148 



TUE OARDENER'S MONTHLY 



[May, 



where. Last Sprinc; I built a new grupory, twenty 

 Tines (each two years old) were planted. Alonj;- 

 flide of each vine is planted n one-year-old, of a 

 different variety, intending to inarch the two this 

 Summer, and so give the main vines two roots 

 instead of one. This will give rapid growth at 

 any rate. Tlie main vines have been cut down 

 to four feet ; but the onc-yearolds to the ground. 

 The one-year-olds will come out with new wood, 

 but the two-year-olds will have the wood of last 

 year. The question is, can the two be inarched 

 under the circumstances? The process of this 

 inarching has one great advantage— you can get 

 clear of new and, as the case may be, a worthless 

 variety, simply by the aid of a knife and a gouge, 

 without replanting. Whoever trusts to your 

 ' fowl ' remedy against the ravages of curculio, 

 in the plum orchard, will meet with disappoint- 

 ment." 



[Our correspondent is much to blame that he 

 has not asked a question before. It is not objec- 

 tionable to us, indeed it is a favor to have the 

 questions, when they are of a character to give 

 information to many, as well as to the one. The 

 young wood will inarch readily with the older 

 wood, but it may take longer to unite. — Ed. 

 G. M.] 



Stirrikg the Surface Soil of Orchards.— E., 

 Vineland, N. J., says : — " Some years ago, you 

 delivered a lecture before our Vineland Agricul- 

 tural Society on your ' New Method of Orchard 

 (&c.) Culture,' which created quite an agitation 

 here. In the light of recent studies of mulch vs. 

 drouth, and various other matters, I cannot rest 

 without taking the liberty of requesting you to 

 put me in a way to get a full view — general and 

 special, theoretical and practical — of your sys- 

 tem. I should like to study all the literature ex- 

 tant of the system, in books, periodicals, &c., 'from 

 the earliest period to the present time.' Will you 

 kindly assist me all you can in this matter? I 

 want to know all about it — its rise, its growth, 

 B,nd ita success ; and particularly whether it has 

 been applied to general farm culture, as 

 well as to orchards and vineyards. I had not 

 the pleasure of listening to you while lecturing 

 here, and only saw partial reports, and, I fear, 

 one-sided critiques of your lecture in our local 

 papers, and occasionally heard mere common- 

 sense discussions of your system at our Farmers' 

 Club, ttc. And besides, my mind was not then 

 ripe for the full and exhaustive consideration of 

 your new departure in agriculture. I am fully 



ready to study it now, and experiment on it in a 

 small way. 



" Please give me a list of its bibliography. 

 Among other things where can I see a copy of 

 the revolutionary lecture which you delivered 

 here." 



[The Editor of the Gardener's Monthly has no 

 time to write lectures, hence, when he gives ad- 

 dresses before associations or elsewhere, they arc 

 always extemporized for the occasion, and as the 

 reporters, therefore, have not the help of notes 

 even to make up reports from, people who read 

 the papers do not always get the right ideas of 

 the discourse. This is true of the Vineland lec- 

 ture given there many years ago. 



As regards the matter in question, there is no 

 particular s2/s^'??i about it, for the practice must 

 vary with the occasion. What the Editor has 

 taught in this matter he lays no claim to, the 

 practice was in existence long before he was 

 born — all he has done is to make the practice 

 pojnilar by showing its good points. 



In the olden times, when people spoke of 

 "cultivating" an orchard, they meant treating 

 it according to those rules of garden art, which 

 resulted in the healthiest trees and full crops of 

 the best fruits. But in our day the hoe-harrow 

 was invented, and the makers called them " cul- 

 tivators," and tlius when any one reads that our 

 fathers well-cultivated their orchards, they im- 

 agine it means that they kept these machines 

 running up and'down among the trees all Sum- 

 mer. And so firmly was this erroneous notion 

 imbedded in people's minds, that the Editor of 

 the Monthly, was charged with advocating ne- 

 glected " culture " because he contended that this 

 working of the soil was not "good cultivation." 

 Most of the misconception of his views aroie 

 from thif misunderstanding, and even now, those 

 who fail with grass culture, are generally those 

 who let the grass starve the trees. 



As a general rule a good grass crop is a good 

 paying crop in any part of th§ country. It will 

 grow under trees better than cabbage, potatoes, 

 or any other farm crop. When people grow po- 

 tatoes, wheat, or any grain or vegetables under 

 orchard trees, they have to manure them, and 

 we ask manure for the grass as well ; then you 

 will have a grass crop that will pay to cut for 

 hay, and in the most parts of this country hay 

 always pays for cutting. There is no crop that 

 you can grow that takes less labor than hay, and 

 this is important in orchard culture. Then 

 there is this additional advantage to the trees — 



