NEW ENGLAND FAEMER. 



71 



Let nothing discourage you in this most hopeful 

 department of pomology. Go on, persevere ; 



"Give new endeavors to the mystic art, 

 Try every seheme, and riper views imjjart ; 

 Who knows what meed thy labors may await ? 

 What glorious fruits thy conquests may create ?" 



These are triumphs worthy of the highest am- 

 bition, conquests which leave no wound on the 

 heart of memory, no stain on the wing of time. He 

 who only adds one really valuable variety to our 

 list of fruits is a public benefactor. ' I had rather 

 be the man who planted that umbrageous tree, 

 from whose bending branches future generations 

 shall pluck the luscious fruit, when I am slee])ing 

 beneath the clods of the valley, than he who has 

 conquered armies. I would prefer the honor of 

 introducing the Baldwin ajiple, the Seckel pear, 

 Hovey's Seedling strawberry, aye, or the Black 

 Tni'^^'-ian cherry from the Crimea, to the protidest 

 ^■icloly which has been won upon that blood- 

 stained soil. 



****** 



Time admonishes me to be brief, but I cannot 

 refrain from alluding to the appropriate location, 

 soil and treatment of fruit trees. These are subjects 

 surrounded with mystery, and w hich can be relieved 

 only by study and personal experience. The im- 

 portance of thorough draining, and perfect prepar- 

 ation of the soil have not received the considera- 

 tion they deserve ; especially where its silicious 

 character does not furnish a ready natural conduc- 

 tor to superfluous moisture. Thorough draining lies 

 at the foundation of all successful cultivation. In 

 cold, wet, undiained grounds, the disease of trees 

 commences at the root, which absorbes injurious 

 substances, and the tree ceases properly to elabo- 

 rate its nutritious matter. Wherever there is an 

 excess of water, and consequently too low a tem- 

 perature, and the soil is not properly drained and 

 thoroughly worked, the vital energies of the plant 

 are soon impaired, and its functiions deranged. I 

 am mclined to think that death by drowning is 

 quite as common in the vegetable as in the animal 

 kingdo.n, with this difference, that it is not so sud- 

 den. How many of the diseases, such as the spot- 

 ting of the leaf and fruit, the cancer, fungi and de- 

 composition of the bark, are attributable to this 

 cause, it is not easy to determine. Perfect drain- 

 age, which should always be accompanied with sub- 

 soiling or trenching, permits the air and light to 

 penetrate and sweeten the soil, warms it, and pre- 

 pares its latent fertilizing properties for the nour- 

 ishment of the plant. 



A writer in the Journal of the Iloyal Agricultu- 

 ral Society of England says ; "I have frequently 

 found the soil of a well- drained field liighcr in tem- 

 perature fromlO tolo degrees than that of another 

 field not so drained, though in every other respect 

 the soils were similar." Another advantage is, that 

 vegetation seldom or never suffers from the drou^^hf , 

 where the soil has been propeily drained and 

 worked. 



The necessity of thorough drainnge and perfect 

 pulverization of the soil, is not less for fruiis in 

 open cultivation, than for the grape under glass, 

 where one of the pre-requisites has ever been the 

 perfect drainage of the border. 



****** 



My experience has so often been solicited by 

 private communication in relation to the pear upon 



the. quince stock, that I deem it proper to introduce 

 it in this connection, with the reasons on which it 

 is founded. Many varieties of the pear thus graft- 

 ed grow vigorously, and bear abundantly. 1 am 

 aware that an im'pression has prevailed in the minds 

 of some, unfavorable to the cultivation of the pear 

 on the quince stock, an impression which must have 

 arisen from an injudicious selection of varieties, or 

 improper cultivation. Li this opinion, I am happy 

 to know that I am sustained by Mr. Barry, in his 

 address before the North Western Association of 

 Fruit Growers in Iowa, and by other distinguished 

 pomologists. Pears upon the quince should be 

 planted in a luxuriant deep soil, and be abundantly 

 supplied with nutriment and good cultivation. They 

 should always be planted deep enough to cover the 

 place where they were grafted, so that the point of 

 junction may be three or four inches below the sur- 

 face. The pear will then frequently form roots in- 

 dependently of the quince, and thus we combine in 

 the tree both early fruiting from the quince, and 

 the strength and longevity of the pear stock. 



For instance, of trees of the same variety, stand- 

 ing side by side in my own grounds for ten years, 

 and enjoying the same treatment, those on the 

 quince stock have attained a larger size, and have 

 borne for seven years abundant crops, while those 

 upon the pear stock have scarcely yielded a fruit. 

 We have, also, others on the quince, which twenty- 

 five years since were obtained at the nursery of Mr. 

 Parmenter, where now is the most populous part 

 of the city of Brooklyn, N. Y., and which have 

 borne good crops for more than twenty years, and 

 are still productive and health}'. 



That the introduction and cultivation of the pear 

 upon the quince has been a great blessing, 1 enter- 

 tain no doubt, especially in gardens, and in the sub- 

 urbs of large towns and cities. And as to its 

 adaptation to the orchard, I see no reason why it 

 should not succeed well, if the soil, selection and 

 cultivation be appropriate. A gentleman in the 

 eastern part of Massachusetts planted in the years 

 1848 and '49 as many dwarf pear trees as he could 

 set en an acre of land at the distance of eight by 

 twelve feet, and between these rows he planted 

 quince bushes. In the fifth year from planting he 

 gathered one hundred and twenty bushels of pears, 

 and sixty bushels of quinces. Of the former he 

 sold seventy bushels at five to six dollars per bush- 

 el, and he now informs me that he has lost only 

 three per cent, of the original trees, and that the re- 

 mainder are in healthful condition. — M. P. Wilder^s 

 Jlddress at Rochester. 



ILLINOIS STATE TRAKSACTIOHS. 



Through the politeness of the Secretary of our 

 State Board of Agriculture, we have received the 

 first volume of the Transactions of the Illinois State 

 Board of Agriculture, occupying a period of two 

 years, 1853—54. 



Among the interesting papers which it contains, 

 is one by B. P. Johnson, giving a brief history of 

 ihe agricultural associations of this and other coun- 

 tries ; the annual address for 1853, by Prof. TuR- 

 N'ER, together with a plan for a State University ; 

 capital addresses by William S. Wait, before the 

 Hillsboro' Society ; by E. Pv. Hoe, before the Mc- 



