November 



THE POMOLOGIST. 



147 



strike the most of tlitir strock in the winter, 

 wlicii the}' have tlie conveMienee of a propa- 

 gating: house, or green house. 



Some genera, or families of plants vary 

 much as to their capabilities to be raised 

 from cuttings -that is, individual plants of 

 the same family of plants cmnot be raised 

 well from cuttings or slips, and in that case 

 they have to hi raised froni layers, grafts, 

 budding or inarchi;ig. For instance the 

 family of ros.'s, many of them can he raised 

 from cuttings or slips, such as the Hj'brid 

 Perpetuals, China, Bourbon, and Summer 

 roses. While the moss a:id many of the 

 climbing ros^s have to be raised from la3'ers. 

 The old stj-le of laying roses is perf irmed as 

 in annexed cut ; that is, a shoot is bent down 



ble, small, gnarly things, with a few excep- 

 tional varieties. My recollection is that the 

 fair varieties were Duchess of Oldenberg, 

 Warlield, Benoni, Kentucky, GolT, Maiden's 

 Blush, Peach Pound Sweet, Lowell, Fall 

 Orange, Cracld.-g, Striped Pippin, Jonathan, 

 Domini', Wagner, Hubardston, Nonsuch, 

 Ben Davis, Willow Twig. These varieties 

 stood the exc'ss of wet tolerable well 

 Those badly aftVcted were Red June, Fall 

 Wine, Summer Pearmain, White Rambo^ 

 Striped Rambn, Roman Stem, Rome Beauty, 

 Winter Sweet Paradise, Tolman Sweet, 

 Winesap, White Winter Pearmain, Little 

 Roma..ite, Yellow Bellflower. The Fa- 

 meuse and J innett were some affected, but 

 not as bad as tlnse named. 



and a cut is made half way through the 

 shoot, just behind a joint or bud, and then 

 the part is covered with earth, and held in 

 its place cither by a peg or sto.ie, and then 

 left until it has sent out its roots. There is 

 another way of layins, which is very good 

 if there is a convenience to grow the plants 

 after the)' are struck, and is a quick way to 

 raise a larg j lot of moss and other favorite 

 roses. The way to layer in this maimer is to 

 lay a shoot in the old way, and make a cut at 

 each point about half way through the stem, 

 then to twitch in a gentle manner ; a pieci of 

 tine copper wire around each just behind the 

 bud, near the p irt cut, then bury the whole 

 stem in eartli or moss, and every joint 

 will shoot up a 3'ou'jg plant, which can be 

 taken off when sufBcieiitl)' rooted. Layering 

 out of doors can be done in July or August, 

 just as soon as the wood is ripe enough. 

 The best kinds of cuttings of roses are what 

 are called Blind Shoots, that is shoots that 

 have put out no rose buds in the season, as 

 every one who has had anj' experience in 

 rose growing, know there is always a lot of 

 short shoots which produce no flower buds, 

 and these are the blind shoots. 



For the Weetern Pornoloi;iBt. 



Fruit-Growing in Iowa. 



I write at a very discouraging time in this 

 business in Iowa. For tliree years past 

 there has been a failure in the apple crop. 

 In 1867 we had a good crop. It cannot be 

 expected that we shall have a large crop from 

 the same trees two years in succession. In 

 1868, we had a light crop of fair apples. In 

 18G'J, the excessive wet ruined the crop. la 

 May, the appearance was for a good crop ; 

 but the excess of rain thr.uigh June and July 

 so damaged t ae trees, that much of the fruit 

 dropped off, and what remained was miscra- 



We ma_v therefore infer that some varie- 

 ties will stand moist ground better than 

 others, and in setting the orchard, put the 

 latter class on the dryest land ; and where 

 the orchards are now standing with these 

 varieties, be careful to ridge up the land and 

 give good surface di'ainage. Last year, in 

 August, I was in a large orchard in an ad- 

 joining county, which looked bad, the trees 

 looked rough and unhealthy, and the leaves 

 were falling off; the owner was much dis- 

 couraged, and said we could never raise 

 apples in Iowa, for his orchard failed every 

 year. On examining the situation, I saw 

 that the land, although high and not many 

 rods from ravines and rolling land, that par- 

 ticular piece was too level, and the subsoil 

 held the water. I said to the owner, your 

 orchard needs drainage. Why, he said, " th^rc 

 is no water here." He little knew how 

 much water was retained in the soil and 

 subsoil about the roots of his trees. It 

 simpl)' needed drainajre, either with tile, the 

 mole drainer, or high ridging up towards the 

 trees by plowing. 



