April, 1889. 
AND 
77 
ORCHARD 
CARDEN 
unfavorable. In Maine the Baldwin suc- 
ceeds only when top-worked on vigorous 
and hardy seedlings; and I am satisfied that 
in the end the orchardists of the “cold 
north” will find their account in double 
working the Wealthy on the most thrifty 
iron-clads. 
Bogun Iron-CIlads. 
When a man in Central NewYork plants, 
for instance, a Mann apple tree and an Old- 
enburgh tree, side by side, he cannot dis- 
cover, in that climate, that one is any hard- 
ier than the other. But does that justify him 
in sending out to the public a statement 
that the Mann is as hardy as Oldenburgh? 
This is “a great moral question,” upon 
which I am not going to pronounce judg- 
ment here. But it is a fact that vast quan- 
tities of Mann trees have been sold through- 
out the “cold north” under just that assur- 
surance, and that it has been proved, (not 
to anyone’s satisfaction, so far as I know), 
that the Mann will, in many places, be kill- 
ed to the snow line where Oldenburgh is 
unharmed. Much money has been gather- 
ed from poor men’s pockets, and no value 
returned. The loss has not been limited to 
the price of the trees, (generally very high), 
but has included loss of time, and of confi- 
dence in New York trees, and tree dealers. 
'Hie II aim Apple. 
Charles Downing was one of the most con- 
servative judges of the quality of fruit 
among all our pomologists.and he rated this 
apple as “very good.” But when the Mann 
was called up at the Boston Meeting of the 
American Pomological Society, I think not 
a single voice was raised in its favor. East 
and West agreed in rating it as very poor, — 
its only merit being its long keeping. It 
was said that Homer nodded sometimes, and 
I suppose the good gray veteran of New- 
burgh was as human as the blind old poet 
of “Scio’s rocky isle.” 
Good culture for Fruit Trees. 
There are some rich natural soils, upr n 
which fruit trees may be planted out in or- 
chards, and grown and fruited for a series 
of years, without needing enrichment. But 
upon these after a time, and upon poor soils 
always, the profit to be obtained in growing 
fruit for market becomes very small, un- 
less pains be taken to keep up and add to 
their fertility.lt is true that “fruits are most- 
ly water;” and it is also true that to the other 
constituents of the pulp of fruits the atmos- 
phere supplies a large proportion of the ele- 
ments. But what of the seeds? From the 
orchards of a single small neighborhood the 
waste fruit ground for cider yields from 200 
to 500 bushels of apple seed to the nursery 
trade yearly. In a good year for fruit the 
crop of seed in apples and stone fruits equals 
or exceeds the average crop of wheat in the 
same locality. And then the leafage, year 
by year carried away by the winds of au- 
tumn, removes a large amount of choice 
and necessary minerals, extracted from the 
soil by the roots. Added to this is much of 
the same matter withdrawn from the soil 
and deposited permanently in the wood 
growth. 
Most of the complaint of the unprofita- 
bleness of orcharding comes from ignoring 
the demands of the crop upon the soil and 
of the soil, thus weakened, upon the or- 
chardist. An underfed orchard is apt to 
prove as unprofitable as an underfed ani- 
mal. The fruit is scant in quantity, size and 
quality, and such fruit is getting less and 
less profitable to growers every year, 
while strictly fancy fruit pays the grower as 
well as, if not better than ever. It is better 
to dig up the orchard and put in annual crops 
where it stood, than to allow it to struggle 
along, unfed, with an idea of some profit 
“in a good year.” A good year in such an 
orchard is sure to be a year of great fruit 
harvests, when even choice fruit is lower 
than usual, and second and third rate fruit 
will not pay for gathering. 
There is rarely anything like “big money” 
in orcharding, in a country like ours, where 
tree fruits thrive so well. It is only on a 
well chosen site, and on land not too costly, 
that even skilled orcharding can be made to 
pay; and the skilled orchardist knows that 
the pay comes from the fine fruit, when it 
comes at all. The art of supplying the roots 
of fruit trees with the food they are in search 
of is an art that we should seek to master. 
