Large Early Bough; Gravenstein; Maiden's Blush; Fall Pippin; Smokehouse; Rambo; Esopus; Spitzenberg; Boston Russet; Rhode Island Greening; Baldwin; Wine-sap.
The apple-tree is subject to several diseases. The best preventive of them is heading low, so that the trunk of the tree will be shaded from the hot sun, and washing the tree occasionally with soap-suds - a pint of soft soap to a gallon of water.
The best soil for the pear is a moderately heavy sandy, and dry soil, with a sub-soil of light clay which is easily penetrated by the roots to a great depth, a moderate portion of iron in the soil is desirable. the best situation is an undulating eastern or southern exposure. The best fertilizers, as in the case of the apple, are barn-yeard manure, lime, and bone-dust. Iron cinders are a good application when there is a deficiency of that element in the soil.
The most desirable varieties for general culture as standards to ripen in succession are as follows:
Doyenne d'Ete; Bloodgood; Dearborn's Seedling; Beurre Giffard; Bartlett; Sickel; Tyson; Howell; Belle Lucrative; Buffum; Blemish Beauty; Beurre Bose; Doyenne Boussock; Beurre d'Anjou; Sheldon; Beurre Clairgeau; Lawrence.
The best varieties for dwarf pears, on quince stocks, are Beurre d'Anjou; Duchesse d'Angouleme; Glou Morceau; Vicar of Wakefield.
The most serious disease of the pear is the blight. The remedy is, to cut the blight off well down into the second wood.
The soil most suitable for the peach-tree is a dry, light, sandy, undulating soil. with a light clay subsoil, and an eastern or southern exposure. The best fertilizer for the peach is Peruvian guano. Among the best varieties to ripen in succession are, of clearstones, The Early York, Early Tillitson; George The Fourth; Oldmixon Freestone; Columbian; Crawford's Late. Of clingstones, Large White; Oldmixon Cling; Heath.
The principal diseases of the peach are the yellows, and worms which prey upon the crown roots near the surface of the ground. The most effectual preventive for the yellows is, to be careful to act healthy trees, and to plant them well above The surface of the ground, by throwing up ridges with The plough, say fifteen or twenty feet apart, then plant the tree on the ridge, also making a slight mound to cover the roots. If the tree shows signs of weakness, dig the earth well from the crown roots, scrape the worms away if any, and then sprinkle in the hole around the roots a handful or two of guano, and fill it up with earth. Worms may be prevented, also, by coating the bark of each tree, for three or four inches next to the ground, with coal or gas tar; which will not allow The parent insect to deposit its eggs. Only a short distance must be so coated, as to cover the whole trunk would kill the tree. A kind of coat made of the gas-soaked felt used for roofs will answer the same purpose.
All orchard trees require good cultivation, but especially the peach. Ashes are said by some to be a good addition to its manure.
The plum-tree is hardy, and requires but little attention, it bears abundantly, and may be considered a sure crop when the soil suits. The best for it is a stiff clay, which is not suitable to the habits of the curculio, the great enemy of the plum.
The best varieties are, the Green Gage, Purple Gage, and Prince's Yellow Gage.
For the cultivated blackberry the soil should be rich, dry, and mellow. Barn-yard manure and bone dust are its best fertilizers; it is a good plan to mix them with half-rotten straw, or some such thing. They should be planted three feet apart in The rows; the rows being six feet asunder. The most approved variety is the Lawton or Rochelle, its fruit is very large, beautiful, and luscious, when allowed to become fully ripe on the bush. The Dr. Warder, Dorchester and Marshall Winder varieties are also very fine. Immense numbers of cultivated blackberries are now sold annually in the markets of our cities.
The best soil for the raspberry is a rich, light, deep soil. Plant them in rows six feet apart and three feet asunder in the row. It is well occasionally to throw up the earth around them so as to protect the roots which keep near the surface from The hot sun. The most desirable varieties are, the American Black; Hudson River Antwerp; Improved American Black; Brinckle's Orange.
For this fruit the most suitable soil is light and sandy. It may be enriched by ashes, bone, barnyard manure, etc. The plants should be set one foot apart, in rows two feet from each other. Put in the young plants from the middle of August to the middle of September. Keep the ground mellow and tree from weeds. In the following spring manure and hoe the ground well, to keep it moist and free from weeds. With such care a quart of fruit has sometimes been picked from one plant, the next season after planting. Some cultivators prefer to cut off all the blossoms the first spring, so as to strengthen the plants for growth. The best varieties of strawberry are, Wilson's Albany; Hovey's Seedling; Triomphe de Gand; Bartlett; McAvoy's Superior.
This is a hardy trailing shrub, growing wild in many parts of the country. It is easily cultivated and when once established in the soil requires very little attention; it produces large crops, and the fruit commands high prices. The best soil is that of swampy, saucy meadows or bogs, which are unfit for any other purpose. This fruit is well worthy of the attention of any one who has wet, swampy land. It will flourish from Maine to middle Virginia.
Currants and gooseberries are often planted in lines, by the side of the walks or alleys of the garden, but it is a better method to plant them in quarters by themselves, and to make new plantations every sixth or seventh year.
Raspberries produce the finest fruit when young, that is, about the third or fourth year after planting, if properly managed.
It is proper to plant some of all the above fruits on a north border, or other shaded situation, in order to prolong the season of them, if that be an object, besides planting them out in quarters as hinted above.
From four to six feet square, according to the quality of the soil, may be deemed a proper distance at which to plant the above fruits; that is in good land six feet, in middling land five, and in poor land four feet apart. Some may also very properly be planted against vacant places on any of The walls, pales or espaliers. Antwerp raspberries, in particular, and some kinds of gooseberries, are highly improved in size and flavor if trained to a south wall.
