158 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
washing with soft-soap, the prompt removal 
of anything like disease, such as knots, 
blights, &c., constitute the summary of the 
“ nursing, care and attention' 1 required by 
fruit trees. W. D. 
Morristown, N. J. 
—— . — 
For the American Agriculturist 
TREATMENT OF THE PEAR TREE AS A 
STANDARD. 
BY A PRACTICAL NURSERYMAN. 
In pruning it is highly important to bear 
in mind the natural disposition of the tree, 
in order to foresee the probable consequen¬ 
ces of every cut that is made. When left to 
its natural growth the Pear tree attains the 
hight of 30 or 40 feet as a standard, with a 
stem of considerable length, but frequently 
sub-divided at five or six feet above the 
ground. The lower the sub-divisions take 
place, the greater the tendency to assume 
the naked character of stems, for a distance 
of everal feet from their bases. Ultimately 
the top is formed of a roundish spreading or 
a pyramidal form, on the outside of which 
the fruit is for the most part produced, where 
it occupies the best position for enjoying the 
beneficial influences of light and air. 
An example will show the necessity of 
studying the natural disposition of this tree. 
Suppose a person were required to keep a 
tree within certain prescribed limits, far 
short of its natural hight, and that regard¬ 
less of its incessant tendency to attain that 
hight, he cut annually with reference merely 
to the assigned limits. Year after year he 
would find these limits exceeded by a shoot 
or shoots disposed to mount as stems, and 
he might continue years in vain attempts to 
overcome, by direct opposition, the natural 
tendencies of the tree. A skillful pruner 
would do no such thing. He would not 
labor to waste the energies of the tree, but 
by gentle and skilful means, would direct 
them towards the production of fruit. 
The standard form being the most natural, 
requires the least opposition to growth by 
the knife. If we commence with the young 
tree, having one shoot or one summer's 
growth from the graft or bud, the first object 
is to secure a stem of the requisite hight, 
and of sufficient strength. Six feet is the 
usual hight for orchards, and every stem 
should be of the same hight, or nearly so. 
The shoot above alluded to will be furnished 
with buds from bottom to top, and all of 
these buds are capable of producing shoots 
under favorable circumstances ; but the up¬ 
permost bud generally takes the lead, while 
many of the lower do not break into shoots, 
and frequently none of them do so, unless 
induced by artificial means. Now it must 
be borne in mind, that if the shoot be cut 
back for some portion of its length at the 
winter pruning, the sap which would other¬ 
wise have gone to the upper portion of the 
shoot, is appropriated by those buds that are 
left, and it acts with greatest force on those 
immediately below the cut, three of which 
are almost invariably stimulated so as to 
produce shoots. Therefore to secure uni¬ 
formity in hight and form, the following 
plan may be adopted: 
When the tree has attained a hight of six- 
and-a-half feet, set up by the side of it a rod 
or measuring stick six feet long, and then 
cut off the stem so as to leave three buds 
only above the top of the rod. The three 
buds just above the hight of six feet will be 
most stimulated, and they will seldom fail to 
push forth shoots from which others must 
be made to diverge in a regular manner. 
Care should be taken to have the young 
stems o/ sufficient strength, and also as 
straight as possible, and foliage should be 
encouraged. Clean stems are desirable, but 
in endeavoring to obtain such, their strength 
must not be sacrificed. If laterals push from 
the shoot of the same summer’s growth, they 
must not be cut clean off. They may be 
stopped after mid-snmmer, where they ap¬ 
pear insubordinate to the leader, and in¬ 
stead of being cut close to the stem at the 
winter pruning, if one or two buds are left 
they will furnish leaves on small shoots in 
the following summer, which will contribute 
much towards strengthening the stem. 
These shoots ought, however, to be stopped 
in summer. 
When the soil is good, and the variety is 
of vigorous growth, standard pear trees may 
be raised without cutting back the leader un¬ 
til it attain the required hight of stem. But 
under less favorable circumstances, a some¬ 
what different mode of proceeding must be 
adopted. If the leading shoot is found weak, 
cut it back to near its base. A stronger 
shoot will result, which must be kept as up¬ 
right as possible for a leader. Take care to 
check almost entirely the growth of the two 
shoots likely to proceed from the buds next 
to that which furnishes the leader. The 
leader may be a little shortened in the fol¬ 
lowing season, and in every season until it 
attain the proper hight. By the time it does 
this, the base of the stem will have acquired 
considerable thickness, and although great 
care is required to keep the shoots erect 
while young, no stakes are afterwards re¬ 
quired. 
