CULTIVATION OF FRUIT-TREES.-ETC. 
31 
fibres to appear, which will give increased vigor and 
activity to the tree. 
(c) In a moist climate, young trees, in general, 
which have been two or three time's transplanted in 
the nurseries, may Jbe removed to their final situa¬ 
tions, without heading down ; but in a hot, arid 
climate, attended with a consequent and increased, 
evaporation from the leaves, they are more liable to 
be killed, when transplanted with all their branches 
on. In heading down a tree, particularly if it be 
large, a corresponding advantage may be derived 
by trimming off a portion of the roots. The 
branches should not be cut off close to the main 
forks, or the stem, but should be left a foot or more 
in length, on old trees, and sufficiently long on 
young ones, to contain three or four eyes, and in 
both cases they should be cut off in an oblique 
or slanting direction. If the climate be dry, water 
should be regularly supplied to the roots of the 
trees during the first summer in order to make them 
grow more freely ; but afterwards, very little atten¬ 
tion will be required, except to encourage the lead¬ 
ing shoots, and shorten in the lateral branches, if 
necessary, so as to encourage the tree to assume the 
desired form. 
(d) The proper season for pruning most kinds of 
deciduous-leaved trees is about midsummer, or 
about the time the downward motion of the sap 
commences, and when a more perfect cicatrization 
or healing over of the wounded parts take place, 
than when pruned in fall, winter, or spring. The 
best time, however, for pruning plums, peaches, 
and other stone fruits, is considered to be somewhat 
later, or just before the shedding of their leaves. 
(e) Evergreens, as well as many other trees, are 
more successfully removed by leaving a ball of 
earth about their roots ; and by frequently exciting 
or carefully bruising their roots, either when stand¬ 
ing, or by removal, new fibres will shoot out, and 
consequently afford an increased activity to the 
branches and trunk. 
(/) If the roots of seedling trees of almost any 
kind are kept free from bruises or mutilation, they 
seldom throw up shoots or suckers; but trees 
which have been propagated by cuttings, and even 
in some instances by layers, are very liable to 
throw up sprouts for a considerable distance around, 
particularly when provoked by the spade or plow. 
We know of no better remedy for the springing up 
of these shoots, than to pare them off close to the 
roots in the month of August, at which time the 
wound may heal, and prevent others from spring¬ 
ing forth. 
(g) It is a fact—Or a hole bored thro.ugh the 
trunk of the tree a little above the ground, v r ith an 
auger, and stopped up with cement or a plug, is 
said to produce the same effect. 
( [h) A thick dressing of well-mixed compost of 
marl, newly-slacked lime, ashes, peat, turf, or leaf 
mould, or a light dressing of barn-yard manure, 
mixed with wood-ashes, gypsum, or charcoal, or a 
sprinkling of guano, laid around the trees in the 
spring, and shortly after dug in with a fork or 
spade, will greatly increase the vigor and healthful¬ 
ness of fruit-trees, and cause them to bear most 
abundantly. Within the past few years, much 
light has been thrown upon the adaptation of soils 
to particular plants, and it is now regarded as an 
established fact, that the apple-tree, as well as 
most, if not all other rosaceous trees, requires alka¬ 
line, and probably earthy bases, as an indispen¬ 
sable condition to the perfection of their fruit. It 
has also been shown by several enlightened che¬ 
mists, that the acids generated in plants are always 
in union with alkaline or earthy bases, and cannot 
be produced without their presence ; that all deci¬ 
duous trees require a considerable portion of potash 
for the elaboration of the juices in their leaves, and 
that they are prosperous or otherwise, in proportion 
to the scarcity or abundance of that substance in 
the soil. Furthermore, it is well known that all 
clays contain potash, and that marls are principally 
composed of clay and carbonate of lime, and also 
contain potash, besides sulphate and phosphate of 
lime. Hence the presence of alkaline and earthy 
bases, particularly potash and lime, affords a satis¬ 
factory solution of the adaptation of marl or marly 
soils, or the application of the composts named 
above, to the production of apples, and probably to 
many other kinds of fruit. 
(?) This is true with young trees, and we know* 
of no reason why it should not prove so with older 
ones. At any time within the month of May or 
June, or soon after the leaves put forth, select a 
horizontal branch of the tree designed to be render¬ 
ed fruitful, and remove from the part near its junc¬ 
tion with the trunk, a ring of bark from one-fourth 
to one-half of an inch in breadth, but. not three 
inches, as indicated in the question, taking precau¬ 
tion, at the same time, to rub off, within the space 
operated upon, every part of the bark, quite to the 
sap-wood, in order to obstruct the descending 
juices in the succeeding autumn. Another expedi¬ 
ent resorted to, for the same purpose, is, to make 
two turns of a copper wire closely round the bark, 
with a repetition of the operation at some distance 
below, and leave it to become incorporated by the 
growth of the tree. Should either of these devices 
prove insufficient, or should the healing of the 
wounded parts follow too quickly, the operation 
may be repeated in the same, or in the following 
season. The total removal of a ring of bark pro¬ 
duces the desired effect, sooner, by a whole year, 
than a mere stricture upon it, although the pressure 
of the wire, of itself, finally kills the bark under¬ 
neath. Alkaline, or ammoniacal preparations, 
have also been applied to young trees, as well as to 
old ones, for the purpose of stimulating their 
growth, and accelerating their fruitfulness, such as 
white-washing their trunks and branches, rubbing 
them with soap-suds, and spreading around their 
roots lime, gypsum, charcoal, ashes, &c. For fur¬ 
ther particulars, see Browne’s Trees of America, 
pp. 165, 247, 303, 309, 310, 315. 
White China-Geese. —In the year 1817,1 saw 
a flock of beautiful white China-geese, in Jefferson 
county, Virginia, five miles south of Charlestown, 
at the house of a Pennsylvanian farmer, who had 
removed there a few years before. They were per¬ 
fect China-geese in shape, bill, feet, &c., with the 
| protuberance on the upper bill, and a golden ring 
I round the eye. The eye was a jet black, the bill 
! and legs a bright orange-color. The plumage was 