No better mode exists at present than having recourse for trees to the most reputable nurseries; and, with McPhail and Nicol, we would recommend, "instead of maiden plants, to make choice of those not very young, but such as are healthy, and have been transplanted several times, and been in a state of training for two or three years at least." A safe mode is to plant partly maiden and partly trained plants, by which means those which come early into fruit, should they prove bad sorts, may be replaced by others.
The whole ground of an orchard should be dug in the autumn and laid up in a rough state for the winter, giving it as much surface as possible in order that the weather may fully act upon and meliorate the soil, thus following it as far as the case will admit. Observe to dig carefully near to the trees, and so as not to hurt their roots and fibres. If the soil be shallow,, and if these lie near to the surface, it would be advisable to dig with a fork instead of the spade.
Crop to within two feet of the trees the first year, a yard the second, four feet the third, and so on until finally relinquished; which, of course would be against the eighth year, provided the trees were planted at thirty or forty feet apart, with early-bearing sorts between. By this time, if the kinds have been well chosen, the temporary trees will be in full bearing, and will forthwith defray every necessary expense.
Let a small basin or hollow be made round the stem of each tree, a foot or eighteen inches in diameter and two or three inches deep, according to the extent of its roots. Fill this basin with dung to the thickness of five or six inches. over which sprinkle a little earth, just enough to keep it from being blown about. This both nourishes the young fibres, and keeps the ground about them moist in hot weather if wetted freely once a week.
this is done by an envelope of moss or short grass; or litter wound round with shreds of matting is of great use the first year after planting to keep the bark moist, and thereby aid the ascent and circulation of the sap in the alburnum. This operation should be performed at or soon after planting. and the clothing may be left on till by decay it drops off of itself. It is of singular service in very late planting, or when, from unforeseen circumstances, summer-planting becomes requisite.
The object in pruning young trees is to form a proper head. The shoots may be pruned in proportion to their lengths, cutting clean away such as cross one another, and fanning the tree out towards the extremities on all sides, thereby keeping it equally poised, and fit to resist the effects of high winds. When it is wished to throw a young tree into a bearing state, which should not be thought of, however, sooner than the third or fourth year after planting, the leading branches should be very little shortened and the lower or ride branches not at all, nor should the knife be used, unless to cut out such shoots as cross one another.
The season for pruning orchards is generally winter or early in spring. A weak tree ought to be pruned directly at the fall of the leaf. To prune in autumn strengthens a plant, and will bring the blossom buds more forward; to cut the wood Iate in spring tends to check a plant, and is one of the remedies for excessive luxuriance.
Where a tree is stunted or the head ill-shaped from being originally badly pruned, or barren from having overborne itself, or from constitutional weakness, the most expeditious remedy is to head down the plant within three, four or five eyes (or inches, if an old tree) of the top of the stem, in order to furnish it with a new head. the recovery of a languishing tree, if not too old, will be further promoted by taking it up at the same time and pruning the roots: for as, on the one hand the depriving of too luxuriant a tree of part even of its sound, healthy roots, will moderate its rigor, so, on the other, to relieve a stinted or sickly tree of cankered or decayed roots, to prune the extremities of sound roots, and especially to shorten the dangling tap-roots of a plant affected by a bad subsoil, is, in connection with heading down, or very short pruning, and the renovation of the soil, and draining if necessary of the subsoil, the most availing remedy that can be tried.
A tree often becomes stinted from an accumulation of moss, which affects the functions of the bark and renders the tree unfruitful. This evil is to be removed by scraping the stem and branches of old trees with the scraper, and on young trees a hard brush will effect the purpose. Abercrombie and Nicol recommend the finishing of this operation by washing with soap-suds, or a medicated wash of some of the different sorts for destroying the eggs of insects.
Wherever the bark is decayed or cracked it ought to be removed.
The other diseases to which orchard trees are subject are chiefly the canker, gum, mildew and blight, which are rather to be prevented by such culture as will induce a healthy state than to be remedied by topical applications. Too much lime may bring on the canker, and if so, the replacing a part of such soil with alluvial or vegetable earth would be of service.
The gum may be constitutional, arising from offensive matter in the soil; or local, arising from external injury. In the former case improve the soil, in the latter employ the knife.
The mildew may be easily subdued at its first appearance, by scattering flour of sulphur upon the infected parts.
For the blight and caterpillars, Forsyth recommends burning of rotten wood, weeds, potato haulm, with straw, etc., on the windward side of the trees, when they are in blossom. He also recommends washing the stems and branches of all orchard trees with a mixture of "fresh cow dung with wine and soap-suds," as a whitewasher would wash the ceiling or walls of a room. The promised advantages are, the destruction of insects and fine bark, more especially when it is found necessary to take off all the outer bark.
The severity of the winters at St. Petersburg is so great that few fruit trees will survive it, even with careful matting; to prevent the loss which is thus usually sustained, the following mode of training has been attended with complete success. It consists in leading the branches of the trees on horizontal trellises only ten or twelve inches from the ground. When the winter sets in, there are heavy falls of snow, and as the frost increases, the snow generally augments, by which the trees are entirely buried, and receive no injury from the most intense frost.
Another very great advantage of training trees in the above method consists in the growth of the wood, it being of equal strength, and the fruit produced being all alike, the blooms come out much earlier, and the crop ripens sooner. The trees are always clean and free from insects.
The only cherry that does not succeed in that way is the Black-heart, this is attributed to the damps which affect the early blossoms, but in a milder climate this injury would be obviated by placing the trellis higher from the ground. When the trellis decays under the apples, it is never renewed, as the trees keep always (from the strength of their branches) their horizontal position.
