320 
SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
some 6 or 7 miles on their shoulders, it being the only 
mode of conveyance practicable. Specimens of flowers 
and leaves have been sent to many of our most celebrated 
Botanists and cultivators of Rhododendrons, and, as yet, 
all have failed to identify it with any previously known, 
and it will probably prove to be a new species. 
We hope the industry and labors of Mr. McDowell 
may meet with a suitable reward in the sale of his noble 
plant ; and those who procure them, we will guarantee, 
will never regret having done so. J. Van Buren. 
Clarksville, Ga., August, 
N.B. — The drawing I send you is a fac simile of a medi- 
um sized panicle of flowers sent me fey Mr. McDowell. 
J. V. B. 
REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON FRUIT TREES, 
HEDGE PLANTS AND FRUITS, &C., AT THE 
ATLANTA FAIR, SEPT. U— 14, 1855. 
Your Committee congratulate the Society upon the steady 
progress which the cultivation of Fruits has made within 
a few years past. With the disadvantages of destructive 
frosts and uncongenial seasons, this exhibition has excelled 
all preceding ones, and due interest has been awakened 
which will soon render us independent of all parts of the 
world. A proper and correct knowledge of Fruits and 
their nomenclature, habits of growth and proper culture, 
will testify to the world, in a short time, that our region 
v/ill furnish superior advantages, in fruit culture, to any 
other section of the globe ; and it is a pleasure to your 
Committee to communicate these gratifying facts. 
Your Committee take great pleasure in bringing to the 
notice of the.Southern people the very successful opera- 
tions of Mr. Charles Axi, of Washington, Georgia, in the 
cultivation of the Catawba Grape, for wine purposes. Mr 
Axt has labored under many disadvantages, and in the 
face of opposition and discouraging circumstances, has 
produced on exhibition here, the most superior specimens 
of this grape ever seen in Georgia, and we doubt if they 
have been excelled any wherein the United States; thereby 
proving that, with skill and proper culture, we have soil 
and clitmte admirably adapted to the profitable produc- 
tion of this valuable variety. A branch of enterprise will 
inevitably be established by the crowning success of Mr. 
A.’s experiments, which will add incalculably to the 
wealth, comfort and morals of our people, and in view of 
these great results, the Committee recommend that a 
special premium of a Silver Pitcher of the value of twenty- 
five dollars be presented to Mr. Axt, thereby endorsing 
his extraordinary exertions and testifying to his suc- 
cess. 
Wev/ould notice a collection of beautiful Pears, contri- 
buted by Mr. A. H Ernst, of Cincinnati, Ohio, through 
the kindness of Mr. Thurmond, of Atlanta. They exhibit 
the perfection to which this superior fruit has been 
brought, and presenting over sixty varieties, show that the 
attention which is now excited in behalf of pear-culture 
will lead to very gratifying results in the South, which we 
believe is the true home of this delicious of orchard pro- 
duct. 
Mr. Harry Camp, of Covington, Ga , presented Rhodes’ 
Pearmain Apple, produced by Col. Mercer Rhodes, of 
Newton Co., and the Royal Pearmain, two very superior 
varieties, and the Committee respectfully suggest that he 
be awarded a special premium of^^lO. 
Dr. Moyer, of Talboiton, Ga , presented a very beauti- 
ful and superior Seedling Apple, for a name, and we 
have designated it -'Mary Aloyei-y 
Col. A. G. Summer, of Alston, So. Ca., presented for 
exhibition a remarkably beautiful and superior Winter 
Apple, known as the Hoover " — a native of Lexington 
District, So. Ca.; which we suggest should be presented 
as a competitor for the prize offered next year for the 
best new Southern Seedling Apple. 
A. G. Summer, Chairman. 
[For awards of Prizes in this department, see Premium 
List, to be published in our next number.] 
Training of Trees. — The editor of the HorticuUuraJ, 
Review, says : 
“Trees with low heads do bear sooner and better, and 
will bear longer, than whip stalks and bean poles. ]n 
our prairies, low headed trees are the only ones that can 
hold up their heads, or hold on their fruit. They are 
naturally shaped Rruit Bearers, but they are miserably 
unpopular with that class of purchasers who ‘know more 
about trees than the men who raise them.’ This is a mo.st 
important subject; and fruitgrowers will never repent 
but once, if they prune their frees up high. Like most 
tyros we began so, too ; and it has inflicted one perpetual 
sorrow upon us. The low tree is healthier, not subject to 
affections of the bark or insects, not injured by wind.s, the 
fruit is easier gathered ; in fact, every reason is in favor of 
low growth. We now try to form a head not higher than 
three feet from the ground, for apples, letting the branches 
grow out.” 
Wheat and Wevil. — At this particular time, v/hen 
the united hosts of speculators have combined to rob the 
honest farmer of the just earnings of his labor, it may hot 
be generally known that wheat may be threshed out, 
cleaned, put away in the barn, and given a pretty thick 
covering of pine leaves (more commonly known as pine 
tags) and it will remain in this state for years, entirely 
exempt from that great enemy, Wevil. Of course the 
wheat should be bulked in a dry state, and after covering 
with the pine tags, it will be kept cool and free from 
danger. 
Tlie above information was obtained some years since 
from Mr, James B, Cocke, of Prince George county, Va., 
an experienced farmer, who, by means of the pine tags, 
as above, has been enabled to ’keep his crop of wheat in a 
complete stale of preservation for years ; this being also 
the experience of a Surrey Farmer, 
\in South Side Denwernt. 
The Tomato — T. Jefferson Randolph, in an address 
before the Agricultural Society of Albermarle county, Va.., 
lately delivered, stated that Mr. Jefferson could recollect 
when the tomato was cultivated as an ornament to the 
flower gardens, called love apple, and deemed poisonous. 
It was eaten by one individual, a foreigner, whose pe- 
culiar constitution, or the formation of whose stomach 
was supposed to resist its deleterious effects! 
Peaches from Cuttings.— A gentleman of this city has 
presented us with a sam}Je of peaches, raised in his gar- 
den from cuttings planted in the autumn of 185!. They 
are of large size and remarkably fine flavor, and deter- 
mine, most satisfactorily, a matter which has been dis- 
puted, that peaches can be raised from cuttings. — Charles- 
ton Mercury, Aug. 0, ’55. 
Profit of Underdr.-mning — Mr. W^m Chamberlain, 
of Lower Red Hook, N. Y., drained ■i’5 acres of land, at an 
expense of SCO per acre, and the first three crops paid 
the whole expense, including eost of cultivation. He may 
then hereafter look fora profit of ^20 pi r aove on each 
crop. Last season p art of this ground yielded 7.5 bnshels 
of corn, and n part .700 bushels of potatoes, while on ad- 
jacent undrained fields the crops were nearly ruined by 
the drougth. 
