178 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



DECEMBER IS, 1S33. 



Froin the Genesee Farmer. 

 VEGETABLE PHYSIOLOGY. 



To check the growth of Fruit Trees and promote 

 their fruilfulncss. 



I.v page 12 of this volume, is an inquiry by the 

 editor, of " What will check the too free growth of 

 fruit trees, so as to produce fruit buds, flowers 

 and fruit? and if separating a part of the roots 

 from the stock would produce the effect ?" 



These are important inquiries, and 1 will try to 

 answer them, my own experience having fully 

 illustrated the example stated, and its remedy. 



In order to a full understanding of the suhject, 

 v, ■■ must inquire : 



1. Into the cause producing the effect, viz. : the 

 too rapid growth of the wood, and its consequent 

 uufniiifuluess ; and 



2. The legitimate and physiological treatment 

 necessary to obtain the desired result. 



Trees, and in fact all vegetahles, have, like ani- 

 mals, three distinct periods of existence, viz. : 

 youth, maturity and decay. Youth may he term- 

 ed that period in which the tree is growing to a 

 bearing state, the time consumed for' which de- 

 pends much on its treatment and kind. Maturity 

 is the term in which it yields its fruit; and decay, 

 finally, but almost imperceptibly, follows sooner or 

 later, and at last puts an end to its existence. 



These three states, or periods, may be measura- 

 bly retarded, or accelerated, by artificial causes. 

 The young sapling, healthy and fresh from the 

 nursery, planted itito a kindly soil, and cultivated 

 with attention, throws out and expands its vigor- 

 ous shoots for many years. It finally, although it 

 may seem a protracted time, arrives at its hearing 

 age, and yields its annual supply of fruit, bountiful 

 in proportion to its stature, and through a succes- 

 sion of years proportioned to its former term of 

 yotithfulness ; and even age, as come it finally 

 must, seems hardly willing to arrest its bounty, 

 and lingers with tardy pace ere its withering hand 

 is laid upon it. This I conceive to be the most 

 natural and profitable course of all fruit bearing 

 trees. I know that many people are in great haste 

 to have their fruit trees yield their long expected 

 reward, and in constant expectation of receiving it, 

 have cultivated and treated them with much care. 

 They are, to he sure, highly gratified in their exu- 

 berant growth, and if in a few years they do not 

 yield a corresponding supply of fruit, are often apt 

 to complain. 



Now, on the true principles of vegetable physi- 

 ology, the complainants are erring, and the tree 

 right. They, for the purpose of getting fruit soon, 

 stuff the tree with vegetable nutriment almost to 

 repletion. The tree, in its turn, understanding 

 well its own proper functions, thrives apace, in- 

 teudiug at a proper time, to pay principal and in- 

 terest for the kindness thus heaped upon it, and 

 which it assuredly will do if suffered. But the 

 owner is impatient for his fruit, and prunes and 

 nurses the tree, wondering why it does not yield 

 him fruit, and perhaps even threatens to destroy it 

 for its perverseuess. The simple fact is, the tree 

 is not ready. It has not arrived at maturity, and 

 is prevented from yielding fruit from the very 

 nourishment and fulness continually received from 

 the baud of its cultivator. 



This I assume to bo the natural state of the 

 tree. But the object, as I infer from the questions 

 at the head of this article, is, to obtain the fruit 

 before the tree arrives at maturity, or, more tech- 

 nically, to force it. 



The question now recurs, will you remedy it by 

 culling off a part of the roots ? 



By no means. The tree has no more roots than 

 are necessary for its support, and would be much 

 injured by parting with a share of them. Besides, 



I am unable, to account, on physiological princi- 

 ples, bow the cutting off a part of its roots will 

 throw fruit buds into the top of the tree. The 

 production of flowers and fruit require as liberal 

 suppti.es of sap as that of wood, and if the source 

 of supply he cut off, viz. the root, from whence is 

 the supply to come ? 



But I proceed to consider the second inquiry, 

 to wit: " to check the exuberant growth of wood, 

 and cause it to produce fruit buds, flowers and 

 fruit." 



I shall assume that the trees are of well known 

 kinds, and whose bearing qualities have been tested, 

 and that they are situated in an open and well cul- 

 tivated ground, as I believe the whole complaint 

 can be made under no other circumstances. The 

 trees have also been well pruned, and are accom- 

 modated with a good shaped head for hearing, and 

 of fair size. My answer is : Lay your ground, on 

 which your trees stand, well down to grass, and let 

 it remain so for several years. The next year after 

 seeding the ground, the growth of young wood 

 will he much diminished, and fruit buds will form 

 in moderate quantities ; flowers and fruit will fol- 

 low the next season. That year, if the tree be an 

 annual bearer, an increased number of fruit buds 

 will be found, and so continue in annual succes- 

 sion. If, after a few years, the tree is too station- 

 ary in its growth, for it certainly will not throw 

 out young wood very rapidly, plough, and culti- 

 vate, and manure the land, and you can supply 

 the trees with any amount of young wood re- 

 quired, although the bearing will still continue in 

 an abated degree. If you find your trees get too 

 thrifty, you have only to seed down again, and 

 manage as circumstances may require. 



