1872 The Western Pomologist and Gardener. 55 



there is a very serious objection. Such mutilation of the plant weakens its vitality, from 

 which it will never recover, and in the course of ten or fifteen years is liable to die out- 

 right. A better plan to make a substantial hedge and by which the plant is not weakened 

 in the least, is this : 



Set the plants eight to ten inches apart ; cultivate well the first season. In the fall 

 mulch it well to prevent winter-killing. This mulching will keep the weeds down, with 

 a little attention for the next two years, and will also give a vigorous growth to the hedge- 

 After three years' growth in hedge row, plow a deep furrow two and a half or three feet 

 from the hedge with landslide of plow next the hedge ; and have two men, one with a 

 shovel, the other with buck mils and thick boots to bend (not cut) the hedge, and tramp 

 it to a horizontal position, or level with the ground diagonally with the line of the hedge. 

 Tramp the tops in the furrow, and throw dirt on them to hold them in position, leaving 

 two and a half or three feet of the base uncovered. Thus treated they will send up from 

 ten to twenty vigorous sprouts from each plant. This being done in the spring, the lat- 

 ter part of June clip it within six inches of base of sprouts. The September following 

 clip it six inches higher, and continue the clipping semi-annually, until your hedge gets 

 the desired height, and it will be two or three feet thick at the base, and impassable for 

 man or beast. — S. P., Lancaster Co., Pa. 



Fruit Notes From Delaware Oountt. — In sending in again for the Pomologist, 

 I will say a few words about fruit in Delaware county. I had between forty and fifty 

 bushels of apples last fall a: d took second premium at our county fair. I like the Fall 

 Spitzenburg. It is hardy as the Fameuse and bears earlier and the fruit larger. Some 

 don't like the Northern Spy, but I am not scared about it. It is true it comes slow into 

 bearing, but when old enougli, it brings a good crop right along every year. Some get 

 dissatisfied with the Perry Russet, but a neighbor has a number of trees that were full of 

 apples last year. If that is the way it is going to do, every body ought to be satisfied 

 with it. If every land owner would take and read the Pomologist, fruit would be plen- 

 tier. I had German Prunes at our last county fair ; a German neighbor received some 

 prune trees from Germany and they are doing well. I have the Wild Goose Plum but it 

 starts so early in the spring that the late frosts sometimes catch it. — Christian Stein- 

 man, Cokaburg, Iowa. 



StTBSTiTUTE FOR A Hot-Bed. — Too often seeds of tender plants, such as tomatoes, ar& 

 sown too early and plants are overgrown or stunted at time of transplanting. Our rule is 

 to sow no earlier than is necessary to give good plants at time of transplanting to the open 

 air. Here we aim to start our seeds about the last of April or the first of May, and trans- 

 plant to the open ground about the first of June. The pressure of spring work, together 

 with the labor, skill and experience required for its management, has often inclined many 

 to forego the use of the hot-bed. We have adopted a substitute. We procure a lot of 

 shallow boxes and fill with rich dirt, such as will not easily pack or " bake " on top. I 

 place the.se on the dung hill, where it is fermenting, and with some more boxes for covers^ 

 my " hot-bed " is done ! Can you beat it for cheapness, economy, convenience, or any 

 other essential point ? Try it ! — A. L. Hatch, Ithaca, Wis. 



Ringing for Precocious Fruitfulness. — This process is no recent discovery as 

 many suppose. It was introduced by a member of the London Horticultural Society 

 nearly a half century ago. Grapes and some other fruits may not only be accelerated in 

 ripening, but be grown larger by the process of ringing the shoots from the 10th to the 

 latter part of July upon the last j'ear's wood. We have never tried this process of ring- 

 ing. We have heard it said, however, that, " vines treated in this manner produce fruit 

 nearly twice its usual size, when girdled nearly or quite an inch in width. The shoot; 

 thus operated upon dies, of course, the following winter. But where a ring is taken oflT 

 on\j one-half an inch, the fruit grows larger; but the bare coming together before the 

 winter, a coniiectlon is made, and the shoots are seemingly not injured." 



