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90 



THE ILLinsroiS F^KMER. 



She #rchavd. 



Grafters. 



We have tree peddlers scattered over the 

 country, who very generally take the advan- 

 tage of the innocent in thcii* sales of tree? 

 aiid shubbery. One of these chaps in the 

 lower part of the State this spring sold 200 

 quince "sprouts" to a farmer for seveuty- 

 five cents apiece and made him pay for 

 them. 



The letter below speaks of companies of 

 grafters, who have been traveling and work- 

 ing over the Southern section of the State. 



There, most of tlie apple trees are seed- 

 lings, and these men very properly say that 

 they can improve tlie fniit of these trees by 

 cutting off the tops and grafting them. 

 When this is done properly on trees that 

 will pay the expense, it is well enough. But 

 the object of the grafter is to make the most 

 money, and we have known them go into an 

 orchard and for a day's work charge twenty 

 or thirty dollars. And there is no certainty 

 when grafts grow well, that you will get good 

 fruit. There are orchards in this county 

 that have been grafted with worthless fruit. 

 The bettor plan would be for some one in a 

 neighborhood, at the proper season, to go 

 into a good orcliard and select scions of such 

 fruit you like, and get some neighbor who 

 understands grafting, to put them into your 

 trees. 



Our correspondent itui.st be tvTVare that 

 these grafters '.u-o shrewd men — that thoy 

 come to-day and are gone to-morrow — and 

 that their sole object is to make money. The 

 chances arc that they can collect by law all 

 that they claim, and without giving you any 

 guarantee which is good for anything, that 

 your grafts will finally live or that the fruit 

 which may come from them will be of any 

 value : 



"Randolph County, 111., ) 

 May 14, 1858. ) 



Mr. Editor: — You arc doubtless aware 

 of the fact that there are numerous compa- 

 nies of grafters ninuing over this part of the 

 State, who have done a large business in the 

 grafting line. Now, what are the usages of 

 nursery-men in this line? Some of the far 

 mors here have been long in the practice of 

 grafting ou a small scale for themselves and 

 neighbors, and in counting the grafts "a cut 

 and a fill" was considered a gratl. But the 

 obligations that these companies cause their 

 employers to sign, arc so worded as to admit 

 of a construction, which, if put and admitted, 

 will require their employers to pay precisely 

 double what they expected, and what, in 

 their opinion, they contracted to do. Now 

 what it> the practice with you? Does every 

 scion put in constitute a graft, or in case, 

 when two or four scions are put in ou the same 

 cut, do you pay for two or four grafts, if the 

 grafts all grow, as the case may be?* 



Yours, &c., J. A. H. 



*Now much depends on the well under- 



stood practices of tharging fof grafting in 

 your county. It was the duty of the grafters 

 to understand the general practice with you, 

 and their plan of drawing obligations so a8 to 

 give Ihem the Utmost latitude of construction. 

 This Is wrong, and their claims ought not to 

 be paid. 



Apple Tree Lice. 



Editor of the Farmer : — Many orchards 

 in the north of Indiana are infested with 

 lice. I saw one two years ago that was 

 Covered with this vermin. It stunts the 

 trees and prevents their bearing. The 

 leaves are small, the twigs small, short joint- 

 ed and the whole appears as you might sup- 

 pose a stunted tree wbuld ifitwas a thousand 

 years old. The trees thus affected Wfere 

 brought from the East, but doubtless the 

 pest will soon affect other trees. I do not 

 know that any remedy can be applied to old 

 trees thuscoveredwith these vermin. Small 

 trees may be washed with alkaline water or 

 soap-suds to advantage. The evil must be 

 removed, if you would have any good of or- 

 chards. C. F ^S; 



JULIEN, May 15, 1858: 



