420 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Sept. 



F'or the New England Farmer. 

 THE FEAB ON QUINCE STOCKS. 



Quite a war has been waged within the last 

 two or three years against the culture of the pear 

 on the quince. The battle of words has run 

 high and been fiercely hot, and each argument 

 for and against has no doubt been thought by 

 its exponent as conclusive. Under certain cir- 

 cumstances, each may perhaps have been right, 

 while facts on which to form general conclusions, 

 may not, as a general thing, have been reached. 



Our experience in the matter, probably not as 

 extensive as that of many, has led us to believe 

 that under certain circumstances as positive suc- 

 cess will attend this species of culture as is gen- 

 erally found in apple tree growing, while under 

 other circumstances it may prove a failure. The 

 soil must be favorable for both pears and the 

 quince. If nature has not made it so, we must, 

 for it is of no use to attempt to grow dwarf pears 

 more than any other fruit tree on an unfavorable 

 soil. Ours are on an open limestone loam ; the 

 soil was deeply spadea and pulverized before 

 transplanting them. 



In our first effort with half a dozen trees our 

 success was not very flattering, owing, probably, 

 to a lack of knowledge. The pear was set high 

 in the quince, and we did not set the quince un- 

 der ground in all cases as we should have done. 

 Seeing the rapid growth the pear was making 

 over the quince, we found our mistake, and that 

 we must re-set or have short-lived trees. This re- 

 setting was done early the following spring, and* 

 about forty trees added to the last, in making our 

 order for which, we requested those inoculated 

 near the ground. In this purchase, the union 

 between the pear and quince was from three to 

 four inches lower than in those of the former 

 purchase. These, in a soil made deep, (it was 

 not naturally so,) were easily set with the quince 

 all covered ; the growth so fine that an acces- 

 sion was made to the number the following year, 

 all of which have done and continue to promise 

 well ; much better than young apple trees have 

 all around me, set and managed in the usual care- 

 less way. Many of them made a growth of 

 branches more than four feet long the last sea- 

 son, and nearly all giving an abundance of blos- 

 soms this spring, from which fruit enough, and 

 in some instances too much, set. 



In our after culture, we keep the entire plot 

 fi'ee from grass and weeds. Frequent hoeing, 

 especially in dry times, is very beneficial to them, 

 by keeping the earth open and saving thereby 

 the necessity of watering. In autumn we place 

 a bushel of manure around each tree. For this 

 purpose swamp-muck composted with lime-ashes 

 or well-rotted yard manure is best, from the fact 

 that it is most durable. Early in spring this is 

 spread at some distance from the body of the 

 tree, as we suppose the fibrous roots have trav- 

 elled in search of food, and the ground is forked, 

 using the utmost care not to disturb root or root- 

 let. Such has been our course of culture, and 

 thus far it has been attended with desirable suc- 

 cess. We have had no trouble with disease or in- 

 sects, and the trees bid as fair to reach the age 

 of Methuselah as any other standards we have. 

 Care in the culture of any fruit tree is necessary, 

 and dwarf pears require it in common with oth- 



ers, perhaps more ; but if given at the proper 

 times, it requires less than often imagined, and 

 if comfort or luxury pay for the labor at whose 

 price they are purchased, in any, they will cer- 

 tainly pay in dwarf pear culture. w. B. 

 BiQhmond, Mass., 1858. 



EXTRACTS AND BEPLIES. 

 CROPS TO FOLLOW TURNIPS. 



Will you inform me what crops will succeed 

 well after a crop of turnips or ruta bagas, and 

 what will not ? A Subscriber. 



Beep River, 1858. 



Remarks. — Our own experience in farming 

 has not yet suggested to us what answer to make 

 to these inquiries of our correspondent. We have 

 long observed that turnips, generally, do not flour- 

 ish well on old ground, — and the saying is quite 

 common, that ruta haga^ are great exhausters, 

 and must not be applied to land twice in succes- 

 sion. The opinion is general, also, that crops 

 with large leaves, such as turnips and cabbages, 

 do not exhaust the soil so rapidly as the corn or 

 grain crops. This is a matter which requires great 

 accuracy of experiment in order to obtain relia- 

 able results. In order to show what diflferent 

 opinions prevail on these points, we give two or 

 three extracts from the Farmer's Guide, a work 

 of great research and merit. 



A crop of 20 tons of turnips, and 1850 lb.= 

 16 cwt. 58 lb. of tops, will carry off" these quanti- 

 ties from an acre of soil : 



By the hulbi. 

 ft). 



Potash 142.66 



Soda 17-31 



Magnesia 18.16 



Phosphoric acid 25.77 



Sulphuric acid 46 24 



Chlorine 12.24 



By the top$. 

 lb. 



88.82 

 16-76 

 9.SS 

 28.80 

 38.81 

 49.76 



Total. 

 it). 



231.48 

 34.07 

 27.74 

 54.57 

 85.05 

 61.09 



262.38 232.52 

 Gross weight to be returned to an acre 494.90 



Cabbages. — A crop of cabbage 20 tons, 8 cwt. 



4 lb., carries off' from an acre of the soil these 



quantities : 



Potash 105 



Soda 184 



Magnesia 54 



Phosphoric acid 112 



Sulphuric acid 192 



Chlorine 52 



Gross weight to be returned to an acre 699 



It will be observed from these results, the 

 much larger quantity which the green crops, po- 

 tatoes, turnips, and cabbages, remove of the min- 

 eral ingredients from the soil, compared with that 

 which the grain crops, wheat, barley, and oats, 

 carry away — the proportion being four times as 

 much. This is a result which observation alone 

 would not have anticipated, because the expand- 

 ed area of foliage which the green crops present 

 to the air, would lead us to expect that their 

 nourishment is derived more from the atmosphere 

 than the soil^; and, on the other hand, the cereal 



