AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 405 



•ward cover over so as to make the earth level. Let only one cane grow 

 from a cutting. In setting rooted vines, prune away roots and branches. 

 All the fibrous roots will die, if not pruned away. The same is true in 

 relation to trees. It is better to grow vines from single eyes, if the wood 

 is ripe, than from immature wood upon roots. Grrape vines at two years 

 old are much better for transplanting than older vines. 



THE DELAWARE GRAPE. 



Mr, Roberts read an article from the Germantown Telegraph, condemn- 

 ing in unmeasured terms the Delaware grape, stating that it will not ripen 

 in this latitude. 



R. Gr. Pardee, in answer to tliis, stated that he saw Delaware vines at 

 Newburg, last season, in full bearing, that ripened perfectly. 



Solon Robinson. — The acrimony of that article is as clearly traceable to 

 a Flushing nursery as daylight is to the sun — particularly the remark about 

 strawberries. It it very much like kicking against the pricks, to kick 

 against the Delaware grape in the present state of public opinion in regard 

 to it. I pledge my word that it will ripen perfectly wherever the Isabella 

 will ripen so as to be barely eatable. 



PRUNING PEAR TREES. 



Andrew S. Fuller. — In transplanting small pear trees, I always trim off 

 the small roots very close. If you get trees from a distance and find that 

 the roots are injured, by drying or bruising, cut them off close up to the 

 main root. I would cut off the top of a one year-old pear, within a foot of 

 the junction upon the quince root, and in planting, always set the junction 

 below the surface of the earth. A quince will send out roots from the 

 bark at any point. It is still an open question, whether it is advisable to 

 get roots from the pear stock, as when that is the case, the quince may 

 die. If you wish to get roots from the pear stock you must set the 

 junction full four inches below the surface. I believe that the dwarf pear 

 on a quince can be transformed into a long-lived pear tree, by making the 

 pear stock take roots. In pruning dwarf pears, care must be taken each 

 year to prune so as to keep the tree nicely balanced. In pruning off roots 

 to set out, be careful to turn the tree bottom up, and cut the roots on the 

 under side, so that when the tree is set, the cut part of the roots may sit 

 flat on the soil. 



CHERRIES. 



Mr. Fuller illustrated the growing of cherries, and showed the cause of 

 the failure of a great many nursery trees to be because the graft is set 

 upon stocks that are naturally dwarfs, and will not support a standard 

 tree. In setting out cherry trees for dwarfs, I trim in the roots very short, 

 and cut down the stock within a foot of the junction. All trees from a 

 nursery should be trimmed down close before they are sent away, and 

 would be, only that buj'ers are always looking for something very large. 

 I never order trees from a nursery over one year old. Buyers might save 

 one-half the expense of buying trees, if they would order young trees, and 