There are other advantages of treating fruit trees in this manner; they come sooner into bearing, and their fruit is not affected by high winds. The apples are never gathered, but suffered to drop off, for the distance they fall is not sufficient to bruise them.
Roots, cuttings, grafts, and perennial plants in general, are preserved, till wanted, in earth or moss,, moderately moist, and shaded from the sun. The same principle is followed in packing them to be sent to a distance. The roots, or root ends of the plants, or cuttings, are enveloped in balls of clay or loam, wrapped round with moist moss and air is admitted to the tops. In this way orange-trees are sent from Genoa to any part of Europe and North America in perfect preservation, and cuttings of plants sent to any distance which can be accomplished in eight months, or even longer with some kinds. Scions of the apple, pear, etc., if enveloped in clay, and wrapt up in moss or straw, and then placed in a portable icehouse, so as to prevent a greater heat than 32° from penetrating to them, would keep for a year, and might thus be sent from England to China. The buds of fruit trees may be preserved in a vegetating state, and sent to a considerable distance by reducing the half-stalks to a short length, and enclosing the shoot in a double fold of cabbage-leaf, bound close together at each end, and then enclosing the package in a letter. It is of advantage to place the under surface of the cabbage-leaf inwards, by which the enclosed branch is supplied with humidity, that being the porous surface of the leaf, the other surface being nearly or wholly impervious to moisture.
It consists of two deal poles, on which is nailed thin canvas, previously dipped in a tanner's bark pit, to prevent its being mildewed when rolled up wet. At the top the ends of the poles fit into double iron loops, projecting a few inches from the well, immediately under the coping; and at the bottom they are fixed by a hole at the end of each pole, upon a forked iron coupling which projects about fourteen inches from the wall, thereby giving the screen a sufficient inclination to clear the branches. When it is wished to uncover the trees, one of the poles is disengaged, and rolled back to the side of the other where it is fastened as before. The most violent winds have no injurious effect upon shades of this kind; a wall is very expeditiously covered and uncovered, and there is not any danger of damaging the blossoms in using them, they occupy very little space when rolled up, are not liable to be out of order; and, although rather expensive at first, seem to be very durable. From the facility with which the screen is put up, it may be beneficially used in the seasons when fruit ripens to secure a succession, by retarding the crop of any particular tree.
The lower ends of the poles are advantageously retained in their place by means of a small iron spring key, attached to the coupling by a short chain.
Some species, as wasps, flies, etc., are prevented from attacking ripe fruits by gauze or nets, or by inclosing the fruit, as grapes, in bags.
The blossoms of the hoya carnosa drives wasps from grapes in hot-houses; and the fruit of the common yew-tree the same in open air.
The culture of Pine-apples (says Nicol), is attended with a heavier expense than that of any other fruit under glass, especially if they be grown in lofty stoves; but, independent of this, pine-apples may certainly be produced in as great perfection, if not greater, and with infinitely less trouble and risk, in fluid pits, if properly constructed than in any other way.
The pinery should, therefore, be detached from the other forcing-houses, and consists of three pits in a range; one for crowns and suckers, one for succession, and one for fruiting plants. The fruiting pit to be placed in the centre, and the other two right and left, forming a range of one hundred feet in length, which would give pine-apples enough for a large family.
The fruiting pit to be forty feet long, and ten wide, over walls; and each of the others to be thirty feet long and nine feet wide also over walls. The breast-wail of the whole to be on a line, and to be eighteen inches above ground. The back-wall of the centre one to be five feet. and of the others to be four and a half feet higher than the front. The front and end flues to be separated from the bark bed by a three inch cavity, and the back flues to be raised above its level.
The furnaces may either be placed in front or at the back, according to convenience: but the strength of the heat should be first exhausted in front, and should return in the back flues. the fruiting pit would require two small furnaces in order to diffuse the beat regularly, and keep up proper temperature in winter; one to be placed at each end, and either to play first in front and return in the back; but the flues to be above, and not alongside of one another. The under one to be considered merely as an auxiliary flue, as it would be wanted occasionally. None of these flues need be more than five or six inches wide, and nine or ten deep. Nor need the furnaces be so large, by a third or a fourth part, as those for large forcing houses; because there should be proper oil-cloth covers for the whole, as guards against severe weather, which would be a great saving of fuel. The depth of the pits should be regulated so that the average depth of the bark-beds may be a yard below the level of the front flues, as to that level the bark will generally settle, although made as high as their surfaces when new stirred up. If leaves, or a mixture of leaves with dung, are to be used instead of bark, the pits will require to be a foot or half a yard deeper.
The culture of this plant generally commences in a common hot-bed frame, heated by dung; at the end of six or nine months it is removed to a larger framed hot-bed or pit, generally called a succession-bed, and after remaining here from three to twelve months, it is removed to its final destination, the fruiting-bed. Here it shows its fruit, continues in a growing state during a period of from six to twelve months, according to the variety grown, mode of culture, etc., and finally ripens its fruit and dies, leaving the crown or terminal shoot of the fruit, and one or more suckers or side-shoots as successors. The production of a single pine-apple, therefore, requires a course of exotic culture, varying from eighteen months to three years.
The pine-apple plant will grow in any sort of rich earth taken from a quarter of the kitchen garden, or in fresh sandy loam taken from a common pastured with sheep, etc. If the earth be not of a rich, sandy quality, of darkish color, it should be mixed well with some perfectly rotten dung and sand, and if a little vegetable mould is put with it, it will do it good, and also a little soot. Though pine-plants will grow in earth of the strongest texture, yet they grow most freely in good sandy loam not of a binding quality.
