AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
10 
maintain tlie same peculiar character, and pos¬ 
sess the same high flavor of its own native soil, 
and the adjoining vicinity. Connecticut produces 
the Golden Sweeting, which, although a most ex¬ 
cellent apple as far away as in Western New- 
York, does not equal in size and perfection of fla¬ 
vor, its original at home. New-York has pro¬ 
duced the Newtown and Fall Pippin, on Long 
Island; the Esopus Spitzenburgh, Swaar, and 
Philip Rick, in Ulster—apples of the very first 
quality wherever known in their perfection, but 
beyond her own boundaries, and even in a large 
portion of their own State, they decline in charac¬ 
ter, and are of doubtful orchard excellence, while 
in many other States they are not worth growing. 
So every other old State in the Union has its own 
favorite original varieties, and many of the new, 
Where they have had sufficient time to orginate 
seedlings, or have adopted others from different 
localities, which were congenial to their new 
homes, possess varieties greatly superior in their 
own soils and climates to those of the highest ce¬ 
lebrity elsewhere, and of which the orchardists of 
other States know little or nothing. Canada has 
her Fameuse, Pomme Gris and Bourassa, the 
most delicious of apples there, yet good for little 
when grown two or three degrees further South. 
Go also into Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana and Illinois. 
They will show you Northern apples of the high¬ 
est reputation, when grown at the North, which 
you will scarcely know as such, so changed in 
appearance and flavor as they are, and of inferior 
quality, too, when compared with the Raule’s Jan- 
net, the Coopers, Mellow-twigs, Belmonts, and 
others of different origin, which they there culti¬ 
vate, and probably even some others which are of 
little worth where you know them in your own 
States, yet of the highest quality in their new 
and more favored localities. 
Planting Large Trees. 
The practice of planting large trees, whether 
for shade or fruit, is decidedly objectionable. 
Young America is in haste to realise immediate 
results from his labors: he wants umbrageous 
groves and heavy-laden orchards made to order: 
he cannot wait for them to come on in the natu¬ 
ral way, as his old fogy ancestors did. 
We are not insensible to the arguments in favor 
of removing large trees. Life is so short, and 
trees are so slow in their growth, that nearly half 
one’s days must be spent before small trees of 
his own planting can attain large size. Then 
why not anticipate nature, and set out trees al¬ 
ready nearly grown 1 By removing them in Win¬ 
ter with large balls of frozen earth around their 
roots, they can often be made to live, and if so, 
there is a saving of several years. There is force 
in these considerations ; and if we were now 
about to plant new and wholly unoccupied 
grounds, we should take great pains to remove a 
few large shade trees into the premises, in order 
to give them at once some appearance of age 
and cultivation. The number should be small, 
however, and for reasons like the following : 
In the first place,—saying nothing about the la¬ 
bor and expense, which are considerable—if quite 
a large tree is removed successfully, it lacks cer¬ 
tain interesting associations which always clus¬ 
ter about one which we have planted in its youth, 
and watched over from year to year, through all 
the period of its growth to maturity. When we 
’•aise a tree from the seed, or from a sajding, we 
‘■’ecome attached to it; it is peculiarly our own 
tree ; it is linked with events in our own life, or 
that of our kindred: it becomes, as it were, a 
member of our family and wins no small share 
of our affection. Whereas, a huge old tree, 
hauled from the woods into our lawn, by oxen, on 
some bleak Winter’s day, and set up there as if 
it had grown in that place, in the natural way, 
and under human care, can have no such associ¬ 
ations. Give us but few such monsters. Rather 
let us plant our trees as mankind always have 
done, taking those of moderate size, removing 
them carefully, nursing them from year to year, 
mixing up our own life’s experience with their 
growth, and investing them with those associa¬ 
tions which give to human life some of its highest 
attractions. 
But again: large trees are seldom moved with 
entire success. A few outlive the shock of such 
violent treatment, but the majority die outright, 
or survive a few years, only to die a lingering 
death. In our own neighborhood, we have an in¬ 
stance of ten or twelve maples, which were 
moved in the Winter, with great care and ex¬ 
pense : they expanded their leaves feebly the 
first Spring, but before Summer was over nearly 
half the branches were dead ; the second season 
the foliage was still lighter, and before Autumn 
half the trees were dead. A third year will prob¬ 
ably witness the decease of the entire grove. On 
another street, a row of elms thirty or forty feet 
high, was set out in the same manner. Their 
branches were cut off more closely than the ma¬ 
ples ; indeed, they looked quite like sticks of tim¬ 
ber set in the ground, with a few prongs on one 
end. Great pains were also taken to preserve 
their roots from mutilation. Several of these 
trees lived, and are now throwing out new 
branches at the top ; but their growth is feeble, 
and must continue so for several years. The lit¬ 
tle matted tuft of leaves on their very top gives 
them quite a ridiculous aspect on the score of 
taste. A waggish friend of ours, riding with us 
in that neighborhood last Fall, observed that those 
trees looked to him like newly-plucked shang¬ 
hais! A large proportion of the trees first 
planted have since died, and given place to small 
ones, which now promise well. Not far from this 
row of monstrosities are groups and avenues of 
large, well-developed elms, maples, lindens, and 
others, which were planted when small, in good 
soil, and without much mutilation of root or 
branch. They have grown lustily from the start, 
and are now in perfect health. Not a scar de¬ 
faces their ample trunks; their branches spring 
upward, or spread abroad in graceful sweep, and 
are clothed in a rich garniture of leaves. They 
are the pride and joy of the men who planted 
them, and will live on through long years to come 
in vigorous health, proclaiming to another gener¬ 
ation the public spirit and taste of this. 
