404 



NEW E\GLANT> FARMER. 



[July 15, 



ORISZNAI. COZfflJBglTHSCATSONS. 



TO THE EDITOR OF THE NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



^r.d rather faint recollection of what connoisseurs had ,'" thick," (or inspissah.d as the learned call it) and of 

 We have since consulted some 



GRAFTING FRUIT TREES AND STRIPPING 

 THEM OF THEIR BARK. 



Sir, — In No. 42, vol. III. of your paper are 

 two qestions by E. S. Fish; having h;ul some 

 experience in gvM'ung 1 will express my opin- 

 ion. Something like ihirly years ago, I com- 

 inenced raising a nursery of apple trees I'rom j 

 the seeds. When the trees were, generally, oi 

 a suitable size lor grafting near the giounil, 

 some were too large ; these were taken up and 

 set out (planted I suppose learned farmers would 

 say) some tor myself and some for others. The 

 remaining part of the nursery nas engrafted. — 

 Those that I set for myself were engrafted at 

 the end of one year; those set for others were 

 not engrafted. Those not engrafted produced 

 fruit as soon as those that were. I have frequent- 

 ly had grafts blossom the first year, that were 

 put into seedling stocks, but they did not pro- 

 duce fruit any sooner than those which were 

 not grafted. I have taken scions from sprouts, 

 and engrafted them on fruit bearing trees, and 

 found that they did not produce fruit so soon as 

 scions from the ends of limbs t'lDm fruit bearing 

 trees. 1 have not grafted a scion from a seed- 

 ling on a bearing tree ; if experiment had been 

 my object, it would have been done. From all 

 the observation 1 have been able to make, I am 

 satisfied that fruit is not produced from an en- 

 gr::fted tree until the stock and scion are both of 

 a bearing age. 



The answer which you have given to Mr 

 Capron's question, "• Why will a tree, ^vhen 

 stripped of its bark about the middle of June, 

 grow taster, and at another season of the year, 

 the same operation destroy ihe tree in a very 

 short lime f ' 1 think is flot the true one. Hav- 

 ing had some experience in strii)ping trees of 

 their bark, and not to the advantage of my 

 trees, I, of course paid some attention to the 

 whole process. About the middle .?f June the 

 sap becomes thick and forms another ring, or 

 grain of wood. If the bark be taken off at this 

 time, the sap, instead of making another grain 

 of wood, makes bark. In taking off the bark, if 

 the sap is broken there will come no bark in 



said on the subject 

 authorities, and among others find the following in one 

 of the Papers on Agriculture, publishrd some years 

 since, by the .Massachusetts Agricultural Society 



"M.D. Huneken of Corpjow (in the P..u!;ian domin- 

 ions,) communicated to Mr Frisch a method of renevi/- 

 ing the bark of fruit trees, practised in his large and 

 fine orchard. If any of his apple or pear trees had a 

 rough bark, or if any cherry tree was troubled with 

 gum or knots, or if any other cause even of suspicion 

 arose as to the future fertility of the tree from an im- 

 perfection in the bark, M. de Huneken caused the en- 

 tire baik of the trunk to be taken away from the place 

 where the lower limbs spread themselves out, down to 

 the entrance of the trunk ioto the ground. He leas not 

 conltnt with displacing Ihe outer and harder bark, bv,l 

 removed eren Ihe inner and more tender one ; uniform- 

 ly laying bare the white lap wood (the alburnum ;) and 

 destroying for this purpose, the fine fibres within. The 

 author was astonished at such particulars. But M. de 

 Huneken having afterwards shown to Mr Frisch many 

 trees 7UicIy stripped of their bark, and others with their 

 bark recently reneiccd, he became convinced experi- 

 mentally of a fact, which he says was not only new to 

 himself, but probably had never before been heard of 

 by them, to whom he addressed his paper." 



It was with the permission of M. de Huneken, Mr 

 Frisch subjoined to his narrative the rules which had 

 j been observed for conducting the process in question of 

 which the following is the substance ; The time of the 

 summer solstice (or of the longest days) is to be used, 

 ichen the sap is particularly liquid and abundant ; pay 

 ing attention only to the position of the trees; which, 

 from being more or less exposed to the sun, may have 

 their sap more or less advanced by the season. 2d. 

 The operation must be made complete ; for ifany of 

 the old bark should be left behind, it would deform 

 the tree by its mixture with the new bark. 3d. A 

 goose's feather must be employed to spread about the 

 sap from the parts where it is stagnant, to the parts j 

 which are dry. 4th. To prevent the heat of the sun 

 from afl'ecting the running of the sap, the trunk must 

 be shaded (especially to the south) b}- cloths, mats, or 

 such other articles as present themselves; and similar 

 care must bo taken to keep ofl' the winds producing: dust 



a consistence to " form another ring or grahi of wood" 

 or layer of bark asthe case may require, the process 

 could not succeed. Mr Frisch's reason we should 

 think, is not correct, because the sap " is not par- 

 ticularly liquid" at the time of the " summer solstice," 

 but has become moie thick, viscid or clammy ihaa 

 when it begins to circulate in the spring. 