Pines do not require so strong a bottom-heat as many keep them in, yet there is something in a mild tan-heat so congenial to their natures, that they thrive much better in pots plunged in a bark bed, if properly managed, than when planted out on a bed of earth that is heated, and often scorched by under-flues. The tan or bark-pile are, therefore, essential to the pinery. Bark-pits are filled with tan which has previously undergone a course of draining and sweating. The heat thus produced will last from three to six months, when it is sifted and again put in a state of fermentation, by replacing the deficiency occasioned by decay, and a separation of the dust by sifting with new tan. In this way the bark-bed is obliged to be stirred, turned, refreshed, or even renewed, several times a year, so as to produce and retain at all times a bottom-heat of from 75 to 86° in each of the three departments of pine culture.
The pine is generally propagated by crowns and suckers, though, in common with every other plant, it may be propagated by seed.
When the fruit is served at table, the crown is to be detached by a gentle twist, and returned to the gardener, if it be wanted for a new plant. Fruit stalk suckers are taken off at the same period. Suckers at the base of the herb are commonly fit for separation when the fruit is mature; though, if the stool be vigorous, they may be left on for a month after the fruit is cut, the stool receiving plentiful waterings on their account. the fitness of a sucker to be removed is indicated, at the lower part of the leaves, by a brownish tint, on the appearance of which, if the lower leaf be broken off, the sucker is easily displanted by the thumb.
If the old fruiting-plant offers only small bottom suckers, or fails to furnish any, good suckers may be thus brought out: having waited till the fruit is cut, take the old plant in its pot out of the bark-bed; strip off the underleaves near the root, and with the knife cut away the leaves to six inches from the bottom. Take out some of the stale mould from the pot, fill up with fresh, and give a little water. Plunge the old plant info a bed with a good growing heat. Let the routine culture not be neglected, and the old plants will soon send out good suckers; allow these to grow till they are four inches long or more, and on the signs of fitness detach them.
As soon as either crowns or suckers are detached, twist off some of the leaves about the base; the vacancy thus made at the bottom of the stem is to favor the emission of roots. Pare the stump smooth; then lay the intended plants on a shelf in a shaded part of the stove or any dry apartment. Let crowns and fruit off-sets lie till the part that adhered to the fruit is perfectly healed; and root suckers in the same manner till the part which was united to the old stock is become dry and firm. they will be fit to plant in five or six days.
Keep the plants growing gently, and have the pots, in general, completely filled with the roots by the time at which it is intended to excite them into blossom. From the middle of February to the 1st of March is a good time to have the main crop in flowers; as the prospective season is the finest. About a month before it is expected to see fruit dress the plants by taking away two inches in depth from the top of the mould. Twist off some of the lower leaves. Fill up with fresh compost, round the stem, to the remaining leaves The bark-bed should be revived at the same time so as to make it lively; but no new tan should be added till the time for the fullest heat arrives. If it is desired to ripen eminently large fruit, destroy the suckers as they spring, by twisting out their hearts with an iron sharp-pointed instrument formed for the purpose. Apply this to the heart of the sucker; and, turning it round, bring the heart away; on the other hand, when the multiplication of the stock is a principal object, the suckers must not be extirpated. A yet further advantage may be given to the swelling of the fruit, by having a few of the lower leaves of the plant taken off, and by putting a rim of tin, or anything else in the form of a hoop, round the top of the pot, sufficient to raise the mould three or four inches. The mould should be of the best quality, and constantly kept in a moderately moist state, this may be done by having the surface kept covered with moistened moss The roots of the pine-plant, especially those produced from the part of the stem just under the leaves, will then make a surprising progress, and the fruit will be greatly benefited by this expedient.
The indications of maturity are a diffusive fragrance, accompanied by change in the color of the fruit; most sorts becoming yellow or straw color; others dark green, or yellowish tinged with green. Cut pine-apples before they are dead ripe, or the spirit of the flavor will be dissipated. Bring away with the fruit above five inches of stalk, and leave the crown adhering to the top. If pine-apples be not cut soon after they begin to color, they fall greatly off in flavor and richness, and that sharp luscious taste, so much admired, becomes insipid.
If the plants by proper culture be kept healthy and vigorous, insects will not annoy, but leave them. The coccus hesperides seems to delight in disease and decay, as flies do in carrion. the following recipe may safely he applied to pine-apples in any state, but certainly best to crowns and suckers, at striking them in August; to others it may, at any rate, be used in the March shifting, when they are shaken out of their pots:
Take of soft soap 1 pound, flowers of sulphur, 1 pound; tobacco, half a pound; nux vomica, 1 ounce; soft water, 4 gallons. Boil all these together till the liquor is reduced to three gallons, and set it aside to cool. In this liquor immerse the whole plant, after the roots and leaves are trimmed for potting. Plants in any other state, placed in the bark-bed, may safely be watered over head with the liquor reduced in strength by the addition of a third part of water. As the bug harbors most in the angles of the leaves, there is the better chance that the medicated water will be effectual because it will there remain the longest, and there its sediment will settle. The above is a remedy for every species of the coccus; and for most insects, on account of its strength and glutinous nature. Its application will make the plants look dirty, therefore, as soon as the intended effects may be supposed to have followed, whatever remains of the liquor on the leaves should be washed off with clean water. It would be improper to pour a decoction charged with such offensive materials, over fruiting plants.
Turn the plants out of the pots, and clean the roots, then keep them immersed for twenty four hours in water in which tobacco stalks have been infused. The bugs are then to be rubbed off with a sponge, and plants, after being washed in clean water and dipped, are to be repotted.
