NEW ENGLAND FARMER 



JULY 5, 1843 



BUDDING. 



Budding, or grnfting by germs, says Mr Loudon 

 consists, ill ligneous plants, in taking an eye or 

 bud attached to a portion of the bark, and trans- 

 porting it to a place on another or different ligne- 

 ous vegetable. In herbaceous vegetablps the 

 same operation may be performed, hut with less 

 success. The object in view in budding, is almost 

 always that of grafting, and depends on tho same 

 principle, all the difference between ii biid and a 

 scion being, that a bud is a shoot or scion in em- 

 bryo ; in other respects, budding is conducted on 

 the same principles as grafting. In every case, 

 the bud and the stock must be botanically related. 

 An apple may be budded on a pear or thorn, but 

 not upon a plum or peach. Common budding is 

 performed from tlie beginning of July to the mid- 

 dle of August. 



It is indispensable that the bud to be inserted 

 should be fully formed or ripe. After the incision 

 of the stock, great care must be taken in raising 

 the bark, that the cnmbium be not scraped or in- 

 jured. The cambium is that soft portion between 

 the wood and tho bark destined to give support to 

 the descending fibres of the buds, which fibres sub- 

 sequently become embedded in it. In budding, 

 therefore, the bark must be very carefully lifted up, 

 and not forced from the wood with a bone or metal 

 blade as is too often done. 



For propagating choice fruit, the operation of 

 budding possesses several advantages over that 

 of grafting. "It is," says Buel, "more readily 

 performed, with fewer implements, less prepara- 

 tion, and with greater success ; it does not injure 

 the stock if unsuccessful, and the operation may 

 be twice or thrice repeated the same year, as the 

 season for its performance is protracted, for some 

 one or other of the varieties, for some three months. 

 Although July and August constitute the ordinary 

 season for budding, the plum and cherry may often 

 be budded in the latter part of June, and the peach, 

 apricot and nectarine as late as the middle of Sep- 

 tember. 



"The first consideration is to provide stalks, if 

 this provision has not already been made. Seeds 

 may lie collected the coming season in almost ev- 

 ery family. Those of stone fruit may be mixed 

 with earth, or deposited in a hole in the garden, 

 and in the autumn buried superficially in the earth', 

 to expose them to the expanding influence of the 

 frost; and in the spring those of the peach and 

 plum that have not burst the shell siiould be crack- 

 ed, and the whole sown in a well prepared seed 

 bed. The cherries may be sown immediately af- 

 ter they are taken from the fruit, and the apple, 

 pear, and quince either in autumn or spring. All 

 the kinds will generally grow the first "season. 

 The same rule applies to plants as to animals ; the 

 better condition they are kept in while young, the 

 more profitable they will become at mat'urity. 

 Thus two or three roods of ground will suffice'a 

 farmer for a nursery of choice fruit, from which he 

 may replenish his orchard and his garden at plea- 

 sure, and readily appropriate to his use every new 

 variety which comes under his observaiiou. No 

 one will regret tlie trifling labor and attention 

 which he has bestowed on a little plantation of 

 this kind, afier he has begun to realize the fruits 

 of It. Ornamental shrubs and trees, to embellish 

 the grounds about his buildings, may he added 

 without cost and with trifling hhnr."— Farmers' 

 Encyctop. 



ACID IN SOILS. 



That valuable agricultural journal, the Ameri- 

 can Farmer, published at Haliiniore, copies Dr. 

 Dana's article upon oxalic acid, &c., and prefaces 

 it with the following remarks : 



It has become mooted questions of late, whether 

 there be acid in the soil ? and if there be, whether 

 lime will so neutralize it as to destroy sorrel and 

 other sour vcqetables .' Some have affirmed, that 

 the doctrine which ascribes vegetable acid, or as it 

 is chemically termed, oxalic acid, as the cause of 

 the growth of sorrel, is unsound ; others that sorrel 

 cannot be destroyed by the application of lime. 

 Now, for ourself, from our own experience, we are 

 forced to believe, that there is truth both in the 

 fact of the existence of the acid, and in the com- 

 petency of lime, as a ncutralizer, to remove it. 

