1882. j 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
better known, cannot fail to be exceedingly 
popular. If they cannot endure in the open 
ground, in our hot summers, they will be 
valuable for pot culture as we have suggested 
for the ordinary Christmas Rose. The en¬ 
graving, though reduced about one-third in 
size, gives the general appearance of these 
plants. These new hybrids offer a wide range 
of colors and markings. In some the flower 
is white, beautifully spotted with dark purple. 
In the one figured, the flowers are between 
two and three inches across, are of a lively 
rose-purple, with two lines of bright green 
through the center of each division. These 
hybrids have much the endurance of the 
common Christmas Rose, a quality which will 
commend them for cultivation in window¬ 
gardening or in a cool conservatory. Several 
of the species of Europe and Asia, such as 
H. purpuracens, H. guttatus, and others have 
been used in producing these hybrids, of 
which there are now over a hundred well 
marked kinds. We regard these as among 
the most important of recent contributions to 
our list of hardy plants, and hope they may 
soon be readily obtainable in this country. 
To Prevent the Splitting of Trees, 
A nurseryman who understands his busi¬ 
ness will not send out a tree with branches 
that make a fork. A well-formed tree has a 
continuous main stem, from which the 
branches proceed alternately, at an angle 
peculiar to the variety. But whether the 
GRAFTING BRANCHES OF FRUIT TREES. 
fault of the nurseryman, or of the one who 
plants and cares for them, we frequently 
see trees, especially apples, with the principal 
branches proceeding from the trunk to form 
a fork. Such trees, especially when large 
and loaded with fruit, are quite sure to split 
and be essentially ruined, and this most fre¬ 
quently when the tree is in profitable bear¬ 
ing, involving a serious loss. Again, some 
varieties, though having a properly formed 
head, have such a spreading habit that the 
branches, when weighted with a crop, may 
break away from the main trunk. Mr. W. 
Fulmer, Allegheny Co., Pa., gives us his 
method of avoiding this. He says that some 
varieties, such as Belmont and Golden Gate, 
split very readily, and the branches, when 
loaded with fruit are almost sure to break 
down. The trouble can be avoided by so en¬ 
grafting the branches that they will support 
one another; this should be done while the 
trees are quite young. A young shoot upon 
a lower branch is selected, and cut off at the 
right length to be engrafted into a branch 
above, allowing a little in length for the part 
inserted. This shoot, or cion, is to be but 
wedge-shaped at its upper end, and an up¬ 
ward cut be made in the branch above at the 
proper place to receive it. Usually a mere 
waxing over of the wound will be sufficient to 
secure a union, but it may be necessary in 
some cases to so tie the branches that move¬ 
ments by the wind may not displace the cion. 
With all young fruit trees known to split 
readily, and all that have been so improperly 
treated as to have a fork or crotch, it will 
avoid much future trouble if the branches 
are thus joined to one another by grafting. 
Figure 1 represents the branches of a tree 
made secure by grafting, and figure 2 shows 
the treatment of a crotched or forked tree. 
Cranberry Culture. 
“ M.H.P.,” Augusta, Me., asks if muck is es¬ 
sential to successful cranberry culture, and if 
ordinary ‘ ‘ black soil ” will not answer as well. 
This question, like others of similar purport, 
comes to us from several readers each spring, 
While we have no dbubt that one, if sufficient 
pains be taken, can raise cranberries in a 
garden bed, upon ordinary soil, the “ suf¬ 
ficient pains ” would be utterly impracticable 
upon a profitable or commercial scale. While 
we have known small quantities of the fruit 
to be raised upon upland, we have no know¬ 
ledge of successful, continuous culture any¬ 
where outside of a regular cranberry bog. 
