FRUIT CULTURE. 



in everybody's garden, I coaxed np an acquaintance with his little excellency, and 

 introduced him to each tree, and, after reading Mons. Cappe's mode of pruning 

 and pinching, I went at it in season, and nipped, with great care, every little 

 protruding twig except the leader. And now my astonishment has been very 

 pleasantly awakened, by discovering very many of the twigs so pinched as afore- 

 said, crowned with a beautiful fruit bud, an event which I had no faith in, and 

 the Lilliputians make bragging promises of giant burdens the ensuing year. 



I wrote to Col. Wilder, of Boston, for advice in planting, and that gentleman, 

 though a stranger, kindly gave me his advice, for which I shall be ever grateful, 

 for a friend of mine, who has some three thousand trees, planted his own way, 

 has lost numbers of them this year by the borer, I advise him to take them 

 all up and replant, or I believe he will lose the whole. 



1st Question. I have a quantity of young plum-trees large enough to bear 

 thriftily in very heavy soil. Can I graft peaches successfully on them ? I have 

 grafted nectarines on plum with uniform success. Will the peach do as well ? 



2c?. Salt, science says, is a good fertilizer for quince. Would you, therefore, 

 recommend salt for dwarf pear-trees on quince roots ? 



Zd. I have seen somewhere a remedy for rose-bugs in which I had faith, but 

 have forgotten it, and cannot find it. Do you know what will keep them away ? 

 They were very destructive, last year, upon grapes. 



Uh. The apple-tree borer kills our trees, and bores our patience. I have 

 about lost an orchard of sixteen years' standing. Is there any remedy ? or must 

 we bear the loss ? 



It is wonderful to me, when I reflect upon it, notwithstanding the much noise, 

 of late, about horticulture, that there is so little attention paid to it. A garden 

 is a little world of pleasures and delights, yet locked against thousands standing 

 outside who know nothing of the pleasures inviting them within. As time flies 

 on, earlier acquaintances scatter, old friendships are broken, the promises and 

 hopes of youthful days drop and fade as years pile up their burdens and infirmi- 

 ties upon the waning strength of age, and, before we are aware, we stand in the 

 midst of a bustling, fluttering world, solitary and alone. If we go upon the high- 

 way, it is filled with strangers ; if we stay at home, our visitors belong mostly to 

 another generation ; if we visit the usual place of public worship, the whole coun- 

 tenance of the congregation scarcely resembles what we remember it to have been 

 in time gone by. Now, if we have a garden of our own planting, we recognize 

 an acquaintance in every tree, and vine, and shrub, and, with a little effort of the 

 imagination, every plant becomes personified, and thus the plantation is an inte- 

 resting family, smiling at our approach, and gratefully contributing their luscious 

 fruits as if to reward us for our care. Every one, who can, should plant a garden, 

 cultivate a taste for it, read the Horticulturist, and learn, amid trees, shrubbery, 

 and flowers, to be a happier man. 



[1. Peaches do better on plum stocks than on their own roots ; they are more 

 productive, and live longer. 



2. Salt, in small quantities, is advantageous to the quince, or the pear on quince 

 stocks, when they are growing in a light soil. When the soil is wet or heavy, salt 

 is injurious. 



3. Quite a variety of insects go under the name of rose-bugs, in different parts 

 of the country. In the open air, we know of nothing better to destroy them than 

 occasional syringings with water in which tobacco has been well soaked. 



4. Gas tar will prevent the borer from entering the trees. Tar around the tree 

 from the surface of the ground to an inch or so below ; when applied much above 

 the surface, it is said to be injurious. When the insect has already taken posses- 



