ISi!). 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



27 



TRANSPLANTING PEACH TREES. 

 BY A. Hl'lIiKhiH'li;. 



Mb. Editor : — Observing in t lie April number of 

 the Fanner a notice of winter-killed peach trees, lias 

 induced me to offer a few remarks, suggesting 

 whether the rule laid down in all our manuals, of 

 transplanting peach trees early in the fall, or very 

 early in the spring, is the correct one. I have trans- 

 planted peach trees in the autumn when the foliage 

 was hut partly divested by the frost, and have had 

 them sutler more than those set out after the leaves 

 had entirely fallen from the tree. So the rule of 

 transplanting them very early in the spring may do 

 along a lake shore or in a region where "one swallow 

 makes a summer," but in a country where severe 

 spring frosts are of frequent occurrence I think it 

 questionable. 



I have transplanted, for experiment, peach trees in 

 February witli a bulb of frozen earth attached to the 

 roots, and have also removed them in March and in 

 April, and the last did decidedly the best. In the 

 tall of 1846 I received some trees from Ellwanger 

 £c Barry as late as the 1st of December — having 

 been delayed on the way. Three days after they 

 were planted it froze very hard, and yet on uncover- 

 ing the trees the following spring I found them to be 

 entirely uninjured, and I would suggest the method I 

 pursued as being as good to make trees hybernate 

 well as to plant them very early. 



At the time of planting, finely pulverised material 

 should be used, with two or three buckets full of 

 water to make every thing right about the roots. A 

 mound of coarse strawy litter from the stable, eight 

 or ten inches high, should be placed around the base 

 of the tree, and left there till the following April. 

 A stake should be driven firmly along side of the 

 tree, the branches brought up in a compact form, and 

 then a light coating of long rye straw placed around 

 the tree, beginning below and letting the next course 

 overlap the first. A little wrapping thread around it 

 will keep every thing in order. At the top the straw 

 should be brought to a point and tied to the stake. A 

 slight envelope of straw in this way will protect a 

 tree from the sleet and winds, and sudden changes 

 of temperature in the winter, and in the following 

 April the limbs will be found as fresh and green as 

 when the tree was first removed. 



If trees are transplanted in the spring as late as 

 practicable before the starting of the buds, and are 

 well watered and mulched with litter as above, at the 

 time of setting them out, they will suffer less danger, 

 1 apprehend, from summer drouth than they will from 

 spring frosts by being transplanted early. The addi- 

 tional trouble of treating peach trees as above is but 

 trifling compared with the loss of time and labor in 

 losing them for several years under the ordinary 

 method. Meadville, Pa., April, 1848. 



The above article was mislaid soon after its re- 

 ceipt, or it would have been published at an earlier 

 period. If the writer will favor us again, his papers 

 shall receive due attention — and himself our thanks. 



A Lilac is best as a standard, because all the 

 heqfls will bloom, whereas all of a bush does not ; 

 besides, you can keep down the suckers which spoil 

 all neglected lilac bushes. 



Seeds always keep better in their pods than thresh- 

 ed out, and for private use should always be so kept, 

 if the nature of the pods will allow of it. 



DESCRIPTION OF 25 NEW VARIETIES OF PHLOXES. 



Mr. Barry : — I have heard so much about new 

 Phloxes that I am really anxious to get some infor- 

 mation respecting the best varieties. Will you 

 have the goodness to describe one or two dozen of 

 the finest kinds in the Genesee Farmer? Floricul- 

 ture should not be neglected, when Pomology is 

 making such rapid progress. By complying with 

 the above you will oblige West. 



Cincinnatti, O., Dec, 1848. 



Phlox Van Houttiu 



The Editor to whom the above is addressed, and 

 who would answer the inquiries to a charm, is now 

 in Europe on a Horticultural Mission. We will not 

 tax W's patience to wait for his return, but give 

 what little light we have on the subject. Too much 

 praise cannot be given to these charming plants — 

 when we take into consideration the variety of colors, 

 the long time of flowering, and their easy cultivation. 

 They will certainly become the most popular hardy 

 border plants. 



The above cut, which we consider a good repre- 

 sentation, is from the Horticulturist. Want of space 

 will not permit us to give full descriptions. It was 

 our intention to give an engraving of Rcine Louise, 

 (which we consider superior to Van Houttii,) as well 

 as some others in the annexed list of more recent in- 

 troduction, but our artist was absent when the flow- 

 ers were in perfection. 



