60S 



F A R M E RS' R E Tt [ ST K R . 



[No. 10 



the benefits of their labors, in the agricultural 

 \v0rk3 of the day. The accumulated experience, 

 and the itiiprovements of centuries, have been re- 

 gistered by the press, and liieir benehis are tender- 

 ed to all who will read and profit by them, almost 

 \vithout money and without price. He thai, will 

 read, may lea-iii. 



From the Ohio Farmer. 



The common wikl plum, furnishs^s the best of 

 Blocks, fjr the propagation of the choice varieties. 

 It is hardy and fiee iVoni most diseases. As its 

 growth is slow, it somewhat dwarls the grafis of 

 The finer kinds, ihat are naturally more luxuriant. 

 This tends not only to render them more fruitful, 

 but to prevent the Iruitfrom rotting befjre it comes 

 to full ma'urity. 



The gralis will, in a lew years, oul-ffrow thti 

 stocks, but the wood of the latter is so tough, that 

 I have never known them to break oil} after the 

 wound, from the operation of engrafting, was en- 

 tirely healed. Every r.eighborhood at the west, 

 abounds with the wikl plum. The thriftiest trees, 

 li-om an inch to an inch and a half in diameter, 

 should be selected and transplanted in autumn to 

 the places where it if? intended they shall remain. 

 Care should inj taken to preserve every root if |)o?- 

 sible; the tops should be thinned out, but no larire 

 limbs should be amputated. The hole to receive 

 the roots should be at least three I'eet in diameter, 

 atid eighteen inches deep; this should be filled 

 with the richest earth, but not with manure. They 

 require a rich soil, and it is best to cover the sur- 

 face, for a lew ieet around the tree, with compost, 

 tanners' pates, lime ai>d bark, horn-tips, bones, 

 coal-ashes, or any other articles that will keep the 

 ground loose, moist and rich. 



When the trees have entirely recovered from 

 the shock of transplanting, engraft them, and not 

 betore. It will require at lea.^t two years tor them 

 to get over it. 



In performing the operation of engrafting, saw 

 ort' the main stock or the leading branches, as the 

 size of ihe tree may rei^uire; where th-ey are not 

 over an inch or an inch and a half in diameter, 

 pare oif the surface of the stock with a sharp 

 knife, split it down two inches through the centre 

 with a thin butcher kniie or other convenient in- 

 strument, and then keep open the split by driving 

 ill a polished iron wedge, which every firmer 

 should keep for the purpose. A shoulder should 

 then be cut on each side of the ffraft, two inches 

 from the lower end; and from these shoulders, it 

 should be gradually sloped olf, by a clean cut, so 

 as to Ibrm a wedije that will exactly fit the clelt, 

 in the stock. Next insert the gralt into the stock 

 60 that the inner barks of the two will be parallel 

 to each other. In this manner, a great extent of 

 surface comes in contact between them, not only 

 on the whole length of the vvedge, but between 

 the shoulders of the graft and ihe top of the slock; 

 and the iiraft is at once supplied with a full flow of 

 eap. This is not the case with those set by the 

 transient engrafters that infest our country every 

 spring, who insert their grafts obli(]ueiy to the 

 stocks, and leave them to half starve, tf we may 

 use the expression, lor the want of support. In 

 one instance, the grafts will ^vow Irom three to six 

 feet; in the other, not as many inches. 



The next process is to protect them Irom the air' 

 and weather. This is best done by carefully sur- 

 rounding the top ol' the stocks with grafting ce- 

 ment (resin 73 parts, beeswax 17, and tallow 10,} 

 warmed to the right consistency. Over this, place 

 a thick coai of well worked day, and confine the 

 whole by surrounding it with some pliable cloth 

 and tyiiia it on with |)ack-thread; the cloth should 

 be about eiiiht inches square, and should be per- 

 forated wiih two small holes near its centre, at a 

 suiiable distance apart, Ibr the grafis to pass 

 through, when it is placed over the top of the siock. 

 Two grafis should always be inserted — if both 

 live, one can be shortened fi'om time to time, so as 

 to finally give th^*. nourishment to one. In this 

 method tl>e wound heals better than if only one is 

 inserted. 



If cement alone be used, it will often destroy 

 tho cri-iitis in our hot summers at the west. Glay 

 without cement does not sufficiently exclude the 

 air and wet; combined ihey actio the best adcan- 

 tacre. When tow is employed in place of cloth, 

 birds are apt to strip it off, for furnishintj their 

 nesis. This, hov/ever, can be remedied by coat- 

 intT it over with thin mud. 



Plum trees should, if possible, be set where' 

 swine can have free access to them. The curculio 

 insect that stings the fruit will be in a great meas- 

 ure exterminated on a country liirm, if swine can 

 have an opportunity to eat up the premature drop- 

 pings. When this cannnot be done, the method' 

 of shakini; the tree, with sheets placed under it at 

 the time the itrsects are perfbrminir the operation, 

 will succeed, as I have tested fully for a number 

 of years. 



Old and exhausted varieties are not worth cuhi- 

 vatini;. Much care should be used to select those 

 that are young, healthy and li-uilful. 



From the Horticultural Register. 



ON TRAXSPLAXTING OKXAMENTAI^ TREES, IJV 

 TOWiVS A^D CITIES. 



There are but k\v subjects of a more engaging 

 and useful nature in the environs, and indeed in 

 the interiors of towns and cities, (where a proper 

 space can be admitted,) than the presence of orna- 

 mental trees that at once give a pleasing variety to 

 the scene, and add to the comlurts of the citizen 

 by their cooling shade in the suiTimer season. 

 But, althoutj;h this branch of arboriculture is so 

 much cherished, in almost every part of the 

 union; by freueral observation it will be seen, 

 that, many failures happen in planting; and that, 

 niiuiy trees are altosether misplaced, owing to a 

 mere want of consideration, at the tii:;e of plant- 

 inff and a trifling additional expense. 



The first consideration in this, and inueed in all 

 other descriptions of ornamental planting, is, in the 

 selecting of the proper kinds of trees adapted to 

 the purpose,- that will thrive and have a healthy 

 appearance in the situation (hey are planted in. 

 The best and surest method to this method of 

 planting, is, to select such trees as are of an orna- 

 mental character, and thrive well in the neighbor- 

 hood of the town or city they are to be planted in':' 

 Ihe choice of the kinds should be made from trees 

 fully Grown, from which the true characteristic 

 and /!fl6(7 can be seen. There are many kinds of 

 trees well adapted Ibr this purpose in the dificrent 



