NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



389 



PLUM CULTURE-THE CURCULIO. 



An Imperial Gage plum-tree on my premises has 

 annually produced a good crop for the last five years, 

 while four Red Egg plum-trees, on the same ground, 

 have given only one good crop during the same pe- 

 riod — the curculio destroying the Egg plum four 

 seasons. The reasons for this difference are, the cur- j 

 culio has a preference for the Egg i)hun ; it is also 

 rather a shy hearer. The Gage is so j)rolitic, that if 

 it ripens half its crop there is a fine sliow of fruit. 



There are probably other varieties of plums efjually 

 deisirable as escaping the curculio. It would be well 

 for plum culturists to give some attention to this 

 point. We may succeed in making head against this 

 troublesome pest by growing prolific sorts, so as to 

 share the crop, and by planting, occasionally, in the 

 plum orchard, such fruits as have proved to be pecu- 

 liarly attractive to the enemy, thereby drawing their 

 attention somewhat from the main point, or tempting 

 them to a smaller share, where despatching may be 

 more convenient. A few nectarine trees would be 

 the most attractive. I have not been allowed to 

 gather a ripe nectarine from a tree that has been per- 

 fectly loaded with fine-looking fruit three or four 

 different sea.sons. 



S. MOULSON. 



Rochester, Any. 1850. 

 — Rural New-Yorker. 



TREES, SHRUBS, FLOWERS. 



It is a fact, admitted by all gardeners, as well as 

 botanists, that if a tree, or plant, or flower, be placed 

 in a mould, either naturally or artificially made too 

 rich for it, a plethoric state is produced, and fruitful- 

 ness ceases. In trees, the effect of strong manure 

 and over-rich soil is, that they run to superfluous 

 wood, blossom irregularly, and chiefly at the extrem- 

 ities of the outer branches, and almost, or entirely, 

 cease to bear fruit. 



With flowering shrubs and flowers, the effect is, 

 first, that the flower becomes double, and loses its 

 power of producing seed ; next, it ceases almost to 

 flower. If the application of the stimulus of manure 

 is carried still further, flowers and plants become dis- 

 eased in the extreme, and speedily die ; thus, by this 

 wise provision of Providence, the transmission of 

 disease (the certain consequences of the highly ple- 

 thoric state, whether in plants, animals, or in mankind) 

 is guarded against, and the species shielded from dan- 

 ger on the side of penalty. In order to remedy this 

 state when accidentally produced, gardeners and flo- 

 rists are accustomed, by various devices, to produce 

 the opposite or plethoric state they peculiarly de- 

 nominate "giving a check." In other words, they 

 put the species in danger in order to produce a cor- 

 responding determined effort of nature to insure its 

 perpetuation — and the end is invariably attained. 

 I'hus, in order to make the fruit-trees bear plentifully, 

 gardeners delay, or impede, the rising of the sap, by 

 cutting rings in the bark around the tree. This, to 

 t!ic tree, is the production of a state of depletion, and 

 the abundance of fruit is the effort of nature to coun- 

 teract the danger. The fig, when grown in this cli- 

 mate, is particularly liable to drop its fruit when half 

 matured. This, gardeners now find, can be prevented 

 by pruning the trees so severely as to give it a check ; 

 or, if grown in a pot, by cutting a few inches from 

 it? roots all round, so a.s to produce the same effect. 

 The result is, that the tree retains, and carefully ma- 

 tures its fruit. 



In like manner, when a gardener wishes to save 

 srod from a gourd or cucumber, he does not give the 

 pltnt an extra quantity of manure or warmth. He 

 decs just the contrary; he subject.'* it to some hard- 



ships, and takes the fruit that is the least fine-looking, 

 foreknowing that it will be filled with seed, whilst the 

 finest fruit is nearly destitute. Upon the same prin- 

 ciple, it is a known fact, that after severe and long 

 winters, the harvests are correspondingly rapid and 

 abundant. Vines bear most lu.xuriantly after being 

 severely tried by frost ; and grass springs in the same 

 extraordinary manner. After the long and trjTng 

 winter of 1846-7, when tlie snow lay upon the 

 ground in the northern counties until June, the 

 spring of grass was so wonderful ;^s to cause several 

 minute experiments by various persons. The resuU 

 was, that in a single night of twelve hours the blado 

 of grass was ascertained frequently to have advanced 

 full three quarters of an inch ; and wheat and grain 

 progressed in a similar manner. 



Aware of this beautiful law of preservation, tlie 

 florist, when he wishes to insure the luxuriant flow- 

 ering of a greenhouse or hothouse shrub or jOnnf, 

 is followed invariably by an effort of nature for itn 

 safety, and it flowers luxuriantly, and, if a seed-bear- 

 ing plant, bears seed accordingly. 



There is another curious modification of this law 

 exhibited by the vegetable creation ; and this is, that 

 immediately before the death, or sudden cessation of 

 fruitfulness, of a tree or shrub, it is observed to bear 

 abundantly. This is remarkably the case with a pear 

 and apple, when the roots touch the harsh, cold, blue 

 clay, or any other soil inimical to the health of the 

 tree. It is a last effort to preserve and perpetuate the 

 species, and is the effect of that state of depletion 

 through which the tree passes to sterility and death. 

 — Doublediiy. 



Remarks. — In the preceding article, there is a 

 mistake as to the effect of ringing. The sap rises in 

 the sap-wood, and after becoming digested in the 

 leaves, and forming nutritious juices, it returns in 

 the inner bark, and furnishes food to all parts of ths 

 plant, fruit and all. The object of ringing is to pre- 

 vent the return of food to the plant generally, and 

 form it into fruit. By this operation, the branch that 

 is rung will produce superior fruit, but other parts 

 of the tree suffer by it. Every branch should con- 

 tribute to the support of the trunk and roots. — Ed. 

 N. E. Farmer. 



NEST-BUILDING FISHES. 



Professor Agassiz delivered some oral remarks, at 

 the late scientific convention, upon the care which 

 certain fishes take of their young. Having alluded 

 to the lower species of the fish, which lays its eggs, 

 and leaves its young, who never know parents, and 

 rise but to be swallowed by larger species, he said, 

 that when he arrived in this country, he heard of 

 fish that did protect their young, but could get no 

 further information on the subject. The professor 

 then proceeded to detail an incident which cam« 

 under his own observation last May. When walking 

 on the sea-shore at , he saw two catfish rush- 

 ing from the shore to the water. He went to the 

 place from which they started, and he saw a black 

 mark formed where they had been. There were two 

 tadpoles in it ; and by-and-by he saw the two catfish 

 return to the spot, and looking as if to see if their 

 spawn had been disturbed. They got on their nesta 

 again. He watched them for a while, and threw a 

 stone to disturb them. They ran to the water as be- 

 fore, but in ten minutes they returned again ; and in 

 this manner he di.-»turbed them and they returned 

 four times, which convinced him that they were anx- 

 ious to return to their young and protect them. — 

 Granitri Farmer. 



