AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
145 
For the American Agriculturist. 
Spare the Sprouts. 
The grafts are set, and the sprouts are starting 
just below them—the effort of nature to restore 
the balance between top and roots, that has 
been destroyed by the grafting process. This 
balance is of much more importance than most 
people imagine. In a healthy tree it is always 
maintained. If important branches are lopped 
off, sprouts start immediately below to repair 
the loss. If small branches die, it . is an indica¬ 
tion of more wood than the roots can support. 
In grafting trees of good size, ten years or 
. more from the seed, not more than a third of the 
• top should be taken off at once. The grafts will 
do much better if the lower limbs are left; 
whole. Buds for new sprouts will start soon, 
after the buds upon the cions, and there is a 
strong temptation to rub them off upon the sup¬ 
position that more of the sap will be thrown into 
the graft. But this philosophy is wrong. Every 
leaf acts as a pump, and the sap drawn up, oth¬ 
er things being equal, will be according to the 
number and vigor of the leaves. These sprouts 
' should be left until the middle of the growing 
season at least, and then be removed gradually, 
leaving two or three sprouts in the case of the 
most vigorous trees to the second season. If the 
cions do not grow it is still more important that 
the sprouts should remain. Jonathan. 
How to Set Trees in an Orchard. 
The common way is to set them in squares 
(fig. 1,) in the intersections of lines crossing the 
field, equally distant both ways. Thus each 
. — <q —fqur contiguous trees form 
I i p ! . ! 1- a square. The trees may 
O’ y- | y v r ^ be set at any desired dis- 
O-p —<0—4 -tauce apart—25,30, and 35 
-is— -e?—feet are common distances. 
I L- ' A The advantage. of this 
p 'f ) T I y method is, that though the 
C—a—o —6— O--<0 ground is not so perfectly 
Fig. 1. occupied as it might be, still 
it is easier to plow between the rows. When it is 
desired to occupy the land still more thoroughly, 
or to place two sorts of trees upon it—one kind 
' to be removed if necessary, as the * * 
others grow—dwarfs or other trees are ° 
set in the middle of each square, thus: * * 
This is confounded with the “ Quincunx ” system, 
(fig. 2,) in which the trees may be regarded as in 
fives, also: but not in squares. The Quincunx 
might with more propriety be called 
* * the Hexagonal system, for each tree is 
* ' surrounded by six others at equal dis- 
* * tance both from the center one, and 
each other. By this plan more trees 
can be set upon an acre than by the other, the 
distance between the trees being the same. The 
land can not be so conveniently plowed. 
To lav out an orchard on the Quincunx sys¬ 
tem, the following rule may be given : Two 
distances of rows are required. The first is the 
required distance of the trees, 25, 30,-35, or 40 
feet. The second is obtained by multiplying the 
first by 1.732, and cutting off the right hand three 
figures for decimals. For example, if the distance 
of the trees apart .is to be 30 feet, then 30 multi¬ 
plied by 1.732, gives 51.960 feet, or very nearly 
52 feet, the distance of the rows the other way. 
Now lay off rows across the field one way 30 
feet, and the other way, 52 feet, and plant trees 
at the intersections.of the rows. Next draw a 
second set of rows, each way,, just mid-way be¬ 
tween the rows already planted. At each point 
where these new lines cross, put another tree, 
and you then have the trees all 30 feet distant 
from each other, but there are fully one-seventh 
more trees than if they t?—-R— ft—fX—p 
had been set in rows 30 
feet each way. The whole 
marking out may be done 
before beginning to plant. / 'jy \j/ \i/ \[/ \t 
The above rule is a gener- K ’ /?’> /ff" 'f 
al one. If trees are de- 
sired 35 feet apart, 85 t?—Q— 
multiplied by 1.732, equals Fig. 2. 
60,620, or 60£ feet for the distance of the cross¬ 
rows. If the distance be 40 feet, the second o 
cross-rows will be about 691 feet, (69,280). The 
numberl.732 is very nearly the square root of 
3, and is a “ constant ” for all distances of ro 
About Quinces. 
Here is one of the old-fashioned fruits which 
deserves all that has ever been said in its praise. 
It is known botanically, as Cydonia, from the 
city Cydon, in Crete, where it seems to have 
first attracted attention. As a stock on which 
to graft the apple and pear, it has become quite 
serviceable, giving the fruit great precocity, in¬ 
creased size and improved flavor. Then, who 
does not know by experience that its own fruit 
when stewed, or mixed with apples in pies and 
tarts, makes a palatable dish? Says an old gar¬ 
dening author: “ When apples are flat, and have 
lost their- flavor, a quince or two, in a pie o 
pudding, adds a quickness to them. In medi¬ 
cine the expressed juice, repeatedly taken in 
small quantities, is cooling, astringent and stom¬ 
achic.” Quinces, says Colamella, not only yield 
pleasure, but health.” To make a first-rate ap¬ 
ple pie, use one fourth quinces sliced with three 
fourths apples, and add a few thin slices of 
candied lemon-peel or citron, and more than a 
simple allusion to the delicious preserves, jel¬ 
lies, and marmalades made from the fruit in its 
purity, is simply an aggravation. 
