90 



THE WESTERN POMOLOGIST. 



1871 



"Should Trees be Pruned?" — When Acorn 

 read this heading, Old Oak quivered all 

 over with expectation; for if there is any 

 one subject that Acorn, his brother and father 

 ever grew warm about, it is this. He believ- 

 ing that after a tree was properly started in the 

 orchard it required no more pruning for years, and 

 then no surb pruning as is generally practiced. Old 

 Oak agrees. Acorn read the Doctor's essay in '67, 

 and put it in practice, with — but we will not antici- 

 pate. But this thing of balancing trees when trans- 

 planting them needs a word. Old Oak supposes 

 that if the Doctor was on his way across the plains, 

 and broke the end off the double-tree of his wagon 

 where he could not get wood to make a new one, 

 that he would bore a new hole for the device near 

 the broken end, and go on without paying any at- 

 tention to the centre pin ! 



Dr. Howsley gives some very valuable advice 

 about the pear tree. The pear tree has told Old 

 Oak time and again that its requirements in the 

 West ware a very poor and very loose dry soil, with 

 thorough cultivation in the early part of the season, 

 no pruning whatever from the time the bud or graft 

 was inserted until maturity, with close planting 

 and shelter by other trees on t he south-west side ; 

 or, an extremely rich, dark and loose dry soil, with- 

 out cultivation. 



Worms. — $300,000 worth of wormy apples shipped 

 to one point in Kansas ! How about future "gold 

 medals ?" 



Report Ad Interim Gommittcf,. — "We find that 

 locations which retard blossoming are the best for 

 orchards." Old Oak would say an open northwest- 

 ern exposure, tvhich not only retards blossoms, 

 but deprives Jack Frost of his sting. There is no 

 doubt but that outrageous and uncalled for pruning 

 and over-stimulation are the true sources of blight 

 in the apple. 



Horticulture and Home Culture. — Dr. Andrews 

 treats his ascerb subject rather crabidly. But cer- 

 tainly he has the best of the argument. If the Sibe- 

 rian apple can bo made to give a good wholesome 

 fruit to people who wish to live 2.50 miles north of 

 where the common apple will thrive, its value can- 

 not be questioned. And again, this thing of trying 

 to raise none but the finest fruits is the most expen- 

 sive load the fruit grower has undertaken to cany. 

 Acorn says he can raise ten barrels of Ben Davis 

 apples as cheaply as he can one bushel of Yellow 

 Bellflowers, and has always succeeded in getting 

 more money for the the ten barrels than for the 

 bushel. And Old Oak has no doubt but what more 

 money has been made from the old Bell or Windsor 

 pear, according to the number of trees planted, than 

 from any other, poor and almost worthless as it is. 

 Yet who would not rather have a mess of stewed or 

 baked Windsors than no pears at all ? 



Miner and Wild Goose Plums.— Will Mr. Terry 

 tell us whethei- the Wild Goose is as Juirdy as the 

 Miner ? Mr. Weir's article on this subject is timely 

 and to the point. 



Mr. Elliott had ought to k»ow, not thinl:, about 

 these cherries. Two or three seasons had ought to 

 tell us the facts whether the Early Richmond is the 

 Flemish or the Kentish. Old Oak believes that 

 Downing is the authority to follow in this matter ; 

 that the proper name of our Early Richmond of the 

 West is Kintixh, and then we have Kentish, Late 

 Kentish and Flemish, good hardy cherries for the 

 West, all distinct. 



Hortimtltural Meetings.— Friead Kellogg is right. 

 We need these societies to determine the nomen- 

 clature of our fruits. Thus, we have two Duchess 

 of Oldcnburgs, two Jannetts, five Russets, apples, 

 &c., ad nausewii, under the same names in different 

 neighborhoods. 



Spontaneous Oensration.— Old Oak had ought to 

 know something about this, and agrees with Mr. 

 Meehan in part. But would say this, that the 

 acorn may germinate in the shade of a thick pine 

 forest, and maintain its life for ages, centuries, 

 merely growing up each year with two small leaves, 

 killing back to the ground each winter, and then 

 when the forest is cleared away spring into lusty 

 Ufe. 



Frogs Spitted on Thorns. — Every one for his 

 trade. A man may be a good pomologist but not a 

 good froggist. Mr. Riley is certainly right about 

 the impalement being the work of a Shrike. But 

 ho^ did Mr. Riley know' they were young frogs ? 

 Did he count the wrinkles on their horns? Old Oak 

 would call them tree toads. 



TIw Whortleberry.— Old Oak knows but little of 

 the plant but knows the fruit to be wholesome and 

 delicious, and sees no reason why plants taken from 

 dry open exposures could not be cultivated with 

 pleasure and profit. 



Mulberries for the Birds. — Was there ever so much 

 nonsense put into so little space ! Not but that the 

 White, Red and Black mulberries are beautiful and 

 desirable trees, and very useful in keeping or tempt- 

 ing the birds away from the raspberries and cher- 

 ries, and bear wholesome fruit for children young 

 and old ; but that they should keep the curculios 

 and black gnot from the cherries and borers and 

 codling moths from She apples, is merely ridiculous 



nonsense. 



* ♦ » 



Pkogresb in Apples. — W. C. Flagg, at one of 

 the meetings of the Alton Horticultural Society, 

 states that of the forty-one varieties of apples ap- 

 proved by the American Pomological Society in ten 

 or more discussions in 1864, eleven were recom- 

 mended by Cox half a century ago. These are 

 Early Harvest, Large Yellow Bough, Summer 

 Queen, American Summer Pearmain, Summer Rose, 

 Maiden's Blush, Rambo, Fall Pippin, Yellow Bell 

 Flower, Newtown Pippin, and Spitzenberg. 



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