92 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



SEPT. 30, 1835. 



[From llifi ^outliern Agriculturist] 

 On Oie disi-ases of Tree 8, and methods of Cure. 



Wlien it is observed ot' a tree, that it fines not 

 shoot fortli, we are rcitain tliHt it is either punc- 

 tured to the liV)er or white l)arl<, or that it is ilefi- 

 (.•leiit ill nourisliment from the •)ovcrty of tlie eartli, 

 in which it is planteH, that will in time prove its 

 destruction, 'i he remedy is to lay bare the roots 

 in the month of November, for three feet around 

 the tree, and put in tliree or four basl<ets of well 

 rotted cow manure ; throw upon this three or four 

 buckets of water to force the manure amongst the 

 roots, after which fill up the hole with the same 

 earth that was taken out of it ; the roofs becoming 

 refreshed, throw out new fibres, and tlie year after 

 the tree will he seen shooting forth its green foli- 

 age again. If the summer is very dry you must 

 throw two buckets of water around it from tii>ie 

 to time. The winter following, in trimming the 

 trees you must not leave as many branches as on 

 those that have always been in good health — 

 Trees of every description are cured in this man- 

 ner. 



Bad soil. — Fruit trees acconmiodate themselves 

 more to warm light eartli than to that which is 

 cold oud wet. 



Diseased roots. — Frequently a tree, al! of a sud- 

 den, after having thriven many years, will become 

 weak and languid : this arises from the roots be- 

 coming rotten from having been planted too deep, 

 from the many fibres, from humidity or otherwise. 

 This is easily remedied by laying bare the roots 

 in autumn, and cutting off such as are decayed, 

 up to the sound wood. 



Exhausted earth. — If the tree languishes in its 

 sound roots, the malady arises from the earth be 

 ingtoo much exhausted. To reanimate it, remove 

 the exhausted earth and replace it with new ; af- 

 terwards throw around the foot of the tree two 

 good baskets of cow manure, if the earth is wanii, 

 or that of the horse if it is cold, aud when the 

 time arrives to trim it, cut out the old wood. If 

 it does not shoot forth well the succeeding year, 

 it ought then to be dug up and thrown away. 



Tot regenerate old trees. — When you have in 

 your garden a very old tree, whose branches on 

 the right and left indicate dying, you may calcu- 

 late the cause to be in the roots: it wants nour- 

 ishment, and the earth about its feet is too old, 

 exhausted and dry. To give it again health and 

 vigor, lay bare the roots in the niomh of Novem- 

 ber, for four feet square all around them so as not 

 to injure them ; afterwards throw five or six bas- 

 kets of well rottid cow manure above the roots, 

 the fall and winter rains will decompose it ; if the 

 winter is dry, you must water it, in order that the 

 liquor of the inaiiuro may become a kind of jius to 

 iTUurish the roots ; the saj) will begin to flow, and 

 the earth and tree revive. In the month of Feb- 

 'ruary, cut the old branches to the body of the tree, 

 covering the wound so as to prevent either rain 

 or the sun from doing any injury. After the first 

 year, the branches will be three feet ; and, if it is 

 a tree which ought to be trimmed, the winter after 

 trim the branches a foot long. This manner of 

 resuscitating all kinds of trees is excellent. 



Trees diseased on one side only. — If a tree is dis- 

 eased on one side and vigorous on the other, lay 

 tire roots entirely bare, remove the diseased |.i'.rt, 

 and cut the larger roots in order to make the tree 

 equal, and the circulation of the sap more general ; 

 jiut new earth above the roots, even if they should 



not be unhealthy, aud two or throe baskets of 

 manure as above. 



When you trim this tree, leave the vigorous 

 side long, and you must leave all the fruit branches, 

 even the weakest, so as to draw the sap : trim very 

 close the diseased side ; cut off all useless branches, 

 and leave a few fruit branches. 



Yellow leaves This disease arises often from 



the same cause as that of the disease last spoken 

 of that is to say, exhausted earth. In such case 

 administer new earth mixed with manure reduced 

 nearlv to that of common earth ; or, without en- 

 tirely uncovering the roots, with ashes aud soot, 

 these materials arc very good for light earths. 

 When the ground is cold, pigeon dung is very 

 I'ood particularly where it has been in a heap for 

 two years, to ameliorate its strong heat ; spread it 

 an inch deep about the foot of the tree, and in the 

 month of March following bury it. For the want 

 of this duns, you must take away the old earth 

 from around the tree and replace it with new, 

 mixed with fine well rotted horse manure. If the 

 yellowness arises from the earth being damp, take 

 horse-dung mixed with water, so as to form a kind 

 of pap, make a trench around the foot of the tree, 

 pour in the mixture, cover it, and let it thus i-e- 

 main : it will i-eanimate it. if the yellow leaves 

 arise from a contr-ar-y cause, that is, from the soil 

 being too light and dry, you must as soon as tjie 

 month of November arrives uncover the roots, and 

 jiut above them the scrapings or settlings of a 

 pool, well-drained, worn out, and exhausted street 

 mud ; liofif-dung or other similar manur-e : these 

 simple and easy means will resuscitate them. 



A tree often becomes yellow fi-om having given 

 too much fruit, and exhausting its substance. In 

 this case you must pull off a ]iart of the fruit, and 

 apply fi-esh nourishment to the roots. 



