FARMEHS' REGISTER— CULTIVATION OF FRUIT TREES. 



369 



the peach stones, upon which I grafted ninety of 

 the hundred, when my peach stocl<s p;iving out, 

 I was reduced to the necessity of resorting to the 

 wild phim slock, dug up trom the roots ot" old 

 trees. The result of the experiment was that out 

 of the ninety graced upon the peach stocli, (it 

 turning out a dry season) 1 did not save a single 

 tree, while from the ten grafted on the plum 

 stocks, I obtained five thrifly trees. The result 

 of this experiment I considered conclusive as to 

 the comp-arative merit of the plum and peach 

 stock as a basis for the peach tree. It is not my 



Eurpose to enter into the phi!oso[)hy of the thing, 

 ut will simply remark, that I have found the root 

 of the [)lum less subject to the depredation of 

 the worm (of which I shall again have occasion to 

 speak) than that of the peach, which may account 

 for the diflerence in the result of the two modes oi" 

 grafting. All my experiments, however, in graft- 

 ing the peach have been unsuccessful, while those 

 in budding have proven less troublesome, more suc- 

 cessful, and certain as to the kind. I therefore 

 give the budding a decided preference, as well as 

 on account of the facility it affords of propagating 

 any lavorite variety at any time in summer. The 

 best time of budding is from the first to the last of 

 June. In the choice of stocks, I have made nu- 

 merous experiments. The peach budded on the 

 wild plum stock, has grown too rapidly for the 

 stock, sometimes attaining double the size, and 

 such a weight as brought the head of the tree to 

 the ground. 



The pear I have found to succeed much better, 

 grow more thriftily, and bear earlier from the bud 

 uian the graft, and is the easiest to raise by bud- 

 ding of all the trees I have raised. In grafting 

 tJie pear, I have generally failed, but have made 

 no satisfactory discovery of the cause of my fail- 

 ure. 



The plum I have raised successfully both by 

 budding and grafting, but prefer grafting, as the 

 most certain, and as affording the finest tree. I 

 have found it difficult to provide suitable stocks for 

 the foreign varieties of plums. The common 

 wild plum of the country not being sufficiently vi- 

 gorous to keep pace with these varieties, the tree 

 soon becomes too heavy for the size and strength 

 of the stock. The plum raised from the stone 

 rarely produces the same kind of fruit, and is apt 

 to be mdiff'erent. 



The apricot may be raised by budding or graft- 

 ing. My experiments on this tree, have been 

 confined to budding, and have not been generally 

 attended with success, indeed I have found it 

 very difficult to raise, owing, as I suppose, to the 

 thinness of the bark, and to the fact that the bark 

 is composed of two roots, which are very apt to 

 separate in the operation; and also to the ]irojec- 

 tion of the wood under the bud, which makes it 

 difficult to fit the bud to the wood of the stock 

 without bruising. 



I might invite your attention to other varieties 

 of fruit, but I do not wish to occupy too much 

 time on the subject. Tiiere are many garden 

 fruits well worthy the attention of the Society, but 

 as those varieties I liave mentioned are the most 

 important, I shall confine myself to them, and 

 proceed to point out some of the diseases to which 

 they are subject, with the remedies I have ap- 

 plied. 



The apple, so far as it has come under my ob- 



servation, has but few enemies to contend with. 

 It seems to flourish in all our soils that have suffi- 

 cient tiirtility to giow a tree of any kind, and I be- 

 lieve requires nothing but good culture and care- 

 ful pruning. Injudicious pruning, however, often 

 injures the tree. But few of the insect tribe feed 

 upon the apple tree, and of that few the common 

 caterpillar is the only one that ever seriously in- 

 jures the tree. It may be found enveloped in great 

 numbers in a web as soon as the leaves begin to 

 grow in the spring. The most effectual mode of 

 destroying them is to go while they are yet young, 

 with a forked stick, and twist the web out, when 

 they are all in it, which will be at all times of the 

 day when the influence of the sun is sensibly felt. 

 Another enemy to the apjile tree, esj)ecially while 

 in its infiincy, is the common hare. They are very 

 fond of the bark of young trees, and frequently 

 destroy them. I have successfully prevented this 

 depredation by occasionally kdling one, splitting 

 his body, and rubbing it up and down the tree, so 

 as to Jeave it bloody, or strongly scented by the 

 flesh. Another remedy etiually efficacious is to 

 provide a plenty of corn stalks about two and a 

 half feet long, split them on one side, scrape out 

 the pith, and let the tree into it by opening the 

 split, which will effectually secure the tree. 



The peach tree is not so fortunate as the apple. 

 It has enemies at the branch, and another at the 

 root. There is a small black insect that preys on 

 the tree, both above and below ground, com- 

 mencing its operation of sucking the sap as soon 

 as it begins to flow, and they increase in number, 

 until the tree is literally sucked to death. I'hey 

 are particularly fatal to the tree in its infancy — but 

 they pursue their depredations to the well grown 

 tree, of^en destroying it after it begins to bear, co- 

 vering it from the roots to the very top-most branch. 

 Hitherto I have heard of no certain remedy for 

 this evil. I am careful to scrape away any that 

 may be found about my young trees when taken 

 from the nursery to plant out. There is at the 

 root of the tree another equally destructive ene- 

 my, more secret in his ravages, yet more in the 

 reach of our means to destroy. This is a worm 

 about an inch long when full grown. The egg is 

 deposited at the surface of the earth, by what is 

 by some called the wasp, fi-om its resemblance to 

 that insect. In the fall it hatches, and at once 

 commences its depredations by perforating through 

 the outercoat to the soft part of the bark next the 

 wood, and in some cases, perforating the wood it- 

 self As they grow larger they descend lower into 

 the root of the tree. In the spring they attain 

 their full size, and about the fiist of April may be 

 found just at the surface of the earth, adhering to 

 the tree, enveloped in a thin earthy covering, re- 

 sembling the nest of the dirt dauber, (as it is com- 

 monly called) only of a darker complexion. I 

 have never traced it farther than this. My plan 

 for destroying this insect, is to conmience early in 

 March examining my trees, and whenever I dis- 

 cover a dark appearance about the root of the 

 tree, occasioned by the gum exuding from the 

 root, always indicating the presence of the worm, 

 I dig away the earth, and with a common pocket 

 knife commence tracing from these gummy ap- 

 pearances, the rout of the destroyer, and never 

 cease m}^ search until I get him into my power. 

 Sometimes a dozen wll be found in the roots of 

 one tree, and if they are allowed to remain the 