Our objections to removing large ornamental 
trees, apply with double force to the removal of 
such fruit trees. With even the greatest care, a 
multitude of small roots and fibres will he destroy¬ 
ed ; and when these are gone, they are recover¬ 
ed, if at all, only after long waiting and much 
nursing. A thousand little spongioles, fine hair¬ 
like roots, extend on every side, as so many 
mouths to gather up food for the tree ; and when 
these are torn off what can supply their places! 
We doubt whether a large fruit tree, so mangled, 
ever regains its original vigor and health. As 
well might you half starve and maim a young ani¬ 
mal, and not expect him to become stunted and 
deformed, as to give a tree the same usage and 
not expect similar results. 
Without attempting to lay down any invariable 
rule, we think the best time for removing apple 
trees is when they have grown three years from 
the graft or bud ; the pear should not be more 
than two years from the bud ; the cherry, ditto ; 
the peach and apricot, one year; the plum, two 
to four; grapes and other small fruits, one or two 
years from the cutting; and in every case, pre¬ 
serve all the roots possible, and that without mu¬ 
tilation. 
T9 t - - - 
Winter Protection of Fruit Trees. 
Elijah Weeks writes: “....I live in tho 
northeast part of New-Hampshire, near Fryeburg, 
Me., the coldest place in Uncle Sam’s dominions, 
except Franconia. Yet I have such a taste for 
cultivating and eating good fruit, that I have 
bought 100 pear trees, half of them dwarfs. But 
the tops and blossom buds got badly nipped by 
frost last Winter. I would inquire what is the 
very best dressing, and mode of cultivating them, 
and if any protection can he given against the 
dreadful COLD... .A few dwarf pear trees, set 
in 1855, I preserved from Winter-kill by spruce 
trees. The spruce trees had thick, low limbs, 
and I set them in holes dug on three sides of the 
pear trees, binding the tops together... 
Remarks.— For tender trees, especially the pear 
and plum, in a cold climate like the above, it is well 
to set a thick double row or belt ot evergreen!* 
upon the windward sides. Often a forest can be 
so cleared up as to leave a belt of trees, open, at 
most, on the south side. Trees planted in sucb 
an enclosure will be much less liable to freeze 
out than if fully exposed to the fierce blasts of 
Winter. Such winds are much modified and soft¬ 
ened by being sifted through a forest or belt of 
evergreens. Spruce or hemlock houghs bound 
around the branches of young trees, as above de¬ 
scribed, are the best means of protecting them 
for the time being, but as they increase in size it 
is more difficult to cover them. For dwarf trees, 
a high, tight fence may be erected on all sides but 
the south. The inner surface of the fence will 
afford a good space for training grape vines upon. 
Grafting Wild Grape Vines- 
L. F. Jones, of Mariposa Co., Cal., inquires “ If 
the wild grape vines on the banks of rocky brooks, 
may be made valuable by grafting ; ground natur¬ 
ally watered, being scarce and consequently 
precious.” Some of the finest wild grapes we have 
ever seen in this country, we gathered upon the 
steep declivities of a limestone mountain, where 
the vines were watered by small running spring? 
issuing from the ledges. These were upon an 
Indian Reservation in western New-York. Where 
such vines are inclosed it is well worth while to 
graft upon them some of the improved varieties- 
Scions can be inserted in the branches similarly to 
the ordinary mode of grafting fruit trees ; but this 
mode is uncertain and should not be attempted 
except by expert hands and on a limited scale. 
The plan usually recommended in books is to 
insert the scions in the main stalk, just at the 
surface of the ground, and bank up with earth 
above the point of contact. A better plan, and 
one most likely to be successful is to cut the main 
branch to the ground and insert the scion in the 
root near the stump. To do this, remove the earth 
from the root, bore in a hole with a smooth cut¬ 
ting bit or gimlet and insert the scion previously 
whittled to exactly fit the hole. In this as in all 
other grafting it is important to have the cut 
edge ofthe bark on the scion meet the bark of the 
root. The scions should be cut into short pieces 
of four to eight inches in length, each piece to 
contain one or at most two buds. The grafting i3 
to be done early in Spring, before the flow of sap 
commences, say in March or April, according to 
latitude and mildness of the location. See notes 
of experiments on page 186. Vol. XVI. 