That this method has been tried with success I 

 know, for I did it myself some years ago, and am 

 indebted partly to accident for the discovery. 

 About the year 1817, my father had an orchard 

 which, when planted, nearly surrounded bis gar- 

 den, and which was used mostly for mowing 

 ground. The trees were young, perhaps fifteen 

 years old, and had grown tolerably well. A few 

 years before the time 1 speak of, the garden had 

 been enlarged on two sides, which took, on each 

 side a row of apple trees within the fence. The 

 land being well cultivated, the trees grew aston- 

 ishingly ; and not being pruned, acquired immense 

 heads, and bore little or no fruit, while those in 

 the meadow, although of much less size, bore 

 abundantly. I was then a boy of eighteen years 

 old, and the trees were delivered over to my care, 



II to prune into good order." I had read "For- 

 syth on Fruit Trees," and supposed I knew all 

 about it ; so at it I went, with the axe and saw, 

 and took out full one third of their tops, suppos- 

 ing that they would now go to bearing at once. 

 But not so. They grew as before, and bore a 

 little belter than they had done. I confess I knew 

 not what to do, although, if I had let them alone, 

 they would have borne, when " their time come," 

 all the better for it ; yet I was impatient for their 

 fruit. At length the plan suggested itself to seed 

 down the ground where they stood to grass. It 

 was done, and in a short time their growth was 

 nearly stopped, and they bore abundantly of the 

 finest apples. 



They are now, for I saw them two years since, 

 much the finest of all the trees in the orchard, 

 from the benefit of having a rapid growth in their 

 youth ; and the others, from growing less rapidly 

 when young, and bearing so milch sooner, have a 

 much older appearance, and were the ground on 

 which they stand not occasionally ploughed and 

 cultivated, would soon bear evident marks of de- 

 cay. 



This matter now must be accounted for on ra- 

 tional principles, and it may truly be hard to com- 

 pel a person to say what makes the tree bear 

 wood one year and fruit the next, when the whole 

 process is hidden in the earth, and a profound se- 

 cret of nature. I will, however, state my own 

 opinion, and others may judge of its correctness. 



While trees are young, their roots expand and 

 run near the surface of the earth. If the ground 

 be cultivated, the earth is warm and light, and the 

 roots absorb much nourishment, and a rapid 

 growth of young wood is the sole consequence. 

 In process of time, as the tree increases in size, the 

 roots find their way deep into the earth, where 

 the temperature is lower, and its growth is by de- 

 grees checked ; fruit buds are not consequently 

 formed, and the tree comes into the bearing state. 

 Now putting land into grass has the same effect. 

 The sun is hidden from the earth. The tempera- 

 ture is lower — the richer nutritious gases of the 

 soil are absorbed by the grass, and the same re- 

 sult is produced as if maturcr age had forced the 

 roots more deeply in the ground. 



Ulmvs. 



From GoodseWs Farmer. 

 MANAGEMENT OK COLTS. 



Sir, — Having noticed among the selections in 

 your usejul paper, an article from the New Eng- 

 land Farmer, signed James Walker, describing his, 

 and an excellent manner of breaking Steers and 

 Colts, induces me to lay before you a different 

 course of management with colts, which 1 have 

 adopted for several years with perfect success. 



I have experienced some difficulty with old hor- 

 ses being refractory, and baulky, in the harness, 

 having formed a habit of becoming sulky, on the 

 least emergency, and refusing to go at all, and have 

 frequently witnessed the delays and troubles atten- 

 dant on such habits, and the excessive beatings 

 which the poor brutes are often subject to for want 

 of being properly managed at the beginning. 



I therefore, to avoid all such troubles, commence 

 with the colt about one week old. I halter him, 

 and tie the halter around his dam's neck, and lead 

 her for some minutes. After some feeble resist- 

 ance the colt submits, being easily iuduced to lead 

 by the side of the mother. I pursue this for some 

 weeks, once a week, allowing a hoy to ride the mare. 

 In the mean time, I hitch the colt to a firm post, 

 which it will pull at, but to no effect ; then handle 

 him from head to foot, frequently coming up to him 

 until he is satisfied that there is no unfriendly inten- 

 tion. When the colt is about three months old, and 

 has acquired a good appetite, choosing a warm day, 

 I hitch the mare and colt, at a little distance from 

 each other, and after about two hours' abstinence, I 

 draw the milk from the dam, and present it to the 

 colt, which he soon learns to drink. By repeating 

 this a few times, he drinks readily, when the milk 

 from cows, may be substituted for that of his dam. 

 When weaned this practice will be found benefi- 

 cial as the loss of flesh may be prevented, and the 