■—.--— —rM i nf iia ■ 
AMERICAN PLUMS IN ENGLAND. 
The Gardener’s Chronicle, speaks of the 
variety of American Plums which have suc¬ 
ceeded best in England, as follows : 
Weare indebted to the Americans for some 
really valuable plums. Among them the 
Jefferson holds the first rank; ripening just 
after the Green Gage, and being quite equal 
to it in flavor and far superior in beauty, it 
can not be too highly eulogised. I had 
some fine fruit in pyramids this season, 
which, owing to the fine weather in Septem¬ 
ber, slightly shriveled on the trees, and be¬ 
came of a deep golden color, blotched with 
red ; they were full of delicious juice; 
I thought them superior even to the Green 
Gage. Denniston’s Superb, ripening 8 or 10 
days before the Green Gage, is also a valu¬ 
able plum; this year the fruits were particu¬ 
larly fine from pyramids ; Hiding’s Superb is 
also a very large and very rich plum ; the 
Autumn Gage, an oval medium-sized yellow 
plum, is very valuable, as it hangs well on 
the tree till after the middle of October. 
Blecker’s Scarlet is a useful kitchen plum, 
remarkable for its hardiness and productive¬ 
ness. Smith's Orleans, an oval reddish 
purple plum, has not proved quite equal to 
its reputation in America. Columbia is a 
large, round, and very handsome plum, rich 
and sugary but rather dry, and ripening with 
a crowd of other sorts, is not so valuable as 
the first-named varieties. I may here men¬ 
tion that plums in Nottinghamshire, north of 
Trent, rarely attain their full size and flavor ; 
the climate seems too cool and moist for 
them, for if large-sized fruit are obtained 
from trees against walls, flavor is sacrificed. 
Corse’s Nota Bene, an oval purple plum of 
medium size, is I think a Canadian plum, 
from Montreal; this is an enormous bear¬ 
er, withstanding our spring frosts well, and 
ripening early in August. Plums are becom¬ 
ing most valuable fruit, for owing to several 
new varieties the dessert and the kitchen 
can be supplied from the end of July till near¬ 
ly the end of October. 
COFFEE, ITS COST AND CULTURE. 
It is believed by many that coffee can be 
cultivated in some of our southern States as 
successfully as in Brazil, Java, and Jamaica ; 
if so, it is high time that some of our plant¬ 
ers were'entering upon its culture, as it costs 
our country no less than $15,500,000 annu¬ 
ally for the beans of this plant. 
The coffee tree lives to a great age pro¬ 
vided that the land is kept well drained. The 
tree begins to bear when three years old, 
and is at its full bearing when seven years 
old. The tree is allowed to grow in hight 
from six to seven feet; the top branches are 
pruned off when the tree is five years old, so 
that by the time it is seven it resembles a 
spread umbrella. Each branch droops down¬ 
wards, and thus gives the pickers a good 
chance to pick the berry. The coffee tree 
in Brazil bears two crops each year, the 
large crop in the spring, and the small one 
in the fall. The first crop is picked when 
the berry is red, resembling a cherry. The 
second crop is in general small, and allowed 
to remain on the tree until fully ripe and 
dry. This crop, cured in the husk, is far 
superior in quality, and is called “ pearl cof 
fee.” The blossom is beautiful, small, and 
tender. It remains on the tree from three 
to four days. If the weather is warm, with 
showers, during those few days, the crop 
sure; if cool at nights, it often fails. When 
the berry is taken home from the field it is 
carried to a mill-house. The mill consists 
of three small rollers. The berry is put into 
a hopper, and a constant stream of water 
falls on the rollers during the time the mill is 
at work. By this process the outside hull 
is taken off and the berry is separated from 
it, and the coffee falls into a brick tank, where 
it is washed perfectly clean, and then put on 
a place covered with tile or brick raised in 
the center that the water may drain. It is 
then taken to the curing loft, where it is 
turned four times a day until the hull is crisp 
and dry. Then by putting it through large 
fanners the inside hull comes off, and leaves 
the berry ready for hand-picking for market . 
Scientific American. 
