1876.'' 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



175 



early in the spring, and were immediately sawed 

 oflf close to the stock. New branches soon put 

 out, which I let grow three feet — as long a growth 

 as I think prudent for pear trees to make in this 

 climate. In a few years, by pinching back the 

 branches of the other side and allowing them to 

 bear fruit freely, and by manuring more heavily 

 on the side of the new branches, and allowing 

 them to bear no fruit, I shall restore the symmetry 

 of the tree. 



The blight struck the main stock of the other 

 tree where it was three years old. I hesitated a 

 week or two — ^liarboring a lingering hope con- 

 trary to the ad^dce and experience of horticul- 

 turists — and then resolutely amputated the stock 

 of this cherished tree below the blight. The tree 

 having plenty of strong branches below the point 

 of amputation, I shall train it by spreading them 

 in the vase form, which is preferable in some im- 

 portant respects to the natural form. 



A handsome Duchess d'Angouleme (on Quince) 

 was so affected by the blight that I cut it off 

 within six inches of the ground. There are a 

 plenty of good shoots — four of which I shall se- 

 lect for the base of a vase form top ; three would 

 answer. 



A Buffum (standard) of the same age was 

 killed outright. 



My soil is a sandy loam, with pebbles inter- 

 spersed and a porous subsoil, trenched two feet 

 deep. The growth of the year before the blight 

 was not large, but my treatment of the Bartletts 

 and Duchess, I am apprehensive, was erroneous. 

 It happening to be peculiarly convenient, I 

 gave them a heavy top dressing of new stable 

 manure in the latter part of the summer. Early 

 in the spring, or late in the fall (after the leaves 

 are off), are the proper times for manuring. Un- 

 rotted manure I prefer to have forked in in 

 the fall. After manuring these trees I watered 

 them copiously with the hose, and, as the season 

 was dry, repeated the watering into September. 

 No extra growth followed. I .submitted the case 

 to one of the leading pear cultivators in Massa- 

 chusetts, and he said the blight was not occa- 

 sioned by my treatment of the trees. Yet I have 

 my doubts. To be sure, some of my neighbors' 

 trees, staiAang in the same kind of soil, with not 

 six inches of growth that year, neither manured 

 nor watered, were affected, and a part of them 

 killed, by the frozen-sap-blight. It is safest never 

 to encourage a fall growth. 



In all the cases I noticed in this and the neigh- 

 boring towns, every spot of blight, with one ex- 



ception, was on the south side of the wood 

 blighted— showing pretty conclusively that it was 

 the freezing and thaiving which caused the blight. 



The blight poisons the sap — hence the impor- 

 tance of amputating immediately, on its discov- 

 ery, below the affected spot, to prevent the poison 

 from entering into the general circulation of the 

 tree, and thereby injuring, if not eventually kill- 

 ing, it. 



I carefully protected the spots of amputation 

 in the cases above stated by covering them with 

 mortar composed of clay and green cow dung, 

 using a larger proportion of the latter. If this 

 mortar is carefully spread and fii-mly pressed on, 

 lapping over well, it will remain a year or more. 

 "Wlien it comes off it can easily be replaced. 

 Where clay is not accessible, loam can be substi- 

 tuted. 



GRAPE CULTURE— THE WILD GOOSE PLUM. 



BY B. F. TRANSOU, HUMBOLDT, TEXN. 



Your remarks on grape pruning we like 

 very much. We cultivate the scuppernong 

 grape with more profit than any other (for 

 home use), and that you may let "rip;" 

 needs no pruning whatever after you get it 

 overhead on a trellis. While I am writing I 

 have a mind to say something about the wild 

 goose plum you spoke of in the March No. 

 Think I can solve the difficulty. This noted 

 plum originated in Tennessee, and is as " thick 

 as blackberries" all over our country. The 

 practice has been, and still quite common, to, 

 pjant stone fruits without grafting or budding. 

 No wonder there is such a difference. Thus it is 

 (now and then) we get a " very good thing," or 

 something that will "pay." The goose plum, 

 " true," will compare favorably with any of the 

 other so-called " finer " varieties — Goes Golden 

 Drop, Jefferson, Washington, &c. — in point of 

 flavor. The average size one and a half to two 

 inches in diameter ; round shape, very product- 

 ive, and almost, not quite, free from the cur- 

 culio— the only trouble we have with other 

 varieties. Tlie comparison with a "green per- 

 simmon " is good before ripe. No green plum is 

 fit to eat. It has another good quality — for 

 shipping. To gather when colored and firm will 

 keep several days or a week. In the St. Louis, 

 Cliicago, Cincinnati, and other markets, we 

 usually get, if handled right, from 5 to 8 dollars 

 per crate of 24 quarts. 



