22 
SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
which attracted my special attention. I will, at some fu- 
ture time, fall back upon my notes to illustrate certain 
facts and theories which have been the constant objects of 
my attention. My rambles over all these rich Fair 
Grounds have afforded me precious materials for compari- 
son and study. B. 
PI.UMS AND APFIiES— REPLY TO ‘WINDSOR.’ 
EntTORs Southern Cultivator — The ^‘Howell’s Ear- 
ly'^ Pluvi is (as stated in the article in your last, signed 
“Windsor,”) identical with our plum known under the 
name of “ Sea,” “Early Purple,” “Mogul,” &c. They 
have proved the same this year at Newburgh, on the 
grounds of Mr. Charles Downing, as well as at Mr. Pe- 
ters’, and other places South. Dr. C. W. Long, of this 
place, has a seedling variety identical, except the fruit is 
twice the size— fla.vor and time of ripening are the same. 
“ Yellow Ju.ne’' is a very fine Southern apple, but total- 
ly distinct from “ Early Harvest.” The latter is more 
oblate and early; it bears here fine crops of excellent 
fruit, and is the first really good early fruit that ripens. 
Yours, &c., Wm. N. White. 
Athens, Ga., Dec., 1858. 
ENCOURAGE THE GRAPE CULTURE. 
Editors Southern Cultivator — Every planter should 
cultivate from one-fourth to one full acre of ground in 
grape vines, according to the force employed on the plan- 
tation, so as, by degrees, to bring some of the old worn 
out lands into use. If this is found profitable, the acre of 
ground may be extended to acres. The plowing and hoe- 
ing of the vines can be done in continuation, when the 
corn and cotton is cultivated, without much loss of time. 
It v/ill require the personal attention of the proprietor to 
have the vines trimmed in the fall or winter, and to rub off 
all the useless sprouts and buds in spring and summer. 
In a little time, any intelligent servant, can be taught to 
do this. The result will be, an abundant supply of grapes 
for table use, and wine for medicinal and other purposes. 
The general use of wine in this country will have a ten- 
dency to discontinue the use of spirituous liquors, so de- 
moralizing and ruinous to a large portion of our fellow be- 
ings. D. P. 
December, 1858. 
MANURE FOR FRUIT TREES — WHERE TO 
Feed Fruit Trees. 
BY WILLIAM BACON, RICHMOND, MASSACHUSETTS. 
The great secret in cultivating all plants successfully, 
lies in furnishing them with food best adapted to their 
growth and healthfulness. Whenever a tree or plant is 
found naturally growing and ^.ttains a perfection of 
growth, there, v/e may suppose nature furnishes the ne- 
cessary elements. A plant taken from such a locality 
and transplanted to another of similar character, we may 
suppose will succeed well, but if the soil is moister or 
drier oris composed of different elements, the character of 
the tree must become somewhat changed by these circum- 
stances, its duration will, it is likely, be changed also, and 
very likely the quality of its fruit will be affected by like 
causes. 
It is an object, then, for all cultivators, especially those 
of fruit trees, fully to understand the character of the soils 
in which they are most at home, and whatever artificial 
means are used to produce growth and fruitfulness, should 
tend to giving them a similar soil. 
Our experience in this matter has been somewhat 
varied. YYe have tried well-rotted barnyard manure, 
placed in heaps around the tree in autumn, and forked it 
in, in April. This, as reason fully teaches, came near be- 
ing a fatal experiment. The tree did not exhibit a single 
leaf until the July following, and then was saved only by 
careful treatment, heading in, washing the remaining parts 
with strong soap suds, and pouring the same material 
around the roots until the feverish heat produced by the 
decaying manure around them was subdued. In two 
weeks from the commencement of this treatment, we had 
our tree in healthful leaf, and had fully learned never again 
to apply heating manures to fruit trees. Old leaves, we 
have also tried, and find them valuable as mulching when 
that is necessary ; but placed in the soil they are worth- 
less, nay, dangerous, until pretty thoroughly decomposed. 
The very best material we have tried, and we can bring 
proof of its goodness from the experience of others, is a 
compost of which swamp muck is the body or principal 
material. Its vegetable matter, in almost every stage of 
decomposition, its tendency when mixed with the soil to 
retain just enough and none too much moisture, to keep 
light and porous itself and keep the soil so, in which it is 
incorporated, adapt it not only to become an acceptable 
food for trees, but to keep the earth in a condition for the 
expansion of the roots. It may be successfully used alone 
after the exposure of a few months to the atmosphere, but 
is essentially improved by adding a couple of bushels of 
lime or a half dozen bushels of ashes to the cord, or by 
letting it lie v/hereit will take the wash of the barnyard, 
or the soap suds from the house. 
Here, then, we can do away the objections of those 
who claim they cannot afford to manure their fruit trees, 
from the supposition that by doing so they shall rob their 
other crops, and thereby have a few bushels less of corn 
or a few hundreds less of hay. They need do no such 
thing as rob their yards or stables for the purpose. Na- 
ture has provided abetter material for the object, one that 
is now throv/ing out nausea to engender disease, all over 
the land, but which kindly offers to kindle a new and 
deeper glow on the face of the apple, and expand the rud- 
dy cheeks of the pear to more healthful dimensions. All 
she asks for it, is, to have it taken out of her way, for doing 
which, she promises to create a new supply in the same 
repository from the leaves that rush there to escape from 
the driving winds, and the loose material brought from 
the hills by the noisy rivulet that stops in the sluggish 
pool to rest awhile in its ocean couise. What a beauti- 
ful combination ! Atoms from crumbling rocks, soil from 
the woodlands and hillsides, and the cast off drapery of 
the forest so far decayed, that its identity is lost. Just the 
thing to make a new soil of an old one and cause earth to 
smile again at the beauty of her plants and trees, and 
glorious, health-giving fruits. 
where to feed FRUIT TREES. 
The stones of the field and trees of the forest are teach- 
ers, and what is more beautiful, they teach the truth. We 
planted a white oak, some years, not in honor of any war- 
ier or political race horse on the track for election, but to 
add one more variety to our pretty well duplicated 
grounds. After it had stood a year or two, we noticed in 
mid-summer a circle around it, some five feet from the 
trunk, and six inches wide, where the grass had died out. 
The next year this circle was removed from its outer rim. 
still further from the tree, and of an increased width, and 
so it has continued to travel for several years. The fact 
gave rise to many wonders as to the cause among obser- 
vers, but the inference we drew from the fact was that the 
white oak was a great eater, that the mass of feeders lay 
under the circle where the grass was killed, and pushed 
away from the treee in proportion as the circle enlarged. 
The native chestnut, planted out gave the same illustra- 
tion. In this case of both trees, the inner circle became 
sodden with grass as new circles were forming beyond, 
and the increased width of circle from year to year show- 
ed us that the feeders were increasing to meet additional 
demands of the tree. 
