50 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[February, 
to get views of distant hills, or spreading coun- 
try, or sheet of water; then descending into 
quiet valleys, rolling over grassy lawns, skating 
ponds or streams, or winding among rocky dells. 
Whoever wishes to examine some of the finest 
examples of road and walk making, should vis- 
it the Central Park in this city, especially the 
" Ramble," and he will learn more in a few 
hours than we can teach him in many pages. 
The planting of such a park will require less 
study than a smaller piece of landscape-garden- 
ing. A leading object will be to secure shade. 
Of course, then, the borders of the drives and 
paths should be fringed with trees. Yet they 
should not be set in continuous lines and close 
together, thus excluding free views of the 
grounds. In addition to this, wherever fine 
prospects can be had of distant scenery, the 
outlook should be left open and unobstructed. 
Here and there, also, groups and masses should 
be planted, running out into the park, to break 
up the monotony of the single line. 
If the space is large enough, groups and scat- 
tered trees may be planted at intervals ; but 
they should be set sparingly, as too many serve 
to contract the ground and shut out pleasing 
views. Nothing, however, can be finer than a 
few choice single trees, set in the open lawn, 
with ample room to develop and exhibit their 
perfect forms. Wherever the land is rocky and 
hilly, spiry-topped trees are specially appropri- 
ate; on fat, rich plains, those of broad, rounded 
heads; by water-courses, willows and other pen- 
dulous trees are most desirable. 
The boundary fences should be concealed by 
hedges and low trees. Mr. Loudon laid it down 
as a general rule that, " whatever the hight of 
a tree or shrub may be, provided it be greater 
than that of the human eye from the ground, it 
ought to be placed at such a distance from the 
walk or road, as that the eye may see the top of 
it at an angle of from 30° to 40°. A tree that 
grows forty feet high, ought to be placed about 
fifty feet from the walk." Here he is speaking 
of trees set in parks for observation rather than 
for mere shade. Another excellent rule was 
this : " Every tree or shrub, however low, ought 
to be placed at such a distance from the walk, 
that ife branches, luhen fully grown, shall not reach 
nearer to it than frfim one to two feet." A rule that 
ought to be printed in letters of gold, and hung 
daily before every tree planter! 
We need hardly add that the soil in which 
the trees are to be set, should be properly en- 
riched, subsoired, and drained. Tljey will 
then make a vigorous growth from the outset. 
That the ground around the trees should be 
worked over annually with hoe and spade, and 
kept free from weeds for several years, is anoth- 
er obvious fact. For the first year or two, the 
roots should be mulched with coarse litter. 
A park is not complete without convenient 
seats. These should be made of the plainest 
materials, solid and not likely to get out of re- 
pair. The appropriate places for them are, 
both under the shade for Summer use, and in the 
sunshine for Spring and Fall ; in quiet, retired 
nooks, and on high points commanding views 
of surrounding scenery. Set anywhere and 
everywhere, they will hardly come amiss. 
Tire Norway Maple differs considerably 
from the common rock-maple. Its bark is 
Smoother ; the buds iu Winter are larger and 
blunter; the leaves are larger, darker, and there 
are more of them. They are not white on the 
under side. The flowers in Spring arc yellow- 
ish. The tree is a rapid grower, and easily 
adapts itself to all soils. In Europe, the wood 
is highly valued for cabinet work; it resembles, 
somewhat, our birds' eye maple. Plant it. 
Seedling Fruit Trees. 
— — « — 
It is singular that the majority of our most 
valued fruits are chance seedlings, originating 
without the intervention or care of the cultiva- 
tor. This is especially true with pears and ap- 
ples, which are so long in coming into bearing 
that few have the patience to make the trial. 
Peaches, apricots, and other stone fruits, which 
fruit comparatively early from the seed, are often 
multiplied in this way. The raising of seed- 
ling pears has received a new interest from the 
labors of M. Gregoire Nelis, in France, and of 
the veteran pomologist Thomas Rivers, in Eng- 
land. The former has devoted 32 years to bis 
experiments in raising pears from the seed, and 
has in that time raised 150 varieties worth per- 
petuating, and of course, at the same time, 
thousands which were rejected as unfit for in- 
troduction. M. Gregoire Nelis' method of has- 
tening the fruiting of the seed, is to transplant 
annually; this gives them a compact growth and 
promotes the formation of fruit buds. In this 
H'iy, fruit is obtained in G or 8 years from the 
seed. The experience of Thomas Rivers is giv- 
en in the Gardeners' Chronicle, in an article 
which is so interesting that it is a matter of re- 
gret that its length prevents us from re-printing 
it, He cultivates the pear seedlings in pots in 
the orchard -house, keeping them in 10 inch pots, 
and root-pruning and re-polting every season. 