 Our reason for this opinion is a plain one and soon 

 told. We had some years ago a lot of about two 

 acres of sandy land, resting upon a clay bottom, so 

 infested with sorrel as to destroy two successive 

 crops of clover. The land had never been limed, 

 and believing that the presence of the sorrel was 

 owing to a superabundant supply of acid in the 

 soil, we determined to try the effect in neutraliz- 

 ing it, and it so turned out that we had some freshlij 

 hnrntd, unslacked oyster-shell lime on ,hand, two 

 hundred bushels of which we spread over the two 

 acres of ground, on the top of the lay of sorrel, for 

 it was then several inches high, plowed both the 

 lime and the sorrel in, on the 20th of July, and on 

 the l.'jth of August following, we gave the ground 

 another plowing returning the lime to the surface, 

 which had become tolerably well slacked. We 

 let 'he lot remain until the following spring, when 

 we sowed it in oats and clover, and was never 

 again troubled with our old enemy, tho sorrel. As 

 there has been considerable discussion of late upon 

 this subject and no little diversion of opinion upon 

 this matter, we have thought that it might be inter- 

 esting to our readers to know the views entertain- 

 ed by that eminent chemist. Professor Dana, of 

 Lowell, Mass., whose admirable work upon agri- 

 culture, shows that his opinion is entitled to pro- 

 found consideration. It has been alleged in sup- 

 port of the position, that lime will not destroy 

 sorrel, Ihsl in many instances, where lime had been 

 applied to the soil, that the sorrel had continued to 

 grow, and even that in some instances had grown 

 through coatings of marl, which is mainly the car- 

 bonate of lime, or, to speak more plainly, lime in a 

 slacked state. This, we think, is very plainly and 

 satisfactorily accounted for by Professor Dana. 

 His views are, that the lime should be plowed in, 

 in an unslacked state, and not be left on the sur- 

 face to become slacked by the elements ; that the 

 vegetable acid of the soil reaches much deeper 

 than the minute portions of the lime which is dis- 

 solved by rain can penetrate, that if the slacking 

 lakes place by air alone, that, as carbonate of lime 

 is insoluble, none of its active neutralizing princi- 

 ples enter the soil, and, therefore, cannot affect 

 the sorrel, unless, perhaps, by preparing it, through 

 the vegetable matter which it may have caused to 

 decompose, additional food, by which its capacity 

 for sustaining life is increased rather than dimin- 

 ished. This is our reading ot the Dr.'s coiiitnuni- 

 cation, and as his theory corresponds with our own 

 practice, we feel justified in commending his views 

 to public notice. 



GKRMINATION. 



Germination is the process by which a plant 

 produced from a seed. It is, in truth, the springi 

 into life of a new individual. The phenomena 

 germination are best observed in dicotyledonc 

 seeds; such, for instance, as the bean, pea, lup 

 &c. These seeds consist of two lobes, or coty 

 dons, enveloped in a common membrane ; wh 

 this is removed, a small projecting body is sei 

 which is that part of the germ which subsequen 

 becomes the root, and is termed the radicle ; I 

 other portion of the germ is seen on carefully s( 

 araling the cotyledons, and is termed the plumul 

 it afterwards forms the stem and leaves. Wh 

 the ripe seed is removed from the parent plant 

 gradually dries, and may be kept often for an 

 definite period, without undergoing any chant 

 hut if placed under circumstances favorable to 

 germination, it soon begins to grow ; these req 

 site circumstances arc, a due temperature, ni' 

 ture, and the presence of air. The most favora 

 temperature is between 60'=' and 80° ; at the fre 

 ing point none of the most perfect seeds vegeta 

 and at a temperature above J00°, the young ge 

 is usually injured. No seed will grow withi 

 moisture : water is at first absorbed by the po 

 of the external covering, and decomposed ; 

 seed gradually swells, its membranes burst, a 

 the germ expands. The root is at first most t. 

 idly developed, the materials for its growth bei' 

 derived from the cotyledons ; and when it sho" 

 out its fibres or rootlets, these absorb nourishmi' 

 from the soil, and the plumula is developed, risi 

 upwards in a contrary direction to the root, and u 

 pandiuCT into stem and leaves. For this erow 

 the presence of air is requisite ; if it be totally ii 

 eluded, though there be heat and moisture, ■ 

 tho seed will not vegetate. Hence it is that sef 

 buried very deep in the earth, or in a stiff cl 

 remain inert ; but on admission of air, by turni 

 up the soil, begin to vegetate. Light is injurii 

 to the growth of the seed. It is, therefore, ob 

 ous that the different requisites for germinati 

 are attained by placing a seed under the surft 

 of the soil, where warmed by the sun's rays, a 

 moistened by the humidity of the atmosphere, it 

 excluded from light, but the air has access to it. 

 Far. Encyclop. 



Do n't let your hogs get out of materials for ma- 

 nure-making. Throw in turf, muck, weeds, &c. 



MR COLMAN IN ENGLAND. 

 At the anniversary meeting of the Royal Ag 

 cultural Society of Flngland, held in London on t 

 22d of May, the Right Hon. Earl Spencer in t 

 chair, after a choice of officers for the coming yt 

 had been made, and the list of prizes reported, 

 Colman, late Agricultural Commissioner of Mas.' 

 cliusetts, being present, addressed the nieetir 

 thanking them for the honor conferred upon h 

 by the Society in making him an honorary memb. 

 and expressing his conviction that the prizes off( 

 cd for the best essays on the agricultural state 

 the counties, would lead to the most beneficial i 

 suits. We learn, also, from the same source, (I 

 Mark-Lane Express,) that Mr Colman was presr 

 at a weekly council of the Society, held on the 24 

 of May, Earl Spencer presiding, and presented 

 the Council several American geological and ag 

 cultural reports, for the library of the Society, f 

 which presents the best thanks of the Council we 

 ordered to be returned to Mr C, and also to I 

 Mease, Vice President of the Philadelphia Agrici 

 Society, for his present, through Mr Colman, oftl 

 last volume of the Society's memoirs. 



