88 



THE GENESEE FARMEE. 



WHICH ABE THE BEST HORSES TO WEAK -THOSE 

 FIFTEEN OR SIXTEEN HANDS HIGH? 



This is a subject on wliicli tliere will doubtless be 

 a frrcat dift'ereuce of opinion, bnt it all depends upon 

 this : at wliat work are they to be used, and how 

 are they to bo fed ? There can be no doul)t tliat for 

 heavy work, such as lieavy teaming, ploughing, and 

 tlielike, where liorses are driven slowly and well fed, 

 that those sixteen hands will wear best, and what is 

 more, give the best satisfaction to their owner ; for 

 who does not like to follow the plough after such a 

 team? But there is a fault in too many of the hor- 

 ses which are bred at the present time — they have 

 the extra hand all in the leg, and the man who 

 knows anything about a horse will give all such ani- 

 mals a wide berth, as they are decidedly the worst 

 to wear that there is to be found. 



Again if horses are to be sometimes worked hard 

 and at other times driven hard, and what is worse 

 than all, and but too often the case, poorly fed into 

 the bargain, the small liorses, such as the French 

 breed, will stand such treatment better than any 

 other with which I am acquainted. They are hardy, 

 easy to keep, and will stand to be driven on the 

 jump the one hour and draw a heavy load the next. 

 So the man who wants to get horses to wear well 

 liad better first consider how he is to use them and 

 the work they are to perform, and then he can easily 

 judge of the horses that will suit him, e. s. t. 



Niagara, C. W., Juii'y, 1858. 



WHAT IS THE CAUSE OF THE FAILURE OF SO 

 MANY TREES SENT OUT BY .NURSERYMEN 1 



Vegetables, like animals, can not be removed 

 from good care and high feeding, to want and 

 neglect, without suffering in consequence. Eemove 

 the animal from plenty of grain, grass, or hay, to 

 sterile fields or empty stalls, and compel it to pro- 

 cure its own living, and, if it does not die, it will 

 present but the diseased shadow of its former self; 

 and, if no care is afforded, the animal is lost beyond 

 recovery for profitable purposes. It is the same 

 with the tree. It is raised in rich soil, where it can 

 revel in high living ; the best of care is bestowed 

 upon it ; all the wants of the tree are supplied ; its 

 enemies are driven oft' or destroyed ; and in a few 

 years it is an object of beauty and delight. But 

 the age has arrived when it must be transplanted 

 from its genial soil to lands of the distant farmer or 

 fruit grower. Now come its days of starvation and 

 neglect — a prey to cattle and horses, that destroy 

 its branches and break it to the eartli. And how 

 do a majority of fiirmers, who take the trouble to 

 send to a distance to procure good fruit trees, treat 

 them when they receive them ? Not one in a hun- 

 dred ever thinks of setting them in a cultivated 

 field and giving them the same care he does the 

 rest of his crops ; — not at all. They are placed by 

 the side of fences, in the tough sward of the meadow 

 or pasture, the roots crowded into a hole barely 

 sufficient in size to contain them. Is it any wonder 

 that trees managed in this way do not flourish ? Is 

 it any wonder the fin-nier or owner of such trees is 

 discouraged in trying to raise good fruit, and con- 

 demns at a glance all accounts of largo and delicious 

 fruits and their profit to the cultivator ? 



When will farmers (I say iarmers, because most 

 %11 the trees sent out by nurserymen are purchased 



by farmers,) learn that a tree that has been carefaUy 

 cultivated and cared for, can not flourish with such 

 treatment ? Can a fruit tree be expected to thrive 

 without care, any better than any other crop that 

 is raised for use or profit? I have seen, lately, sev- 

 eral young orchards, which the owners procuretl 

 from nurseries in Western New York, at mncli 

 trouble and expense, that are almost a total failure. 

 The trees were set out four or five years ago, and 

 were fine trees then ; but the old way of setting in 

 grass ground was followed, witli no cultivation be- 

 yond setting them; and there they stand now — • 

 not dead, to be sure, but no larger than when they 

 were removed from the nurseiy, and no prospect 

 of their bearing for years to come. The owners 

 of these same trees consider the nursery business as 

 a humbug — something to catch the unwary, and 

 fleece them of tlieir money for what AviU never be 

 of any use to them. 



Now, to sum up the matter, is it anything bnt a 

 want of care and proper cultivation that causes the 

 failure, in not giving the trees similar treatment to 

 that which they received while growing in the nur- 

 sery ? The trees are of course all treated alike when 

 packed for transportation ; but yet we see the mass 

 of them prove a failure, and but very little good 

 fruit is raised among the farmers. 



Onco in a while we see a careful, observing man, 

 who obtains trees from nurseries, follow as nearly 

 as he can the mode of culture which the tree for- 

 merly received, cultivates and manures them as he 

 does liis crop of corn or potatoes, and he is rewarded 

 with nice fruit and plenty of it. Is it anything but 

 neglect that causes the failure? e. b. 



Fharmlia, If. Y., Jan^y, 1S5S. 



CULTIVATION OF DWAKF PEARS. 



There is very little to be said, that is new, on 

 the cultivation of the Dwarf Pear; but as in morals 

 and religion, so in horticulture, we need "line upon 

 line and precept upon prei'ept." The true secret 

 of the iHiany failures in the cultivation of the pear 

 upon the quince stock, is the neglect of the informa- 

 tion Avhich those more exi>erienced have from time 

 to time given through the press, and the disregard 

 of those common and more obvious principles of 

 vegetable physiology which e^ery cultivator at thi* 

 day ought to understand. There is really no more 

 difficulty in making a dwarf pear tree grow than 

 there is an apple oi- a peach tree. The appropriate 

 soil and culture is needed in the one case just as 

 mucli as in tlie other. 



It should be remembered tliat the pear is not 

 dAvarfed for the profit of the thing so much as for 

 ])romoting the early fi-uitfulness of the tree, and for 

 tlie very limited space reijuired for its growth. 

 These are the pi-imary considerations. In some 

 cases, or rather with some varieties, the quality of 

 the fruit is no doubt inqtroved ; but, as a general 

 rule, quite as good fruit njay be got fi-om standard 

 as from dwarf trees. 



To cidtivate dwai'f poars successfully, the so3 

 must be rich. It may bo clay, or it may be a light 

 or a strong loam ; but if not already rich, it must 

 be made so. There is no fruit tree tliat will bear so 

 high cultivation as this. The groimd should be ^\(iU 

 prepared before planting, by deep {)]o»ving or dig- 

 ging ; and by deep and thorough draining, if at all 

 wot. The finest and most productive trees that I 



