258 



NEW ENGLAND 



m 



FARMER, 



March 6 1829. 



subjects above mentioned, it will very much obhge 

 a young and inexperienced person. 



Yours with respect, 



A SUBSCRIBER. 

 Taunton, Feb. 21, 1829. 



Remarks hy the Editor. — We shall briefly ans- 

 wer some of our correspondent's queries, and will 

 be obliged to any experienced cultivator, who will 

 furnish hiui with more full and explicit informa- 

 tion relative to the topics of his inquiries. And 

 first with regard to gnifling or inoculating pear 

 trees. Although the general rules for proi)agating 

 tlie apple tree may be applied to the pear tree, 

 we will give Dr Thacher's directions on the sub- 

 ject. " The propagation of particular species of 

 the pear tree is efl^ected by grafting or budding, 

 and by this method any desired variety may be 

 obtained and perpetuated. Considerable attention 

 is necessary in the choice of scions for grafting. 

 Suckers from other trees should never be emjiloy- 

 ed, as they will have a constant tendency to gen- 

 erate suckers ta the injury of the tree. It should 

 be observed to graft or bud summer pears upon 

 summer pear stocks ; autumn pears upon stocks 

 of the same kind ; but never graft a winter pear 

 upon a summer jjear stock, for the sap of the sum- 

 mer pear will decline or diminish before the win- 

 ter fruit has sufficient time to mature and rij)en. 

 The season for grafting or budding, and the man- 

 ner of performing the operation are the same as 

 for the apple. The i)ear tree will succeed very 

 well when grafted on a quince ; in which case it 

 is preferable to graft under ground in the root, as 

 the tree will be more strong and vigorous ; where- 

 as if grafted above the surface the produce will 

 be a dwarf tree." 



If it is intended to engraft the whole or the 

 greater part of the limbs of trees of a considerable 

 size, care should be taken not to cut off all the 

 branches at once, but leave some of the lateral 

 branches to draw up the sap till another seasoij, 

 as occasion may require ; otherwise the trees will 

 die for want of a proper ])roportion being i>re- 

 served between the roots and branches. 



With regard to grafting quince tree scions on 

 apple tree stocks, we doubt whether a permanent 

 and flourishing union could be efl^ected. Quinces, 

 say the writers, may be increased by grafting, ci- 

 ther on their own stocks, on pear stocks, or haw- 

 thorn stocks. But we doubt whether there is a 

 sufficient degree of affinity between the quince 

 and apple tree to unite them beneficially by graft- 

 ing. Modern botanists consider the quince tree, 

 and the apple tree as belonging to distinct genera. 

 The apple is a pyras, the quince a cydonia. They 

 are, however, of the same family, and probably, 

 may be made by grafting or inoculation, to form a 

 temporary, but not a permanent or flourishing 

 union. 



Planting fruit trees in the site of an old or- 

 chard, is a practice, which is attended with disad- 

 vantages. Indeed it has licconio )iroverbial that 

 "whfre an old orchard has stood, a young one 

 will not thrive." But, by careful cultivation, and 

 renewing or chnuging the constituents of the soil, 

 about tlie trees, by compost, loam from a neigh- 

 boring field, or other source, and suitable manure 

 a flourishing now orchard may be made on the 

 place where an old one has stood. 



With regard " to the best manner to cultivate 

 an orchard, and the best manure to put round the 

 trees" to give full information would require a 



long treatise. Our (lorrespondont may find some 

 condensed information on thi^ subject in the 6th 

 volume of the JVew England Fanner, page 394. — 

 Likewise in Thacher's Orchardist, Forsyth's Trea- 

 tise, Fessenden's TVew Americnn Gardener, SfC. 



FOR THE NEW ENGl-AND FARMER. 



CITY AND COUNTRY. 



Mr Editor — No better proof of the reliance 

 that we of the city, are obliged to place upon the 

 country, can be adduced, than the fact that during 

 the non-intercourse occasioned by the late storm, 

 MILK (that inestimable luxury in life, which is said 

 to be the only article affording both meat and 

 drink to man) became so scarce, that twenty-five 

 cents a quart could have easily been obtained for 

 it. The market, no doubt, experienced a scarcity 

 in other articles for which we are accustomed to 

 look to the husbandman's garner. 



This shows how entirely dependant the wealthy 

 capitalist is upon the farmer, and how entirely in- 

 dependent the fiirnier is of the capitalist. Let 

 neither then despise this honorable enjploj'inent. 

 The farmer for this exalted characteristic of his 

 occupation, and the capitalist for his incessant ob- 

 ligation to look to it literally for his verv existence. 



BOSTON. 



FOR THE NEW ENGLA.ND FARMER. 



ISABELLA GRAPE. 