In the "Caledonian Horticultural Transactions," a similar mode is described, only in the place of tobacco-juice flowers of sulphur are directed to be mixed with the water. With a bit of bass-mat, fixed on a small stick and dipped in water, displace as many of the insects as can be seen. Then immerse the plants in a tub of water, containing about one pound of flowers of sulphur to each garden potful. Let them remain covered in the water twenty-four hours, then lay them with their tops downwards to dry, and re-pot them in the usual manner.
The experience of Hay, one of the best practical gardeners in Scotland, leads him to conclude that even moderate moisture is destructive to these insects. For many years he regularly watered his pine plants over head with the squirt during the summer months. This was done only in the evening. It never injured the plants, and the bug never appeared upon them.
For the grape, the best soil is a light, loamy, dry, limestone soil, with a high and warm exposure, especially to the south. the earth should be kept well cultivated and free from weeds. The most useful fertilizers for the grape are well-rotted barn-yard manure, bone, and lime. For ordinary cultivation the best varieties are, the Isabella, Catawba, Diana, Delaware, Concord, Clinton, and the Rebecca when you have a sheltered situation. Some of the finer foreign wine-grapes, of France, Italy, and the Rhine region, may be naturalized with success in some parts of the United States; but it is hardly yet determined which are best suited for the purpose.
Vines are often either trained against the back wall or on a trellis under a glass roof. In the former case the plants are always placed inside the house; but in the latter, there are two opinions among practical men, one in favor of planting them outside, and the other inside the parapet wall.
Abercrombie says: "Let them be carefully turned out of the pots, reducing the balls a little and singling out the matted roots. Then place them in the pits, just as deep in the earth as they were before, carefully spreading out the abres and filling in with fine sifted earth or with vegetable mould. Settle all with a little water, and let them have plenty of free air every day, defending them from very severe frost or much wet; which is all the care they will require tiff they begin to push young shoots.
The following are the materials and proportions of a good compost, recommended by Abercrombie: Of top-spit sandy leam, from an upland pasture, one-third part; unexhausted brown loam from a garden one-fourth part, scrapings of roads, free from clay, and repaired with gravel or slate, onefifth part; vegetable mould, or old tan reduced to earth, or rotten stable-dung, one-eighth part; shell marl or mild lime, one-twelfth part. The borders to be from three to five feet in depth, and where practicable, not less than four feet wide in surface within the house, communicating with a border outside of the building not less than ten feet wide.
Vines are to be had in the nurseries, propagated either from layers, cuttings, or eyes; and, provided the plants be well rooted, and the wood ripe, it is a matter of indifference from which class the choice is made.
This mode is only to be adopted where a vinery previously exists in the open air, or where there is a friend's vinery in the neighbourhood.
In the end of June or beginning of July, when the vines have made new shoots from ten to twelve feet long, and about the time of the fruit setting, select any supernumery shoots, and loosening them from the trellis, bend them down so as to make them form a double or flexure in a pot filled with earth, generally a mixture of loam and vegetable mould, taking care to make a portion of last year's wood, containing a joint, pass into the soil in the pot. The earth is kept in a wet state, and at the same time a moist warm air is maintained in the house. In about ten days roots are found to have proceeded plentifully from the joint of last year's wood, and these may be seen by merely stirring the surface of the earth, or sometimes they may be observed penetrating to its surface. The layer may now be safely detached; very frequently It contains one or two bunches of grapes, which continue to grow and come to perfection. A layer cut off in the beginning of July generally attains, by the end of October, the length of fifteen or twenty feet. A new grapehouse, therefore, might in this way be as completely furnished with plants in three months, as by the usual method, above described, in three years.
A mode of more general utility than the foregoing, is to select the plants in the nursery a year before wanted, and to order them to be potted into very large pots, baskets, or tubs, filled with the richest earth, and plunged into a tan bed. They will thus make shoots which, the first year after removal to their final destination, will, under ordinary circumstances, produce fruit.
The methods of pruning established vines admit of much diversity, as the plants are in different situations. Without reckoning the cutting down of young or weak plants alternately to the lowermost summer shoot, which is but a temporary course, three different systems of pruning are adopted.
The first is applicable only to vines out of doors, but it may be transferred to plants in a vinery without any capital alteration. In this method one perpendicular leader is trained from the stem' at the side of which, to the right and left, the ramifications spring. Soon after the growing season has commenced, such rising shoots as are either in fruit or fit to be retained, or are eligibly placed for mother-bearers next season, are laid in either horizontally, or with a slight diagonal rise at something less than a foot distance, measuring from one bearing shoot to the next. The rising shoots, intended to form young wood should be taken as near the origin of the branch as a good one offers, to allow of cutting away, beyond the adopted lateral, a greater quantity of the branch, as it becomes old wood; the newsprung laterals, not wanted for one of these two objects, are pinched off. The treatment of those retained during the rest of the summer thus differs: As the shoots in bearing extend in growth. they are kept stopped about two eyes beyond the fruit. The coronate shoots, cultivated merely to enlarge the provision of wood, are divested of embryo bunches, if they show any, but are trained at full length as they advance during the summer, until they reach the allotted bounds. In the winter pruning there will thus be a good choice of motherbearers. That nearest the origin of the former is retained, and the others on the same branch era cut away; the rest of the branch is also taken off so that the old wood may terminate with the adopted lateral. The adopted shoot is then shortened to two, three, four, or more eyes, according to its place on the vine, its own strength, or the strength of the vine. The lower shoots are pruned in the shortest, in order to keep the means of always supplying young wood at the bottom of the tree.
The second method is to head The natural leader so as to cause it to throw out two, three, or more principal shoots; these are trained as leading branches, and in The winter-pruning are not reduced, unless to shape them to The limits of the house, or unless the plant appears too weak to sustain them at length. Laterals from these are cultivated about twelve inches apart, as mother-bearers; those in fruit are stopped in summer, and after the fall of the leaf are cut into one or two eyes. From the appearance of the motherbearer, thus shortened, this is called spur-pruning.
