142 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[April, 
the trees ; which they will do (when mulched) 
in searcli of the worms and other vermin. 
The health, beauty, and productiveness of an 
orchard depends much upon proper 
Pruning. —If a tree is properly managed in 
the nursery, and taken up as it should be, it 
should not be touched with the pruning knife 
the year it is set. The shock of transplanting 
is all it can well bear in one year. 
Besides, the natural top will make a demand 
for a corresponding amount of roots, of which 
the tree may have been deprived by removal, 
and nature will be sure to respond by furnish¬ 
ing all in her power. The second year, in the 
month of June, use the knife sparingly, by tak¬ 
ing off such limbs as will leave the top lozc, 
spreading, and shapely. Encourage your trees 
to head low, by trimming from above rather 
than from below. “Shortening-in” may often 
be done to advantage, but care should be taken 
not to cut back more than one-half of the last 
years’ growth. It ought never to be necessary 
to cut off a large limb; but if by neglect it 
should be, cut closely to the trunk, and cover 
the wound well with grafting wax. 
Drawbacks. —But the end is not yet. Eter¬ 
nal vigilance is the price of apples as well as of 
liberty. The orchard needs constant care and 
watching. Gophers, Rabbits, Borers, Bark-lice, 
Canker-worms, and Caterpillars, all have their 
time and season, and must be met and vanquish¬ 
ed, or we have no apples. The Gopher is easily 
stopped by opening his hole, and dropping in a 
piece of sweet apple, or potato, with a little 
strychnine on it. A wash of cow manure and 
urine, put on thick twice during the latter part 
of winter, will keep off rabbits. Keeping the 
ground clean around the tree is the best safe¬ 
guard against borers. Caterpillars and worms 
must be hand picked, and the trees kept healthy 
and growing, to guard against bark lice or aphis. 
All this and much more goes to make up 
the conditions of success in apple raising. But 
don’t let these difficulties discourage you. 
Many of them disappear as soon as the trees 
become well established, and the others are 
slight indeed compared with the importance of 
the object sought. Farmers of the North-west, 
don’t let another spring pass Avithout setting 
out a good-sized orchard, if you have not al¬ 
ready done so. This is the advice of one who 
has tried it, and who believes and knows that we 
can raise apples in Iowa. S., Powesheik Co., Iowa. 
Budding the Grape-Vine. 
The English horticultural journals have had 
much to say about budding the vine, and have 
given accounts of the remarkable success that 
has attended this mode of propagating. It is 
only recently that we have seen the details of 
the process described; a recent number of 
the London Field gives an account, of which 
we give an abstract and copy its engravings. 
The operation may be performed upon the 
main vine, or upon the laterals; the best time is 
when the wood of the stock is about half ripe. 
A bud is cut as shown in fig. 1; the stock, fig. 
2, has a corresponding cut made to receive the 
bud; there is a nick at the lower end of the 
cut which receives the lower end of the piece 
containing the bud, and holds it in position. 
The surfaces of the bud and stock are made to 
fit as evenly as possible, and are bound together 
by bast matting, as shown in fig. 3. Afterwards, 
a bandage of cotton-wool, extending an inch 
below and an inch above the wound, is placed 
on in such a way as to allow the bud and leaf 
stalk to lie exposed, and is bound on firmly. 
The cotton is to be kept moist for several 
weeks. The bud, of course, does not start 
until the following spring, when it produces 
fruit as readily as the natural buds of the vine. 
The practice has thus far, we believe, been con¬ 
fined to grapes under glass, and probably some 
modifications would be necessary for it to be 
successful with out-door grapes in our diy at¬ 
mosphere. A friend who is very successful in 
inarching the vine, binds up the wound with 
oiled silk to prevent drying, and over this he 
winds cotton cloth to protect it from the sun. 
We think that the same treatment would be 
worth trying with the process we have just de- 
described. It will be seen that the much-talked 
of budding of the vine is not budding, as gener¬ 
ally practised, but only an old method of graft¬ 
ing, in which a cion with a single bud is used. 
Crab-Apples. 
But a few years ago Crab-apples were grown 
mainly as ornamental trees, and the rather acerb 
fruit was sparingly used for preserves. But few 
varieties were known, and these received but 
little attention at the hands of pomologists. 
Now we find that, in the colder parts of the 
country at least, the crab-apple is becoming a 
fruit of great importance, and instead of the 
small, astringent, and quickly perishable fruit, 
we have varieties fair in size, acceptable in qual¬ 
ity, and excellent keepers. The Siberian Crab- 
apple ( Pyrus prunifolia), is a distinct species 
from our common apple, ( Pyrus malus,) and as 
its name indicates, is a native of the cold regions 
of Siberia. It differs from the common apple 
mainly in having its foliage smooth, except 
when it is very young, and the styles (parts of 
the pistil) woolly at the base. The small-fruited 
or Cherry Crab (usually called Pyrus bacca- 
ta), is only a variety of the Siberian, and has 
much smaller fruit from which the calyx falls 
when ripe. The Crab-apple is a very hardy 
tree, and will endure and perfect its fruit in lo¬ 
calities where the ordinary apple fails. We 
think that there is but little doubt that the im¬ 
proved Crab-apples now attracting attention are 
natural crosses between the Siberian Crab and 
the common apple, though Dr. Warder, in the 
Horticultural Annual for 1870, considers them 
as sports rather than hybrids. At all events, 
whether by sporting or through hybridizing, the 
austere character of the crab is broken down, 
and it is improved to such a degree as to make 
it a fruit of the greatest value. In the article 
above referred to, Dr. Warder gives a very full 
account of the newer varieties of this fruit. The 
receipt of a box of specimens from Mr. Charles 
Andrews, of Marengo, Ill., reminds us to call 
attention to the claims the improved Crab-ap¬ 
ples have to the consideration of those who live 
where the severity of the winters are an ob¬ 
stacle to fruit culture, as is the case in many 
parts of the Northwestern States and of Canada. 
The Hislop is one of the first of the improved 
varieties that claimed attention, and we give an 
outline of that and the Cherry Crab, to show the 
difference in size. The Hislop is, however, fit 
for cooking purposes only. The specimens sent 
by Mr. Andrews, w T ere Marengo (fig. 2), a red 
apple, keeping until late in spring. Chicago, 
yellow, December to March, and Coral, which 
is similar in appearance to Chicago, but more 
acid. These all originated at Marengo, Ill. A 
set of Crabs has been raised in Minnesota, by 
Mr. P. A. Jewell, of Lake City. Among them 
are Summer Rose, July and August; Orange, 
Sept.; Gen’l Grant, Oct.; Hesper Blush, Oct.; 
Eureka, fall and winter; Quaker Beauty, winter. 
There are several Wisconsin seedlings, some of 
which are known only by numbers. Harger’s 
Winter keeps until April; Tuttle’s Sweet is a 
very large and sweet variety, red, season in 
September. Last season a fine large sweet 
crab, the Van Wyck Sweet, was introduced by 
Mr. A. S. Fuller, which is a chance seedling 
that originated in the town of Fishkill, N. Y. 
Proposed New Vegetable. —Polymnia edulis 
It is not often that we have a plant that is 
valuable in both the kitchen and flower garden; 
but here is the Polymnia edulis, which claims t< 
