Vol. VIII.— No. 33. 



AND HOllTICULTLKAL JOURNAL. 



261 



be tlesireil : nor is this true only of tlie tho- 

 gh-bred or tnrf-horso : it is, to a very limterial 

 free, the case witli every description of horse, 

 a judicious mixture and proportion of blood, 

 have rendered our liunters, our hackneysi, our 

 ich, nay, even our cart horses, much stronger, 

 re active, and more endurinf?, than they were 

 lore the introduction of tlie race-horse. 



HORTICULTURE. 



PRUNING. 



Hr Fessenden — I inclose an extract, on the 

 de of pruning fruit trees, wliidi has been suc- 

 sfnllv practiced by Mr Dai.bret, in the Roy- 

 Jarden of Paris. William Kenrick Esq. of 

 wton, who has devoted much attention to the 

 tivation of trees, and is well known as an en- 

 irising and intellgent nurseryman, has coni- 

 nicatedthe following interesting remarks, up- 

 thc theory developed in the Extract. 

 What is there slated, has never appeared in 

 English language, — not even in substance ; it 

 1 subject hitherto imperfectly, or totally mis- 

 lerstood. It is soiueiimes of im|)ortance to be 

 at once, by a scientific mode of pruning, to 

 a very young tree into inunediate bearing, 

 rder to test the qualities of the fruit. Of such 

 stem, it appears, that the reviewer of Dal- 

 t's Lectures, has drawn the outline. Although 

 id long been aware that the Flemings were 

 sessed of this art, and practised it, I never yet 

 i able to find it desciibed in any work. 

 Mr Aaron D. Williams is the only man I 

 iw, who has a system, by which he prunes his 

 -antbushes, making them produce uncommonly 

 ;e crops. He cuts off, in the spring, all the 

 )d of the former year's growth, except about 

 e eyes. 



I contemplate having a Horticultural orchard, 

 small trees, set four er five feet apart, contain- 

 all the most approved sorts of hardy fruits, as 

 cimeiis for examination. I shall obtain, from 

 first sources, all that are most valuable, and in 

 highest repute, and have taken pretty decisive 

 is, towards accomplishing this object. 

 Among about 10,000 cherry-trees, which I 

 e mostly raised from the stones of budded 

 t, I discover two or three hundred, which, from 

 imilarity to some known excellent varieties, 

 niise favorably. These I intend to secure, by 

 ropriating twenty trees as standards, and in- 

 ting as many kinds on each. 

 I am endeavoring to introduce all new varieties 

 lears, which this age of wonders has produced. 

 °'b success which has crowned the exertions of 

 Massachusetts Horticultural Society, has, 1 

 fess, far exceeded my most sanguine expecta- 

 and I look forward with pleasing anticipa- 



i|i« 



Fiom amongst the 150 kinds of fruit, import- 

 "Iby Mr Preble, nearly twentyfivc years ago, 

 itly, no doubt, select old soils, we were able to 

 to our list, only the Black and White Tartari- 

 Cherries, and one pear, name lost, probably 

 and from fifty ^"e old varieties of jiears re- 

 'ed twenty years since, from New York, every 

 !, except two or three, has lieeii regrafted." 

 These remarks of Mr Kenrick are entitled to 

 lect and cosideration, for it is certain that ina- 

 '!** of the old varieties of apples and pears, which 

 eso long and so justly esteemed for their su- 

 I>1 



perior qualities, have disaiipeared, or are no lon- 

 ger worthy of attention, in consequence of their 

 deteriorated quality. This lamentalile decadence, 

 however, does not appear to be confined to this 

 country, but is experienced even in France, from 

 whence originated our most celebrated pears. At 

 least, such is the inference to be drawn from the 

 following note, appenned to the remarks on the 

 Fruit and Vegetable markets of Paris, by M. Ma- 

 son Commissary General of those establishments, 

 and published in the Annales D'Horticulture. 



" It is astonishing, that we do not see but a 

 very few species of the melting: pears in the mar- 

 ket. The Sucre Vert, Sucre Musque, IJesi de la 

 Mothe, and Besi d'Airy are not known ; very few 

 of the Chaumontel, or Culotte de Suisse ; not any 

 of the Royale d'Hiver, Virgoulouse, and, what is 

 to be deplored, not any Colmars. These three 

 last kinds sell from ten sous, to two francs 

 [37J cents] apiece ; and still the culture is ne- 

 glected ! The Rousselet, so fragrant, so highly 

 prized by the confectioners and distillers, is not 

 of n good quality. What a difierence between 

 this Rousselet and that which is cultivated in the 

 village of Cormontreuil near Rlieims!" 