We think, however, that the process of stripping frees 

 has not, generally, realized the expectations which 

 have been formed from it ; and though it may succeed 

 if the precautions mentioned by .Mr Frisch are duly at- 

 tended to, it is at best in our climate, a troublesome, 

 violent, and hazardous remedy. In hot climates, and 

 where the bark is of great value, it is doubtless a useful 

 practice. In the paper published by the Massachusetts 

 Agricultural Society, above quoted, it is staled that 

 j " in the case of the cork tree, we are told that the rep- 

 etition of this process is even friendly to the trte." 



TO THE EDITOR OP THE NEW EXC.LAND F.\R.MER. 



CULTIVATING CORN. 



Saugvs. July 9, 1825. 



FniEND Fessenden — I trust you will permit me 

 to occupy a small portion of your useful paper, 

 bv way "f reply to a late commnnication signed 

 '• \Vm. Selcv." He appears not to h;ive exactly 

 understood ihe article he so freely comments on. 

 He says, 1 criin;ila;n that I was nearly ruined 

 by a statement in your paper of a large crop of 

 corn in New York." — 1 assertetl that the final 

 result of my experinient was an abundance of 

 sta!ks, but not a single ear of corn in full per- 

 fection; and that this would bo the result wliOQ- 

 ever corn was planted in that method. 



I shall now try to prove this last assertion — ■ 

 so far as it is capable of demonstration on ])ai)er. 

 It is well known that Ihe common Yankee meth- 

 od of planting rnrn, is in hills at 4 feet distan-.e, 

 each w;iy (vith 5 kernels in a hill. This woulil 

 give \3b30 stalks to the acre. — The plan adopt- 

 ed by Mr Sell)y " 2' feet a[)art widlhwise, and 

 one foot lengthwise, one kernel in a hill," would 

 give 17325 stalks to the acre. — One acre of 

 ground planted, according to the N. York meth- 

 od, would give more th.in live times as many 

 stalks as ihe common Yankee method ; and more 

 than four times as many according to Mr Selby's 



of any kind. 5th. And lastly, the aew and tender bark 



the broken place. If after the bark is taken offj must on no account be disturbed by being handled, j [method. — Yes, Mr. Editor, it would give the 



the wood should be scraped, there would no ; since the slightest friction will Injure it." enormous quantity of G0G3O stalks ly the acre, 



bark come, and I see not why it should not as j In our answer to .Mr Capron's question relative toi if we are not mistaken in our calculations. — \nd 



eflcctually kill tt|c tree, as if stripped at any 

 other seasoii of the year. 



Yours respectfully 



LOVETT PETERS. 

 U'eslbortush, June 20, ]825. 



[remarks by TilE EDITOR.] 

 The foregoing would have had an earlier Insertion, 

 had not the space which we had reserved for it been 

 occupied by articles particularly adapted to the season, 

 and which, if delayed, could be of aoimmediale utility. 

 'Cl.e subject of scions for grafting Sic. has been so elab- 

 orately and ably handled by some of our correspond- 

 ents, that it would seem unnecessary to traverse the 

 ground again. There can be no doubt but that in gen- 

 eral, if you wish for immediate produce from grafting, 

 the best and safest way is to lake fiuil btarins scions, 

 and graft them in fruit hearing stocks. 



>Vith regard to stripping trees of their bark, we 

 ■would observe that we gave our opinion on Mr Capron''s 

 question, on ibe spur of the octajion, with a general. 



stripping trees of their bark, we observed that '■ the 

 reason why it succeeds better about the middle of June 

 than any other time of the year we suppose to be, be- 

 cause the tree is at that time in its most vigorous state 

 and the sap circulating with freedom enables the tree 

 to renew its covering, which is essential to its exist- 

 ence."* Mr Frisch says " the time of the summer sol- 

 stice is to be used, when the sap is particularly liquid 

 and abundant." The reason which we gave is, per- 

 haps, what logicians would call causa sine qua non, 

 that is the cause without u-hich, the effect would not 

 be produced. If the tree was not in a vigorous state 

 and the sap did not circulate with fieedoa>, it could 

 neither make " another grain of wo.id," nor a new lay- 

 er of '• bark" as stated by Mr Peters. But the cause 

 assigned by Mr Peters is the proximate cause, or that 

 link in the chain of causes and effects, which most im- 

 mediately precedes the eifect in question. If the sap 

 had not by the middle of June become in some measure 



gee page 34o of the current volume. 



now let mo ask all practical J'oriners to put their 

 "old fashioned sense" or their '^ true common 

 soisc" into full and complete operation, and 

 then say if they can make 69630 stalks ot' Indian 

 corn produce good ears, and grow to perfection, 

 on one acre of ground. 



Mr Selby charges me with casting " illiberal 

 aspersions on so excellent a publication as the 

 N. E. Farmer." If 1 have done any thing of this 

 sort, 1 regret it much, and can truly say I did 

 not intend it.~-I venture to assert that 1 read 

 the N. E. Farmer as much and as often as Mr 

 Selby does, and have procured as many subscrib- 

 ers. I, however, shall not deny that 1 was dis- 

 appointed, and somewhat chagrined, at the un-. 

 fortunate result of my experiment. 



Probably my feelings on this occasion were 

 similar to those of honest Mingo, who had plant- 

 ed a quantity of beans, which came up in due 

 time. Unfortunately for Mingo, at the time his 

 beans came up, lie was visited by n person who 



