1862. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



499 



son's Straits, to Labrador, they had thrown away 

 all cumbersome articles and thus the bullets came 

 in this place. Of tiiis matter !Mr. Hall will make 

 some farther search in history before he will yiev- 

 mit his inferences to have too great a weight in 

 his narrative. 



Mr. Hall has discovered a very large and inter- 

 esting mountain of fcissils at the head of Frobish- 

 er's Bay, which has furnished him the materials 

 for an extensive scientific article on that abstruse 

 snbject. 



He also discovered an immense glacier near 

 Queen Elizabeth's Land. This he named the 

 '■Grinnell glacier," in honor of Mr. Henry Grinnell. 

 It exceeds three thousand feet in heiglit, is one 

 hundred miles long and fifty miles in width. 



Mr. Hall has brought home with him a very in- 

 teresting family of Iinutits or Esquimaux. E-bier- 

 biiig, the husband, is a fine-looking fellow, about 

 twenty-four years of age, but he is not so large 

 and good-looking as Avas Cad-la-go. Tuk-oo-h- 

 too, the wife, is about the same age as her hus- 

 band, and is the interpreter. She is the best in- 

 terpreter in the Arctic regions. Her knowledge 

 of the country and its traditions is wonderful, and 

 any explorer would feel justly proud of her ser- 

 vices. Tuk-er-lik-e-ta, the infant child, is one 

 year old, and is a fine child. The father and 

 mother went to England some years ago and were 

 presented to the Queen. They, of course, are not 

 so much surprised at seeing a civilized country. 



IlIPEIiNriNG OF FKUITS. 



A short article on the tomato, by Y., in our 

 present number, is worthy of more than passing 

 attention. The writer found that tomatoes, suf- 

 fered to lie in their natural position on the ground, 

 ripened earlier than those trained to any form of 

 trellis. This exactly accords with our own obser- 

 vations. And it is in perfect unison with all that 

 we have taught since the organization of the 

 Gardener\s Montlilij ; not, indeed, in regard to to- 

 mato culture, but in connection with the general 

 theory of ripening fruit. Yet, there is not a more 

 widely spread error, than the common belief that 

 fruits must have "all the sun and air possible to 

 ripen them early and properly." 



Thus we see everywhere around us, numbers of 

 excellent practitioners stripping their vines of fo- 

 liage to "let in sun and air to ripen the fruit," and 

 if there is one spot on the ground more sunny and 

 exposed "to the air" than another, that spot they 

 are sure to select for some apricot or choice fruit 

 that they particularly value. 



It seems to be forgotten that fruit ripening is in 

 the main a vital process. Chemical action is of 

 course essential to it ; but it is dependent on veg- 

 etable life. This vitality is maintained by Avell- 

 developed and healthy foliage, and this again is 

 dependent on the general health of the plant. 



All pruning is more or less detrimental to the 

 general health of the tree. Winter pruning or 

 summer pruning, the effect is the same. Pruning 

 is but a compromise. 



To gain a great object, we sacrifice small advan- 

 tages. In pruning, that sacrifice is drawn from 

 general health. We break oft' a strong shoot while 

 green or succulent, that it may not rob a weaker 

 one below ; or, we shorten a weak shoot in winter 

 that it may push stronger next season. Here we 



gain desired advantages, but the vital force re- 

 ceives a shock. The more severely we pursue this 

 course, the more we perceive the shock, till, as is 

 well-known, we can take off leaves or shoots 

 enough to utterly destroy the life of a tree. We 

 prune trees at transjilanting, just as we Avould cut 

 off a man's leg ; not because the tree likes prun- 

 ing, or that amputation is a peculiarly pleasing 

 operation, but as a part of that system of compen- 

 sation which nature demands for broken limbs 

 and broken laws. We gain an advantage, but 

 with permanent loss. 



Men like to deal with aphorisms. It is easier 

 to follow a rule than to understand the reasoning ; 

 so if we tell a child to "take care of the pence and 

 the pounds will take care of themselves," it will 

 be more likely to be economical than if we read it 

 a long homily as to the reasons therefor. So we 

 shall perhaps, be more generally understood if we 

 reduce all we have said to this, "take care of the 

 leaves and the fruits will take care of themselves." 



If we go into a dense wood, where the grape- 

 vine never knew the gardener's knife, and sec the 

 vine in its massiness of foliage, rambling over 

 bushes and trees, in dells or ravines, and where 

 the sun's direct light never shines, our "sun and 

 light" friends will expect to see green and unripe 

 grapes : yet no enraptured poet ever dwelt with 

 more pleasure on the "dark black orbs" of his fair 

 an«el, than the genuine lover of good fruit may 

 dwell on the dark black orbs hanging in the wild- 

 est luxuriance from these extremely healthy, but 

 sun-forsaken vines. 



If we look into similar places — not, perhaps, 

 quite so shady, for that is not its nature — and 

 there note the fine healthy leaves of the blackber- 

 ry, with its fruit black as jet beneath the still sha- 

 dier foliage, and the bright shining little pearls 

 glistening from every pip ; do they not ask you 

 bluntly, what is sunlight to them ? And if you 

 are not prepared to answer, go to the garden of 

 some "sun and air folks," look at the hot board 

 fence, facing due south, and tarred to make it hot- 

 ter ; and against it, with large yellow leaves and 

 red ripe berries, see the poor Lawtons languishing 

 for their native shade. Their owner considers 

 Lawton a great humbug ; and the blackberry no 

 better than his own fence rows afford. Friend 

 Lawton, forgive that man — while thousands bless 

 you, this unfortunate knows not what he does ! 



When your gooseberry leaves fall off by mildew, 

 the grape leaves by hail, or the pear leaves by 

 blight ; do you have gooseberries, grapes or pears ? 

 We need scarcely answer ; and yet the same per- 

 sons, who know they do not get good fruit under 

 these misfortunes, by their very systems of prun- 

 ing, which "lets in the sun and air," are really 

 working to the same unsatisfactory end. 



"Take care of the leaves, and the fruits will 

 take care of themselves." Mr. Buist cleverly 

 showed this, in an article he contributed to an 

 early volume of the Gardener^s Monthly. He set 

 a novice to shorten in some shoots in his vinery, 

 and before he saw him again, had a few vines 

 nearly stripped of their foliage. These vines had 

 badly colored grapes. They never had before, nor 

 had the rest of the grapes from the point where 

 the defoliating operation ceased. 



"Take care of the leaves, and the fruits will take 

 care of themselves." Long befoi'e Mr. Buist's ar- 

 ticle ever saw our pages, a few acute gardeners 