Fortunately, Van Mons, Knight, and Nature 

 in our own country, are rapidly replacing those 

 expiring varieties of fruits, which have been che- 

 rished, as the ornaments of the garilen and the 

 dessert, for centuries; and there is no doubt, that 

 in a few years, the Catalogue of Pears will sur- 

 pass that of Lectierin number, and rival the most 

 celebrated of the old varieties in quality. The 

 method is now known for obtaining ameliorated 

 kinds, and pursuing the course so clearly illustra- 

 ted by Professor Poiteau, v^e cannot fail of suc- 

 cess. The simple process which nature has de- 

 veloped in the United States, and which has been 

 discovered by scientific researches in Europe, es- 

 tablishes an important era in the cultivation of 

 fruit trees. It is one of those remarkable acqui- 

 sitions, which belongs, exclusively, to the moderns, 



a problem which the ancients sought in vain to 



resolve, — for Flint* observes, — " For a long time, 

 researches, in the culture of fruits, have been car- 

 ried to the highest point, by men who have made 

 all kinds of experiments ; but it is certain that they 

 have not succeeded in producing a single new 

 fruit.'" 



The Roman Catalogue of fruits was, compara- 

 tively, very limited, as late as the time of Pliny, 

 although unwear^!(! pains had been taken to intro- 

 duce all the known varieties of the world, and 

 universal conquest had afl^orded every possible 

 facility to the victorious generals and provincial 

 governors for making contributions throughout 

 large portions of Europe, Asia, and Africa: still 

 Pliiiy,t who lived during the reigns of Ves[iasian 

 and Titus, does not describe, in his Natural History, 

 after a pretty extensive list of grapes, but about 

 thirty kinds of pears, twentynine of apples, eleven 

 of plums, eight of cherries, and four of peaches ; 



As Van Mons has ascertained, that the seeds 

 of jiears do not produce superior fruit, before the 

 sixth generation, it is possible, and even probable, 

 that some of the kinds, which have been recently 

 brought into notice, in this vicinity, and other ^larts 

 of the Union, have not reached beyond lUc fourth 

 or fifth generation ; it is, therefore, desirable to ex- 

 tend the process, which nature lias commenced, 

 by planting the seeds, take-n from the jiears of the 

 best, as well as the indiflx-rent original native wild- 

 ing trees, and suffering the products to remain, 

 ungrafted, until they bear fruit. Such experiments 

 may be attende<l by happy results, and will no 

 doubt he made by many of our intelligent propri- 

 etors of nurseries, as well as by other members of 

 the various Horticultural Societies in the United 

 States. 



With great esteem, 



1 offer friendly salutations. 



Brinley Place, \ H. A. S. DEARBORN. 

 Feb. 28, 1830. | 



extract no. VI. 



From the Annales D'Horticulture. 



Course of Lectures on Pruning Fruit Trees. — By 



M. Dalbret. 

 M. Dalbret, Superintendent of the compart- 

 ments in the Royal Garden, devoted to the cul- 

 ture of fruit trees and economical plants, deliver- 

 ed a course of lectures on pruning trees, in the 

 School of Practical Horiiculiure, during the month 

 of March last. This course was constantly attend- 

 ed, not only by the pupils of gardeners, but by a 

 great number of iiroprietors and amateurs, who 

 came to obtain the requisite information for cor- 

 recting the errors into which many gardeners had 

 fallen, and to substitute a rational practice for 

 mere routine. 



M. Dalbret, a worthy pupil of the learned A. 

 Thouin, has practised upon his theory, in the 

 Royal Garden, for a number of years, therefore, 

 he has been enabled to ajipreciate its just value, 

 and by applying it to the same trees, for a long 

 time, he could discover the sni:,llest effects of his 

 method of pruning, and estimate its fiivorahle 

 or injurious influence. 



These are the ideas which he communicated 

 to his auditors, in as full and lucid a mannec as 

 could be desired. 



Among the operations which are very rarely 

 practised, and which are scarcely known, at a dis- 

 tance from the capital, he has insisted, with pro- 

 priety, upon the eradication of all useless buds, 

 which occasion more vigor in the branches des- 

 tined to produce good wood and fruit ; and upon 

 the necessity of not leaving too many lateral 

 shoots or twigs, which exhaust the tree ; but few 

 should be preserved for yielding fruit each year, 

 and the others should be cut ofl^, within a half an 

 inch of the branch, which will cause fruit-spurs 

 to api>ear. He has also demonstrated the utility 

 and'^as he ce^nsures Virgil, the admired' poet of j of pinching or cutting off the ends of the shoots, 

 his country, for neglecting to sing the praises of' particularly of stone-fruit trees, to check the ex- 

 the garden, and only naming fifteen kinds of' cessive vigor of the main branches, and to cause 

 grapes, three of olives, three of pears, and one le- ] the branches which uselessly consume the sap, to 

 mon, itis presumed that none were omitted by ; yield fruit : this operation consists in cutting off 

 |jj,„ J these yet herbaceous, or young and tender shoots, 



' — when they have attained the length of six or eight 



* Pliny, Book xv. chap. 15. inches, a half an inch, or at most an inch above 



t Pliny, the Linna:us of antiquity, perished by an erup- ' jj,g ^\^\ ^yoj,,) . jf \i jj. ^o„c Jatcr, the operation will 

 tionof Mcvit Vesuvius, ill the 79th year of the Christian , ^^ injurious, instead of insuring fruit for the thir.' 



The Compiler. 



era, and the 56th of his age. 



t Pliny, Book xiv. Pro. C. 1. and C. 12 to 25. 



be injun 

 ! year. 



