through Hartford^ New Haven, Sfc. 405 



trees, &c. with his own hands. Two years ago we pubhshed 

 some remarks on the root pruning of trees, with extracts 

 from the excellent paper on that subject, by Mr. Rivers. 

 It occurred to Mr. Lee, on reading the article, that as he 

 had several pear trees of whose qualities he was unac- 

 quainted, that he would root prune them, in order to ascer- 

 tain what the sorts were, if true to name, — and if true, 

 whether worthy of cultivation. Six trees were pruned, — 

 this was in the spring of 1842, — the earth was removed 

 from around the surface, so as to expose the roots, when 

 the largest were cut oft", as directed in the paper referred to. 

 The earth was then put back in its place, and no extra care 

 was given to the trees from that time to this, other than to 

 give them annually a small dressing of manure. The past 

 season, /o?/;- out of the six trees produced fruit, some of them 

 a peck each. This shows conclusively the value of root 

 pruning, when applied to the pear tree : other trees are un- 

 doubtedly effected in the same manner. Individuals, by 

 the adoption of root pruning, may cultivate at least three 

 times as many kinds of fruit as they could were the roots 

 allowed to take their own course, without check. But the 

 greatest benefits of the practice are to early detect the true 

 qualities of the fruit — whether true to name — or worthy of 

 general cultivation. These questions once settled, there 

 will be no danger of the disappointment which often ensues 

 after growing trees eight or ten years, and then have them 

 prove poor or secondary sorts. We know of no one modern 

 improvement in horticultural science, so truly valuable to the 

 amateur as that of root pruning. 



Tuesday, the 12th, was another delightful day ; and hav- 

 ing visited the gardens of our friends, we took the morning 

 train of cars for New Haven. The route of this rail-road 

 runs through a fertile section of country, until near New 

 Haven, when the sandy plains begin to appear, and are 

 almost barren of any growth of wood. But for twenty 

 miles from Hartford, we were never more delighted with 

 the vigor and stateliness of the trees, — their variableness of 

 autumn coloring, — or the picturesque grouping of the 

 masses. Some of the oaks were clothed with branches to 

 the ground, and the deep green tints of their foliage stood 

 conspicuous amid the scarlet, yellow and purple hues of 

 the maples, elms, chestnuts, beeches, hornbeams, &c. We 

 passed some groups of trees, whose picturesque arrangement 



