Vol. 6. 



GENESEE FARMER. 



46\ 



HORTICULTURJIL DEPABTMEMT. 



BV P. barry;. 



GARDEN AND ORCHARD— OPERATIONS 

 FOR MARCH. 



Hot-Beds.— -So little is done in this respect by 

 our reader?, that it would be nearly a waste of paper 

 to say much in relation to it. Those who do intend 

 to avail themselves of hot-bed culture for early vege- 

 tables, have undoubtedly commenced, as the wea- 

 'ther, during the latter part of the past month, has 

 been highly favorable. 



Tomatoes, Egg-Plants, Peppers, Stc, should 

 now b(3 sown in pots, if not dene before, to be ready 

 for planting- in the open ground. Tomato plants 

 may be raised in pots, or boxes, in an ordinary sit- 

 ting-room : we saw as good plants rais^ed in this way 

 last spring as any produced in hot-bsds. 



Lettuce, Radishes, Cress, fcc, can be sown in cu- 

 cumber frames, to save labor, as they will be used 

 before they will come in the way of the vines. 



Brocoli, Caulijiower, and Cabbage seeds may now 

 be sown, to be ready for planting out in their season. 

 Scions for g'-afting should be cut this month, if 

 not alteady done — no time is now to be lost. Be 

 careful about cutting the best kinds only, and keep- 

 ing correct memorandums of their names. Put 

 them away carefully in a cool cellar, with the lower 

 ends in earth or sand, till ready for use. 



Pru7iiag orchards should now be attended to, as 

 soon as the weather is mild enough to be out. 

 Where the heads of fruit trees have become dense 

 with branche.-, so that ihg sun cannot penetrate 

 Jreely, they shouid be thinned. The fruit will be 

 jnuch larger and finer tfevored^ Use a saw, and 

 smooth over the incisions carefully with a sharj) 

 knife. 



Grape Vines, not pruned last fall, should now be 

 pruned immediately, before the sap begins to ilow. 

 "Without a proper pruning, a crop of grapes need not 

 be expected. 



Ttansplanting of currants, gooseberries, and such 

 plants as put forth their leaves early, should be at- 

 tended to this month, towards the latter part, if the 

 ground should thaw, and the weather be mild. 

 Straivherry Beds, Bulbous Roots, &.C., that have 

 been protecteL.', should be uncovered as soon as the 

 weather is sufficiently warm. 



If you intend to graft, you should prepare your 

 grafting-wax, and put your ifnplem.jnts in proper 

 working order now, while you have leisure. By and 

 by you will regret it, if you don't. See, also, that 

 your fences are all up and in good order round your 

 garden : if you don't, the cattle will be breaking in 

 and destroy your beds of early vegetables, after all 

 your trouble. Gates, too, are frequently out of or- 

 der, causing great inconvenience, and often loss. 

 Nothing, it strikes us, can be a stronger indication 

 of slovenliness and bad husbandry than bad fences 

 and gates, any where on the premises, but particu- 

 larly around the garden or the dwelling, where neat- 

 ness and good order ought to be manifested, if any 

 where. 



Provide your Garden Seeds, the first opportunity, 

 from a responsible source. It is a ruinous economy 



to take any thing that comes easiiot and cheapest. 

 A few shillings are a 7nere nothing, in such cases. 

 Don't sow a seed, unless you are as confident as it is 

 possible to be that it is the very best. You should 

 have all in readines;'^, in order that you may improve 

 the first favorable moment to get in your first sow- 

 ing of seeds, so that the summer will not be three- 

 fou'ths spent before you have your family supplied 

 abundantly with good healthy vegetables. These 

 we consider an imp'oitant item in domestic economy. 

 Next month we bhall say more on this subject, 



" FffiE^BLfGHT "—A REMEDY. 



We have received a communication from Mr. 

 John Christie, Wclland Hill, St. Catharine's, C. W., 

 in relation to the " Fire Blight," as it is terniCil, in 

 the pear tree. He says, it may be easily discovered 

 during the month of May or early part of June, by 

 the top leaves and some of the outer branches turn- 

 ing a copper color, and drooping. 



Trees exhibiting such symptoms of the disease, if 

 examined, will be found to have portions cf the bark 

 shrunk and dead. These should be at once tho- 

 roughly stripped off, even should it be necessary to 

 encircle the tree — guarding carefully against injur- 

 ing the cuticle, or soft substance between the 

 bark and the tree. After thi^ operation has been 

 carefully performed, in a week or so new bark begins 

 to form, and the sap resuming its natural course, the 

 tree puts on a beautiful and healthy appearance. 

 Should any of the branches be black or dead, they 

 should immediately be removed below the diseased 

 part, and the cure will be effected." 



Note. — Without expressing our belief whether 

 the above cure, siigge.-ted by Mr. Christie, would be 

 effectual, we would advise those who have valuable 

 pear trees to examine t'rem frequently and carefully, 

 and on the first in lication of the disease, hasten to 

 remove the affected part. 



This, owing to the imperfect knowledge of the 

 cause of the disease, is the only cure that can with 

 confidence be recommended, without entering into 

 vague speculation. 



We recollect having seen an article in the " Al- 

 bany Cultivator" of Oct. 1844, which assumed that 

 the "common cause of blight in pear trees is a worm, 

 the egg of which is deposited in the branches by a 

 small insect." He add?, that " if iron cinders or 

 iron ore, or any other articles of iron, are placed 

 around the roots of the tree, the insect will bid it 

 adieu." Thus, theories and remedies multiply. 



Rivers' Method of adnpliiiirtliePear to Garden Culture, 

 and indncing Early Frnitfnlnes?. 



During the last fifteen or tv/en^y years, the cul- 

 ture of the pear has received more attention from 

 pomologists in the principal horticultural districts of 

 both Europe and America, than any other fruit, and 

 perhaps more, indeed, than all the others united. 

 The long years of patient, zealous investigation de- 

 voted to this subicet by the late Dr. Van Mens, 

 of Belgium : Knight, of England, and others, as 

 well as'^the late R. Manning, and others, in our own 

 country — have improved and multiplied the number 

 of varieties to an astonishing degree — that is, if any 

 thing could be astonishing in this age of startling 

 progression. We have ourselves seen 60 varieties 

 exhtbited on one table : but this is trifling, consider- 

 ing the fact that some American nurseries enume- 

 rate 300 sorts in their catalogue : and, including 

 Europe and America, there are not less, and proba- 

 bh- more, than 1,000 varieties now r-.H^vf- - 



