196 



THE POMOLOGIST AND GARDENER. 



1871 



The trees, though loaded down, are filled with rot- 

 ting fruit, and the crop threatens to be a complete 

 failure. After fighting the curculio all May and 

 June, it is hard to see such results in July. But it 

 cannot be helped. 



Washington and Columbia are two fine plums, 

 more proof than most others against curculio, and 

 on that account especially, worth attention. 



PEAR BLIGHT. — WHAT A MTSTEKY ! 



What a mystery is pear blight ! The more we 

 study it the more tangled it becomes. We had a fu- 

 rious rain storm the morning of July 9th, before 

 day, which flooded everything. When it cleared 

 away several fine two year old pear trees were seen 

 to be blighted to the ground. They were certainly 

 all right the night before, and had grown with un- 

 common vigor this summer. Certainly not a case 

 of frost blight. None of the old bearing trees were 

 affected at all. 



THE CODLING MOTH. 



Thus far the codling moth has let us alone, and 

 failed to put in an appearance. Why? Can any 

 one say ? Our apple crop is light, but uncommonly 

 fair— the pear crop heavy, and in the most splendid 

 condition I ever saw it at this season. With all our 

 other insect invasions, this pest is of the most se- 

 rious, and one which we gladly dispense with. 



WHY PLANTS GROW. 



Your Associate Editor is certainly right as to why 

 plants grow. There are two forces in nature — cen- 

 tripetal and centrifugal. One gathers, the other 

 scatters. One composes, the other decomposes- 

 These forces are undoubtedly electric— positive and 

 negative. 



PLANTING CUTTINGS. 



Planting currant cuttings should always be done 

 in Autumn. Almost a year's growth can be saved 

 by this practice. The list of plants which may be 

 grown from cuttings in Iowa is not very large, and 

 is yearly being made larger. All of these, to insure 

 success, should be taken off in fall, buried all win- 

 ter, and set out the first thing in spring. A sandy 

 soil is always best for cuttings, not too rich or 

 mucky. 



Fruit— Wbat Sliall IXTe Do 'WItli the Grapes? 



Ed. Pomologist and Gakdener.— It is not pleas- 

 ant to be conscious of a duty and at the same time 

 realize that one is neglecting it. But such is the 

 condition of all who have " too many irons in the 

 fire." In this new country where so much prop- 

 erty, simply awaits appropriation, where so many 

 metaphysical pigs are running about with forks 

 stuck in their backs crying " who'll eat me," we are 

 all apt to seize upon more than we can properly 



manage. We have too much to do, and much that 

 we undertake suffers for want of attention, besides, 

 we have no leisure to give our experience for the 

 benefit of beginners. 



Fruit prospects are not such as to make us boast- 

 ful, save in grapes. The season thus far, since Feb- 

 ruary, has been very like last year — Spring very 

 earl}% two or three weeks ahead of the average — 

 Heavy freeze about the tenth of April, when buds 

 were just ready to open — Many kinds of apples 

 almost totally ruined. That the Early Pennock, 

 Maiden's Blush, Roman Stem, Yellow Bellflower, 

 and such others as put forth very early, should be 

 severely injured by the freeze, we were prepared to 

 expect, but were surprised to find such hardy, late 

 blooming varieties as the Jannette and Tollman 

 Sweet, so seriously damaged. These last blossomed 

 out all right, but soon afterward, the twigs and 

 clusters of bloom blighted and turned black worse 

 than on any others. The Early Harvest, Red June, 

 Winesap, Jonathan, Willow Twig, and Ben Davis 

 are about one-fourth of a crop. Cole's Quince, and 

 Golden Sweet a little better, Rambo, both white 

 and red, also White Winter Pearmain pretty full. 

 Had the last been a new candidate for favor, the 

 last and the present season would have made it a 

 reputation, though we cannot forget that some 

 years it has terrible blemishes, yet in this section it 

 has proved one of the best and most reliable of win- 

 ter apples. Codling Moth provokingly abundant, 

 in spite of speckled woodpeckers. 



Grapes are overloaded — what shall we do with 

 them ? For one, I feel as if I had caught the ele- 

 phant and did not know how to let him go. In the 

 first place, inspired by the glowing words of C. W. 

 Grant and N. C. Meeker, I not only set out too 

 many, but I set them too close — 4x6 feet. It is use- 

 less to try to confine any of our free growing varie- 

 ties within that space. Until last year I tried to 

 dwarf by close pruning, but that won't do. If you 

 have but few canes in the spring they will 

 branch and grow all the fiirther and as the new 

 shoot sets but two to four clusters of grapes, the 

 vine spends its energy in making wood to be 

 pruned away again. Last year I determined to 

 check this useless extravagance, and left jiUnty of 

 wood. And now — well, most readers of the Pomo- 

 logist will know what I mean, when I say they are 

 lomUd. If they were not some three weeks earlier 

 than usual, I should have little hope of their ripen- 

 ing. But suppose they ripen — what then ? There 

 arc others plenty in the neigliborhood to supply our 

 limited market, and they will not bear shipping- 

 Wine? "Who hath redness of eyes ? "—Radical 

 temperance. But I cannot see them go to waste — I 

 guess I will make mtegitr of them. 



B.C. 



Adel, Iowa. 