The third plan seems to flow from taking the second as a foundation, in having more than one aspiring leader, and from joining the superstructure of the first system immediately to this in reserving well-placed shoots to come in as bearing wood. Thus, supposing a stem which has been headed to send up four vigorous competing leaders, two are suffered to bear fruit and two are divested of such buds as break into clusters, and trained to the length of ten, twelve, fifteen feet or more, for mother-bearers, which have borne a crop, are cut down to within two eyes of the stool or legs, according to the strength of the plant, while the reserved shoots lose no more of their tops than is necessary to adjust them to the trellis.
In pruning vines leave some new branches every year, and take away (if too many) some of the old, which will be of great advantage to the tree, and much increase the quantity of fruit. When you trim your vine, leave two knots and cut them off the next time, for usually two buds yield a bunch of grapes. Vines thus pruned have been known to bear abundantly, whereas others that have been cut close to please the eye have been almost barren of fruit.
It is not of much consequence in what part of the tree The incision is made, but in case the trunk is very large the circles ought to be made in the smaller branches. All shoots which come out from the root of The vine or from the front of the trunk, situated below the incision, must be removed as often as they appear, unless bearing wood is particularly wanted to fill up The lower part of The wall, in which case one or two shoots may be left.
Vines growing in forcing houses are equally improved in point of size and flower, as well as made to ripen earlier, by taking away circles of bark. the time for doing this is when the fruit is set and the berries are about the size of small shot. the removed circles may here be made wider than on vines growing in the open air, as the bark is sooner renewed in forcing houses, owing to the warmth and moisture in those places. Half an inch will not be too great a width to take off in a circle from a vigorous growing vine, but I do not recommend the operation to be performed at all in weak trees.
This practice may be extended to other fruits, so as to hasten their maturity, especially figs, in which there is a most abundant flow of returning sap, and it demonstrates to us why old trees are more disposed to bear fruit than young ones. Miller informs us that vineyards in Italy are thought to improve every year by age till they are fifty gears old. For as trees become old the returning vessels do not convey the sap Into the roots with the same facility they did when young. Thus by occasionally removing circles of bark we only anticipate the process of nature. In both cases stagnation of the true sap is obtained in the fruiting branches, and the redundant nutriment then passes into the fruit.
It often happens after the circle of bark has been removed, a small portion of the inner bark adheres to the alburnum. It is of The utmost importance to remove this, though ever so small, otherwise in a very short space of time the communication is again established with the roots, and little or no effect is produced. Therefore, in about ten days after the first operation has been performed, look at the part from whence The bark was removed, and separate any small portion which may have escaped the knife the first time.
Make a circular incision in the wood, cutting away a ring of bark about the breadth of the twelth of an inch. the wood acquires greater size about the incision, and the operation accelerates the maturity of the wood, and that of The fruit likewise. The incision should not be made too deep and further than the bark, or it will spoil both in the wood and the fruit.
At certain periods preventing or retarding the mounting of The sap tends to produce and ripen the fruit. An abundance of sap is found to increase the leaf buds and decrease the flower buds. A process to retard sap has long been employed in the gardens of Montreuil. The practice is to divaricate the sap as near The root as may be, by cutting off the main stem and training two lateral branches, from which the wall is to be filled. Another process of interrupting the rising of the sap by separating the bark has been long in practice in vine-forcing houses; this is done when the grapes are full grown, and is found to assist the bark in diminishing the aqueous and increasing the saccharine juice.
the red spider is the grand enemy to the vine; after every winter's pruning and removal of the outward rind on the old wood anoint the branches, shoots and trellis with the following composition, the object of which is the destruction of their eggs or larvae:
Soft soap, 2 lbs.; flour of sulphur, 2 lbs.; leaf of roll tobacco, 2 lbs.; nux vomica, 4 oz.; turpentine, 1 English gill.
Boil the above in 8 English gallons of soft river water till it is reduced to six.
Lay on this composition, milk-warm, with a painter's brush, then with a sponge carefully anoint every branch, shoot and bud, being sure to rub it well into every joint, hole and angle. If the house is much infected the walls, flues, rafters, etc., are also to be painted over with the same liquor. Watering over the leaves and fruit at all times, except the ripening season, is the preventive recommended and which all gardeners approve.
Plant near the grapes some yew-trees, and the wasps will so far prefer The yew-tree berries as wholly to neglect the grapes.
Many flowering shrubs put out strong suckers from the root, such as lilacs, syringa, and some of the kinds of roses which take greatly from the strength of the mother plant, and which. if not wanted for the purpose of planting the following season should be twisted off or otherwise destroyed.
Take fresh made lime from the kiln, slake it well with water and well dress the tree with a brush, and the insects and moss will be completely destroyed, the outer rind will fall off and a new smooth, clear, healthy one will be formed, and the tree will assume a most healthy appearance and produce the finest fruit.
The limbs of apple-trees are recommended by some to be brushed all over in the midst of summer, but it is difficult to brush the branches of trees when the fruit is upon them. Instead of brushing the trees in summer, as soon as the leaves have fallen every tree should be carefully and freely pruned; this will open a passage to the sun and air, and will contribute to health in the future season. In addition to this, says a correspondent of the Monthly Magazine, I should recommend brushing off the moss and cutting out the cankered parts at any season this is convenient, and I further recommend the tree to be anointed some feet from the ground with a composition of sulphur and goose oil, and unless the orchard is ploughed, the soil should be opened at the roots.