Young OrdiardU, 



Mr, Editor : 1 tave but little know- 

 ledge, learned by practice, of the best 

 manner of pruning and cultivating or- 

 chards. I have been something of an 

 observer, and have seen many orchards 

 in our State, and heard much said by 

 farmers on their cultivation. My ac- 

 quired knowledge seems to amount .to 

 about this : Apple orchards, on our 

 prairies, ought to be cultivated so as to 

 have low heads. This should be done, 

 to prevent the breaking and blowing 

 down of trees by the high winds. The 

 trees Avith low heads bear quite as well 

 as if they run higher ; they spread out 

 more, have more long lateral limbs, and 

 the fruit is easier reached. I take it 

 for granted that no particular farmer 

 wants to obtain fruit for the table by 

 shaking it from his trees. It ought for 

 this purpose always to he hand-picked. 



Well, how are trees to be primed to 

 low heads ? It can be done in no other 

 way than to head back the leading 

 shoots, and in summer pinch off the tops, 

 if new ones start to supply their place. 



So much for apple trees. Peach 

 trees ought, in my opinion, to be culti- 

 vated as large shrubs. The main stem 

 of the young tree should be cut back, 

 so as to cause the tree to throw out five 

 or six strong branches, or lateral limbs, 

 near the ground. Thus the trees will 

 be likely to produce more fruit — they 

 are less likely to be injured by winds 

 than if they had high branches on a 

 single stock, and there would be less 

 danger of their breaking down with an 

 overload of fruit. How often, in pas- 

 sing through peach orchards, cultivated 

 as trees, are you pained by seeing tall 



limbS) loaded with fruit, broken down to 

 the ruin of the tree ? 



I do not believe We shall be trouliled 

 much in this section, with either apple 

 bi" pCiach trees breaking down with an 

 overload of frilit, the present year ; but 

 all years may not be alike ; and the 

 time may come when the hints I have 

 offered may be worth remembering. 



Sugar Creek, 111., May 14, 1858. 



W. 



-«•»- 



Evergreens. 



Mr. Editor : I was at tne railroad 

 depot a few days ago, and I saw a lot 

 of pine trees destined for the South. 

 They were evidently taken out of the 

 woods, for there were huckleberry and 

 winter-green pilahtd stbout the roots. 

 The man who had them in charge, said 

 they came from a Michigan nursery, 

 were fine trees, and he would warrant 

 them to live. 



These trees will not be offered for 

 sale about here. The first speculations 

 in the pine-tree line were made by just 

 such men as own these trees about this 

 region, sbnle years ago. They took 

 Idads bf pine trees to th^ tbwiis, and 

 villages, and sold them very cheap. 

 You would get a tree, three and four 

 feet high, for fifty cents, and smaller 

 trees at a proportionate price. Passing 

 through the country towns, you would 

 see the yards planted out with pines, 

 looking pretty when first planted out, 

 but in July were just in a plight, dry 

 and yellow, to bo pulled up and burnt. 

 Passing about these towns now, it is 

 rarely, indeed, that you see a white pine 

 growing. 



It is perfect folly to expect that pines 

 taken from the shaded forest,wIth scarce- 

 ly any roots, even if all are taken up 

 with the tree, should live, when placed 

 in the ground, exposed to our hot sun, 



and in soil to which they have not been 

 accustomed. Not one out of a hundred 

 will live under such circumstances. The 

 money paid for such trees, as well as the 

 time expended in planting them out, are 

 just thrown away. 



Nurserymen, who have evergreen 

 trees for sale, get them when they are 

 very small, and plant them out in thick 

 rows in their nurseries. Many of theto 

 die ; but those that live, will form tine 

 roots, become accustomed to the direct 

 rays of the sun, and when these trees 

 are taken up at the proper time — as the 

 buds begin to start in the spring— and 

 well planted out, (the roots having been 

 kept moist and from the air.) nineteen 

 times of twenty they will live and do 

 well. 



These facts have been published thou- 

 sands of times, and yet many men seem 

 disposed to be swindled out of their 

 money, in the purchase of worthless ever- 

 greens. 



