166 



THE POMOLOGIST AND GARDENER. 



1871 



Becquerel, Wartmann, Donne, Riess, Pouillet, Buff 

 and Graham. Prof. Andre Poey, on the " Action 

 of electricity on the germination and growth of 

 plants," says : " These experiments were held by 

 Du Petit Thouars, as evidence of the great influ- 

 ence of electricity on vegetation. He held that 

 plants contained two different galvanic arrange- 

 ments: one acting vertically through the woody 

 fibers, the other horizontally through the medullary 

 rays. To these opposite, independent currents he 

 attributed the principal phenomena of vegetation." 

 •— ♦— ♦ ^ — 



Iron for Pear Trees. A correspondent of the 

 Rural Messenger writes as follows : 



" I had a very fine pear tree (Flemish Beauty) 

 that became affected, first by blight in one limb, 

 which I removed, and then another and another 

 was affected in the same way, until I had removed 

 a considerable portion of the top of the tree. Early 

 the ne.\t spring I resolved to try the application of 

 scrap iron to the roots. I procured my iron, re- 

 moved the soil from the roots carefully, deposited 

 the iron between them, and replaced the earth. 

 There was no further progress in the blight, the 

 tree continued to grow that season, and the next 

 leaves and blossoms came out vigorously ; no black 

 spots appeared on the leaves, and the tree bore fine- 

 ly ; and no appearance of disease was seen in the 

 tree afterward. In subsequent conversations with 

 friends I found that some of them had become in- 

 formed on the same subject, and had tried the rem- 

 edy with perfect success. Some told me they had 

 procured turning and drilling chips from the ma- 

 chine shops, and had used them, as they thought, 

 with much advahtage to their trees." 



^ ♦ « 



Ancbor Bnddlng. 



The Journal of the Farm says, " some years ago 

 Prolessor Charles Page, then an examiner in the 

 Patent Office at Washington, and a warm and devo- 

 ted friend of Horticulture, but now deceased, for- 

 warded to the Philadelphia Florist the cuts which 

 are given below, and which represent what he 

 termed " Anchor Budding," from the resemblance 

 of the form of the incisions to the shape of an 

 anchor. Mr. Page stated that it had its origin in 

 the difficulty he had encountered in entering a bud 

 in the T mode of budding, especially where the 

 shield was very tender. 



When the .shield is strong, or the wood is not 

 removed from it, if the wings of raised bark on the 

 stock in T budding do not stand out or open suffi- 

 ciently, the shield of the bud serves as a wedge to 

 pu h them open for its entrance. Tender buds, 

 however, are often ruined in this way, and their 

 insertion is very awkward, especially when we 

 have not the advantage of the foot-stalk of a leaf 

 for a handle. The anchor-budding admits the 

 insertion of the most tender buds with the greatest 



ease, and no risk of injury. Rivers, of England, 

 recommends in his treatise on the Rose, a mode of 

 budding peculiar to hi self It differs from the 

 common T budding, in making the cross cut ob- 

 lique to the vertical cut. His object is to prevent 

 the stem from breaking off, which is more likely 

 to happen with a horizontal than an oblique cut. 

 The anchor budding, which consists of two oblique 

 cuts, upwards, meeting the vertical cuts, as in fig. 1, 



Fig. 1. Fig. 3. 



combines this with its principal advantage of easy 

 insertion of the bud. It is obvious that the oblique 

 cuts, in conjunction with the vertical cut, leave the 

 upper ends or angles of the wings narrow and 

 yielding ; and in consequence, they spring or curl 

 out at once, and make abundance of room for the 

 insertion of the bud. This is well illustrated in 

 fig. 3, and when the angles are very acute, the 

 wings will stand out so far that the bud may almost 

 be dropped in place. It takes a little more time to 

 make two oblique cuts than one cross cut, but it 

 saves time in the end, if the bark of the stock is 

 very thick or the buds are very tender, I have 

 tried this mode satisfactorily, and am inclined to 

 think that the buds take better than in the T mode. 

 This may be due to the extended line for the 

 descending sap surrounding the shield of the bud, 

 and facilitating its union with the stock. 



Selltog Fruit by Weight. — In Oregon and 

 California most of the small fruits are sold by 

 weight. So it should be everywhere. By measure 

 great injustice is often done to retail purchasers. 

 It is no difficult matter for the retailer to make 

 three pints of strawberries, raspberries, ete., from 



one legitimate quart. 



> ♦ -» 



Pruning. It is said that the donkey first taught 

 the art of pruning the vine ; man being merely an 

 imitator, on seeing the effect of cropping the points 

 of the young shoots. It is not always the greatest 

 wisdom to originate, but to turn to good account 

 whatever by thoughtful observation comes within 

 our reach. 