The cultivation of this grape has increased to 

 an unexample<l extent in this vicinity, and in the 

 neighboring States ; and the demand for the vines, 

 is still as great as ever. With those who have not 

 enjoyed the advantage of a successful culture of 

 foreign varieties, and consequently are not .so fas- 

 tidious as to suppose that our own country cannot 

 produce good fruits, the Isabella has become a 

 great favorite, and when suflered to remain on the 

 vine until properly ripened, has been found to bo 

 a valuable, and I may a<ld, from my partiality to 

 it, a very superior fruit. 



It is well known to those who are acquainted 

 with it to be a plentiful bearer ; to make much 

 wood, and to endure frosts with as much hardi- 

 hood as the ordinary, vines indigenous to our forests. 

 The necessity, as well as labor of covering the 

 vine in autunjn, is dispensed with ; and all that is 

 requisite, or all that I have found so, is to cut 

 them in, and secure them to the trellises, that they 

 may not be broken or injured by the wind. 



This grape should never be gathered until the 

 first week of October, when it is in jierfection. I 

 have in my garden a number of the vines, some 

 six years and others five years old, they all bore 

 freely the last season, and the fruit sold readily in 

 the market at twenty-five cents the pound. The 

 vines are not subject to mildew, or the fruit to 

 blight or to injury from the insects that attack 

 foreign grapes. Like all other good things, how- 

 ever, they require care and attention, and except- 

 ing fumigation and the application of sidphur, the 

 same coiu'se should be pursued in their cultivation 

 that is requisite for the more delicate exotic 

 fruits. 



It has been my good fortune to enjoy the bene- 

 fit of the instruction of " .i Drookline Cultivator''' 

 whose scientific knowledge, and practical experi- 

 ence in such matters is proverbial, and whose in- 

 telhgcnt and familiar mode of imparting informa- 

 tion, is equalled only by the kindness with which 

 the inquiries of the uninitiated are answered 



Under his directions I have the ])ast season suc- 

 ceeded' in raising several varieties of foreign 

 grapes, and most of them from vines, the product 

 of his fine garden. 



Having been thus successful I have directed my 

 •ticntion to the cultivation of the vine, both for- 

 eign and domestic, for sale, and have now many 

 varieties, suitable for transplanting the ensuing 

 season, and which will at the proper time, be of- 

 fered through the medium of the Farmer. 



ZEBEDEE COOK, Jr. 



Dorchester, February, 1829. 



We publish the following with much pleasure. 

 From the high reputation of the Author of the 

 proposed work, and from our personal knowledge 

 of the Translator, we anticipate a volume, which 

 will |irove of great practical utility to all who are 



05=- NOTICE TO HORTICULTURISTS, FAR- 

 MERS, AND OTHERS, WHO HAVE FARMS, 



The many calls which have been made on the 

 Editor of the Nev/ England Farmer the last two 

 or three years for information of difierent sorts 

 relative to fruits and fruit trees, and the best mode 

 of treating them, has induced the writer to offer 

 to the public a work which will contain from three 

 to fom- hundred jiages octavo, and treating of the 

 following subjects, to wit: 



1. The .'Vursei-y. — Quality and preparation of 

 the ground. 



2. liaising of Almond, Peach, JVectarine, and 

 Apricot stocks from the stone or seed. 



3. Rooted Suckers. — Their use and mode of 

 treatment. 



4. Layers. — ditto. ditto. 



5. Slips or Cuttings. — Ditto. ditto. 



6. Grafting and Budding. — General treatise, 

 showing the kind of stocks to be used, the manner 

 of treating them before and after the operation, 

 the various denominations, kinds best suited to 

 difi^erent sorts of fruit, choice and properties of 

 various scions, and the manner of inserting them. 



7. Tran.iplanting Fruit Trees. — The age and 

 ffize of the plants, preparation of the ground, dis- 

 tance apart ; season and manner of transplanting, 

 and the manner of dressing and pruning them at 

 the time of transplanting. 



8. Trees raised in places where they arc to remain. 

 — Manner of treating them, preparation of the 

 ground, advantages and disadvantages of this mode, 

 &c, &c. 



9. Erpiisition of E-spnliers — Relative to different 

 kinds of fruit, &c. 



10. Season of priming, and its objects, — Viz. the 

 beauty of the tree, and its fecundity. 



11 Pruning of standards. 



12. Dressing and pruning Espaliers. 



13. Proportions in relation to the branches and 

 roots ; the course and progress of the sap ; its 

 action on the branches, buds, and leaven of trees. 



14. Definitions of branches, and the manner of 

 treating each description. 



15. Treatment of dwarf or low bushy trees. 



16. First training of fruit trees in espalier. 



17. Shelter for wall fruit. 



18. Ebourgconnement, or rubbing off superfluoua 

 buds from wall or espalier trees. 



19. Scrond training of trees in espalier. 



20. Diseases to which fruit trees are subject. 



21. Fruits — Time and manner of uncovering, 

 gathering, and preserving fruits. 