Well, the rains ceased in 1809, about the 

 first of August, the trees took a late growth, 

 and the severe freeze of the 17lh of October 

 killed many small nursery trees, and dam- 

 aged nearly all the orchard trees more or 

 less, so that allhougli the)' bloomed full the 

 following Spring, the small twigs had not 

 vitality enough to start the fruit, and nourish 

 its growth, and it blighted and fll to the 

 ground. 



So this is the third season in succession 

 I that we have had a failure of the apple crop, 

 not so much the fault of the trees or the 

 climate, as the peculiarly and unusually un- 

 favorable freaks of the seasons, which will 

 not be likely to occur again soon. I have 



determined not to get discouraged at the 

 extreme wet of last season and the extreme 

 frost of last October, to spoil the crop of this 

 year, but hope f(jr a good crop next year. 



There are many other fruits besides the 

 apple that every farmer ought to have ; 

 strawberries, raspberries, cherries, currants, 

 and grapes. With all these varieties, we 

 have a supply of fruits the whole year. Be- 

 sides, the canning of the berries has become 

 so common of late, that every housewife is 

 ashamed to be witliout some of these deli 

 eious fruits for company and for sickness. 

 When a child, how I loved a good apple ! 

 How I loved to go out in the fields and woods 

 picking berries! Are the appetites of child 

 ren different now? Then, farmers, plant 

 plenty of fruits, and make the boys and girls 

 Weed, and hoe, and take care of them. 

 Mothers, can plenty for the table, and learn 

 your daughters to do it up nice and careful, 

 so it will keep until berries come again. 



I find canned grapes are about as good as 

 any of the berries. Take the grape in the 

 fingers and stiueeze the pulp out of the 

 skin. Scald the pulp slightly, and pass it 

 through a sieve to take the seeds out. Save 

 the skins and put them in with the pulp, and 

 cork it again slightlj'. Add a fourth pound 

 of sugar to a pound of fruit, and can while 

 hot. Physicians say this is the best fruit for 

 invalids. They often call on my wife for a 

 can of grapes. 



Pears. — Set them on dry, clayey subsoil 

 land. A north or eastern declivity is best. 

 I this year set a pear orchard, and Intermixed 

 evergreens, one for every three pear trees. 

 This was by Capt. James Mathews' suggest- 

 ion, and I had heard it before. Bartlett, 

 Flemish Beauty, Seckel, Beurre d'Ar.jou, is 

 the extent of my list. Other fruits, Wilson 

 and Greene Prolific Strawberry ; PhiladeK 

 phia Raspberry ; Early'Rieliraond av.d Late 

 Englisli Morello Cherry; Hartford Prolific, 

 Concord, and Clinton Grapes. Now there 

 is nothing new nor wonderful in this list, 

 unless it is that it contains no humbugs ! 

 SuEi, Foster. 



When IS A Dried Scion Dead? — "A letter 

 was rec ived from Van Mons, of Belgium, 

 in which lie stated the curious fact tint he 

 once succ s^fnll_r grafted scions sent him 

 from New \ork,"which had been two aird a 

 i.alf years in reaclii. g him, and assert' d the 

 doctrine that a scion is nevi-r too old, or, 

 rathe r too dry to succeed, providid it had 

 been cut from a living trre, or li-'ni one that 

 liad not perished by anatuial death ; a..d lint 

 artificial death, su'eh as that occasioned by 

 depUiutalion, dots not injure in the least tli' 

 exc 11 nee of the scion."— i?., in Juunial of 

 Horticulture. 



*>•'»■ 



ScccESSFDi, Pear CrLTUKE.— A very 

 successful cultivator of the pear in New 

 Jersey grows cabbage, celery, potatoi s, cur- 

 rants, tomatoe.s, etc., in the intervening 

 space, until the trees attain a size so as to 

 cover the ground, when all cultivated rrop> 

 are abandoned aid the grouml mulchal 

 heavily with salt hay. It is otimati d that 

 one row of thirty trees will yii Id I'ruit to the 

 value of S600 the present season. 



