" ii"Sr^ 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



143 



make you exclaim, " How strange we did not see 

 these thing-s before." It would give us great plea- 

 sure to hear from our friends in the west respecting 

 their native trees. 



HARDY TREES. 



It is interesting to note the hardiness of various trees or 

 shrubs not yet well known in the country. Thougli the 

 past winter has not been a cold one in the northern states, 

 yet the alteration of heat and cold have been so frequent as 

 to affect many half hardy plants quite as much as a much 

 lower state of atmosphere usually does. 



Cryptomeria japonica and Taxodium sempermrens, two 

 new evergreens which were expected to prove decided ac- 

 quisitions to our pleasure ground, do not, we are sorry to 

 find, after two years trial, prove to be really hardy. The 

 young shoots of the latter have either been quite killed by 

 the frost — even when the plants have been covered ; 

 while the former, though not absolutely killed, becomes so 

 browned and enfeebled that it can never be looked upon as 

 a hardy tree north of Philadelphia. In the climate of Balti- 

 more and southward, we have no doubt that both these 

 trees will prove quite hardy. 



Pinus excelsa, abies Smithiana, Picea cephalomca, Thuya 

 filiformis, prove perfectly hardy in all exposures. The 

 Deodar cedar, we are glad to mention, is quite hardy, and 

 flourishes admirably in this climate, and will soon be exten- 

 sively planted as one of the most beautiful of evergreens. 

 We have still some doubts about the hardiness of the Arati- 

 caria or Chili pine. It certainly stands the winter — but still 

 it seems enfeebled by it. The tree seems to demand a soil 

 composed of three-fourths sand as a necessity. In rich, 

 damp, loamy soils it neither grows nor bears the winters — 

 even about Philadelphia — while in a somewhat shaded posi- 

 tion and in a very sandy soil, it thrives as far north as the 

 Hudson Highlands. Whether it will take to our climate as it 

 does to that of England — where it is certainly the most 

 striking of all evergreen trees — remains yet to be proved. 



One of the handsomest of all the new evergreens, is the 

 Yew-like tree from Florida — Torreya taxifolia. Its rich, 

 dark green foliage, its extremely elegant habit and rapid 

 growth, recommend it particularly to amateurs. It has 

 borne the past three winters about New York and in this 

 neighborhood quite without protection. 



Rhododendron catawbiense and its many beautiful varieties, 

 sent out here from English nurseries, prove much better 

 adapted to hardy culture than even the R. maximum of our 

 native woods. They should find a place in every good gai- 

 den — and should be planted in a deep shapy border com- 

 posed of sand and leaf mould. 



Wiegela rosea, Spirea prunifolia plena, Buddlea, Ltndle- 

 ana and Forsythia viridissima — three of the finest new decid- 

 uous shrubs lately introduced, prove perfectly hardy in all 

 situations. The evergreen Euonymus and its two varieties 

 with gold and silver striped foliage, are quite hardy about 

 New York, and seem particularly well suited for town gar- 

 dens, where verdure in shrubs during winter is desirable. — 

 Horticulturist. 



The Taxodium,we may add, does not prove hardy 

 with us. A plant that stood the winters of 1849 and 

 1850, died last winter. The Cryptomeria is much 

 hardier. We have had three plants out two win- 

 ters, very slightly protected, and they now look well. 

 Many of the first plants sent out were cuttings. 

 When we get good, healthy, stout seedlings, they 

 will, we firmly believe, be perfectly hardy here. — Ed. 



The Fruit Crop. — We have never had a more 

 abundant promise, in Western New York, than at 

 this moment. May 13th. Tn many parts of Ohio, and 

 elsewhere in the west, late spring frosts have cut off 

 everything. 



A friend writes us from Boston, that the crop prom- 

 ises fair, but not large. The seasom there has been 

 cold and backward, but less so than last season. 



In the peach regions, New Jersey and Delaware, 

 the crop will be much smaller than last year, but the 

 quality better. 



REPORT OF THE POMOLOGICAL OONGRESB. 



We learn from the " Western Horticultural Review," 

 that the proceedings of the Congress has been pub- 

 lished, embodied with the annual report of the State 

 Board of Agriculture, and consequently out of the 

 reach of the greater number of those who take an in- 

 terest in the subject. This was a poorly managed 

 affair, and we would be glad to know from our friend 

 Lewis F. Allen, Esq., of Buffalo, who was mainly 

 instrumental in connecting the pomological meeting 

 with the " Board," what he thinks of it now. In the 

 first place, the connection destroyed the value of the 

 meeting at the time ; and next, it withheld the pro- 

 ceedings from the public for six months, and then 

 sent them out embodied with State documents ! We 

 think that there will not be nmch difference of opinion, 

 hereafter, as to the impropriety of pinning the pomo- 

 logical meeting to tbe skirts of agricultural, or any 

 other societies or institutes, except those strictly hor- 

 ticultural. The only consolation we have, in regard 

 to the proceedings, is that, save a few items already 

 published, they are of very little importance. 



We have received the following note from our 

 friend Col. Hodge, since we wrote the above : 



Friend Barry. — In the May number of the Farmer you 

 inform a Horticultural friend, that the published proceedings 

 of the late Pomological Congress, can probably be pro- 

 cured of the undersigned. And from very numerous inquir- 

 ies, I infer that not a few of the 40,000 subscribers to the 

 Farmer, are desirous, to procure a copy of these proceedings. 

 Now, it would give me great pleasure to forward to any of 

 our Horticultural friends a copy of this work — but I am 

 unable to do so for the following reasons ; I have no copies 

 to spare ; I have not even one for myself: I have never had 

 the pleasure of seeing one. And although I have the bump 

 of hope pretty prominently developed, yet the prospect of 

 obtaining a copy grows less every day. I do not know who 

 the publishers are ; but would say to them, wherever they 

 may be, that by forwarding me by express forty or fifty 

 copies, I will honor their draft for the amount of their bill. 



Query. — Which is the better way, for the^Pomological 

 Congress to publish its own proceedings and pay for the 

 same, or leave this matter to be attended to by others ? B. 

 Hodge.— Buffalo, N. Y., 1851. 



Mulching. — We must again remind those who 

 planted trees last spring, of the importance of this 

 operation. It is now so much spoken of as to be 

 pretty well understood — a covering of the ground 

 about the base of a tree, to the depth of three or four 

 inches, with litter or half-decayed manure, extending 

 around as far as the points of the roots. All newly 

 planted trees, shrubs, and plants, should be thus 

 treated. It keeps the ground from drying up about 

 the roots, and prevents the growth of weeds. And 

 not newly planted trees alone, should be mulched, 

 but bearing dwarf garden trees, gooseberries, straw- 

 berries, and all other plants whose roots are near the 

 surface. For mulching strawberries, some clean ma- 

 terial should be used, such as saw-dust, chaff, short 

 hay, or straw, or something of that sort. 



The Fruit Garden. — Our treatise on Fruit Trees 

 is now published and may be had, we presunie, at all 

 the principal bookstores in the country. In the first 

 edition, which was issued hastily during the busy 

 season, a few errors appear ; for instance, in the in- 

 troduction, Kenrick is printed " Ren wick." On page 

 52, pipe tile is said to cost " a shilling," instead of a 

 cent, per foot. Pear No. 28 was intended to succeed 

 No. 37. There are some other, less important, errors, 

 all of which have been corrected in the second edi- 

 tion, just issued. 



