Pomology, Gardening, Forestry, Horticulture, Rural Architecture, Bees. 



Vol. I. 



DES MOINES, IOWA ; LEAVENWORTH, KANSAS, JUNE, 1870. 



No. 6. 



MARK MILLER, 



Editor and Proprietor^ - - Des Moines^ 



J. STAYMAN, Leaven-worth, Kansas. 



a?3E3x«.niis • 



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Winter Siberian Crabs. 



Mr. C. Andrews of Marengo, 111., will 

 accept our thanks for specimens of his winter 

 Siberian Crab apples, received in March. 

 They were in a good state of preservation, 

 and for ought we could discover not long 

 since, would have kept till June, if our 

 patience had not succumbed to our appetite. 

 Mr. Andrews is making the propagation of 

 the crab apple a specialty in his business, 

 and is introducing many new varieties to 

 the pomological world. He says, (and we 

 think truthfully): "We have in the Siberian 

 species of the apple congeries of fruits far 

 more universally adapted to the great diver- 

 sity of climate and conditions in our coun- 

 try and on the globe than in any other 

 species of the ligneous orders of fruits." 



For tlie Western Pomologist. 



Seedling Apples. 



Messrs. Editors : — I think some expla- 

 nation is due from me in regard to what Mr. 

 Stayman says of the Kansas Queen. Of 

 course I knew nothing of the apple. I was 

 only speaking of what Mr. Stayman said of 

 it; and as I thought was placing too much 

 dependence on the parent variety of its 

 origin. What I wish to say is this: We 

 ought not to depend on seedling varieties 

 until they have been tried, whether they 

 come from the North or South— whether from 

 the Ben Davis, or any other variety. For 

 Mr. Stayman said : " It being a seedling 



of the Ben Davis is sufficient guaranty," 

 etc. The Red June came from Carolina. I 

 would not send to Carolina for hardy vari- 

 eties ; although that Jias proved quite hardy. 

 Hence it follows that a variety having 

 originated in the South does not necessarily 

 make it unsuited for our climate. But a 

 variety having originated in the North, and 

 having stood several winters there, is a good 

 step towards proving its hardiness. 



I would not advise putting much depend- 

 ance on the seeds of the best varieties of 

 apples we have. To get new varieties of 

 apples, it takes thousands, and perhaps 

 many thousands of seedlings, to makea slight 

 improvement on the very many varieties we 

 now have. Yet I would not discourage the 

 effort to improve. He who will get a new 

 variety, a tree equal to the Ben Davis or 

 Duchess of Oldenberg, and fruit equal to 

 Grimes' Groklen or .Jonathan, and will keep 

 .sound into April, May and June, will add a 

 very valuable thing to our list, and will be 

 remembered with gratitude. 



SuEL Foster, Muscatine. 



♦•-♦ 



Fruit in Nebraska. 



Ed. Pomologist : — lam much pcased with 

 the Western Pomologist. It fills the bilj 

 exactly — is just what we want — a paper that 

 is of us of the West. Our soil and climate 

 differs so widely from the eastern and middle 

 States, that what will do well there frequently 

 fails here, and what fails there often proves 

 a success here. 



You will see by referring to the map, tha^ 

 Pawnee City, Neb., is just north of the 40th 

 degree north, is in the valley of the great 

 Nemaha river, also the Missouri river. I 

 have lived here nine years. In this time 

 I have raised a fine orchard of several 

 hundred trees, that are as healthy 

 and as fine as is possible to grow 

 trees any where. I shall have a tine crop 

 of apples and peaches this year; peaches 

 have never killed here during my residence. 

 I have had three crops in succession. And, 

 by the way, we are much in need of a good 

 nursery here. The nearest nursery to us is 

 thirty-five miles to the east, and none to the 

 west of us in this State, and we are seventy- 

 five miles east of the border. 



Ere another year is ushered in we will 



have a -railroad communication with the 

 east, which will give us quite an aged ap- 

 pearance. 



Land can be had here now from five to 

 ten dollars per acre for unimproved, and 

 from ten to twenty for improved. 



J. W. H., Pawnee City, Neb. 



The European Larch. 



Ed. Pomologist. — ^I notice in the address 

 of President Mathews, the recommendation 

 of the European Larch as a timber suitable 

 to be grown in your vicinity, and presume 

 it would also do well here. Our soil is a 

 dark colored, sandy loam. Latitude 45°. 



Can you inform me where I can obtain 



seed ; also, how late in the season it will do 



plant it ? Sent to James Vick, Rochester, 



N. Y., for seed, but the money was returned. 



N. A. Van Meter. 

 Sicansea, Min., May 23, 1870, 



Remarks. — It is rather late now to sow 

 seed the present season. We do not know 

 where seed can be obtained. Write to J. L. 

 Budd, Shellsburg, Iowa. 



Bark Bursted Trees. 



Gilbert Stuart, writes to know how to save 

 bursted fruit trees, and as I have had some 

 experience in that line I will state my mode 

 that I have found to work best, as I have 

 tried a vast variety of remedies. I take 

 common yellow clay, made into a stiff mor- 

 ter, and cover the blemish two or three 

 inches deep ; then wrap well with an old 

 piece of cloth, and let all remain till the 

 growth of the tree bursts it off; and by that 

 time all is healed over. 



A tree maybe gnawed by mice all around, 

 but wrapped as above directed, before the 

 place has dried, will heal over in one season ; 

 or, if a compact pile of dirt be mounded up 

 all around the tree, a few inches higher than 

 the injiircd parts, and so kept through the 

 season it will .save the tree. But if the 

 injury extends clear around, and the place is 

 well dried the case is a hopeless one. — M. 

 Oideon, Minn., in Western Farmer. 



Thinning op Fruit. — In urging the ne- 

 cessity of thinning crops of fruit. Marshal P. 

 Wilder, in an article in the Journal of Hor- 

 ticulture, says one of two farmers near Bos- 

 ton always thins his fruits; the other neg- 

 lects this. The first sells his Baldwin apples 

 at $4.50 per barrel, the latter receives less 

 than $3.50. He thinks the danger, when 

 there is a large crop of the young fruit, is in 

 not thinning enough rather than in over 

 doing 



