THE GENESEE FARMER. 



isr 



and then I must go to my office and write about 

 wheat-growing and the price of beeves! I confess 

 to you, privately, that this constant writing about 

 agriculture and horticulture in a city office, is not 

 always agreeable. In pleasant weather I had 

 much rather be in the fields or in the garden. But 

 the readers of the Oenesee Farmer^ I hope, would 

 be disappointed if they did not get their paper by 

 the first of the month." 



" Why not write at home?" 



"I can't! I can write better in my office, in 

 my old chair, at the old desk, with files of 

 * papers and books lying around, and the presses 

 lumbering away up stairs, than any where else. 

 "We are creatures of habit. I know an eminent 

 English clergyman who has a study down town, 

 and for forty years he has gone to it as regularly 

 as a lawyer goes to his office. He can not study 

 at home half so pleasantly as in his old study down 

 by the church." 



"The cold grapery is decidedly not "cold" this 

 morniug. A week or two ago I had a man and a 

 Dutch woman tying up the vines to the wires, and 

 I heard him remark, sul voce, 'Somebody will 

 have a good dinner to-day — I smell the roast meat.' 

 The fact is, a gardener should always be up with 

 the sun, and all such work should be done before 

 breakfast." 



" If you open the bottom ventilators at this sea- 

 son, there is great danger of getting mildew into 

 the house, and though sulphur is a cure, it is best 

 to keep it out if possible." 



" It is better to omit syringing when the grapes 

 are in bloom. On bright days, let the temperature 

 rise to 95 '^ or 100 ^ : but I have not time to talk 

 about these matters this morning." 



Planting Apple Teees. — The Germantown 



Telegraph says : 



"It is certainly gratifying to see the increased at- 

 tention which is being given to the cultivation 

 of apples. Farmers, Avho a few years ago regarded 

 the raising of this fruit as an almost impossible 

 thing, and the labor spent upon it as just so much 

 thrown away, are beginning to see their error, and 

 are going into the planting of orchards with a great 

 deal of spirit and every prospect of success. They 

 find that it is a want of due care and management 

 of orchards, not luck, the climate, soil, or any- 

 thing else, which has hitherto been the bugbear. — - 

 Apples are now produced in Eastern Pennsylvania 

 as abundantly in quantity and equal in size and 

 quality as in any part of the world." 



The Revue Sorticole mentions two cases of pear 

 trees having borne two crops of fruit during the 

 past season, both equally well ripened. 



TREE MURDER. 



We have been occupied many years in advising 

 the public on propagating, planting, pruning, pre- 

 serving and improving trees for use and ornament, 

 and by way of a change we intend now to offer a 

 few observations on the art of killing trees. This 

 must be a very useful art, because it is extensively 

 practiced ; and as people like to do as their neigh- 

 bors no doubt we shall be counted among the num- 

 ber of our nation's patriots if we endeavor to ex- 

 plain a few of the processes by which trees are 

 commonly crippled, rendered unfruitful, ugly, un- 

 healthy or killed outriglit. 



We advise, then, that when trees are purchased 

 it should be as late as possible in the planting sea- 

 son. By tliis method the purchaser will make 

 pretty sure of obtaining the weakest and most ugly 

 of tlje stock left in the nursery after all the foolish 

 people who like to keep their trees alive have had 

 their pick. When tlie trees arrive home lay them 

 anywhere, and be sure their roots are not covered. 

 The more the air, frost and sunshine act on their 

 roots the better. When they are planted take care 

 to have the ground in a wet, pasty condition ; do 

 not prune them; let all the bruised and jiigged 

 parts of the roots remain ; plant them very deep, 

 do not tread them firm, and take care not to stake 

 them. 



They will certainly begin to grow rather late in 

 the spring, and endeavor to overcome the various 

 impediments to their well doing which have been 

 imposed upon them by. the first conditions. This 

 lengthens out the process of killing, and increases 

 the interest of the task. Dig about their roots fre- 

 quently all the summer. If they are in the kitchen 

 garden, crop as near to them as possible. You 

 rnay as well have plenty of cabbage and cauli- 

 fiowers off the same ground as the apple and pear 

 trees occupy, and so let there be no scruples about 

 using the spade where their roots run, and even 

 quite close to their stems, as the more you destroy 

 their surface-fibres the better. It will not kill 

 them quickly, but only cause them to send down 

 tap-roots into the cold subsoil, and this will favor 

 disease, which increases the fun. If they are in 

 the box'der next the grass-plot you have a fine op- 

 portunity to practice a little torture. Gro'vf 

 climbers of some sort at the root of every tree- 

 sweet peas will do very well, or honeysuckle, con- 

 volvulus, clematis maybe used; and to train them 

 up the stems use wall nails, and nail up the trailing 

 plants with shreds, just as if they were growing on 

 a wall. This will make plenty of wounds in the 

 bark and cause canker nicely. Then, if any of 

 your rifle-shooting friends want practice let them 

 aim at the stems of the trees, and see how many 

 bullets they can plant in the wood ; and if you 

 want to try one of Saynor's knives at any time 

 scoop out pieces of wood from the stems. If a 

 branch grows where you do not want it snap it off; 

 if there is any fruit produced knock it off with a 

 heavy stick — this will bruise the fruit and the 

 trees at the same time, and serve as heall hy exer- 

 cise. 



One very effectual way of killing is largely prac- 

 ticed in suburban gardens. It is slow ?nd sure, 

 and so pays well, because it affords a lastii g amuse- 

 ment. It consists in periodically raising 'he level 

 of the soil above the trees — say, puttiiM; on six 



