CURRENT PUBLICATIONS IN RURAL ART. 523 
long strips of dead bark hanging from the trunks and limbs of large 
hickory trees are of more service than injury, and it is doubted if even 
moss or lichens are hurtful to trees, as they live exclusively upon food 
drawn from the atmosphere, and in bleak and exposed situations they 
may supplement the bark in affording protection. When covered with 
moss to excess, it may be presumed the trees are in an unsatisfactory con- 
dition, either from impoverishment of the soil, want of drainage, or expo- 
sure to the rigors of a severe and variable climate. Slitting the bark 
up and down with a knife, with the idea that the tree is bark-bound, is 
absurd. Digging about the roots and washing the trank of the trees 
with ley, soap-suds, or chamber slops is all that is wanted. Thinning 
out the fruit, particularly on young trees, is urged; the growth of the 
tree is thus promoted, and the erop will be more abundant as well as 
more valuable. Itis recommended that orchards be well manured before 
the trees are set out, and the surface top-dressed every two years. Mod- 
erate applications of lime and generous ones of wood-ashes are always 
profitable, and phosphates are useful if buried beneath the surface; also 
Peruvian guano, if slightly covered, late in the fall, so as to become 
thoroughly divided by winter rains. Coarse organic manure should not 
be used in contact with the roots of young trees, but chip-dust, fish, 
flesh, and the bones of dead animals, horn-piths and hoofs, hair and old 
plaster, and all like articles, are good for growing trees. Pear trees 
that have not borne fruit for twenty years have been brought into fall 
bearing by yarding two shoats beneath the tree in August and Septem- 
ber, in an inclosure a rod square, having their beds close to the body of 
the tree. In this yard holes were made with a crowbar, into which 
kernels of corn were dropped, and the whole yard was rooted over and 
over to the depth of eight to twelve inches, and many of the roots were 
torn up. The next season every branch was filled with plump, luscious 
fruit, and for many years the trees continued to yield bountiful crops. 
Belts of timber-trees to protect orchards on the western prairies from 
the cold winds of winter are urged as indispensable to successful culture 
in such locations. NReliable authorities at the West estimate the lossin 
fruit trees in [llinois, for the last three years, at millions of dollars, 
chiefly from want of protection, on land underlaid with the retentive 
clayey loam sub-soil of most of the prairies. Ridging such land by re- 
peated plowings is recommended; nursery trees placed on the apex 
of such ridges are not thrown out by freezing, and make a better growth 
in summer. Thorough draining, also, would doubtless lessen the effects 
of severe winters on fruit trees in other regions as well as at the West. 
The scathing influence of these dry cold winds is felt not only on fruit 
trees but in many localities where bountiful crops of golden grain 
were formerly harvested, the tender wheat plants, unprotected by sur- 
rounding forests returning a greatly diminished product. 
The volume closes with a chapter on the general principles of pomol- 
ogy, and a glossary of words used in pomological science. The book 
is well printed and illustrated, and contains what is too often neglected, 
an ample index. 
Tur STRAWBERRY AND Its CULTURE: witha descriptive catalogue of all known varie- 
ties. By J. M. Merrick, jr.; 12 mo., pp. 128. Boston Tilton & Co., 1870. 
The steadily increasing interest felt in the cultivation of strawberries 
has induced Mr. Merrick to prepare a manual on the subject, comprising 
practical directions on the proper manures and preparation of the soil; 
methods of cultivation; insect enemies; on forcing strawberries; the 
production of new varieties; the question of taste, &c. The fact that, 
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