AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
403 
Particultml J^artment 
To Horticulturists. — Our weekly issue of 
so large a journal, gives us ample room to devote 
to the different departments of cultivation, and 
we have commenced with this volume, to allot a 
separate space to Horticulture. We have secured 
additional efficient aid in its conduction, and we 
invite horticulturists generally, to send in their 
contributions on all subjects interesting and in- 
s .motive to those engaged in similar pursuits 
with themselves. We are receiving the leading 
foreign and domestic horticultural journals, and 
shall be abundantly able to bring promptly be¬ 
fore our readers all that transpires, which may 
be new and useful. 
—-—»*«- 
For the American Agriculturist. 
DWARF PEARS. 
The horticultural department of your jour¬ 
nal which, by-the-by, is an extremely interest¬ 
ing one, is so ably sustained by older and more 
able pens, that I feel some diffidence about offer¬ 
ing every idea that a fifteen-year-old horticultu¬ 
rist can suggest. Yet some things advanced in 
your late issues, invite and interest the atten¬ 
tion of all fruit amateurs. The question has 
been asked and repeated, “ Who knows of pear 
trees doing well on the quince stock for twenty 
years ?” I conceive this question calculated to 
do a certain amount of injury, unless met in an 
intelligent manner, and with a proper spirit. 
I am glad, however, the question is asked, as 
the opportunity is given to introduce a few facts 
worthy of an extended circulation. 
The increasing demand for fruit trees, is no 
shallow puff; it is a veritable truth. By far the 
greater proportion of these purchasers know 
very little about making a judicious selection of 
plants. Hence the necessity of information 
safely culled from the experience of others. 
Every one knows that the quince root has the 
reputation of thriving best in a moist, rather 
heavy soil, as its favorite locality. It will grow 
for a while in almost any soil, wet or dry—but 
will it thrive, and how long will it endure? 
That is the point. The knowledge of this sim¬ 
ple fact is of no avail unless carried rigidly into 
practice. I think I know of dwarf pears that 
have borne fruit some ten or twelve years, in a 
dry sandy soil, but highly fed and cultivated, 
as sandy soils usually require such care. With 
only ordinary culture, however, I am satisfied 
they would generally fail much sooner. For 
such soils I would never recommend dwarfs, 
but strong seedling standards. No honest man 
will attempt the growth of the pear on sprouts, 
as he will cheat himself prodigiously. Modern 
horticulture has fully proven the fact, that the 
most healthy and vigorous fruit stocks are those 
raised from the seed. 
But to my subject, viz., the duration of the 
pear worked on the quince. I have already 
shown them of twelve years’ standing on a dry 
soil, but never very vigorous and thrifty. And 
I know of them on their favorite soil, viz., moist 
clay, vigorous, thrifty and prolific, but am not 
prepared to say twenty years of life is their al¬ 
lotted limit; but I am prepared to say that if 
they would surely bear no longer than half that 
time, it would be a satisfactory and profitable 
investment, since many soils would grow those 
pears that would be unfit for any thing else. 
Besides, there are well known principles in hor¬ 
ticulture, that place the question beyond a 
doubt. Quince trees are known to attain the 
age of fifty,,and even a hundred years, and 
pears double that time; and the quince stock, 
usually used for working dwarfs is a very free 
grower, exhibiting the most satisfactory evi¬ 
dence of its enduring at least a sufficient num¬ 
ber of years to pay the cost. In garden culture 
the dwarf pear is highly prized as an ornament. 
Long borders of dwarf pear trees hanging with 
fruit, is a rich, tempting and beautiful sight. 
But we now come to the main-spring of the 
whole affair, the grand secret of success, the 
management and culture proper to secure 
handsome dwarf pears,—the non-observance of 
which will insure the amateur a complete fail¬ 
ure. High culture is essentially necessary for 
the dwarf pear, and this is so concisely ex¬ 
pressed by a contributor to the last Patent 
Office Report, that I make the brief quotation 
entire. “Dwarf pears worked upon quinces, 
have been planted in large numbers about us, 
and as fine specimens of fruit from them have 
been exhibited at our State Fair, (N. II.,) as 
have ever been produced any where. The 
dwarfs are preferred to standards for garden 
culture, because they occupy but little space. 
Besides, they come into bearing much sooner 
than the standards, usually in two or three 
years from transplanting, and some have borne 
perfect fruit the same year they were imported 
from France.- Pears upon the quince require 
high cultivation, because the quince root must 
always remain small, and cannot wander far for 
nourishment. The farmers of New-IIampshire, 
(he might have said the United States,) are by 
no means accustomed to the thorough cultiva¬ 
tion which dwarf pears require, and I have no 
doubt that an orchard of them, managed as 
even the best of our apple orchards are, would 
be worthless. (Can’t endorse the last word 
fully.) Indeed, pears of all kinds, standards as 
well as dwarfs, require a deeper and richer soil, 
and more careful cultivation tnan the apple.” 
