THE CULTIVATOR: 
A MONTHLY PUBLICATION, DEVOTED TO AGRICULTURE. 
I KNOW OF NO PURSUIT IN WHICH MORE REAL AND IMPORTANT SERVICES CAN BE RENDERED T O ANY COUNTRY, THAN BY IMPROVING ITS AGRICULTURE.— Wash. 
^ NO. 3, WASHINGTON-ST. ALBANY, N. Y. OCTOBER, 1838. No. 8. 
Conducted by J. BUEL, of Albany. 
TERMS.— One Dollar per annum, to be paid in advance. 
Subscriptions to commence with a volume. 
Special Agents.— L. & R. Hill, Richmond, Va.; Bell & 
Entwislf., Alexandria, D. C.; Gideon B. Smith, Baltimore, 
Md.; Judah Dobson, bookseller, D. Landreith, and M. S. 
Powell, seedsmen, Philadelphia; Israel Post, bookseller, 
88 Bowery, Alex. Smith, seedsman, P. Wakeman, office of 
the American Institute, Broadway, N. York; Hovey & Co. 
Merchants’ Row, Boston; Alex. Walsh, Lansingburgh, and 
Wm. Thorburn, Albany, gratuitous agents. For general 
list of agents see No. 12, vol. iv. 
The Cultivator is subject to common newspaper postage. 
95“ Price of the published volumes, 50 cents per vol. stitched— 
the four volumes bound together, $2.75—bound in two volumes, 
$3—the four vols. bound each separate, $3.25. 
' THE CULTIVATOR. 
TO IMPROVE THE SOIL AND THE MIND. 
0= Farmers’ Directory. XD 
{jtf“ We receive almost daily inquiries for seeds, im¬ 
plements, farm stock, &c. many of which it is difficult, 
and some of them out of our power, to answer satisfac¬ 
torily. The expense of making and answering these 
inquiries amounts to no little in the aggregate. To re¬ 
medy this inconvenience, and to render a service to the 
seller and buyer, we propose to insert in the extra which 
will accompany our February number, a Farmers’ Di¬ 
rectory, that is, to give the names, residence and busi¬ 
ness, so far as they shall be notified to us by the 10th 
January, free of charge, of gentlemen engaged in vend¬ 
ing agricultural seeds, implements, and choice breeds of 
farm stock, in whatever state they may reside. As for 
example, 
W. Thorburn, Albany, Abends seeds and implements. 
H. D. Grove, Buskirk’s Bridge, Washington co. N. Y. 
Avill sell 100 Saxony sheep. 
G. B. Smith, Baltimore, Md. sells Rohan Potatoes and 
Dutton seed corn. 
To the patrons of the Cultivator, no charge will be. 
made for this notice—to others, it will be one dollar. 
Advertisements, more in detail, will be inserted in a se¬ 
parate portion of the same sheet, on our usual terms. 
The advantages that are likely to result to advertisers, 
may be judged from the fact, that our edition is twenty 
thousand copies, and that our paper circulates in every 
state and territory in the Union, and in the Canadas. 
The Farmer’s Garden. 
FRUIT. 
The fruit trees that may be cultivated in a garden, 
where the climate and soil will admit of their growth, 
are the apple, pear, plum, cherry, peach, nectarine and 
apricot; the fruit shrubs, are the quince, gooseberry, 
currant, raspberry; to which we may add the grape 
and the strawberry. 
Each of these fruits may be profitably cultivated for 
market, where a market is contiguous or convenient ; 
and they may all be made subservient to the econo¬ 
mical subsistence of the owner’s family, to a certain 
extent,—and certainly furnish some of the most grate¬ 
ful, and at the same time healthful delicacies and lux¬ 
uries of the table. Hence the extent of their culture 
may be made to depend upon the demand. 
It will be seen in the plan of a garden presented in 
our last, that nearly one-half, or half an acre, is ap¬ 
propriated to fruit trees and grape vines. Plats Nos. 
8 and 9, will contain each 15 trees, at 12 feet apart, 
with intervals of five feet between the outside trees 
and the walks, and a trellis of grape vines along the 
southern borders of both plats. Numbers 10 and 11 
will each receive 20 trees, at nearly similar distan¬ 
ces. Thus the fruit department may contain 70 trees, 
and 20 grape vines, without materially interfering 
with the vegetable or ornamental departments. 
