may be advantageously mixed, as they modify as well 

 as relaiii llie heat of the niiiiiure. For seeds and 

 potato sets, SiC, three to six inches of good tine earth 

 is placed over the manure, and when the violent heat 

 has been allowed to pass otl' for a day or two, the 

 eeeds, fcc, may be planted. Hot-beds require to be 

 carefully protected from the cold by matts, &c., and 

 the |)lants require regular and careful watering, 

 shading perhaps, from a very hot sun, and airing in 

 mild days ; but in doing this, be cautious. 



HOT-BFU FRAME. 



A frame for your cuttings is but the hot-bed frame 

 we have described : but for such as gooseberries, 

 grapes, fcc, you need no bottom heat. Prepare a 

 bid to set the frame on, of light, friable, sandy soil, 

 and in this put your cuttings. In this frame you 

 can iilant earlier than in the open ground, and protect 

 them against sudden and injurious changes of the 

 weather. Hot-beds and frames should face the south 

 or southeast. 



SELECTION OF STOCKS TOR GRAFTING. 



\Vk have a communication from Jas. H. Watts, 

 Esq., on this subject, the substance of which is, 

 "that scions of good sorts should be grafted into 

 trees that assimilate somewhat with the scions in 

 quality, fiavor, and growth" 



This is, in our opinion, quite unnecessary, and 

 would be at the same tinie quite impracticable to any 

 considerable extent. We understand Mr. Watts to 

 have reference only to the re-gralting of large trees. 



We do not dispute but that the stock does exercise 

 an influence on the fruit ; but the instances when 

 such an influence is observable are very few, and 

 in the few that are occasionally observed the cause 

 may be found somewhere else than in the stock. It 

 would be wrong to graft only on stocks that assimi- 

 late in growth to the scion. A proceeding quite 

 opposite is in general practice, and is highly advan- 

 tageous, viz : that of grafting loeiik and slender grow- 

 ing sorts on vigorous stocks. And stocks the most 

 opposite in more! characters than one are frequently 

 resorted to with advantage, for ameliorating or mod- 

 ifying some particular character of the fruit, or pecu- 

 liarity of the tree in its growth or bearing. What 

 we woiild counsel, in all cases, would be to select 

 and graft only upon sound, healthy, and vigorous 

 stocks, whether large trees or small ; and that scions, 

 too, be chosen from equally sound and healthy trees. 

 Feeble growth, disease, unproductiveness and death 

 may be expected from grafting enfeebled stocks, old 

 or yoimg. Whether the stocks produce sweet or 

 sour fruit, is a mattci of little consequence in gen- 

 eral ; for the country is full of trees producing the 

 most luscious fruit, on stocks the fruit of which in 

 acidity would, to use Mr. Watts' expression, "put 

 vinegar to the blush." 



LIGHT IN THE EAST. 



lis the address of Asa T. Newiiall, before the Essex 

 (Mass.) Agricultural Society, we find the following : 



" We cannui pri)long Ihe exislence of any purticul:ir kiiul 

 of fruit, by engrafting from old into young trees, beyond 

 the natural lifo of the original tree, or llie time it would cease 

 to bear by old nge, it living." « » " VVe miglit as well 

 undertake lo renew the age of an old cow by lurning lu-r 

 into a new pasture, as the age of any species of fruit by 

 grafting into you?ig trees." 



It is certainly surprising to find, at this day, sucli 

 doctrines inculcated in an Agricultural address, within 

 speaking distance of Boston. We apprehend that 

 even in Massachusetts there is a great deal of the 

 philosophy of culture to be learned. There can not 

 be a more absurd notion entertained than that in the 

 above extract. Every man who is at all familiar with 

 the history of our cultivated fruits, knows that many 

 varieties that are now, to all appearances, in the full 

 vigor of youth, originated many generations ago. 

 A peach tree will not, under the most favorable 

 circum.stances, live and bear over forty or fifty years, 

 and few attain that ; and yet we have varieties much 

 older than that as healthy and vigorous as ever. The 

 parent trees of many of our best apples and pears are 

 long si nee dead of age, but the young trees propagated 

 from them are at this moment in youth and vigor. 

 See even in the case of annual plants — the petunia 

 is a familiar instance — we sow the seeds in the 

 spring, the plant grows, blossoms, pioduces seed, and 

 dies the same season ; but if we take cuttings of this 

 plant while growing, keep them in a hou.se over 

 winter, and put tliem out again in the spring, they 

 will blossom as freely and profusely as the parent ; 

 and we may in this way perpetuate that plant for any 

 length of time. So in case of all fruit and orna- 

 mental trees, shrubs and plants cultivated by budding, 

 grafting, layering, and other means of propagation, 

 properly performed, we can perpetuate them to an 

 indefinite period. It is unskillful and careless culture, 

 and vicious systems of propagation, that produce 

 deterioration, attributed erroneously to old age. 



Pruning the Peach. — Those who intend to pur- 

 sue the system of pruning the peach recommended 

 in our February number, and who have not done so 

 already, must remember that there is no time to bo 

 lost. It should be done at once. We are happy to 

 learn from our correspondents, that the subject is 

 attracting particular attention at this time. 



ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



A. \V.. Mnrcellns. — You are in error, reg.irding the prodne- 

 tiou of ditTerent sorts of fruit on the same graft in eonseqnence 

 of the fl<»vvers having been fertilized by another variety. 

 Tlie efteots ofthe fertilization, or crossing, would be devel- 

 oped only in the productions of the seed. The russetynpple 

 you found among your Greenings was nothing but a Green- 

 ing ; the russety character had been acquired from soiiio 

 particular cause that could not probahly be explained ; such 

 instances occur frequently. So with all fruits. You will 

 therefore excuse us from publishing your communication. 



In regard to the blighted pear tree referred lo, the ftct was 

 no doubt as you state ; for if the whole hark bad been dpail, 

 the tree could not have been saved. The reason is so obvious 

 as to reouire no comment. 



[O^* Wo wish our friends and correspondents to bear in 

 mind that we cannot appropriate our limited space to tho 

 discussion of wil<i theories. We would be pleased, now and 

 again, to take them up, but we must deny ourselves tho 

 pleasure. We ttelieve that wo shall best consult the wants 

 and wishes of those who read this paper, by devoting our 

 few columns to the plain exposition of sound practice. 



