254 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



novel, the stage scene or the canvass of the paint- 

 er. How he strives and struggles to surround him- 

 self with artificial substitutes, and still how pain- 

 ful is the void ! The frivolities of dress, the nick- 

 named ornaments of home, the extravagant expen- 

 diture on appearance in everything, all fail to yield 

 solace to a mind wliose attributes have ever been 

 love of harmony, beauty and wisdom. 



Dweller in the city, — advantages we know you 

 have; even some of them of a refined kind, we ad- 

 mit; but is it true that intellectual life can be en- 

 joyed to greater perfection in the city than in the 

 country? Can the city soothe the woe-worn spirit, 

 relieve the limbs from disease, promise hope for 

 the future, give relief in the decline of life, or 

 make the blood flow as quick, as healthful through 

 the veins of youth? I need attempt no com 

 parison; the poet uttered truth, — "God made the 

 country, man the town." J. B. 



Spencer, Mass., July, 1851. 



For the Netv England Farmer. 

 DOCTORING A TREE. 



It is an important point to know how to select a 

 good, healthy tree. It is a very important matter 

 to know how to take up a tree, how to prepare a 

 place for setting it, how to prune and prepare the 

 roots of it, and how to set it out in the ground. 

 But, after all, trees, as well as men, are liable to 

 be sick; and the doctor's aid is necessary when 

 they are sick, to preserve them alive and restore 

 them to health again. 



Last year I had a sick pear tree. It was, to all 

 appearance, a very dilficult case to cure. It had 

 been transplanted in the spring, from a nursery 

 near the sea-shore in Massachusetts, to a farm 

 among the hills of New Hampshire. It so hap- 

 pened that the tree got a bad position in the bun- 

 dle where it was packed for transportation, and the 

 roots became much broken; besides which, a cord 

 chafed the bark entirely olT of one side of the tree 

 where its limbs branched. After it had been set 

 in the ground for some time a careless hand drove 

 an ox-team on to it, and tore off the bark near the 

 ground to a sad extent. 



It leaved out with a fine appearance; but as the 

 heat of summer came on, it wilted, and every leaf 

 turned black. Here was a fearful case. The tree 

 was too valuable to lose. Well, then, it must im 

 mediately be put under the care of a tree doctor. 



Rationale of proceedings. — The leaves being en- 

 tirely dead, the bark of the twigs dried, and even 

 the bark of the limbs and body were dyuig, there 

 could be no more support gained to the tree from 

 the atmosphere. The roots too much broken and 

 impaired to give much assistance, it was evident 

 that the sap which tlie body contained was not suf- 

 ficient to renivigorate the limbs of the tree; while 

 every limb and every twig which was not entirely 

 dead or dryed, was drawing from the body, and 

 rendering its fate equally hopeless with that of the 

 limbs and twigs. Tlie first step, then, is amputa 

 tion. The whole of the top, limbs and the twigs 

 depending upon them, must be taken off, so they 

 should draw no more away from the body. Then 

 boards are put upon the sunny side of tiie tree, a 

 little distance from it, to allow the air to circulate 

 freely, and at early evening, as often as convenient, 

 the tree is gently showered with pure soft water 

 not very cold. 



Such was the treatment of my pear tree. I 

 watched the tree with expectation of seeing it re- 

 cover. After a few weeks had passed, it began to 

 assume the appearance of a living tree. The few 

 small twigs on the side of the body first put out 

 leaves, and then appeared new shoots, and before 

 the cold of autumn stopped its progress it had giv- 

 en the most positive a.ssurance by its growth that 

 it was positively cured. This year the tree grows 

 finely. 



My opinion is, that without taking off the top of 

 the tree quite down to the body, its life could not 

 have been saved. Even then, without lessening 

 the sun's action upon the body, the case would have 

 been doubtful. 



When observing the difference in the success of 

 different individuals, in managing young fruit trees, 

 it becomes evident that many lose a preat deal of 

 labor in setting trees, and no little money which 

 they pay for them, by not learning how to ti-eat 

 them when they are sick. 



We have a great number of men who ofier their 

 services to cure "the ills that flesh is heir to;" we 

 have our "horse-doctors" and our "cattle-doctors;" 

 but is it not also important to have more than we 

 now have among us who know how to doctor a 

 fruit tree? I submit the question to those who 

 lose many of the trees they set with the hope of 

 being soon supplied with choice fruit. 



While upon the subject, I will mention another 

 case of curnig a tree. It is an apple tree of the 

 Baldwin variety. In the snmmer of 1843 it pro- 

 duced a few apples, perhaps a peck, all of which 

 were small, and quite worthless; not coming to 

 maturity. Several limbs of the tree died during 

 that season, and the leaves fell prematurely from 

 the rest of it. Most persons said that the tree was 

 worth nothing, except for fuel. 



In the autumn of that year I began an experiment 

 for the "ewe" of the tree. The soil about it had 

 been stirred by cultivation from year to year; but 

 as the tree stood upon ground sligiitly elevated, the 

 surface soil had been worked away from the tree, 

 leaving the larsfe roots too near the surface, and the 

 the surface itself quite hard, among the roots. The 

 first step was to deepen the soil. Rich earth was 

 carted under the tree, sufficient to cover the ground 

 eight or ten inches deep all around the tree to the 

 distance of perhaps fifteen feet. In the spring of 

 1850 this was leveled down and a large dressing 

 of manure spread upon it. Then all was ploughed 

 together, and the ground was planted. The tree 

 blossomed about the same a.s the year before. Ear- 

 ly in summer the whole top of the tree, (the dead 

 limbs having been removed,) assumed an entirely 

 new appearance. The dark colored and luxuriant 

 foliage bespoke a change. In autumn I took from 

 it a quantity of apples about sufficient, even at the 

 low price at whicli Baldwins sold last year, to pay 

 all expense of doctoring the tree. And what is to 

 me the best of all, they were equal in beauty to 

 any I ever looked upon, and as rich in flavor as 

 any I ever tasted. Under and around the tree was 

 a luxuriant growth of potatoes and winter crook- 

 neck squashes, which more than settled the bill for 

 repairs. This year, how with the tree? It is even 

 now bending its limbs quite low with a splendid 

 burden of fruit, wiiile the whole tree bears the best 

 appearance of health. In gratitude for a little friend- 

 ly care, it is making a bow, in a manner so grace- 

 Iful and beautiful that it wins the admiration of ev- 