I conclude from the above reasoning, there¬ 
fore, that dwarf pears are valuable, are worth 
all they cost, and by a judicious selection of va¬ 
rieties, are a profitable and satisfactory invest¬ 
ment; that in their favorite soil they will last 
more than twenty years, but if they give out 
bearing at the age of ten years even, they 
would fully quit the cost. W. D. 
Morristown, Morris Co., N. J., Aug., 1854. 
-O 9 ■- 
Ripening Pears. —Many varieties of pears, 
if suffered to ripen on the trees, are dry and 
worthless—but if picked before ripe and placed 
within doors in a warm room to ripen, they are 
melting, juicy, and of fine flavor. This we be¬ 
lieve is applicable to nearly all varieties. The 
proper time to pick them, is when they begin 
to change color, or when some of the imperfect 
ones fall to the ground. They should always 
be picked by hand, and never shaken from the 
trees.— Michigan Farmer. 
Peach Worm. —Of all remedies recommended 
to prevent the ravages of the peach worm, we 
have tried none more successfully than the ap¬ 
plication of from one to eight quarts of leached 
or unleached ashes around the bole of the tree. 
Before applying the ashes destroy all the worms 
you can, by picking them out with a large 
needle or pen-knife. Their presence is known 
by the gum that exudes from the tree where 
they are at work.— Ib. 
HORTICULTURE—WATERING BY TRENCHING 
AND DRAINING. 
That watering is a very important element 
in the economy of vegetation, may be readily 
conceived when it is known to form upwards of 
one-half of all green vegetable matter, and 
serves as a medium for the conveyance of all 
their food. All mineral ingredients that enter 
into the system of plants, must be in a state of 
solution, or so minutely divided as to be carried 
along with water. Even the gaseous elements 
that enter by the roots, are introduced with 
water, since it is supposed that they cannot en¬ 
ter in the aeriform state. \ 
In the cultivation of the soil, the most im¬ 
portant inquiry is, its relation to water. It is 
waste both of time and money to attempt im¬ 
provement on wet lands until they are drained. 
I am aware that draining is not generally re¬ 
cognized as an indispensable auxiliary to suc¬ 
cessful cultivation, but it is nevertheless a fact 
that soils, even of a dry nature, will support a 
more luxurious vegetation after being under¬ 
mined with drains, than they did before. The 
reason is simply this: All soils have their re¬ 
spective absorbing properties, and if the surplus 
which is not retained by absorption, is not car¬ 
ried off by drains, it becomes injurious. Air is 
admitted, the soil is rendered more porous, wa¬ 
ter percolates freely into it, the air holds mois¬ 
ture in suspension, and when the surface sup¬ 
ply fails, this suspended moisture is again 
brought up by capillary attraction, a principle 
in cultivation which is not generally known. 
But by far the best preventive of the evil ef¬ 
fects of severe drouth, is deep cultivation. 
Loosen the soil, no matter how deep, so that 
the best soil is kept on the surface. Trenching 
is undoubtedly the most thorough process of 
deepening soil. The advantages derived from 
it are various. The absorbing capabilities of 
the earth are increased, and a large supply of 
moisture is thus retained. The roots of plants 
can extend into a medium where they are ex¬ 
empt from the extremes of drouth and heat, 
and obtain a more regular supply of nourish¬ 
ment, being neither so likely to suffer in wet, 
or burned up in dry weather; as in the former 
case the surplus passes freely down, and in the 
latter is drawn up by capillary attraction, more 
especially where a judicious system of surface 
stirring is persevered in, preventing rapid sur¬ 
face evaporation. 
In addition to the supply of moisture thus se¬ 
cured, trenching, when properly performed, 
transposes and disintegrates the soil. The sur¬ 
face that has been exhausted by continual crop¬ 
ping, is replaced by a portion of sub-soil, en¬ 
riched with the nutritive matters that have na¬ 
turally sunk and been washed down with rains 
from the surface, and carried beyond the reach 
of roots; the manures applied are more freely 
incorporated with the soil, and their action be¬ 
comes more regular and uniform, and more di¬ 
rectly available for the purposes of vegetable 
growth. 
Artificial waterings are often misapplied ; for 
instance, it is no uncommon occurrence to sec 
a small basin formed round the stem of a large 
tree, into which a few gallons of water are 
poured daily. This is all but useless, since the 
absorbing and feeding points of roots form a 
circle at a considerable distance from the stem, 
consequently this water cannot reach them. 
Newly planted trees are also frequently killed 
through kindness in this respect. A tree with 
multilated roots and scanty growth of leaves, 
requires very little water. Mulching over the 
roots with a covering of tan bark, manure &c., 
is a more likely expedient than a direct appli¬ 
cation of water, which cools the soil and retards 
growth. 
Soil that is properly mreated, deeply trenched, 
and judiciously manured, will support a luxuri¬ 
ant growth, no matter how long a dry spell we 
may have, more especially if the surface is kept 
loose and open, to prevent, in some degree, 
evaporation of moisture, and radiation of heat.— 
William Saunders, in Germantown Telegraph. 
