308 



blossoms." My Bucliesse trees bloomed very fuli 

 and I have as the result, about sixty pears on a 

 thousand trees. Bartlett, L. Bonne and B. Goiibalt, 

 are loaded with frnit. Is it not a rule that trees 

 which bloom the fullest, set the fewest frait in pro- 

 portion to the number of blossoms. I noticed it in the 

 apple and cherry. 



What is the remedy ? I am going to try closer 

 pruning in early spring, cutting otf two-tliirds of the 

 fruit buds. 



[Your lawn is not kept mown very often we guess. 

 You cannot take oif a crop of clover and a crop of 

 Pears, and expect the same as if you had no clover 

 and all Pears. But, if you top dressed heavy after 

 "ng off a crop of clover, returning as much food 

 to the soil as you took away in clover, you could do 

 it very well ; but even then, you must mow 

 away around the trees several times a year, taking 

 no crop from under the trees. If grass grows its 

 full length under the trees, the roots of the grass 

 grow strong in proportion to the strength of the top, 

 and hence dry out and starve out the roots of the 

 fruit tree. The grass tops must not he suffered to 

 grow long^ or the grass roots will run deep. Unless 

 this principle be clearly understood, it is no use to 

 try to grow young trees in grass. 



Unproductive blossoms results from weakened 

 vitality. Severe pruning weakens vitality, though 

 stimidating an immediate strong growth. It will 

 not help you much. Cutting off many of the 

 {lower buds may help the remainder, but this sub- 

 ject is so new that we are unable to give any advice 

 * from personal observation. We would rather have 

 the results of your own experiments when made, to 

 help us to a sound practice that we can recom- 

 mend.] 



QuERCUS Sanguinea.— iV; S. Brandon, Ver~ 

 niont, writes : "A friend saw, a couple of years ago, 

 what he said was a beautiful blood-leaved oak, in 

 the Grerman Garden, which he said was called Quer- 

 ciis Sanguinea. I ordered a few, but they seem to 

 be nothing but the common Red or Scarlet oak of 

 our own forests. Is there any such thing as a blood 

 leaved oak ? 



[There is a variety of English oak, ( Quercus pe- 

 dwiculata,) which is in some European catalogue 

 called Sanguinea, and in others, Atropurpurea, — 

 the last being most appropriate as the leaves are 

 dark purple like the Beach 



A single tree was found many years ago growing 

 in the Lauchner forest near Gotha, in Germany — 

 but it has been found very hard to propagate, and 

 hence plants of it yet bring high prices in Europe.] 



Succession of Peaches. B., Gettysburg, 

 Pa., asks : " Would you please give us a list of the 

 best Peaches ripening in succession that would do 

 for this latitude ? 



[We hardly know, — so much depends on local 

 causes—what will ^o best in the vicinity of Gettys- 

 burg, bui name the following as what we should 

 try there if we were to begin to plant. If any one 

 can improve the list, v/e should be obliged. First to 

 ripen early in August, 



1. Hale's Early. 



2. Troth's Early. 



3. Large Early Yoi k. 



4. Crawford's Early. 



5. Old Mixon Free. 



6. Crawford's Late, — biit we are not sure Stump 

 the World would not do quite as well. 



7. Late Bare Ripe. 



8. Smock. 



9. Late Heath. 



These will make a regular sijcces&ion in tbe order 

 named until October. 



BiGNONiA Rapicans. — In a private letter, Br. 

 Seeman says:—" I am just now interested in Big- 

 nonia radicans. There are two distinct species in 

 the United States,— differing in the seeds. One of 

 these was called Minor, and has disappeared from 

 English .gardens. This latter I have called Camp- 

 sis Curtisii, and the other Campsis radicans. — 

 Campsis is an old genus to which these plants be- 

 long rather than to Bignonia or Tecoma." 



Forcing Strawberries. — Reader, Sharon, 

 Ohio.—Tlie simplest way to force strawberries, is 

 to plant them now under hotbed sash— of course 

 facing the sun, and if on a southern slope, all the 

 better. This will advance them three weeks. 



Beurrs Clairgeau as a Dwarf.— T. S. 

 well says : "I notice that a writer, in another Hor- 

 ticultural Medium in an article on Pears says, " the 

 Beurre Clairgeau makes a fine Dwarf" I think 

 this a mistake. I doubt whether this variety of 

 Pear will succeed, except it be double worked. 

 Worked on the Quince stock direct many trees w 11 

 blow off, and others break in digging and handling. 

 This shows it docs not make a good union. The 

 fact of its being called for on Quince, makes me 

 refer to it." 



?4W 



Varieties oe Peaches.— We think the greatest ^ 

 number of varieties grown by any one man for the p 

 sake of studying the kinds, is the collection of Mr. 