To render it more hardy, the farina of the pippin should be introduced to the flower of the Siberian crab, whereby a mule is produced, which ripens in cold and exposed situations, yet retains the rich flavor of the other parent. But these hybrid or mule productions in a few generations return to the character of the one or the other variety. A most excellent variety of this apple, called the Downton Pippin, has been obtained by introducing the farina of the golden to the female flower of the Orange Pippin, and the progeny is more hardened than either parent.
Mr. Knight having trained the branches of an appletree against a southern wall in winter, loosened them to their utmost, and in spring, when the flower-buds began to appear, the branches were again trained to the wall. The blossoms soon expanded and produced fruit, which early attained perfect maturity, and what is more, the seeds from their fruits afforded plants which, partaking of the quality of the parent, ripened their fruit very considerably earlier than other trees raised at the same time from seeds of the same fruit, which had grown in the orchard.
Painting the wall with back paint or laying a composition of the same color, produces not only more in quantity, in the proportion of five to three, but the quality is also superior in size and flavor to that which grows against the wall of the natural color. But the trees must be clear of insects, or they will thrive, from the same cause, more than the fruit.
Before the plant has been exposed to the sun or thawed, after a night's frost, sprinkle it well with springwater in which sal-ammoniac or common salt has been infused.
Plant in small hampers during the rainy season young plants raised by seed, when they are from twelve to eighteen inches high. Place them in the shade until they are quite recovered, then remove them in the hampers, respectively, to the foot of the coffee trees chosen for the mother plants, which ought to be of the most healthy and productive kind.
These latter ought to be cut down to within three or four inches of the ground, to make them throw out new wood near their roots. It is those shoots which are grafted when they are about a foot or fifteen inches long upon the seedling plants in the hampers placed round the mother plants. the hampers should be in part buried in the ground to preserve the earth within them moist.
There are several ways of performing the operation of grafting, but we shall give only the two following, which seem most likely to answer the purpose, without calling upon the cultivator to pursue too complex a process:
1st Draw together the stem of the plant in the hamper and one of the branches of the mother plant. Then make a longitudinal incision on each of them of the same length; bring the two incisions together, so that one wound covers the other, bind them closely together and finally cover them with a mixture of clayey earth and cow dung. It would be useful to cut off the top of the plant in the hamper, in order to force the sap into the branch of the mother plant.
2d. Draw together the tree in the hamper and the branch of the mother plant as before, and take off from three to eight inches of the head of the former. Then make a triangular incision upon this cut, and a similar one on the branch of the mother plant, to unite the two wounds; take them fast together and cover them with the same composition as before; then place the branch upright by means of a prop. When the parts are firmly knit together, cut the branch away from the mother plant, and the engrafting is completed.
Young trees thus engrafted, after remaining one or two years in the nursery, should be removed to the plantation they are designed for. This method is highly useful to the fruit trees which do not propagate with all their best qualities by means of seed. In the same manner excellent varieties of spice trees may be raised from plants propagated by seed.
Surround the trunk of the tree in blossom with a wisp of straw or hemp. The end of this sink by means of a stone tied to it in a vessel of spring water at a little distance from the tree. One vessel will conveniently serve two Trees, or the cord may be lengthened so as to surround several before its end is plunged into the water. It is necessary that the vessel should be placed in au open situation out of the reach of any shade, so that the frost may produce all its effects on the water by means of the cord communicating with it.
Strip a ring of bark about an inch in width from a bearing branch; surround the place with a ball of fat earth or loam, bound fast to the branch with a piece of matting, over this they suspend a pot or horn with water, having a small hole it; the bottom just sufficient to let the water drop, in order to keep the earth constantly moist. The branch throws new roots into the earth just above the place where the ring of bark was stripped off. The operation is performed in the spring, and the branch is sawn off and put into the ground at the fall of the leaf. The following year it will bear fruit.
This mode of propagating, not only fruit trees but plants of every description, received particular attention from the editor while in China, and has since been practiced by him in this country with never-failing success. The mode he has adopted is this: - A common tin cup has a round hole punched in the bottom, a little larger than will admit the stem of the branch it is intended to receive. A slit is then to be made from the edge down one side and along the bottom to the central aperture. The two sides can thus be separated so as to let in the branch without injury; it is then closed up, the cup filled with loam mixed with chopped moss, and another cup or gourd pierced with a small hole suspended from a branch above. This is to he kept filled with water. the time to do this is in the spring just before the sap rises. In the fall the limb, as before stated, is to be taken off below the cup and planted, with all the earth that adheres to the roots.
Make a varnish of common linseed oil, rendered very drying by boiling it for the space of an hour, with an ounce of litharge to each pound of oil mixed with calcined bones, pulverized and sifted to the consistence of an almost liquid paste. With this paste the wounds are to be covered by means of a brush, after the bark and other substance have been pared, so as to render the whole as smooth and even as possible. The varnish must be applied in dry weather, in order that it may attach itself properly.
Take of dry pounded chalk three measures, and of common vegetable tar one measure; mix them thoroughly, and boil them with a low heat till the composition becomes of the consistency of beeswax it may be preserved for use in this state for any length of time. If chalk cannot conveniently be got, dry brick-dust may be substituted. After the broken or decayed limb has been sawed off the whole of the saw-cut must be very carefully pared away, and the rough edges of the bark, in particular, must be made quite smooth: the doing of this properly is of great consequence; then lay on the above composition hot, about the thickness of half a dollar, over the wounded place, and over the edges of the surrounding bark; it should be spread with a hot trowel.
Many kinds of pot-herbs may, in July, be propagated by cuttings or slips, which may be planted out to nurse on a steady border for a few weeks or till they have struck root, and may then be planted out where they are to remain. If made about the middle or end of the month, they will be ready for transplanting before the end of August and in that case will be well established before the winter. The kinds are marjoram, mint, cage, sorrel, tansy, tarragons and thyme.