The next question is, with what fruits shall these 
plats be planted ? This depends upon another ques¬ 
tion—what fruits will thrive and mature in the soil 
and climate 1 The apple will admit of general cul¬ 
ture ; for although Coxe has fixed the northern bor¬ 
der of the apple zone in the valley of the Mohawk, 
this fruit is nevertheless found in high perfection as 
far as lat. 45°, and even on the island of Montreal. 
And the defects of soil, it is believed, may in most 
cases be corrected, by underdraining and trenching. 
The plum, pear and cherry, do not do well in high 
northern latitudes, though they are grown to some 
extent on the borders of the lakes, upon our northern 
frontier. The peach is not successfully cultivated 
north of 42° upon tide-water, until we get west into 
the valley of the Seneca river, and within the influ¬ 
ence of the predominating south winds, which come 
from the Gulph of Mexico. These winds are believ¬ 
ed to be the trade-winds of the tropics, turned out of 
their western course by the high table lands of Mexi¬ 
co ; and their mild influence is felt, more or less, as 
far north as the island of Montreal. The nectarine 
and apricot, so far as our observation has gone, sel¬ 
dom repay the expense of culture north of the city of 
New-York, unless protected by glass. The grape, 
even the hardier varieties, seldom ripens well north of 
43°, and the fruit of the foreign varieties is very sub¬ 
ject to be destroyed by mildew, or to lack fine flavor, 
unless secured in a house. 
But supposing all the fruits we have named maybe 
cultivated, we would appropriate the northern row in 
plats 8 and 9, to early apples, suitable for the kitchen 
and dessert; and instead of ten we would plant but 
six trees, which would give intervals between the 
trees of about 20 feet. As the apple is the largest 
growing tree, we would plant it on the north, as its 
shade, in that position, will be least prejudicial to 
other garden crops. The fruit never comes amiss in 
the family; if there is any excess, it is readily con¬ 
verted into pork; and if early apples are grown in the 
garden enclosure, they are most safe from depreda¬ 
tions, and more convenient when wanted. 
The next, in the size of fruit trees, are the cherry 
and the pear, and these may be made to occupy the 
other two rows in the plats under consideration ; and 
as these should have intervals of at least 15 feet, the 
space will admit of but 16 instead of 20 trees. Should 
grapes not be made to occupy the place assigned 
them in these plats, the intervals, north and south, 
may be extended to 15 feet; or the spare strip may 
be profitably appropriated to nursery rows, to supply 
trees and shrubs to replace those which may fail or 
die, for the propagation of new varieties, and as a 
school of instruction in budding and grafting. 
Plats 10 and 11, may be appropriated to the smaller 
growing trees, as plum, peach, &c. and will each 
contain 20; or the nursery may occupy a part of this 
ground. The rows of the nursery should be three 
feet asunder, and the plants one foot apart. 
Many persons, to avoid the trivial expense de¬ 
manded for good fruit,, content themselves with seed¬ 
lings, or inferior kinds, which they can obtain with¬ 
out price. This is bad policy. Good fruit is plea¬ 
sant, healthy and profitable. Bad fruit has neither 
of these properties to recommend it. We have seen 
a cherry tree whose fruit had brought its owner fifty 
dollars; a pear tree which yielded its proprietor 
twenty dollars every bearing year ; and plums which 
have readdy commanded five dollars a bushel in the 
market. And we have seen other trees that virtually 
brought no profit to their owners, or food to the fa¬ 
mily, for the reason, that the fruit they produced was 
actually worth nothing. The catalogue of the Lon¬ 
don Horticultural Society, contains the names of more 
than 1,400 varieties of the apple, 700 of the pear, and 
nearly a like number of the peach, plum, &c. These 
fruits are arranged in three classes, according to qua¬ 
lity : No. 1 being very good; No. 2 so so ; and No. 
3 comparatively worthless. Probably not more than 
one-tenth of these fruits belong to the first class.— 
We mention this fact to show, that superior fruits 
bear but a small proportion to the inferior kinds which 
are cultivated. An outlay of a few shillings in the 
purchase of good fruit in the outset, will, when the 
trees come into bearing, annually and amply com¬ 
pensate for the expense; and when once obtained, 
good fruits may be as easily propagated in the gar¬ 
den nursery as bad fruits. Young men, of ordinary 
capacity, can acquire the art of propagating, if they 
will but try, afier a little practice. 
