THE GENESEE FARMER. 



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ea several Hartlett jjrafts, which grew and made a 

 good top. Bat lie would not follow the plan in apple 

 orchards unless the tree^ were very thrifty. Another 

 method is to bud the sprouts which are thrown up 

 around the larger limbs, which &oon make good tops. 

 The great diiliculty in top grafting old trees, was 

 that it always made more or less unsound and rotten 

 wood where the limbs were cut off. 



Mr. B. Fisir, of Rochester, thought there could be 

 no general rule for grafting old trees — if they were 

 fDung, and had been properly pruned, there would be 

 no difficulty; if they were old and disejised, he would 

 not do it. Tiiere was one other consideration, — after 

 the first three or four years, the young trees were 

 growing better each year, while the old trees were, 

 growing worse continually. 



Mr. Maxwell, said there were a number of old 

 apple trees near Geneva, planted in the olden time, by 

 the Indians. As the story goes, these trees were cut 

 down by Gen. Sullivan, on his expedition to drive 

 the Indians from this section of the country. They 

 show signs of having been cut down, as many of them 

 have two trunks. These trees were grafted fifteen 

 years since, and are now bearing profitable crops of 

 fruit. 



Mr. Barry thought the method adopted by Mr. 

 Ba.rber was a good one, and perfectly consistent with 

 the laws of vegetable physiology. Still he would not 

 advise persons to re-graft old trees that had com- 

 menced to decay, except in special cases, as for in- 

 stance when a person takes possession of a farm des- 

 titute of fruit, if there were a few old apple trees on 

 tlie premises he would re-graft them, as good fruit 

 could be obtained in this way earlier than by plant- 

 Jag out new trees. 



WINTER pears. 



jSTr. Barry being called upon, remarked that the 

 ctrttivation of Winter Pears eminently deserved the 

 Btttention of the farmers of Western New York. — 

 They could be grown as easily as Autumn Pears. — 

 Formerly he was of the opmion that there was great 

 difficulty in ripening them, but latterly he had found 

 that they could be kept and ripened nearly as well 

 as apples. The great point was to get well grown, 

 fully matured fruit. It was impossible to ripen im- 

 perfectly matured specimens. Last autumn they 

 packed their pears in barrels, in the same manner as 

 ihey did their apples, and they kept ami ripened vp 

 heautifully. People were now going into the culti- 

 vation of the Lawrence quite largely; he thought 

 this somewhat a mistake; the Lawrence, although a 

 very fine pear, ripened about Christmas. He thought 

 a succession of winter pears which would ripen 

 throughout the winter, much preferable; among other 

 fine kinds he would recommend the Winter Nelis and 

 the Easter Beurre. They had fine specimens of the 

 Easter Beurre on exhibition, which had received only 

 the treatment of apples. 



Col. Hodge apprehended that the principle diffi- 

 culty in the cultivation of winter pears, was in not 

 selecting good varieties. Many kinds were fine flavor- 

 ed but poor bearers. He now only cultivated a few 

 kinds, which were the Vicar of Winkfield, Easter 

 Beurre, Lawrence, Glout Morceau, and Winter Nelis. 

 He had no doubt that they might be made a very 

 profitable article of cultivation, and that he practiced 

 what he preached. But to succeed we must cultivate 



the ground thoroughly — aa well as we would corn or 

 potatoes. 



Mr. Barrv thought that wc of Western New York 

 had unusual facilities for raising Winter I 'ears, for 

 our numerous railways alforded the best nsarkets with 

 ease. There was no diiliculty in packjng them for 

 market. He would add that tinnier pears are not 

 so good on yomig trees as on old ones; for instance, 

 the Glout Morceau did not bear perfect specimens, 

 even on the quince, till eight or ten years old. 



Mr. H. E. lIooivER agreed with Mr. Barry in the 

 statement that it was absolutely neceasary to have 

 large and good specimens to succeed in ripening them. 

 He thought that we were not, as yet, prepared to 

 recommend a list of varieties to farmers. He was 

 cultivating the Lawrence and Winter Nelis. He 

 thought a very general knowledge of fruits would be 

 absolutely necessary before we of Monroe County 

 could hope to succeed perfectly in the cuUivatiun of 

 Winter Pears and other fruit. 



There was some desultory remarks in legard to the 

 cultivation of pears on the quince stock. Mr. R. R. 

 Scott remarked that the bulk of the fine pears exhi- 

 bited at the different Agricultural and Horticultural 

 Fairs, and which were so generally admired were 

 grown on the quince, and the greater proportion of 

 pears which found their way to market from this 

 section, were grown on dwarf trees. 



Col. Hodge said that several kinds of pears succeed- 

 ed well on quince — for instance the Glout Morceau an 

 Louise Bonne of Jersey. But we have been trying to 

 raise too many kinds, many of which will after a few 

 years dwindle out and die. The proper kinds on the 

 quince for garden culture will do well, but he thought 

 that the pear on its own stock would be the kind to 

 be principally depended upon. 



THE EUROPEAN LINDEN. 



The best botanical authorities divide the genU3 

 Tilia of the natural order Tiliacte into two species, 

 Tilia Europea or the common Lime tree, or Linden, 

 audTilia Jlme7-icana,or the commonAmerican bass- 

 wood tree. We annex a beautiful cut of the form- 

 er species. The American Basswood is of a more 

 robust habit, with larger leaves than the European 

 tree. The latter is much more fragrant than our 

 common Basswood, and makes a very fine pyra- 

 midal tree. There are several beautiful specimens 

 growing in this vicinity, and there is no tree that is 

 more suitable for planting along the streets in cities, 

 the heat reflected from the pavements and buildings 

 increasing the fragrance of the blossoms. It is a 

 rapid growing, vigorous, pliant, well balanced tree, 

 with a great number of lateral branches of an easy 

 and graceful habit. It likes a rich, sheltered soil, 

 and should not be planted on dry, poor soils in ex- 

 posed situations. It is better adapted for avenues, 

 than almost any other tree. 



The Linden was known to the Greeks and Ro- 

 mans. Tiieopiirasttts states that the leaves are 

 sweet, and used as fodder for most kinds of cattle. 

 It was highly esteemed by the Romans as a sliade 

 tree, and for the numerous uses to which its wood 

 might be applied. Evelyn commends the Linden 

 for its " unparalleled beauty" for walks.and because 

 "it will grow in almost all grounds, lasts long, soon 

 heals its wounds when pruned, affects uprightness, 

 stoutly resists a storm, and seldom becomes hollow.'* 

 He alludes to the large trees " at Basil and that at 



