114 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



Oct. 30, lS-20. 



branches, which urc nearly |ier|>cijilicular ; ci^ht 

 feel from tlie groiiml one of the hriuichi's is ilivi- 

 dcJ inlo two, und the other into three, ull of whicli 

 are nearly per|ienill<iiliir, mid thickly covered with 

 Binall lateral hranohe^^, ic/iic/t are drooping. 



The lateral liranches have grown, the present 

 season, from two to twelve inches in length, which 

 growth is very slender. It spreads aliont twenty- 

 four feet, and is thirty-six feet in lieij^ht. Its top 

 inclines to the iiorlh-east, and its shape is conical, 

 forming n very handsome tree. The soil where 

 it stands is ratlier light. 



Yours, trnly. 



BENJAMIN TIIO.M.VS. 



Jlingham, Oct. 1829. 



BUDDING OR INOCULATING FRUIT TREES. 

 Ho!«. H. A. S. nEAKBOKN, 



• Pica. Max. Iluil. .Society. 



Sill — I have read witli miirli pleasure, the do- 

 ing of the Massachusetts Hnrlicultural Society, as 

 noticed in the New England Farmer, and feeling 

 some interest in the promotion of the good work, 

 I communicate to you the residt of one or two ex- 

 periments I have made in budding fruit trees the 

 past season. 



In the latter part of April, I received a small 

 bundle of trees from Mr Dow.ner's nursery ; 

 among the lot was an Amhretteand a Secklepear 

 tree ; from some cause tlioy did not do well, and 

 in the latter part of June hut few liiiilshad leaved 

 out, and several of the smaller twigs had become 

 much shrivelled, botli the bark and buds. On tlie 

 1st day of July, I took some scions from the trees, 

 and in.sertcd ui)on small pear stocks, also took 

 buds from the almost dry limbs, and irisirted upon 

 other stocks, which I beaded down near the buds 

 a few days after; w^ithin a fortnight after the in- 

 sertion of these dry buds on both the scions and 

 hud.s, they started with much vigor, and bid fair to 

 do as well as though they bad been set in the usu- 

 al time of grafting and budding. In setting the 

 buds, it seems almost superfluous to say that the 

 wood taken from the twig with the bark and bud, 

 was inserted ; it could no more have been parted 

 than in the month of Januarv. 



From the above fact, I infer that scions taken 

 from fruit trees in March, may be kept in sand or 

 moss till June or July, and then the buds be in- 

 serted, and do as well as buds of the same year's 

 growth : and as scions cut in March, can be sent 

 witli more safely and to greater distances, and 

 rare anil choice kinds can be more extensively 

 multiplied in a short period of time by buds than 

 by grafts, I have thought it might be of some ser- 

 vice to your Society to be in |)iissc8sion of the 

 above fact, — with one other I will relate. 



On Monday, 29th of June, 1 procured of a 

 friend a twig from an Apricot tree, and brought it 

 liome in my hat ; but thoiigbt no more of it till 

 the next day, near simsot ; when, upon examiiia- 

 lion, I found the leaves all withered, and the bark 

 much shrivelled. I thought it too far gone to be 

 of any use, and threw it upon the groiuid ; in the 

 course of the night we had a sliowir of rain ; in 

 the morning my apricot twig was restored to its 

 original fulness. I set five buds upon as many 

 dmall pi-acb stocks, four of which are now alive, 

 and have grown from twelve to eighteen inches. 

 I would here remark, that I set the buds as recom- 

 mended by Judge Bi ki., in the N. E. Farmer, 

 without separating the wood from the bud ; and I 

 licaded down the stock as advised bv Mr Lahu- 



RUM*. Buds of the Nectarine, set at the game : 

 time, and treated in the same way, have done' 

 equally well. I 



Thus it will be seen that buds that should have 

 leaved out in May, and buds that would not have! 

 leaved out till next spring, were made to burst in- 

 to life and vigor in the middle of July, by the I 

 simple process of budding. ' 



From my experiments with the shrivelled pear 

 buds, and withered apricot twig, I do not imagine 

 there is so much nicety retpiired in the operation 

 as is geneially reconunended in books treating upon ; 

 the subject. 



Ill connexion with the foregoing, I have been 

 impressed with an idea that has some plausibility 

 in theory, however contrary the result may prove 

 upon trial : — it is this— there are many kinds of 

 our finest apples and other fruit trees, that bear 

 only every other year : ami I have supposed, that 

 a scion taken from the Baldwin tree in .^larcli, and 

 kept till June or July, and then budded, and the 

 stock not headed down till the next spring, the ' 

 bud would remain in a ipiiescent slate one whole 

 year ; or by taking a bud of this year's growth, 

 and inserting it in June or July, and heading down 

 the stock, it would immediately burst into life, 

 and, as it were, anticipate a year's growth, and 

 perhaps in one or both of these supposed cases, 

 the order of bearing might be so far changed as 

 to produce its fruit alternate years from the parent i 

 tree. However, in making these suggestions, I do 

 it with muoli dillidence, I hope some mcii;bcrs ofj 

 your Society may make the trial. 1 



With my best wishes for the prosjierity 



of your Society, I am, respectfully, | 



your obedient servant, | 



M'arner, j\". H. Oct. 15. LEVI BARTLETT. I 



fruit as much separate as possible ; for it is piob 

 ble where the allinily does not alter the form 

 color, it slill may essentially alTect the flavor or I 

 quality of keeping. 



