216 



RANDOM NOTES ON HORTICULTURE. 



once occurred to me ; and my trees, large 

 and small, were instantly mulched, first 

 being- well forked over and watered, and in 

 two or three days new buds began to make 

 their appearance. In less than three weeks, 

 trees whose leaves had all fallen off, and 

 which I had considered as lost, had made 

 shoots of nearly a foot in length. By 

 mulching, the evaporation of the moisture 

 around the roots was suspended ; and as a 

 tree cannot assimilate its juices without a 

 degree of moisture, or extract from the 

 earth its constituents, the ground was kept 

 in a condition by mulching to enable it to 

 feed, if I may so speak, without cessation. 

 Watering, alone, would not answer the 

 purpose ; for, independent of the caking of 

 the surface soil, the temperatue could not 

 be kept equable, as constant evaporation 

 would be going on, and the alternate heat 

 and cold of night and day be injurious to 

 the tree. I will add, that I mulched di- 

 rectly after a heavy rain, and found it ex- 

 pedient, as we had many weeks of dry, hot 

 weather, to water the trees once or twice 

 very plentifully, but without removing the 

 covering. I have since discovered that se- 

 veral of your correspondents have had suc- 

 cess equal to mine in mulching their trees. 

 Many persons complain that fruits do 

 not succeed so well in the west as they did 

 many years ago. This is in a measure 

 true; but I think the evil is not irremedia- 

 ble. I will at least try and throw some 

 light on the subject, — the result of my own 

 experience and observation. The cherry, 

 in particular, many persons despair of ever 

 being able to raise. Although these trees 

 grow well for a year or two, and some even 

 bear fruit for a few seasons, they soon be- 

 gin to decay, and finally die. Now, in the 

 first place, the heat and long drouths we 

 have in the west, are too much for any of 

 the fine varieties of fruit, and particularly 



for the cherry. But it is usually planted 

 with a full exposure to the sun, for the be- 

 nefit, as they say, of the fruit. Now, even 

 in our dryest weather, we have heavy 

 dews, so that in the morning the trees look 

 as though they had been exposed to a 

 heavy shower. The sun, rising, darts his 

 rays full upon their broad wet leaves. The 

 dew is heated at once, and steams off, car- 

 rying with it, naturally, the juices imparted 

 by the dew and from the atmosphere, as 

 well as that transmitted to them from the 

 roots for elaboration or digestion ; and the 

 leaves are of course prevented from per- 

 forming their allotted functions. In the 

 mean time, the effect of the dew is not felt 

 at the roots. They are imbedded in a 

 hard dry cake of earth, from which they in 

 vain seek to extract nourishment. The 

 consequence is, that the trees receive a 

 shock that eventually must kill or render 

 them unproductive. 



Until this year, I had not been able to 

 raise a single cherry tree ; all I planted 

 dying after one, or at most two, seasons 

 from transplanting. This year I planted 

 some in the shade, or, rather, where the 

 sun could not reach the leaves or trunk 

 until after mid-day. I also kept them well 

 mulched, (after the time I discovered its 

 good effect, as above stated ;) and they are 

 at this time the most flourishing trees in 

 my orchard. 



I pursued the same course with my pear 

 trees. Not one of them has died of the 

 blight, though heretofore I have regularly 

 lost half I planted out. 



I am now satisfied of the cause of the 

 blight of this tree, at least on my own 

 grounds. It is caused neither by an insect 

 nor by frozen sap. Keep the tree pro- 

 tected, and in a constant state of action, 

 both in its roots and leaves, and it will not 

 blight. But let the circulation of the sap 



