DOMESTIC NOTICES. 



343 



half the usual .size, it commenced cracking, and 

 ceased growing. 1 showed the pear to a person 

 who had Been those thai cracked at the east, and 



lie said il was affected the same as those. My 



first impulse was to dig up the trees, believing 

 thai the scion came from a diseased stock and 

 therefore would prove worthless. But on reflec- 

 tion 1 ooncluded to let them stand, and try the ef- 

 fect of " Special Manures.'' In the fall I prepared 

 a compost of muck and ashes, as recommended by 

 you, and applied about half a buhsel to each tree, 

 which was slightly dug in. Last spring, I applied 

 about four quarts of burned, bones to eaoh tree, and 

 formed a mound about each tree with compost, 

 about six inches high and three feet across, so as 

 to cover up the junction of the graft with the 

 stock. On examining the trees I found at the junc- 

 tion of almost every limb with the body of the tree 

 a crack in the bark, extending from \ to ^ an inch 

 up the limb, and also about the same distance up 

 the body. Around these cracks the bark wasdead 

 to a greater or less extent; in several places it ex- 

 tended almost around the body of the tree, and in 

 one case entirely around. 1 cut off the tree at 

 this last place, which was some 18 inches from 

 the ground. I cut out all the dead bark and co- 

 vered the wounds with the shellac preparation, re- 

 commended by you. The past summer each tree 

 has borne six as perfect pears as any one could ask 

 for, and the trees have made a thrifty and healthy 

 growth. The wounds made by cutting out. the 

 dead bark have grown over, and there are no 

 signs of the bark cracking again. The trees were 

 set in a soil of heavy clay, which had been taken, 

 about eighteen months previous, from several feet 

 below the surface, and had been manured and cul- 

 tivated the summer previous to the trees being 

 set. What, in your opinion, was the cause of the 

 pears cracking last year and being perfect this? 

 And what was the cause of the bark cracking? 

 Yours, respectfully, M. L. B. Lockport, Dec. 

 17th, 1849. 



Our opinion is that the bark and fruit cracked 

 from unsuitable soil, or unhealthy constitution in 

 the tree or from both. Special manure would of 

 course be the main remedy for such a diseased 

 condition. Ed. 



Building Vineries. — Your critic in his crit- 

 ique for this month, asks of you cost of structure, 

 and other information, of Mr. Van Rensselaer's 

 vinery, at Clinton Point. I shall be able to tell 

 you, when spring opens sufficiently for out-of-door 

 work, exactly what it costs here, to put up such 

 a vinery as Mr. Van Rensselaer's, on a smaller 

 scale — that is forty two feet in length, with 

 height and breadth as his. Meanwhile, I can tell 

 you, that owing to your representations of the 

 peculiar advantages of the vinery at Clinton Point, 

 I sent a carpenter there to examine it ; and his 

 report, whon he brought the plan of it to me on 

 his return, was that he could build a vinery atone 

 third less cost, in consequence of what ho had 



seen there. I may mention that the person I sent 

 understands his business thoroughly, and had just 

 completed a Finery on the ordinary plan, at a 

 country scat in this neighbourhood. 



The difference between, say tour hundred dol- 

 lars and six hundred dollars, is something. And 

 the greater pleasure of having a vinery, or any- 

 thing else, to effect a certain purpose, at a reason- 

 able cost, instead of an extravagant, is some- 

 thing more. So that I think the country loving 

 community is under obligation to Mr. Van Rens- 

 selaer for having brought practical good tasti 

 to bear on this matter. A Subscriber. Phila- 

 delphia, Dec. nth, 1849. 



ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



Carnations. — R. Early, (Lynchburgh, Va.) 

 You will find a very valuable practical article on 

 this plant in the first volume of this journal, p. 73. 

 Seedlings. — D. B. Williams, (Mendham, 

 N. J.) You may undoubtedly take a crop of 

 roots from between the drills of seedlings, but pro- 

 bably at the injury of the latter, unless your soil 

 is very deep and rich. Instead of planting a row 

 of corn between the rows of cuttings or slips, you 

 had better cover the ground with litter, or some 

 sort of refuse, to preserve its moisture above the 

 slips; corn roots do more harm by exhausting the 

 moisture in the soil, than good by shading the 

 cuttings. Do you mean evergreen seeds or plants? 

 A good manure for them would be leached ashes 

 and fine chip manure — one third of the former to 

 two thirds of the latter. 



Burying Roots. — Rev. J. R. K. (Warren, Ct.) 

 You inquire if maple trees of 20 years growth, 

 which have had the ground raised on the north 

 side, and 2 feet south of the trunks on the south 

 side, will be seriously injured by it? We think 

 not, as there is a sufficient portion of the roots in 

 the natural position on the south side to enable 

 the tree to go on till the roots on the north side 

 send up fibers in the new soil under which they 

 are buried. We have seen elms buried 3 feet 

 deep without injury, by first piling stones over 

 the roots, and thon covering the soil over the 

 stones. 



Pruning large trees. — /. H. E. (Chester 

 Co., Pa.) We should prefer to wait till the cold 

 weather is quite past — say with you the 1st of 

 March, before pruning the large limbs of pears 

 or apples. The engrafted branches may bo head- 

 ed in at that time. If any one is compelled to 

 prune in mid-winter — at the north — then he should 

 always use the shellac solution, brushing over the 

 wound as BOOD as made, otherwise a rotten spot 

 will be formed and the wound will not heal read- 

 ily. We know nothing definite, regarding the 

 two fruits you refer to, beyond what we have pub- 

 lished. 



Tenpek Eveuoreens. — Enquirer, (Canandai- 

 gua, N. Y.) Tho varieties of Rhododendron Pon- 

 ticum will not stand your winters, unless protect- 