The requirements may be briefly stated, and 
we can not advise the investment of capital 
in a locality where these are not present. In 
the first place, there must be a deposit of 
muck or peaty soil; in some localities this 
muck is not more than two feet deep, under¬ 
laid by sand, which may be brought to the 
surface by a system of trenching ; but where 
the muck is six or eight feet deep, sand must 
be brought from elsewhere, to cover the 
muck, after the native growth has been re¬ 
moved, to the depth of four to six inches. 
Muck and sand are essentials, but these must 
be so situated that they can be drained of 
standing water for 12 or 18 inches below the 
surface, by means of ditches, and more than 
this, there must be a supply of water at com¬ 
mand, by which the whole surface of the 
cranberry field can be flooded, at once, to 
completely cover the plants with water, and 
from which the water can be drawn off as 
suddenly. It will be seen that there are not 
many localities which will meet all these re¬ 
quirements. Successful cranberry growing 
depends upon the selection of these, and the 
failures have come through attempting to 
grow the crop where some one of the condi¬ 
tions was lacking. There are several locali¬ 
ties at Cape Cod, in Massachusetts ; in several 
counties in New Jersey, in parts of Minnesota, 
and in other States, which seem especially 
adapted to cranberry culture, and where 
these do not exist it is not worth while to 
undertake it. The essentials to the successful 
cultivation of the crop, the various obstacles 
and drawbacks, as well as complete instruc¬ 
tions for all that relates to the cultivation, are 
given in “Cranberry Culture,” by Joseph J. 
White, one of the most complete special 
treatises with which we are acquainted. The 
reason for sanding does not seem to be gen¬ 
erally understood. When the natural growth 
is cleared from the surface of a muck bed, 
the few plants that spring up and interfere 
with the growth of the cranberry vines will 
be from the seeds that may be already in the 
muck. When the surface is covered with 
sand, and the cranberry plants are set in it, 
they are in a condition most favorable to 
their growth ; the sand at the same time 
161 
keeps down all other plants, and the cran¬ 
berry has a chance to spread and occupy the 
whole surface, forming a mat which will keep 
down all other growth. Natural cranberry 
bogs are often brought into abundant bearing 
by simply giving a heavy dressing of sand. 
Protecting Trees from Farm Animals. 
A good fence, and gates that horses and 
cattle can not open, make the best protection 
for trees. Our correspondent, “ G. E. B.,” 
Lichfield County, Conn., while aware of 
this, finds it necessary to sometimes plant 
trees where animals must run for a while. 
In such cases he protects each tree with a 
barrier of its own. He drives down four 
stout stakes, equally distant from the tree. 
Upon the tops of the stakes are nailed four 
strips, the ends of which project several 
inches beyond them. A piece of barbed 
A TREE PROTECTOR. 
fence wire is then nailed to the ends of the 
projecting strips (probably best put on with 
staples) in the form of a circle, as shown in 
the engraving made from the sketch sent us 
by Mr. B. Another piece of the barbed wire 
may be put around the stakes, lower down, 
to prevent the animals from reaching below 
the first circle and gnawing the trees. Our 
correspondent says the animals soon learn to 
respect this barrier and leave the trees alone. 
{Locust Tree 4'iillurc.—Waldo F. 
Brown, Oxford, Ohio, says that he is plant¬ 
ing out 1,000 Locust trees each year on land 
too poor to raise a paying crop of grain, on 
stony hill-sides and other unproductive places. 
He estimates that the timber on such land 
will be worth, in 20 years, from $500 to 
$1,000 per acre, and that after it is cut over, 
a second crop will grow in 12 years. He 
treats the seed as follows : ‘ ‘ Put it in a 
tight vessel and pour nearly boiling water 
over it, and let it stand over night, when you 
will find about one seed in twelve swollen 
three times as large as the others. These 
must be separated from the others by means 
of a coarse sieve. Pour scalding water again 
on the seed, and a much larger proportion 
will swell, and by repeating this four or five 
times, you will get nearly all to grow, for the 
swelled seed will germinate as readily as 
com, while not one seed in a hundred will 
grow if planted without this process.” 
