DOMESTIC NOTICES. 



Yogetable phj-siology fully demonstrates this, 

 and from it we may learn that all high bred 

 and hybrid plants require a greater degree of 

 care in their culture, which includes both food 

 and pruning. In especial evidence we might 

 adduce the foreign grape, the strawberry, and 

 the modern pear, which, under the manage- 

 ment of different individuals, even in the same 

 locality, show as great dissimilitude as it is pos- 

 sible to conceive. 



While on the subject of pears, may I ask yon, 

 or your correspondents to settle the disputed 

 question of legitimate Quince stocks — must 

 they as a sine qua non, be of the Angers, up- 

 right, pear, Portugal or orange variety? Pray 

 clear up this matter — as I design to plant yet 

 some two thousand more dwarfs, 1 feel some 

 interest in the solution. 



A portion of my plantation consists of an 

 hundred cherries, mostly beginning to bear; 

 and also an acre of strawberries, among which, 

 arc the famous Scheneike seedlings. 



Peaches in our locale, in open position, are a 

 doubtful crop, and yet in many of our city 

 gardens — warm, and sheltered, fine specimens 

 are annually grown. Having a soil peculiarly 

 adapted to the peach (an old sod sandy loam 

 on a limestone rock) and elevated beyond any 

 adjacent point for several miles, I have thought 

 it worth the experiment, to plant seventy-five 

 trees, of the hardy varieties; selecting those 

 on plum stocks, as vastly better suited to our 

 climate, aside from the protection by this means, 

 from the peach worm. Ashes, lime and hair 

 are my specific fertilizers for this fruit — I give 

 a shovel full of each, well incorporated in the 

 hole, with an additional shovel full of ashes 

 and charcoal as a top dressing, and finish by 

 raising a mound a foot high as a stay for winter 

 blasts, and the depredations of field mice. 



How unfortunate it is that nurserymen in 

 packing this tree, so perfectly denude them of 

 their lower branches; these, to me, constitute 

 their best portions, to renew which, requires 

 severe heading back. The peach to be success- 

 full, should be kept low, and bush like. They 

 then shade the ground, answering the purpose 

 of a mulch. The stocks are thus kept free 

 from gumming, are easily reached for summer 



runing, and the fruit is readily gathered. 



lums I am planting an hundred trees, 



notwithstanding the hue and cry about the 

 curculio. In this matter I have had some ex- 

 perience, and with all due deference to the 

 " instincts" your correspondents so kindly 

 speak of, I claim to have the secret of success ! 

 For ten years, I have tried with faithful care, 

 the various recipes promulged, such as sulphur, 

 salting, picking up, dung heaps, strong odors, 

 and lastly manipulation (the grand secret,) 

 viz: catching all the he ones and shortening the 

 proboscis. From half a dozen trees, planted 

 fifteen years ago, full half a mile from any 

 other, and yearly loaded with fruit to be con- 

 signed to the piggery, I have by my method, 

 for several seasons past, obtained annually, 

 fifteen bushels of perfect fruit. That this in- 

 sect is migratory, and fleet of wing, there can 

 be no doubt, and neither is their presence con- 

 fined to plum trees. I have found them in the 

 woods in great abundance, on the Manitou 

 I.slands in Lake Michigan, and other places 

 where no plums are to be found. The paving 

 process is a failure, the trees to over-hang 

 water an absurdity-and although catching them 

 may seem a " 2Juttering" job, let me assure 

 you it is a safe one, productive of much fruit. 

 My method has been from the setting of the 

 blossom, to spread sheets under the tree, and 

 jar and shake, with a properly arranged hooked 

 pole. This should be done early in the morn- 

 ing about sunrise, and continued at frequent 

 intervals, say three or four times per week, 

 until the fruit is ripening, when instinct tells 

 the creature (should there be any left) that it is 

 too late to penetrate the pit. To induce watch- 

 fulness I have paid a penny each, and frequent- 

 ly have they been captured in the act of punc- 

 turing the fruit. Occasionally from forty to 

 fifty were caught per day, and yet even at these 

 prices I have been the gainer, as the fruit, from 

 the general scarcity, would readily command 

 from three to four dollars per bushel. 



Hedging in this vicinity is almost unknown, 

 if we except the Privet, which is only suitable 

 to define paths, or form screens around build- 

 ings. 



Hedges proper, however, should be formed 

 of that material which shall fully answer the 

 double purpose of fence and durability — creat- 

 ing a perfect barrier against man and beast, and 

 which shall be ornamental, free from diseases. 



