THE GENESEE FARMER. 



287 



in the tree I wet the roots with some water, and 

 put the earth carefully about them witli my hands, 

 and afterwards packed it well down with my ft)ot. 

 After having finished this operation, I put around 

 each tree half a wheelbarrow of fresh horse manure, 

 which was also well pressed down. I now took a 

 sharp knife and trimmed the trees to the shape of 

 as perfect pyramids as possible. 



The transplanting was now done, hut the greater 

 part of my success was due to the after treatment, 

 which was as follows : — Every other day, for a 

 week, I carefully poured a pailful of water around 

 each tree, and after the first week, as often as once 

 in ten days, until the tirst of July. The consequence 

 of this treatment Avas that they scarcely stopped 

 growing, and now the new branches on them are 

 from one to three inches in length, and they look 

 as green as they did the day they were taken from 

 the woods. I tliink that evergreens set and tended 

 in this way will seldom if ever die. 



LyndonviUe, N. Y., Aur/., I85S. MTEON L. PAEKEE. 



FRUIT STEALING. 



Eew things more severely test a person's pa- 

 tience, than after he has by great pains brought a 

 valuable tree or vine to good bearing condition, to 

 have the fi'uit stealthily taken from him just as it 

 is becoming matured. Yet this is a common occur- 

 rence in all parts of the country ; and, what is still 

 worse, the trees are often seriously damaged by the 

 rough usage they receive from the intruders. These 

 depredations are generally committed Avith such 

 caution as to preclude detection, and if one com- 

 plains of his loss, or tries to prevent its recurrence, 

 ten to one he will only aggravate the evil. 



Besides this, a good tree always receives a mar- 

 vellous number of neighborly visits from persons in 

 the vicinity. The "nearest way across," is almost 

 sure to be directly by it, and of course each one 

 who passes that way will '■'■ just pick tip an apple^'' 

 or perhaps two or three, or indeed lill his pockets, 

 or a basket. They know the owner will'-not care, 

 " for he is always glad to give them as many as 

 they can eat." Should a person manifest any dis- 

 pleasure at such treatment, he is forth witli branded 

 as stingy, small-souled, etc. So, between kind 

 neighbors and stealthy rogues, the fruit-grower too 

 often fares rather poorly, and it is not strange that 

 the question is often asked, "How shall I protect 

 my fruit?" 



In thinly settled places, where the difficulty is 

 not very serious, it would no doubt be sufficient in 

 many instances to plant trees and vines of the 

 choicest kinds by the roadside, in sufficient number 

 to produce a full supply of excellent fruit for the 

 hungry passer. What the owner of the adjoining 

 premises would get would repay him for setting 

 out and taking care of them, and thieves would be 

 hardly likely to be so strongly attached to the 

 practice of stealing, as to go into an enclosure 

 when there was an abundance by the roadside. It 

 would moreover be a constant appeal to tlie nobler 

 sentiments of the heart. The benevolence of the 

 act would be appreciated even by the degraded, 

 and it wottld be respected. In the vicinity of 

 large towns, no doubt a good hedge would be the 

 best protection. 



There have been many plans devised to detect 

 and punish intruders, but so far as I know they are 



of little valne. After all, it is chiefly to an enlight- 

 ened and elevated condition of the people, that we 

 are to look for the security of all kinds of property ; 

 hence every measure which tends to improve public 

 morals — whether it be to abate nuisances, gather 

 and reform wretched outcasts, furnish employment 

 for willing hands, or any other means — will strong- 

 ly tend to check the evil in question. l. h. 



COVERING HALF-HARDY PLANTS. 



For covering half-hardy plants, or sci'eening 

 them from dry winds, various means are employed. 

 In France, a basket is constructed of two semi- 

 cylinders, constructed in the mode 

 of straw hives. To these are fixed 

 solid feet of wood to drive into the 

 ground. If it is necessary to shel- 

 ter one plant from east or north- 

 east winds, one cylinder is suffi- 

 cient; but if it is a plant which 

 you are forced to protect, is deli- 

 cate, and requires a more com[)lete 

 protection, you inclose it between 

 the two semi-cylinders, fixed one to 

 the other by means of liooks rep- 

 resented in the drawing. A lid of 

 the same construction, furnished at 

 its edge with a circle of woodwork, 

 is fitted, when necessary, on the 

 cylinder, and thus, perhaps, offers 

 a more effectual shelter against the 

 severity of cold winds and excess- 

 ive heat than any other. These 

 sorts of shades are light to move, very solid, and 

 very warm ; for, letting but little of the exterior 

 air penetrate, they preserve at niglit the heat 

 which accumulates in the interior. They would 

 also guard plants well from the sun, and thus offer 

 a means of checking the natural perspiration of 

 green parts. Probably nothing could be invented 

 more suitable for the protection of young plants, 

 like the Magnolia grandiflora, in this latitude, 

 where the frozen sap is attacked by the sun, and 

 the leaves in young specimens instantly killed. 

 For protecting the stems of grafted roses from the 

 summer sun, they may be made of basket willows. 

 — Horticulturist. 



Common Plants. — A recent writer well ob- 

 serves: "There is nothing too common, or beto- 

 kening stinginess or poverty, in having the oldest 

 or simplest plant well grown and bloomed in a pot; 

 everybody loves to see them. Look at the hanging 

 plants in the Crystal Palace, and say if you ever 

 saw so many of the very commonest plants put 

 together before. Not one of them but the poorest 

 man in the next village might have in his window, 

 and yet everybody admires them. It is only that 

 fashion requires the rich to have more costly 

 plants, but surely there is no reason why you and 

 I should not have them, or that we should be so 

 foolish as to hanker after guinea plants, which are 

 not a bit the better for being dearer." 



A Profitable Apple Tree. — Mr. H. Stearns, 

 of Fitchville, Vt., says he once paid 25 cents for a 

 Bald win apple tree, and in six years after planting 

 he sold from this tree $5.25 worth of fruit, and had 

 some for his own use besides. 



