SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR 
375 
gin to bear, the desire for their neighbors’ fruit will cease, 
and a watchiul care and honest pride will be exercised over 
their own. J. Van Buren. 
Clarksville^ Ga.., Oct., 1857. 
PROPER SIZE OF FRUIT TREES FOR TRANS- 
Planting. 
At a recent meeting of the “Fruit Growers’ Association 
of Western New York,” one of the questions propounded, 
was 
^^Whatageis best for planting Apple and Pear trees 
from Nurseries to Orchards, to insure success 
The members present proceeded to discuss this ques- 
tion as follows: 
age is best? For the Fear, Cherry and Plum, iwo years 
was oM enough, and if persons wished a model cychard, 
trees of one year old would he better. 
These are the opinions of some of the most inteDigent 
and experienced Fruit Growers in America, and should be 
considered conclusive. They have more force and signi- 
ficance in the South than at the North, where young trees 
are of much slower growth. The passion for “iig trees f 
and the neglect of trees (big and little) after planting, are 
! among the principal causes of the failures and dissappoint- 
j ments which often attend amateur efforts at orcharding. — 
j Eds. 
I TREE P.^OXY — (P.EOyiA MOUTAX) 
T. C. Maxwell said that when he commenced the nurs- , 
ery business, having no extra .‘sized apple trees (as they ■ 
were at that time in great demand,) he procured some, and ! 
they were planted in his neighborhood, with the small 
ones from his own nursery. The result was such as to 
convince himself and his customers that it was folly to 
plant large trees. j 
C. P. Bissell, of Rochester, five years since, at a good ' 
deal of trouble and expense, removed some large cherry 
trees to his grounds, and was so successful that he had ! 
been induced to try others, but had given it up as a bad ^ 
job, and hereafter all he would seek would be a young ' 
healthy tree. 
Mr. Berckmans said the French rule was, that a tree : 
should make all its wood on the spot where it grows, and ‘ 
hence a tree is generally cut down to the ground after : 
transplanting. When iMr. B. came to this country, he ■ 
brought a ship load of pear trees, the best of his own and . 
Van Mons’ collections. The wood was injured on the I 
voyage, and on transplanting he cut down to the sound ' 
wood, many to the ground. Those that were apparently i 
uninjured were planted without much cutting; but they ! 
lingered for years and most of them finally died. Those > 
that he cut down are now beautiful pyramids, requiring ; 
no care, and producing beautiful crops. ! 
Mr. Fish once sold a collection of trees to a lady in ; 
Pennsylvania. While delayed at Corning, the mice got j 
into the bundle and gnawed the bark off several of the j 
trees, some six inches above the roots. He cut them down i 
and made the lady a present of them. The present year, i 
being in the neighborhood, he called to see the trees, and ! 
those that had been cut down were the finest of the lot. 
Mr. Ainsworth said that when he commenced the nur- 
sery business he could not persuade people to buy his 
small trees. One of his neighbors w^enton a journey with 
his team in search of “fine, large” trees, and returned 
heavily laden with about filty apple trees In two years 
after there w’as hardly a tree living. He then bought 
small trees, and now has a fine young orchard. Nine 
years ago, two of his neighbors, one NIr. Wilbur, and the 
-other being unsuccessful he would not name, determined 
to plant cherry trees. Mr. W. sent toElwanger & Barry’s 
and bought two years old trees, planted them, and they 
are now as beautiful trees as man ever looked upon. The : 
other, on seeing the trees, made up his mind that he 
would find better trees than that, and succeeded in finding i 
some big ones two or three inches through. They are! 
alive now, but little larger than when first planted. The 
philosophy of the thing is this : when a large tree is taken 
up, so many of the roots are broken off that the tree starves 
before new roots are formed to furnish it sustenance. j 
Nlr. Barry w’asglad to hear this question discussed. No i 
doubt thousands of trees are destroyed by being removed | 
too large. A young tree is checked but little by removal, i 
and soon commences its growth. It would be well to be 
definate in our discussions. The question w’as: lUAo/ 
Editors Soctherx Cultivator — In a former Dumber 
of the Southern Cultivator, I mentioned the Tree Pseony 
{Pceonia Aloutan papaveracecC). The herbaceous species, 
however, are equally as beautiful, perhaps even compris- 
ing a greater variety of shades, from pure white to deep 
red. Every person who spent some spring in the gardens at 
the North could not help admiring the gorgeous, deep red 
Paenies. Even in our Sout.hern mountains they are doing 
pretty well ; but south of that mountainous ridge which 
runs through the upper part of South Carolina, Georgia, 
Alabama and Mississippi, their cultivation has repeatedly 
been tried and given up again ; they are always killed by 
hot sun and carelessness. I have, however, for many 
years, succeeded perfectly in the cultivaiion of them, and 
by no other means than a little care and a proper choice 
of the varieties, as some kinds will stand our climate and 
bloom better than others. But any person who cannot 
give them a suitable situation, or is unwilling to devote a 
little extra attention to this magnificent flower, had better 
not meddle with them. It must always be borne in mind 
that they are natives of cool, shady places, such as are 
found OH the north side of mountains. If treated accord- 
to this lesson of nature, success is certain. 
The herbaceous Paenies will grow in almost any soil, 
preferring, however, a rich and deeply worked ground, 
say subsoiled two feet deep. The next thing is, to find a 
cool, shady locality. The north side of a building, so 
close to it even as to stand almost under the drip of the 
roof, where the sun never will shine on them, is an excel- 
lent place, and there they will need very little, if any, at- 
tention. If such a locality cannot be found, they may be 
planted on the “shadebed.’' This has been described in 
some earlier number of this periodical, but it may be pro- 
per to repeat it here. It is nothing but a scaffold raised 
over a bed, at least six feet high, that a person may walk 
and work conveniently under it. The sides should be 
open to admit the airfreely, but the top should be covered, 
either with baguing or something still more open, as, for 
instance, a kind of trellis or canes, tied together in such 
a way as to form a blind, and sufficiently open, say with 
intervals of a inch, merely to break the direct rays of the 
scorching sun. This is all that is needed to insure suc- 
cess 
The different kinds of Pteony are natives of very differ- 
ent climates, as Siberia, England, Spain, Levant, Candia, 
Switzerland and China. The latter stand our climate 
best, and many new varieties have recently originated. 
Some of the finest of them are ; 
Festiva, yellowish white, with crimson centre. 
Papuverifolia, creamy white, pink centre. 
Recvcsii atropui purea, dark pui jjle. 
Tcmafvlia, scarlet 
and many other varieties, all very double. These varie- 
ties, however, are, as yet. quite scarce, while the older 
varieties, as the deep red, and the purple ones are preUy” 
plentiful. Robert Nei.so.s. 