Treated in this way, the trees may be expected 
to come in bearing in six years. A general ten- 
dency is found in seedlings from late pears, to 
mature much earlier than the parent. His re- 
sults with the progeny of well known varieties, 
is full of interest to the pomologist, but would 
not be so to the mass of our readers. Peaches 
and nectarines grown iu pots will produce fruit 
in three years from the seeds, and those raised 
from late kinds show, like the pears, a tendency 
to produce early varieties. In the course of 
Mr. Rivers' experiments he found that nectarines 
were produced from peach stones, and that the 
stone of the nectarine would sometimes pro- 
duce a peach tree, thus confirming the fact, 
which has been doubted by some, that the two 
fruits are only varieties of the same species. 
The improvement of our various fruits by 
seedlings from good sorts may well claim the 
attention of those who have time and means to 
devote to it, yet there are still "native fruits" 
in man}' localities which should be brought into 
notice. Several of these have been presented at 
the Fruit Grower's meetings held each Thurs- 
day at the office of the Agriculturist, and we in- 
vite those who have seedling fruits, possessing 
desirable qualities, to bring or send them to these 
meetings for examination of their merits. 
Trees for Nurses. 
A good deal is said in books and papers in 
favor of setting out a surplus number of trees 
in a plantation, (afterwards to be removed) for 
the sake of sheltering those which are to re- 
main permanently. They are planted, also, part- 
ly for the sake of giving immediate effect. 
But experience is beginning to testify against 
the practice. It is found that when the ground is 
so thickly filled up with trees, the soil becomes 
quickly exhausted, and the permanent trees 
make only a slow growth. Moreover the nurses 
overgrow and shade the permanent trees so 
as to injure their shape. The lower branches 
make a much feebler growth than they would 
if exposed to abundance of light and air, and 
the higher branches run up iu a spindling man- 
ner. Evergreens especially suffer when crowded 
by nurses. Their base branches, which it is so 
important to preserve, soon die out. And yet, 
if caution be used, such trees may be sometimes 
employed. For instance, they may be set on the 
most windy and exposed side or sides of a favor- 
ite tree, if they are planted at a considerable dis- 
tance, and if thej' are removed after the first or 
second year. The danger is that they will bo 
left standing several years, until they have in- 
jured the tree beyond recovery. 
«-< ' -»- .-• 
Managing Trees in Windy Places. 
Various plans have been tried to keep newly 
set trees erect in bleak places, and to preserve 
their branches from being blown and whipped 
out of shape. Stakes of several kinds are used. 
Some are set close to the trunk and bound to It 
by wisps of straw or bands of leather; but these 
are soon displaced, or the tree gets badly chafed. 
Then, a stake is often set a foot or more from 
the tree, and the two are fastened together by 
cords of some kind ; yet here, too, the cords 
may be broken before the planter is aware of it. 
We have tried a plan lately, which has some 
merits. It dispenses with stakes altogether. 
After the tree is planted, four or five stout pegs 
are driven into the ground, in a circle around 
the tree, and about under the ends of the branch- 
es. Flat leather bands, or stout pieces of listing 
are tied to the branches on opposite sides of the 
tree. Strong cords are then drawn from these 
to the pegs and tied. This keeps the tree 
from swaying in an}' direction. On the most 
windy side, double the number of cords are 
used, to preserve the branches in good shape. 
To this we have added, for weeping trees, light 
weights suspended from limbs which, on ac- 
count of the wind, did not take the pendulous 
habit that was desirable. * 
For the A ntericaji Agriculturist. 
Northern Spy Apple. 
I think "Pomologist" has extolled this apple 
too highly on page 367, December Agriculturist. 
My experience with it is not favorable. In the 
Spring of 1850 I set out four young trees of this 
variety, and grafted the tops of three old trees 
with cions cut from the young trees. None of 
the trees showed even a bloom until 1860. They 
bore well the two following years, but there 
were not two barrels of marketable fruit from 
the seven trees. The soil on which the trees 
stand, is a sandy or gravelly loam, which pro- 
duced over fifty bushels of corn per acre. I do 
not find the Spy keeps any better than Esopus 
Spitzcnberg, and not as well as R. I. Greening, 
Baldwin, Roxbury Russet, etc. The flavor is 
good, and the fruit retains its freshness for a 
long time, which is about the only thing I can 
find in its favor. 
In the Spring of 1855 I grafted an old tree 
with Baldwins, and had two barrels of fruit 
from it the third year, seven barrels the fifth 
year, and six the seventh year, making fifteen 
barrels of saleable apples in seven years from 
grafting. A. G. Percy. 
Wayne Co., N. Y. 
Remarks. — The Northern Spy is one of our 
most variable apples, though nearly always of 
good flavor. It is not suited to a wide locality, 
but in many places, on rich soil, it does remark- 