From the kitchen, let us now go to the gar¬ 
den. The quince may be propagated by cut¬ 
tings or layers. The cuttings are prepared in 
the same way as for grapes, they should be set 
out in a deep, light, well-worked soil; if a little 
shaded, success will be the more certain. Let 
the rows be eighteen inches apart, and the plants 
six or eight inches apart in the row. Keep the 
ground well stirred during the Summer, and 
mulched in very dry weather. Layering is, 
much practiced, and is a surer method than by 
cuttings. Shoots are bent down, slightly cut, 
and covered with earth. Another method is 
to. earth up the mother plants in the Spring: 
-shoots will spring up from the old stocks, with 
roots attached. 
In setting out the young plants in their final 
position, place them ten feet apart, and give 
them the best culture. As the quince is often 
found wild by the side of streams, it has been 
supposed by some that it needs a damp soil, 
and it is often set in the lowest and poorest part 
of the garden'. A mistaken practice. Give it a 
open situation,, a deep soil, and let the ground 
be surface manured every other year. The 
fruit will be abundant and large and fair, instead 
of scanty and knotty, as seen in its wild condi¬ 
tion. ‘ Bushes well planted, and generously 
treated, will begin to bear fruit the third year, 
and will yield good crops for thirty years. First 
class specimens will bring two cents a piece in 
New-York market. Few crops are more profit¬ 
able. The only pruning required is to cut out 
the old, and twisted or decaying branches. In 
addition to the manure, give an annual dressing 
of salt, just enough to whiten the surface. 
There are only two varieties extensively cul¬ 
tivated, viz.: the Apple or Orange quince, and 
the Pear-shaped. The first is the most popular, 
as it bears abundant, fair, orange colored fruit. 
The second is shaped like a pear, is dryer and 
firmer than the other. It does not become as 
tender, when cooked, as the other, but ripens a 
fortnight later, and keeps longer into the winter. 
(PRIZE ARTICLE.) 
The Apple Orchard. 
S, NORTH HEMPSTEAD, N 
It is generally admitted that, in all the older set- 
' tied parts of the country, apple-trees do not flourish 
as well as when the soil was new and not exhausted 
by repeated croppings, with a scanty return of ina 
nure to compensate the loss. Unless we fully dc 
termine to have an orchard that will remunerate 
both in profit and pleasure, and to which all other 
crops are a secondary consideration, we had better 
not undertake the business. The orchard is to be 
a permanent institution, at least for a life time. 
The best field on the farm is just the place for it to 
ensure the greatest results ; and if it can be located 
near the house too, so as to be easy of access, 
all the better; for then it will receive more of 
the owner’s attention and much labor will be spared 
in traveling to and fro for fruit—especially for Sum¬ 
mer apples, which I recommend to be planted 
in the part of the orchard nearest to the house. A 
sheltered position from the northerly winds, with a 
forest, hedge, or hill in the rear, will often save part 
of the blossoms from frost and prevent the fruit 
from being blown off and lost. Generally a south¬ 
ern slope is best, and if nearly level and free 
from stones, it will be worked with greater ease. 
It is not to be expected that all these advantages 
can be secured by every one, but secure as many 
as you can. A medium soil that is not dry and 
sandy—parching up in the Summer drouths—nor too 
wet, in which water stands part of the year, but on 
: which corn and potatoes flourish in perfection, is as 
near right as can be selected. And if we plant an or¬ 
chard succeeding one of these hoed crops, the ground 
will be in the very best condition for transplanting. 
The finely worked soil is nicely adapted to filling in 
around the roots, and enables the rootlets to ex¬ 
tract their food with ease, which they can not read¬ 
ily do if the earth is in a lumpy and hard condition. 
It is so important to have the ground in the best 
condition before planting, that it is better to defer 
the work until the ground is ready, than to plant in 
■a stiff sod or with wheat, rye, barley, or oats on the 
ground. If the soil is light and sandy, make the 
holes twice the usual size and fill up with loam and 
sods if practicable, and spread a mulch for a dis¬ 
tance of two or three feet around the tree to pro¬ 
tect it from the scorching rays of the sun. On the 
contrary, if too wet, or if water stands ontheground, 
or if the subsoil is a heavy clay, it should be thor¬ 
oughly drained before planting. If planted in a 
soil where each hole is like a miniature cistern, it 
is evident that the tree can not grow. It is recom¬ 
mended, in some wet soils, to place the tree on the 
surface and cover it up leaving it to grow on a small 
hillock. This is only admissible where soils can 
not be drained successfully, for the trees will not 
take good hold with their roots, and are more 
liable to be torn up by the winds. The practice of 
placing trees in little hollows, with the idea that 
they will catch the rain and be more moist, is erro¬ 
neous, for repeated plowings in a few years fill up 
the holes, and the trees cease to grow from being 
set too deep in the earth. Apple trees send their 
lower roots deep down in the soil to absorb mois¬ 
ture from thence, and other roots rise near the sur- 
