isa 



THE WESTERN POMOLOGHST. 



1871 



Tallman's Street ou the Sonlard. 



By Charles Waters, Springville, Wis. 



Ed. Pomologist: I have some Tallman trees 

 budded on the Soulard Crab five years ago, three 

 fourths of which now show fruit buds. They were 

 budded on two year old stocks from the graft, and 

 about oue foot from the ground. These trees are as 

 healthy and vigorous as any I have ever seen, while 

 nine tenths of Tallman throughout this part of Wis- 

 consin were either killed or seriously injured iu the 

 fall of 1869, by bark bursting at the ground. It was 

 so also in the southern part of Minnesota. The 

 great drawback on the Tallman in this region, is 

 bark bursting at the collar, but which may be avoid- 

 ed by budding on the Soulard. I have tried other 

 sorts on the Soulard which do not stand well root 

 grafted, with eiiually satisfictory results. From my 

 experience so far, I feel assured that trees made by 

 budding on the Soulard will fruit earlier than on 

 any other stock. I liave tried the Soulard for top 

 grafting but think budding much more preferable. 

 I have never known a Soulard tree to bark burst at 

 the collar, which is more than I can saj' for either 

 the Transcendent or the Hislop, for I have known 

 both badly injured, and others killed outright. I 

 think the Soulard very valuable as a stock for work- 

 ing many of our half hardy sorts. 



Gron^Ing; of the Aluiond. 



A record of the growth of an almond stock, 

 reported by the editor of the Santa Barbara (Cali- 

 fornia) Press, illustrates the adaptability of that 

 favored region to the production of this valuable 

 fruit. Early in 18G9 lie made several grafts, all of 

 which are now promising. One of these, a termi- 

 nal bud of the Lauguedoc variety, made February 

 23, was measured three months afterward, when the 

 new stock above the old wood was found to be an 

 inch and a half iu circumference and three feet 

 high, with six or eight branches averaging eighteen 

 inclies in length. On the 23d of March last, exactly 

 two years and one mouth from the date of grafting, 

 the tree measured nine and three-fourths inches in 

 circumference at the ground, and was ten and a half 

 feet high, with twenty flourishing branches within 

 fcmr feet of the ground, and over thirty in all. 



Upon the subject of almond culture the Maryland 

 Farmer saj's: "There is no apparent reason why 

 the cidture of the almond should not be pursued to 

 a profitable extent in the warm and favorable cli- 

 mate of some of the Southern States. It so strongly 

 resembles the peach tree that it is difficult to distin- 

 guish it by the leaves and wood only. The chief 

 distinction between the two in our gardens lies in 

 the fruit, which, in the almond, con.'jists of little 

 more than a stone covered with a thick, dry, woolly 

 skin, while the peach has iu addition a rich and 

 luscious flesh. 



The almond thrives best in a warm, dry soil, and 

 its general cultivation in this country is precisely 

 like that of the peach. 



The Common Almond, the Hard Shell, Sweet 

 Almond, and the Bitter Almond are hardy in the 

 latitude of New York, and bear tolerable crops w ith 

 out care. The Soft Shell or Ladies' Almond is the 

 finest of all the varieties; it is the very variety- 

 common in the shops of the confectioners. These 

 can be obtained at any of the nurseries.' 



Pear Blight—Another Theory. 



A correspondent of the Rural Neic-Torker says: 

 " There may be something in my views relative 

 to the necessity of pruning away all second or 

 late autumn grown shoots on the pear or apple. 

 Judging from many years of observation, I know 

 there can be no harm in the practice, and I strongly 

 believe there is bsneflt, if, indeed, it be not in 

 itself safeguard, in the prevention of one class of 

 blight. 



My view is that the late autumn growth never, 

 or rarely, fully ripens to perfection ; and that the 

 frosts of winter burst and destroy more or less of 

 the natural tissue and channels of circulation, leav- 

 ing the sap poisoned by slow decay; and as soon 

 as vegetation comes in the spring, and the leaf is 

 grown, so that a return of sap towards the root is 

 formed, with that flows more or less poisonous sap, 

 many times leaving traces on its way that soou 

 increase with warmth and circulation until they 

 exhibit fully to the common observer iu blackened 

 branch and browned foliage." 



The Cultivation of the Quince. 



Of all our fruit trees there is scarcely any so eas- 

 ily grown as the quince, and very few persons pay 

 it the least regard, more than to place it in some, 

 unfrequented spot where it becomes a subject of 

 coinplet(' neglect, where choked with grass, and 

 incumbered with weeds it makes a slow and mossy 

 growth, and generally yields an annual crop of 

 fruit, though the quality is often poor indeed, for 

 like any other product of the soil, it rec{uires care 

 and cultivation to perfect its fruit, but never to my 

 knowledge has this tree when properly cultivated, 

 pruned and annually fertilized, as all fruit growers 

 con.sider necessary in the cultivation of the pear, 

 failed to produce abundant crops of verj' superior 

 quality. 



Public opinion needs to be changed in regard to 

 the quince. It delights in a somewhat moist soil, 

 as most fruit trees do, and for this reason is often 

 planted where the ground is constantly wet, which 

 is a decided mistake. Anj' deep, rich soil annually 

 mulched with three or four inches of leaves, straw 

 or coarse litter, will be found snflieieutly moist for 

 the quince, and the best of care will bring about 

 astonishing results with this much neglected fruit. 

 — Cor. DutcTtesx Faiiner. 