When a ti-ee apjiears to languish, make a circle 

 around the foot of it, in which you must put any 

 convenient manure ; in trimming it, cut off all 

 supei-fluous wood, and after having filled up the 

 hole in which you have put the manure, leave na- 

 ture to act, and she will resuscitate it soon. In 

 digging around the tree, keep off at from two to 

 four feet distance, observing as you approach the 

 tree to dig carefully around the mound in which 

 the roots are formed. 



Sterility. — 0|ien the earth about the foot of the 

 tree, cut off the extremities of the lai-ge I'oots, 

 shorten those that are too long or far off, and all 

 the small ones near the trunk ; throw good new- 

 earth upon them and cover them up. 



Means to produce fruit from, trees which Jlourish 

 ivell, but ti'hose fruit becomes blis:hted abtiost every 



year There are some ti'ees which are charming 



to the sight when in blossom, but whicli retain 

 none of their fruit: in this case, at least six buck- 

 ets of water thrown ai'ound them when in full 

 bloom, will answer a good purpose. If you have 

 not so much water-, you may i-efreshen the tree by 

 sjirinkling the buds. When the fall of the blos- 

 .soms is in too great an abundance, bleed the tr-ec 

 or prune the roots. 



Inertness of the sap. — In vei-y cold and dr-y sum- 

 mers ilr which there is not much rain, it happens 

 that the sap ceases to flow by degrees. You will 

 then see a great portiou of the fruit, particularly 

 peaches, which have the most need of a lai-ge 

 stock of sap to acquire maturity, fall or prove 

 abortive. 'J'he only r-cmedy in this ease is to open 

 around the foot of the tree, and to throw in a 



bucket of water to open the pores and revive the 

 sap, which will prove well that watering and vigi- 

 lance ar-e necessary in gardening. 



-When the s;iring is dry and cold, it happens 

 often that a peach tree does not shed its blossoms, 

 the flower attaching itself to the small nut of the 

 peach, dries it u|i, and makes it fall ; to remedy 

 this, you must bare the roots and thi-ow in buck- 

 ets of water-, and when it is dried up, cover them 

 again with earth, and continue watruing them ev- 

 ery week during th3 months of Mar-ch and A))r-il, 

 until you find the fruit safe and well grown ; this 

 raises the sap and saves the fruit ; it is good to 

 water fr-ee!y peach and apricot trees during the 

 great heat of summer-, and above all, when the 

 fruit is approaching to maturity. When the fr-uit 

 is well grown, the ti-ee must be thinned of those 

 that are super-abundant, which not only makes the 

 fruit gr-ow larger but better, it also pi-eserves the 

 vigor of the tree, which would become ruined in 

 two or three years, if you do not proportion the 

 fruit to the strength of th'j tri:e. Peaches, necta- 

 rines, and apricots, must be thinned in May. Ouly 

 a few fruit must be suffered to remain on the 

 weak blanches. 



When the heat is gi-cat and a continual drought, 

 at the end of July, and during the mouth of Au- 

 gust, it is good to throw aroiurd the foot of the 

 tr-ee, and particularly tire peach, a bucket or half 

 bucket of water, so as to rouse the sap and pi-e- 

 vent the fruit from falling half ripe. When you 

 observe the tree languish, and the fruit advance 

 very slowly and fall in gi-eat numbers, yott maybe 

 sure it is in the sap ; you nrust then put water to 

 the foot of the tree, for which purpose you must 

 make a trench ar-ound it at a short distance, so 

 that the water may be better held, cover the earth 

 with leaves or straw, and throw water on it, so as 

 to enable the earth to preserve its freshness. 



To give fruit a fine color-, about the end of Juue 

 clip with a scissoi-s those leaves that sur-round the 

 fruit, and when they have grown near-ly to their 

 size, remove all their leaves from around them, so 

 that the dew, rain and sun may penetrate, paying 

 attention to the soil, the weather, and the strength 

 of the fi-uit, for delicate fruit becomes scorched if 

 laid hare too soon, aud if too late, will remain 

 without color and taste. Peaches and apricots 

 should he laid bar-e only fifteen days previous to 

 their being ri|ie, otherwise the fruit would become 

 defective and imperfect about the stone. By jet- 

 ting water with a syringe upon fruit exposed to 

 the sitn two or three times a day, you will give it 

 a peculiar and curious color, but at the same tim« 

 impair the quality. 



When the severity of the heat occasions the 

 fritit to fall, instead of watering, dig round the 

 roots two inches tleep, which fill up with the ashes 

 of wood, and to pi-evcnt the wind from blowing it 

 away, cover this ashes with earth. 



Peach arrd apricot trees are liable to what if 

 termed the blight, which is an injur-y that shows 

 itself by the leaves becoming crimped, shrivelled, 

 dull and yellow, they fall about the fii-st rain; 

 you have nothing to do but first to i-emove all the 

 blighted leaves, so that the new foliage of the suc- 

 ceeding spring by force of the sap of those which 

 have been blighted, come quicker. 



To remove gunr you njust with a proper instru- 

 ment cut down to the inner part of the tree, arid 

 cover the wound with dry earth tied on with a 

 cloth. 



