Ppi^ffirf 



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



Vol. I. 



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



No. 7. 



MARK MILLER, 



Editor and Proprietor, - - Des Moines, 



J. STAYMAN, Leaven-worth, Kansas. 



Single Copy $ 1.00 



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 upon wiiieli information may i3e desired. — 



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 a reasonable reduction will be made ou the 

 above rates. 



Seedling Apples. 



We woukl call Mr. Suel Foster's attention 

 to one fact, that when he wishes to criticise 

 us that he reads with care and remembers 

 what we say. 



The right of a critic to misquote or force 

 a meaning we cannot tolerate. When Mr. 

 Foster undertakes to explain what he has 

 previously said about the Kansas Queen 

 apple by referring to wbat we have said as 

 a fouudutiou for his remarljs, we say he is 

 bound by candor, honor, and his own sake, 

 as well as the public good to give what we 

 ham said instead of something else. 



He says in June No. of ,the Pomologist, 

 " Of course I know nothing of the apple, I 

 was only .speaking of wliat Mr. iStaynian 

 said of it ; and, as I thougiit, was placing too 

 much dependence on the parent variety of 

 its origin." "For Mr. btayiuan said: It 

 being a seedling of the Ben Davis is sufficient 

 guaranty," etc. 



Now, Mr. Foster, we would not sa}' one 

 word to mar your feelings, but in the spirit 

 of friendship and kindness we must say that 

 we have been writing about facts and not 

 fiction; the above we have never said or 

 even .so iiilimated. By referring to our 

 article in PVbruary No. of Pomologist you 

 will discover your mistake and of course 

 corrtcl it. 



We would not feel much concerned about 

 this particular article if there was not some 

 important principle connected with it. 



We have been for a number of years dis- 

 cussing this subject in the Oardners Monthly 

 and other papers, and our views have be- 

 come public property, and we do not wish 

 to be made say anything coutradictoi*y to 

 those views until tirst being convinced of 

 our error. 



In connection with this subject we would 

 say that healthy and hardy offsprings must 

 have healthy and hardy parentage, but it 

 does not necessarilj' follow that they are all 

 liealihy and hardy, but It follows as a law Of 

 nature that no offtJpriug can be more hardy 

 and healthy than the parents. That the 

 signs of these conditions are made manifest 

 by particular characteristics as the color of 

 bark, leaf, flmoer, fruit arid seeds. 



Tliat there is a law of variation, variega- 

 tion and degeneracy. These being funda- 

 mental principles we need never look or 

 expect healthy and hardy seedlings from 

 tender varieties. Had this law been fully 

 understood we would not hear persons advo- 

 cate that seedlings were always hardy. The 

 fallacy of this doctrine we have fully shown 

 many years ago by absolute facts, having 

 over forty thousand apple seedlings of differ 

 ent ages killed, while many grafted varieties 

 were not Injured and others but slightly. 

 Who has ever produced a healthy, hardy 

 tree, from the seed of a tender, feeble varie- 

 ty. If this is a fact, which we fully believe, 

 it is all a humbug to be experimenting and 

 trj'ing to raise valuable and desirable sorts 

 from most of our common kinds. The field 

 is a narrow one, confined to those only 

 known to be very hardy and he<dthy and hy- 

 bridization and cro.^sing the only rational 

 and scientific method of producing what we 

 desire. 



J. Slatman, Ass't. Ed. 



For the Western Pomologist. 

 Hedge Fruit. 



The celebrated Dutchess Pear was dis- 

 covered in a hedge by the lady whose name 

 it bears. The most flourishing and prolific 

 appl(! tree on my farm is in the midst of a 

 thorn hedge where it grew spontaneously 

 wilhnait the least culture; whereas several 

 have died which I bought of one of the most 

 prominent nurseries in Maryland and planted 

 here about 30 years ago, I have utterly 

 failed to produce one crop of apples, and one- 



half the varieties not a bushel during the 

 whole period ! ! Consequently I grubbed 

 them all up this spring, having failed to 

 notice any good result from the application 

 of a cart-load of good barn yard manure to 

 each, a few years since. The mistake I 

 made was in planting them too deep, in a 

 good, white oak soil, where a crop of fine 

 timber had recently exhausted the potash 

 from this alluvial soil, whereas on virgin 

 soil, derived directly from the disintegration 

 of granite and other feld-spar rocks, this 

 succession of timber would not be injurious, 

 except perhaps in reduplicating the insects 

 which are peculiar to trees. Nevertheless, 

 as I can now depend on an abundant supply 

 of the substitute for wood ashes, I have 

 planted on the same spot five peach pits at 

 intervals of twenty feet over ten acres. 

 These I selected from the largest peaches of 

 a most flourishing orchard of four years' 

 growth. Moreover, the pits from the white 

 peaches are planted separately — all being 

 open stones. 



Now, I must beg through your columns, 

 the opinion of some expert, (if such ex- 

 perience is not embraced in the editorial 

 department,) whether it is probable that 

 any advantage will be derived from the 

 peculiarities of the seed as above — if I bud 

 them from young trees of the most vigorous 

 and successful varieties that the experience 

 of this vicinity indicates? I hope to express 

 m}' own theory with regard to the " compare 

 ative vitality of trees " at some future time. 

 My own experience seems to indicate that a 

 bud, or even a graft from an old tree is very 

 unreliable, but my experience and observa- 

 tion is so limited that it may not only be 

 worthless but injurious, except as indicating 

 the great importance of soil plant food and 

 origiiial vitality over culture; also, the com- 

 pai'ative invalidity of the usual objections to 

 tlie hedge form of culture indicated on page 

 46, especially in view of the fact that in nat- 

 ural arrangement of all large standard pear 

 trees, each limb may be regarded as the 

 e(|uivalent of a complete dwarf pear, and if 

 so, it certaiul}' has not one-seventh part of 

 the room I allow my dwarfs, nor one-third 

 the exposure to the sun; nor can it have as 

 direct or abundant and exclusive a supply of 

 soil food when compared with that derived 

 directly through the quince near tlie earth. 

 David Stewart, M. D. 

 Port Penn, Delaware. 