It will readily be admitted that the apple ti 

 referred fo has exhibited a rare phenomenon, 

 the change of the entire fruit of one of its branch* 

 but it must require further lii.ie and experience, 

 ascertain the fact, that any change has taken pl« 

 in the branch itself, lor ills indeed "scarcely ir« 

 ible that this branch of the Rus.-et should be to 

 intents transformed this year into a graft In ( 

 proach." In the absence of experience, is it i 

 more suscejitible of credibility to infer that I 

 whole fruil, as well as the seed, is impregnated 

 iIh; farina of the blossoms of its neiglit)or tree, th 

 that the sap of the entire branch should be ulfe 

 ed by it .' My pear tree is dead, having fallci 

 victim this year to the prevailing malady ancdi 

 pear trees ; and the present season has wiinesf 

 no transformation of the fruit on the apple treu 

 and is it not probable, if the Harvey apple t 

 should be removed, that the branch of the Ru8 

 lice would cease to produce the Harvey ajiple? 

 any doubt of ibis fact is entertained, it only rema 

 lo be ascertained by engrafting from this bran 

 into some other tree. Yours, &.c. J, 



PlymouUi, Oct. 26, 1829. 



Kroni Priuce's Treatise on llortirulurc. 



ON THE MIXING OF FRUITS. 



Mr Fesse.vde.v — In the New England Farinec,- 

 [lage C5 of the present volume, is a communica- 

 tion from Mr Ncttall, Curator of the Botanic 

 Garden, Cambridge, headed " Transformed Pro- 

 duce of an Apple tree" — detailing a very remark- 

 able fact in vegetable physiology. 1 was not 

 aware that ihc fact is so " very much at variance 

 wilh the general opinions and facts on the subject," 

 but imagined that it was conceded by all, that the 

 fruit of trees, or plants of the same genus, grow- 

 ing in a juxta position, were liable to be aflectcd 

 by the pollen or farina of each other's blossoms; 

 although the extent of the instance witnessed by 

 Mr NiTTAi.i. must be very rare, a partial trans- 

 formation is |>erhaps more frequent than is imag- 

 ined — for when observed, the knowledge of the 

 fact is not generally promulgated, and therefore, 

 not so generally considered, as its importance de- 

 serves. 



I have witnessed, repeatedly, a transformation 

 in some respects similar, and perhaps more marked 

 (being the pear wilh the apple,) than the one re- 

 ferred to above. Having in the yard a pear tree, 

 (the Bon ChrtUen) and an apple, (the So;)Mi'iiif J | 

 standing about twenty feet asunder, (the pear on ' 

 the south side) growing so as to interlock their j 

 branches. The apple tri-i- has for three consecu- 1 

 live years, borm.' fruit on the side conliguous to, I 

 and interlocked wilh the pear tree, perfectly re-' 

 seiiibling the pear in shape, although retaining the 1 

 essciiiial ipialitics of the apple, in color anil taste. | 

 Tlirse facts lend to show the expediency, in plant- ' 

 iiig ail orchard, to kecji the diflereiit kinds of 



'Soe FoMenden'i New Aroorican Gudtnor, page lOti. ' 



I CAMELLIA JAPONIC.\, OR JAPAN ROSEt 



CVLTl'RE OF CAMELLIAS. 



j Much as we are indebted to Jap.-in and Chi 

 I for elegant plant.s, slill we are more peculiarlv 

 ' for the dilferent species and vorielies of the i 

 niellia, wliicji, for the many beauties it cou 

 trates, may emphatically be called the '• Uiiei 

 j Flowers." The dillerent varit nes of this y 

 ) f^rni the most brilliant display of llie green-bui ^ 

 from December to May, and the splendor of lb , 

 flowers, and richness of their foliage, ar> siirpas.- i 

 by no others. The flowers of many of them <.,\ 

 in size the largest garden rose, and combine a n 

 uhirity of form and richness of coloring, « hi 

 present an admirable contrast with their dt ^ 

 shilling green leaves, and render them the great 

 ornamenls of a room or the green-bouse. TI 

 need less protection than almost any other grei 

 bouse plants; and four of them which were left , 

 the ojieii ground during several w inters, and whii . 

 ; were protected merely by a common frame, rece( 

 ; ed no injury, although the ground in the frame «| 

 [frozen to the depth of live inches. In Englai , 

 several of the varieties are now cultivated in i 

 protected shrubberies, and it is there aniicipal< 

 to naturalize all the others, so as to form a pern, 

 I neiit appendage to the hardy sbriiblicry . 

 I plants have ever yet been introduceil to the p 

 I dens of Eiirojie or .America which have recei» , 

 jto much admiration, and been so much sou; 

 I after, as the varieties of ihe Camellia ; and in co, i 

 Imonwilh other amateurs, the utmost jiaiiis I i 

 I been taken by the aullinr lo obtain all the spleiii, i 

 I new ones, and bis colleclion now includes nb<< > 

 jfifty varieties, with a prosjiect of additional cxti, 

 sion. 



[Wo copy the following directions for the rnlliirt 

 these Hploiulid plnnts from Chamllpr and lliirkinchti 

 ••Cami;i.i.ia Ukitasmca," publixhed in London f 



The soil best adapted to the growth of (.'am 

 lios is a mixiiire of |irut or bog earlb ami loam, ' 

 nearly equal proportions: where the loam is pi . 

 liarly light, a less ipiaiitity of |>eat is requisite. I 



