74 



GENESEE FARMER. 



Mar. 



Fruit Trees.— Bestruction of Insect.s, Culture, 

 Grafting, &c. 



BY A. HUIDEKOPKR, MEADVII.LE, PA. 



With the return of spring the attention of 

 farmers will again be directed to their orchards, 

 budding, grafting, pruning, &c.; and with the 

 awakening interest in agricultural matters, all 

 careful pomologists cherish the hope that a more 

 general attention will be given not only to the 

 right mode of culture, but also to the more effec- 

 tual destruction of the injurious insects, which, 

 for several years past, have been multiplying in 

 our country. In addition to protecting insectiv- 

 orous birds, one of the most effectual methods of 

 accomplishing the latter, is the washing of fruit 

 trees at the appropriate season. If incubation is 

 perfected, and the young insect produced the 

 same season that the egg is deposited, then the 

 washing should take place as soon as the ovi- 

 positer has accomplished its task. If hatching, 

 however, is not effected until the following year, 

 then early in the spring is a leisure and good 

 time to anticipate and prevent the evil. 



A good deal has been said about the best ap- 

 plication for this purpose — one recommending 

 lime, another a solution of soft soap, and another 

 a solution of potash. All these are very excel- 

 lent, but sometimes fail of being applied from an 

 unwillingness in the farmer to take a drive to the 

 village in search of them, or from tlie false econ- 

 omy which regards the slight expense of procur- 

 ing them. If tliere is anything equally benefi- 

 cial, and within every one's raach, we think it 

 should be substituted, as doing away with the last 

 apology which a lazy man can give for neglect- 

 ing his trees ; and we think that this article may 

 be found in wood ashes, of which every farmer 

 has an abundance. 1 have tried the solution of 

 black salts, the application of soap, and also that 

 of wood ashes ; and so far as mv observation 

 goes, for large trees with rough bark, the latter 

 is quite as good, if not better than the former. — 

 A wash of ashes and water can be made as strong 

 as you please, and if put on some dry day, a 

 good deal of the ashes will remain adhering to 

 the bark, which the subsequent rains wash into 

 the crevices. This wash, if applied in the sum- 

 mer time, will, while the ashes remain on the 

 tiee, make it offensive and disagreeable to the 

 insects, and deter them from lighting upon it ; 

 it also ultimately makes the bark smooth and 

 healthy. Simple lime and water 1 should sup- 

 pose would have the same effect. Whether tlie 

 white-wash tliat is usually applied containing 

 glue, and making a thick coating sufficient to 

 ati'ect the solar and atmos])heric influences upon 

 the tree, is equally good, I leave for those who 

 have tried it to say — theoretically I should sup- 

 pose it would not be. 



By those who wish for healthy and productive 

 orchards, too much attention cannot be given to 



the bark of their trees. We frequently meet 

 with foi-est trees whose interior has been almost 

 entirely destroyed by fire or decay, and which 

 yet seem healthy and floi-.rishing, by virtue of a 

 vigorous bark ; and any one who has tried the 

 experiment, must have observed how both shrubs 

 and trees, that have become enfeebled by age 

 and neglect, can be re-juvenated by attention to 

 their exterior condition. We don't mean to 

 recommend to any one to procure old or large 

 trees for his orchard in place of young ones, but 

 if he has an old apple tree worth improving, by 

 removing the outside of tlie whole bark on it late 

 in the spring, he will find that he has given to 

 the tree much additional vigor. Upon smaller 

 trees and shrubs a libei'al scraping with a trowel 

 and an application of ashes and water will have 

 the same effect. 



When trees grow in grassy land, a pretty good 

 way to keep them from being sod-bound is to 

 remove, in the fall, the sod for two or three feet 

 around the tree, and on this turn about half a 

 wheel-barrow full of manure ; the winter rains 

 and snows will wash the strength of it down to 

 the fibrous roots. In the spring the manure may 

 be scattered about under the tree, and in lieu of 

 it, substitute leached ashes. This, besides being 

 beneficial to the tree, prevents the grass from 

 approaching the stem of the tree during the sum- 

 mer ; and what grass grows over the ashes is 

 easily removed in the fall. 



I mentioned in an article on budding, in July 

 last, that grafting could be done as well in Au- 

 gust as in the spring. This is true so far as the 

 condition of the tree and the scion are concerned ; 

 but in observing the result of some grafting that 

 I did on the last day of July, 1 notice that the 

 scions that were screened l)y tlie other limbs, 

 took and did well, while a few that were set on 

 the extreme top of a tree, exposed to the sun, 

 were destroyed by the heat, it is a good plan 

 with regard to solar heat in grafting, to cover 

 the grafting wax with a small strip of white pa- 

 per, which, by reflecting the heat, gives addi- 

 tional protection to the stock. 



In conclusion we would say, that the farmer 

 who curries his horse twice a day, finds himself 

 abundantly rewarded for his toil in the improved 

 strength and appearance of his animals ; why 

 won't he curry his trees one or twice a year, and 

 reap a larger reward for the labor and the capi- 

 tal thus invested 1 



Transplanting Evergreens. 



Mr. Editor : — I have recently become a sub- 

 scriber to the Genesee Farmer, and have this 

 day received the first number. I observed at 

 the head of the Horticultural Department, a pic- 

 ture of a cottage, surrounded witli a few speci- 

 mens of that beautiful evergreen tree, the "Bal- 

 sam Fir." I thought I would send you, for 

 publication, a iew hints on the subject that heads 



