THE GENESEE FAKMER. 



873 



red, or five hundred acres, should not raise 

 jnjoy these luxuries, as well as those sons of 

 rhose lives are cast in the cities and villages 

 e country. That they have the time, skill, 

 oil, is not to be questioned. It is only neces- 

 to convince thera of the practicability and im- 

 mce of the subject. This it is our purpose to 

 the future pages of the Farmer^ treating each 

 in detail. We hope to interest and benefit the 

 ers vpho read these pages, not by impractica- 

 ;heories and captivating visions of increased 

 th, but rather by eliminating the best means 

 nploying labor to render their lives useful and 

 rable, and their homes the abode of content 

 jappiness. 



AMERICAN WILD PLUMS. 



[E Pritiius Americana^ or the red and yellow 

 plum, is quite abundant here. They are of 

 ge, red, yellow, and purplish colors, — the last 

 Qg a bloom, and ripening later than the yellow, 

 ge, and red varieties. In the size of fruit they 

 [uite variable, as well as in the period of their 

 irity. They are from one half to one inch in 

 leter, and ripen from early in August until Oc- 

 r. Many of the varieties are of excellent fla- 

 being sprightly and very juicy, for eating, and 

 •reserving tlie best sorts are not much inferior 

 le cultivated plums. 



le severe winters of 1856 and '57 have swept 

 Lawrence^ Bolmar, and indeed almost every 

 ety of cultivated plums, from our collections, 

 the P. Americana remains unharmed, bearing 

 ly and abundantly a very good substitute for 

 favorites. The wild plum grows here to a 

 e size, many trees being a foot in diameter, 

 1 large and spreading tops. They are not 

 ;ted with the "black knot" to any extent, and 

 only the small, late sorts, that are affected at 

 The wild plum makes a good stock to bud the 

 h upon, and is an effectual remedy against 

 ravages of the peach- worm when budded from 

 e to six inches from the ground. Large quan- 

 s are now annually planted by nui'serymen for 

 purpose. 



he Prunus Chicasa is a native of the Southern 

 tes, very little different from the above variety ; 

 2ed I am inclined to believe that they have be- 

 le so much crossed and hybridized as to be 

 rcely distinguishable. 



he Prunus maratima^ a native of the sea coast 

 adjacent country, has no representatives here, 

 as far as I can judge from former acquaintance, 

 y can well be dispensed with. 

 i.11 the varieties of wild plums are not so much 

 jcted by the curculio as the cultivated sorts; 

 y seem to improve with cultivation, and will 

 ■haps furnish in time as good and much more 

 •dy varieties. The Prunus domesticn, or culti- 

 ;ed plum, is admitted by botanists to have sprung 

 m tlie sloe, a much worse variety. 



^ardiii Co., Ohio. "W. C. HAMPTON. 



HALF-HARDY ROSES- WINTER PROTECTION. 



Amateuks have often been deterred from the 

 cultivation of many very choice roses, because they 

 were not hardy enough to stand the winter, and it 

 was very troublesome to preserve them in a condi- 

 tion to bloom the succeeding season. Spending an 

 hour with one of the most successful amateurs of 

 Bufialo, A. I. Mathews, Esq.. we learned he had 

 succeeded in keeping his rose-bushes, the past three 

 winters, so that they have bloomed quite satisfac- 

 torily the ensuir g summer. 



The bushes are planted in a clump, at proper 

 distances from each other, though occupying no 

 unnecessary room. On the approach of winter, 

 by driving stakes in the ground, boards are placed 

 around, fitting closely, so as to form a tight board 

 fence as high as the bushes ; over the top of these 

 a cover of boards is placed, so as to turn water and 

 leave the bushes dry. 



This has been found quite effectual ; some bushes 

 have been killed off more or less at the top, and one 

 or two to the ground. We would suggest, as an ad- 

 ditional protection, the banking up on the outside 

 of the frame, at the bottom, with coarse stable ma- 

 nure, earth, or straw, and covering the top with a 

 thatch of straw, that could be put on in the cold- 

 est weather, and removed when the temperature 

 rendered it desirable, — as uniformity of tempera- 

 ture is one of the requisites of success. 



THE APPLE-TREE BORER. 



Knight found that the bark of the birch tree con- 

 ns more sugar the farther it is taken from the roots. 



Editors Gexesee Fakmek : — Conversing with 

 an intelligent friend, who is largely engaged in 

 apple growing, the conversation turned upon the 

 apple-tree borer. His opinion in reg{.rd to this in- 

 sect was, that it would never attack a ferfecily 

 healthy tree. There was a vast difference between 

 a thrifty tree and a healthy one. A healthy tree, 

 according to his idea, is one that has received 

 nothing but vegetable manure, whereas a thrifty 

 tree may have received animal manure.* It was 

 his opinion that the borer would not molest a tree 

 which had been grown wholly by the aid of vege- 

 table manures. 



To illustrate this theory, he referred to one of 

 his orchards, which was set out on unbroken pas- 

 ture land, receiving but one plowing and no ma- 

 nure. Receptacles were dug and partly filled with 

 fragments of turf, on which the :ree was set, cov- 

 ered with earth, and thoroughly mulched with 

 straw, brakes, leaves, and other refuse vegetable 

 matter, which was repeated as often as necessary. 

 In this orchard the borer is not to be found ; while 

 in others, which have been repeatedly plowed and 

 fertilized with animal manure, they commit their 

 yearly depredations. 



Has any one else noticed a similar result? 



Belfast, Mo., J\rov. 1S5S. GEO. E. BEACKETT. 



* By animal, we understand common barn-yard manure, made 

 up in part by the droppings ;of animals. Why such manure is 

 unhealthy we cannot conceive. — ^Eds. 



