156 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



commendation. His orchard began to bear the fourth 

 year, and a regular increase of quantity continued till last 

 fall (1861), when many of his trees averaged two barrels of 

 apples each, and others nearly two barrels. He sold 

 more than five hundred dollars worth from this" single 

 crop. The entire orchard of Moses Jones, of Brookline, 

 Mass., averaged over two barrels per tree the eighth year 

 from planting. 



Apple trees produce just as much fruit as there is ma- 

 terial in the soil to sustain. A bushel of apples exhausts 

 the soil as much as a bushel of potatoes, and nearly as 

 much as a bushel of onions, and every farmer and onion 

 raiser knows that he could not raise successive crops of 

 these for a long time without great deterioration of the 

 soil and crop, without annual manuring. 



Deep plowing or seeding with grass or the small grains 

 would soon destroy the value of an orchard. The feed- 

 ing roots of the apple tree mostly run near the surface, 

 and the plow would cut them off, and then the food neces- 

 sary could not reach the tree to benefit the fruit. The 

 orchard generally blossoms, and the principal assignable 

 reason for the blasting and failures of a crop of apples, is 

 want of food, d. c. scofield. 



Elgin, III., April, 1862. 



DWARF DAHLIAS. 



We have never admired the dahlia, either in the garden 

 or on the exhibition table, as most persons think all lov- 

 ers of flowers should. It has, without doubt, great beau- 

 ty of color, and there is a certain charm in its regularly 

 formed, wax-like petals; but it is too stiff for in-door dec- 

 orative use, and is never fitted for boquets. It seems to 

 be totally destitute of the power of assimilating* with 

 other flowers — it can never be arranged except with the 

 different varieties of its own species. 



In the garden, it produces a fine effect ; but to rank it, 

 as florists do, with roses, camelias, china asters, and car- 

 nations, is, we must think, in exceedingly bad taste. 



After these objections to these "grand autumnal flow- 

 ers," we have pleasure in announcing that a new race 

 of .them has been introduced by leading European 

 florists, — the Pompon or miniature-flowered varieties — 

 to which some at least of the foregoing objections 

 do not apply. They are a new race of the well 

 known florists' dahlia. At the present, the principal dif- 

 ference consists in the somewhat more slender character 

 of the plants, and the smaller size of the "flowers" or 

 flower-heads, which latter may be taken as about half 

 that of the varieties usually grown for show purposes. 

 The average diameter of the flower-heads being a couple 

 of inches, very few reaching 2£ inches. Many of the free 

 flowering plants have branches bearing three or four 

 flowers, which are suitable for table boquets. Their odor 

 rather than their size exclude them from hand boquets. 

 Some of the varieties grow to a height of four feet, and 

 some even five or six feet. Some form a fine, spreading 

 head of long-stalked blooms, while others are stiffer hab- 

 ited, with the blooms closer to the foliage and altogether 

 less graceful. Some have the regularly cupped and shell- 

 like florets of the best show flowers. 



When these Pompon dahlias shall have been thoroughly 

 dwarfed (as who can doubt they will be?) and we have 



plants two or three feet high only, with the little balls of 

 florets thrown out well above the foliage in gracefully 

 spreading heads, we shall have one of the prettiest plants 

 that can be desired for the garden in the late summer and 

 autumnal months. At the present time, four feet plants 

 are, as a rule, the dwarfest ot these Pompons which are 

 available for the parterre, but these will be found to be 

 very pretty objects in situations to which this stature is 

 not inappropriate. 



Some of the most desirable of the dwarfer varieties are: 



Annie— blush tipped; flower heads two inches in di- 

 ameter. 



Little Darling — bright rose crimson. 



Canary Bird, sulphur ; Child of Faith — white. 



Fairy Nymph — rosy lilac. 



Crimson Beauty- — rich maroon crimson. 



Star and Goldtiuch — yellow tipped. 



These grow three or four feet high. 



MULCHING YOUNG FRUIT TREES ON THE 

 PRAIRIES. 



A correspondent of the Wisconsin Farmer, residing at 

 La Prairie, says that when he set out his first orchard he 

 mulched his trees with manure, and let it remain through 

 the summer. The consequence was, that as the manure 

 became rotten, the white grub became so numerous that 

 they ate the bark off around the roots and killed many 

 of the trees. His neighbors suffered in the same way 

 from the same cause, and he has come to the conclusion 

 that if trees are mulched, it should be with dry straw, 

 and when it begins to rot it should be removed. He 

 adds: 



I keep my orchard tilled and well manured, and do my 



pruning in the summer. I take pains to keep my trees 



j free from worms, and have the most trifty and best bear- 



; ing trees, according to age, of any in the neighborhood. 



! I have a poplar and locust wind-breaker on the west ard 



south, which I think is indispensable on the prairie. I 



am satisfied that if we observe this rule — that is, make a 



good wind breaker on the east, west and south — get the 



hardy kinds of fruit, and when one tree is lost, replace it 



with another, and take good care to keep the trees clean 



from their enemies — every farmer can have plenty of good 



fruit, even on the prairies. 



GRAPE CULTURE IN CALIFORNIA. 



The Legislature of California last year authorized the 

 Governor of that State to send a commissioner to Europe 

 for the purpose of collecting information in regard to the 

 culture of the grape, manufacture of wines, etc. The 

 Governor appointed Col. Harasztht, and he at once pro- 

 ceeded to Europe on his mission. He has just returned 

 and made his report, from which it appears that he has 

 made large purchases of the cuttings of the best varieties 

 of grapes cultivated in the different countries of Europe. 

 They have been planted out, and it is thought over 300,000 

 rooted vines will be ready for distribution this fall. 



Col. Haraszthv thinks the soil and climate of Califor- 

 nia the best in the world for the culture of the grape. 

 He also thinks " no country can surpass this (California) 

 in raising the sugar beet, sorgho and imphee. There is 

 no part of the world, except, perhaps, Africa, which can 

 produce the same quantity of these commodities to the 

 acre." 