An orchard demands a liberal supply of 
potash and phosphoric acid for the wood 
and seed growths, and enough nitrogen to 
make a healthy leafage. According to my 
own experience our orchards must receive 
as good culture and as much manure as a 
grain field ; and when they get it will pay as 
well as, or rather better than most other 
crops.— T. H. Hoskins, M. D. 
Hardiness of file Kelsey Plum. 
In the March No. of Orchard & Garden 
there is an article by Eli Minch, relating to 
the hardiness of the Kelsey plum, in which 
he states: “In all those cases where I hear 
complaints respecting the lack of hardiness 
of Japan plums, I feel sure the latter are 
worked upon the peach.” 
If the inference is intended, that budding 
a tender variety on plum stock will render 
it to any appreciable extent hardier, then 
my experiments in this line lead me to 
dissent. 
I would first like very much to be fully 
satisfied that, “In all those cases, etc”, the 
same variety of plum has shown this valuable 
degree of hardiness. It is implied by Mr. 
M’s article that Hattankin and Kelsey are 
synonymous, while two catalogues in my 
possession, from different parts of the U. S. 
describe the Hattankin as distinct. 
Is it not probable, through the greatly 
confused condition of nomenclature, that 
they who report it hardy have one variety 
and that they who report it tender, another 
variety, distinct so far as characteristics of 
the trees go? Like Mr. Minch, I would 
very much like to get to the bottom of those 
reports, but believe that a few years’ trial 
will necessarily have to follow before any 
thing reliable can be ascertained in the 
premises. 
I have what I purchased of J. T, Lovett 
in 1884, for Kelsey’s Japan plum, workedit 
on stock of both plum and peach, and the 
first trees thus worked were alike injured at 
one year of age, by having from six inches to 
one foot of the ends of branches and lead- 
ers frozen (?), but none on either kind of 
stock have shown any injury from “an ab- 
sence of heat” since. Kelsey grows 
equally as strong as Botan, — more inclined 
to side branching — foliage more lanceolate. 
Now have I the true Kelsey? What about 
Kelsey’s Early and Kelsey’s Late? Mine 
have not yet fruited, and whether late or 
early remains a question of time. 
Out of sixteen named varieties of Japan 
plums but one has fruited, viz. Ogon, and 
when I compared the fruit of this with the 
first description I had of it, the conclusion 
was promptly reached, that this section does 
not suit the Ogon. 
But to return to this Plum stock question. 
I desire to describe another experiment. 
About eight years ago, a wide-a-wake and 
cultured promological friend called my at- 
tention to the great advantage derived by 
French fruit-growers in advancing the sea- 
son of ripening of early varietiesof peaches 
a week or ten days, by budding the peach 
on plum stocks. “Have you ever tried it?” he 
wrote me. “There is something in it, I be- 
lieve.” Now this from a practical and well- 
read pi omologist was stimulant sufficient 
for the weak nature of the writer, and as 
quickly as possibly the trial ivas in progress, 
but trees of the same variety, on both plum 
and peach roots, planted at the same time, 
show no difference in fruit, in any respect. 
True “one swallow does not make a 
Spring,” but one swallow like the above, is 
apt to raise the temperature of the victim’s 
feelings. -J. W. Kerr, Caroline County, 
Maryland. 
Japanese Grafting. 
We illustrate here- 
with a Japanese meth- 
od of grafting which 
has its advantages. 
The drawing was 
made from a root 
graft sent us by a 
subscriber in Florida. 
It will be seen that 
the junction is effect- 
ed after the ordinary 
manner of whip-graft- 
ing, but the tongue is 
cut in the centre of 
the graft instead of at 
its end, and the graft 
itself has been cut 
sufficiently long to 
permit of its entering 
the ground to the same depth as the stock, 
thus affording an independent source of 
nourishment to the graft until firmly united 
and enabled it to make roots aud also draw 
sap from the stock. This mode of grafting 
will be interesting for experiment with 
j varieties or sorts that are difficult to graft. 
