108 Domestic Notices. 



MISCELLANEOUS INTELLIGENCE. 



Art. I. Domestic Notices. 



Discussion on Fruit Trees at the State House. — The discussions on fruit 

 and fruit trees, which generally comes up among the subjects discussed ev- 

 ery year, at the agricultural meetings at the State House, have not elicited 

 that information vs^hich we should suppose. We have yearly particularly 

 noticed them, yet we have scarcely ever been able to extract a paragraph 

 from all that has been said, but what was well known and familiar to all 

 our readers. The last meeting, however, was more than usually interest- 

 ing, and some very excellent remarks were made by Gov Lincoln, on the 

 general management of trees, which we copy here : — 



" Hon Levi Lincoln gave his experience in the cultivation of fruit trees. 

 He remarked that three things were important in the cultivation : 1st, the 

 manner of planting. Nothing was so fatal to the hopes of the cultivator as 

 the manner in which fruit trees were too often planted out. If the roots 

 were crowded into a small hole, crippled and doubled up, it was impossible 

 for the trees to do well. The ground should, in the first place, be well pre- 

 pared ; where the trees are to be set, the soil should be deepened ; large 

 holes should be dug, and the cold subsoil thrown out, and the bottom re- 

 placed with surface soil ; the tree should not be set any deeper than it stood 

 in the nursery ; the roots should be spread out horizontally ; the tree should 

 not be staked, but it was his practice to place heavy stones about the trees 

 to keep them steady, which was much better than staking, even for a tree 

 20 years old. 



" 2d. Pruning should be done when the tree is young, as the shoots throw 

 out ; it is very difficult to make a limb heal after it has attained any consid- 

 erable size, and it will be likely to decay ; therefore prune young, and form 

 a head so as to open it to the sun ; but he thought there was such a thing 

 as pruning too severely, which was prejudicial to the growth of the tree ; 

 this was a great error, especially in treating the pear tree ; the tendency of 

 the present mode was a too free use of the knife. In pruning the top, some 

 regard should be had to the supposed capacity of the roots. When an old 

 tree is removed, it should be headed down. 



" 3d. Guard against the depredations of insects and diseases. He had 

 known not only orchards destroyed by the canker-worms, but even large 

 elm trees. Tar, he thought, an effectual protection against this destructive 

 insect, although it was thought by some to be injurious to the tree, but it 

 was less prejudicial than the effects of the worm. If coarse paper is first 

 put round the tree, and the tar put upon that, there will be no danger from 

 the effects of it. If the bark of the tree is rough, put soft clay between it 

 and the paper, but if trees are properly managed, the bark will be smooth, 

 even on old trees ; this was the case with those in his own orchard." — {N. 

 E. Farmer, Vol. XXIII, p. 278.) 