To diminish the growth of weeds round fruit trees, spread on the ground round the fresh transplanted trees, as far as the roots extend, the refuse stalks of flax after the fibrous parts have been separated. This gives them very surprising vigor as no weeds will grow under flax refuse, and the earth remains fresh and loose. Old trees treated in the same manner, when drooping in an orchard, will recover and push out vegerian shoots. In place of flax stalks the leaves which fail from trees in autumn may be substituted, but they must be covered with waste twigs or anything else that can prevent the wind from blowing them away.
It often happens that some of the limbs of fruit trees, trained against a wall, are blighted and die, while others remain in a healthy and flourishing state. This has hitherto been erroneously attributed to the effects of lightning, but from closer observation, and from several experiments, it has been found to arise from the corroding effects of the nails and cramps with which trees in this situation are fastened. To avoid this inconvenience, therefore, it requires only to be careful in preventing the iron from coming in contact with the bark of the trees.
Remove it with a hard scrubbing brush in Febuary and March, and wash the trees with cow dung, urine and soap-suds.
Take three pints of melted tallow to one of tar, and mix them well together over a gentle fire. In November take a small brush and go over the rind or bark of the trees with the mixture, in a milk-warm state' as thin as it can be laid on with the brush. This coating will not hinder the juices or sap expanding in the smallest degree. Its efficacy has been proved by applying the liquid to one tree and missing another, when the latter has been attacked and the former left. During five years' experience, of those besmeared the first two years not one was injured afterwards. If all the bark were properly gone over with the mixture they probably would not need any more for some years.
Let a hard shoe-brush be applied to every infected limb, as if it were to coach harness, to get off the dirt, after which, with the tin box and brush, give the limbs a dressing, leaving them exposed to the sun to increase the efficacy of the application. This should be repeated occasionally during the summer, choosing always a dry time, and warm, clear sunshine.
The only remedy is placing something about the stem or among the branches of the bush, the smell of which is obnoxious to flies, and which they will not approach. The smell of coal-tar or petroleum is said to keep off the caterpillars; The fact is that it keeps off the fly. The practice is to wrap a beam or twist of seed, strongly impregnated with this strong-scented bitumen, round the stem of the bush, and no caterpillar will touch a leaf.
Other remedies are used, such as soap-suds thrown over the bushes, lime, chimney-soot, and a strong decoction of elder-leaves: but who can eat gooseberries and currants after they have been besmeared with such filthy materials ? Keeping off the fly by the smell of something which is disagreeable to it goes to the root of the evil at once, and there is nothing in the smell of coal-tar which can excite a prejudice in the most delicate stomach.
A few small pits or holes, from twelve to fifteen inches deep, being dug among the bushes, at convenient distances, all the surface mould immediately under and near to the bushes, wherein the greatest quantity of shells is likely to be deposited, is taken off with a common garden hoe and buried in these holes or pits, after which the whole surface is carefully dug over to a considerable depth. Wherever these operations are properly performed, no apprehension of loss from this kind of caterpillar need be entertained.
Brush off the white down, clear off the red stain underneath it, and anoint the places infected with a liquid mixture of train oil and Scotch snuff.
Orchards are occasionally much injured by an insect appearing like a white efflorescence; when bruised between the fingers it emits a blood-red fluid. Mix a quantity of cowdung with human urine, to the consistence of paint, and let the infected trees be anointed with it, about the beginning of March.
The only means of preventing the canker worm, which destroys the young fruit, and endangers the life of the tree, when discovered, and which, in many instances, has proved to be effectual, is encircling the tree, about knee-high with a streak of tar, early in the spring, and occasionally adding a fresh coat.
Cut them off to the quick, and apply a piece of sound bark from any other tree, and bind it on with a flannel roller. Cut off the canker, and a new shoot will grow strong, but in a year or two you will find it cankered.
the remedy consists in boring every tree attacked by the disease at the ulcer itself, and in applying a tube to the hole occasioned by the borer, penetrating about nine lines in depth. The sound trees, which are also bored, afford no liquor, whereas those that are ulcerated afford it in great abundance, increasing particularly ID fine weather, and when the wound is exposed to the south. Stormy weather and great winds stop the effusion. In this manner the ulcers dry and heal in forty-eight hours.
The use of lime has been highly recommended in the dressing of old moss-eaten orchard trees. Some fresh made lime being slaked with water, and some old worn out appletrees well dressed with it with a Brush, the result was that the insects and moss were destroyed, the outer rind fell off, and a new, smooth, clear, healthy one formed; the trees, although twenty years old, assuming a most healthy appearance.
A smothering straw-fire should be made early in October, in calm weather, under each tree, and kept up during an hour or more. This done, scrape the moss and other impurities from the trunk, and from every obscure hole and corner set your ladders to the branches, carefully cleaning them in the same way, taking from the remaining leaves every web or nidus of insects. If need be, wash the trunk, and all the larger wood with a solution of lime and dung. Last of all, it is necessary to destroy the insects or eggs, which may have dropped upon the ground, and it may be useful to loosen the soil in the circumference. In the spring, or early blighting season, apply your ladders, make a careful survey of every branch, and act accordingly; repeat this monthly, picking off all blights by band, and using the water-engine, where ablution may be necessary. To those who have fruit, or the market profit thereof, every orchard or garden, little or great, will amply repay such trouble and expense.
Trees newly transplanted, in general, escape its attack, when other trees, of the same kind of fruit, grown in the same situation, are nearly destroyed. Peach and nectarine trees should be dug up once in every five or six years, and replanted with fresh mould. By this method, a larger quantity of fruit of a superior kind will be obtained. The covering of trees with m