98 
SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
you can find, in this manner, scrape away all gum and 
wood dust from the trunk, and fill in around it with fresh 
earth taken from between the rows. Heap this earth up 
around the tree in the form of a mound, 4 or 5 inches 
above the surface, and let it remain until fall, when it must 
be levelled down, the borers, if any, killed and the trunk 
and “collar” of the tree left exposed all winter. The Cur- 
cidio, or Plum Weevil, so destructive to Nectarines, Plums, 
&c , will next claim our attention. In the meantime, do 
not neglect your young and growing trees — work around 
and manure them, and haul from the woods dead leaves 
and pine straw, to apply in the form of a mulch for the 
roots next month, and during the coming summer. 
THE FLOWER GARDEN. 
Clean up your borders, and sow the seeds of hardy 
Annuals. Sow the seeds of tender annuals in a hot-bed, 
and prick them out afterwards as soon as the season will 
admit. Plant cuttings of Roses and other shrubs in a 
shady situation, and when the weather becomes warmer, 
mulch and v/ater them. Bulbs may yet be planted, though 
it is rather late. Go over your garden walks with the hoe 
and rake, cutting down the up- springing grass and w^eeds 
— spread on them a layer of gravel, and roll compactly, 
leaving them convex, or highest in the cehtre, so that the 
water may run off. Dahlias may be started in pots, to 
be transplanted into the open air as soon as all danger of 
frost is over. Trim up, and tie neatly to stakes, all Roses, 
climbers and drooping plants, and remove all dead twigs, 
branches, sticks, &c., from the surface, leaving it clean, 
open and inviting. 

HOTES ON THE CULTIVATION OF THE CHEERY 
UPON THE MAHALEB STOCK. 
Owing to the greatly increased attention which horti- 
cultural pursuits have commanded within the past few 
years, many trials and experiments have been made by 
zealous cultivators with the difierent varieties of fruits, 
and testing the various kinds of stocks, by subjecting them 
to different influences, and applying the same to the wants 
of the public and to the various sections of the country. 
It is folly to presume that one variety of fruit, or a tree 
grown upon a particular kind of stock, or in a certain 
form, will succeed equally well in the many sections of our 
land, which embraces so great an expense of territory, 
such a diversity of climates, and an almost endless vari- 
‘•ety of soils. To make the proper classification or assign- 
ment for fruits, so that one to a certainty can say that this 
will succeed admirably in this locality and fail in that, 
will require much labor and patient study for years. The 
^•8s^l]^s of some are already known, and it is this fact 
which has given horticulture such an astonishing impetus 
unexampled in any age. 
Cultivating the Pear upon the Quince in the dwarf, 
pyramidal and half-standard form, is extensively practiced; 
also the Apple find Clierry, though not so largely ; and in 
some degree the Peach and Plum. 
Dwarf and pyramidal Cherries, which are produced by 
grafting or budding the different varieties of this fruit upon 
the Mahaleb stock, promise to be invaluable, more particu- 
larly to the Southwest and West. Standard . Cherries, 
which are grown upon the Mazzard stock, in our natur- 
ally over rich Western soils, produce such a great amount 
of wood as to bear little or no fruit ; and owing most pro- 
bably to the ver)'- imperfect ripening of the wood, the 
trunk of the tree splits upon the approach of winter and 
soon perishes. The hot and long continued dry weather 
-during the summer months, in the Southern parts of Ohio, 
Indiana, Illinois, prevailing at about the time of the ripen- 
ing of the fruit, is a serious drawback. 
Those cultivated upon the Mahaleb stock, as experience 
proves, are much less affected by the extremes of wet and 
dry weather, thereby insuring a good crop of fruit; the 
wood, too, is better ripened, so as to withstand most suc- 
cessively the winter. The habit of the tree assunies natur- 
ally a pyramidal shape. The lower branches commence 
to form near the ground, and the future limbs shoot out at 
regular distance.s, as the leader of the plant rises. The 
tree being low, is well adapted to withstand the high winds 
that prevail upon the prairies, and more or less in all level 
countries ; and the trunk or body of the plant is well pro- 
tected from the destructive influence of the sun. Its most 
peculiar and promising characteristics are its great pro- 
ductiveness, and the early stage at which it bears fruit. 
'Frequently mere bushes, only two or three years old from 
the bud, are literally laden with the choicest cherries. 
Upon clayey or very dry, poor chalky soils, it thrives 
finely where the Mazzard would not flourish. 
Cherries of the Duke and Morelia classes would attain 
the height of ten or twelve feet, if desired. With a little 
pruning once or twice a year, principally cutting back the 
extremities of the shoots, they can be made to assume a 
pyramidal shape or bush form, which, while it detracts 
nothing from their fruitfulness, well adapts them for gar- 
dens and places affording but little room. 
The more free and rapid growing sorts, comprised in 
the Heart and Bigarreau classes, would grow 14 to 16 
feet, but they ought to be kept within less bounds by 
pruning. They are well adapted for gardens and orchards 
in rather sterile localities, where a little more space should 
be allotted them than is required for the Dukes and Moiel- 
los . — Geniessee Farmer. 
BANANAS IN TEXAS. 
A Texas contemporary says : — With many of our most 
experienced horticulturists there seems to be a doubt as to 
whether the Banana can be cultivated to that degree of 
perfection in this State as in the West Indies; but I have 
always entertained a very different opinion. The follow- 
ing, which I have taken from a recent number of the Vic- 
toria Advocate, settles the question in my mind, beyond 
the possibiliity of a doubt ; and I trust that some of our 
horticulturists will make. an effort to introduce this most 
delicious of all of the tropical fruits into our county : 
“Bananas. — There can be no longer a doubt that this 
fruit will ripen in this climate. A fine bunch of bananas 
has come to maturity in the garden of J. A. Moody, Esq., 
of this town. They are as large and perfect, in all re- 
spects, as those brought from the West India Islands. 
This fruit ripened al.^o this season in the gardens of Judge 
Cunningham and Mr. E. Linn. The trees thrive as in 
their native latitude. My plants, which were too young 
to produce fi uit in the proper season, are now in bloom, 
or contain fruit too late to ripen. The trees grow in the 
West Indies 15 or 20 feet high; and they will probably 
attain that height here, as many in our gardens, although 
but two or three years old, are now six or eight inches in 
diameter, and ten or twelve feet high.” 
Guano for Melons. — One of our exchanges says : — 
We had a very fine melon patch which was well uigh 
desfroyed by the striped bug. The vines had just com- 
menced running, and in two or three days the bugs had 
stripped nearly every leaf. As a desperate remedy, we 
applied a handful of guano on top of the hill as far as the 
vines had run, taking care that it did not fall on the leaf. 
In twenty- four hours not a bug was to be seen ; the vines 
had assumed a healthy and vigorous appearance, and are 
now loaded with fruit. This experiment was not on one 
vine only, but hundreds. 
