222 



GENESEE FARMER. 



Sept. 



Protection of Fruit Trees against late Frosts. 



Wherever we have been in the Western 

 States — in Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, and Wis- 

 consin — we have listened to very general com- 

 plaints about the fruit crops being so often de- 

 stroyed by late spring frosts. It is the great 

 difficulty there. B. Hubbard, Esq., of Detroit, 

 says, in the August number of the Cultivator, 

 iJiat this calamity occurs in Michigan about once 

 in every four years. In a large portion of this 

 State the same difficulty is encountered, but not 

 so frequently nor so fatally as in the west. The 

 following article from the July number of the 

 Horticulturist presents a remedy that we have 

 before heard of being resorted to, on a small 

 scale, with entire success. It strikes us now 

 more favorably than ever, and we recommend a 

 tJ'ial of it to the fruit grower of every section 

 visited by late spring frosts : 



One of the most vexatious impediments to the successful 

 cultivation of fruit that the cultivator has to contend against 

 jn many districts of our country, is the liability to partial or 

 cijmplete ruin to the blassoms or young fruit by the late 

 spring frost. This disaster may be prevented by smoke, as 

 IS known to many; but the ease and safety of the applica- 

 tion i« not appreciated as it should be; and to call attention 

 Ui it is tlie object of this comraunioation. In the winter or 

 spring previous to ihe season of fruit blossoms, I procure a 

 wagon load of sawdust or refuse tan bark from the tannery, 

 a part of which I place under cover that it may become dry, 

 and tlie rest I leave exposed to the weather. At the season 

 of exposure, if llie weather gives indications of danger, and 

 ihe temperature is nearly or quite down to the freezing 

 ^Hjint, at one or two o'clock in the morning, 1 take two or 

 three shovelfuls of the dry bark or sawdust, and lay it on 

 the ground ; into this I put a coal of fire; then, on this place 

 half a bushel or more of the wet bark or sawdust, and a 

 smoke will quickly rise that will prevent the accumulation 

 <if frost for some distance around. Two men w ill make 

 twenty or tliirty of these fires in nearly as many minutes, 

 which will he sufficient to protect a fruit garden of sn acre 

 in extent. If there is a slight current of air, I place the tires 

 (vn the windward side of the garden, if not, they are so ar- 

 ranged as to give security to those trees which have blos- 

 wmied most fully. At the season when fruit trees are in 

 fower, fii .; rurely condenses on vegetation until late in the 

 night, aiJil if the fires are going by two o'clock in the morn- 

 ing, it will be soon enough, and more fuel will not be need- 

 ed, as it would be, should they be set at an earlier part of 

 ihe night. 



.Smoke, however r.nnoying and vexatious under certain 

 circumstances, may be turned to good account in the mat- 

 ter referred to. Artificial means are often resorted to, to 

 retard the blossoming of fruit trees until alaU- period in the 

 season, in order that the danger from the frost may be less- 

 ened. The latter method affords but purtial safety at cer- 

 tain and considerable expense, which is worse than lost 

 should no frost occur ; because a.-, much time as the flowers 

 are kept back, the fruit will be delayed in ripening, and 

 many of the best varieties cannot, in northern latitudes, 

 mature, unless they have every day of the short summer. 

 Smoke, of course, would be much more available in the 

 fruit j;arilen tliun in the orchard. But even in the latter, 

 one hundredth part of the loss occasioned by a severe late 

 frost would be more than suflicient to defray all the expen- 

 Mee of protection by warm vapor or smoke in the way I have 

 pointed out, and which I have thoroughly tested here. 



Remember that Labor is necessary to excel- 

 lence. This is an eternal truth, although vanity 

 cannot be brought to believe, or indolence to 

 heed it — John Randolph. 



The Annual Exhibition of the Columbus (O.) 

 Hort. Society is to be held on 7th and 8th Sept. 



Experiment in Budding. 



Mr. Editor : — Allow me to say a few words 

 on the subject of an experiment in budding, in 

 which I am now engaged. Last summer I neg- 

 lected budding till late, and consequently many 

 of my buds failed. In order to be on the safe 

 side this year, I commenced the operation early 

 in July, (5th,) and found I succeeded much bet- 

 ter. Having removed the bandage from my trees, 

 one of them, in which I had set three buds, was 

 broken off by the wind, just above the upper bud, 

 (in consequence ol the cross cut and the indent- 

 ation caused by the tightness of the bandage.) 

 Having watched the tree for a few days, I per- 

 ceived that the buds began to swell, and in about 

 a week they opened and put forth leaves. This 

 induced me to try the experiment on others, and 

 now I have a dozen or more, enough to test the 

 value of the discovery, (accidental like most oth- 

 ers,) of peach, plum, apricot, and nectarine, that 

 have commenced growing. (The peach and 

 the nectarine start more readily than the plum 

 and the apricot. ) There may be one objection to 

 the starting of a bud on the same year that it is 

 set, arising from the fact, that the greater portion 

 of the growing season is past. Hence the new 

 bud, being limited in the time of its first season's 

 growth, may not become sufficiently united to 

 the stock, or its wood not sufficiently hardened, 

 to enable it to endure the severities of the com- 

 ing winter. 



In my experiments on this subject, I have not, 

 at first, cut close to the bud when I have removed 

 the top ; and besides, I have generally managed 

 so as to allow some half dozen leaves, (more or 

 less,) to remain on the stem, I also watered 

 freely during the drouth. 



Note. — It may be thought that my practice in 

 the above experiments is at variance with n)y 

 theory of summer pruning as I have given it in 

 some of my former communications. In answer, 

 I reply, 1st. That subsequent experiments have 

 satisfied me, that young trees will bear a much 

 ^loser summer pruning without apparent injury 

 than I had supposed, and closer, I believe, than 

 older ones will bear. 2d. That my former objec- 

 tions were rather against the practice of keeping 

 trees with a small head, or top, closely trimmed 

 of all their young shoots, than against an occa- 

 sional removal of them. And in addition to the 

 reasons I then gave, I might also add, that if all 

 lateral shoots or branches be kept off the body of 

 the tree, it will not acquire sufficient strength to 

 sustain the top. H. 



Fairport, Aitg., 1847. 



Human Knowledge is a proud pillar, but it 

 is built in the midst of a desert of ignorance, and 

 those who have ascended the highest, have gain- 

 ed a more extended view of the waste. 



Several articles deferred till next month. 