The quince, the currant, the gooseberry and the 
raspberry, may occupy the east and part of the south 
border. The first should be planted 8, and the others 
4 feet asunder. The strawberry may be grown in 
the southern edge of the fruit plats, or be assigned 
a place in the outer borders. 
In recommending varieties of fruit for garden cul¬ 
ture, we shall name such as we know to be good, 
without meaning to say that other varieties are not 
equally so. Every district of country has some kinds 
peculiar to itself. Besides, a list of all the good fruits I 
would swell our article to a tedious and useless length. 
We therefore content ourselves with naming but a 
few varieties of each. But we remark, that new va¬ 
rieties are every year produced by the natural process 
of crossing. On a late visit to our friend I. Dennis- 
ton, Esq. who perhaps has the best collection of plums 
of any man in America, he gave us to taste some fif¬ 
teen new seedling varieties of this fruit, all of exqui¬ 
site flavor. 
EARLY APPLES. 
Juneating, tart bough or harvest apple, strawberry 
apple, sapson, early French reinette, pumpkin sweet¬ 
ing, fall pippin, and for baking, the sweet bough, or 
Jersey sweeting. The apple should be raised from 
seed, and choice kinds may be multiplied in the gar¬ 
den nursery, by grafting or budding. Graft in April, 
and bud in July and August. Bud when the plants are 
the size of the little finger. For directions see the 
Cultivator, vol. II. p. 18, 65, 66. 
PEARS. 
We name those that ripen at different times, and 
in the order in which they ripen : Jargonelle and 
Williams’ bonchretian for summer; autumn, or Gan- 
sell’s bergamot, vergaleu, capiaumont, Reekie, &c. for 
autumn ; beurre diel, chaumontelle, colmar, easter 
beurre, &c. for winter; catillac or bell, for baking. 
The pear may be propagated and worked like the ap¬ 
ple. If dwarf trees are desired, they may be worked 
upon stocks of the quince or thorn, at the surface of 
the ground. 
CHERRIES. 
We would have among these the morello, mayduke, 
black heart, white heart and late duke—the common 
red cherry should also have a place here, or in some 
other part of the premises. The cherry is generally 
budded, and this should be done in June, or while the 
plants are in thrifty growth. 
PLUMS. 
The green, purple, yellow, Bleecker’s, Flushing and 
blue gages, are all excellent, as are the Bolmar, Nec¬ 
tarine, Orleans, St. Catharines, Jefferson, and many 
others. Tfie egg and magnum bonum, belong to the 
second class as to flavor, though they are of the first 
class in size. Plums are propagated by budding and 
grafting; often upon succors which grow from the 
roots of old trees, though better stocks are readily 
obtained from seeds. The plum should he budded in 
June, or early in July—grafted in April. 
PEACHES. 
These are generally short-lived trees, and where 
they can be raised and fruited well, a supply of young 
trees 'should be constantly kept up in the nursery.— 
The peach should always be budded, as not one seed¬ 
ling in fifty turns out good fruit. The stones may be 
buried in the ground during winter, and those that 
are not cracked by the frost should be broken before 
they are planted. They may be sown thick, like cab¬ 
bages, in a seed bed, and like cabbages transplanted 
into nursery rows with a dibble,when they have grown 
six inches high. They may be budded early in Sep¬ 
tember, the same year, and should be budded as early 
as the second year. There is no fruit more easy of 
propagation, or that comes earlier into bearing, than 
the peach ; and where it thrives well, there is no apo¬ 
logy for neglecting its culture, or for not propagating 
the choice varieties ; and nearly all that are worked 
in nurseries are of this description. 
QUINCES 
May be propagated by layers, by cuttings, or by 
seeds. Seeds may be sown like apples and pears, 
and transplanted when of sufficient size, in two or 
three years. The apple shaped, the pear shaped, 
and the Portugal quinces, are the principal varieties, 
of which the latter is generally preferred. It is of a 
fine purple colour when dressed, and is more juicy 
and less harsh than the other kinds. 
GRAPES. 
The Isabella, Catawba and Bland’s Virginia, are 
the most esteemed native varieties ; and the Sweet¬ 
water, Chasselas and black Hamburgh, the best fo¬ 
reign varieties, for culture in the open ground. The 
grape is propagated by layers and cuttings. For the 
management of the vines, see the directions of Alden 
Spooner, in the May number of the current volume. 
It is considered prudent in the climate of Albany, to 
lay grape vines, in autumn, upon the ground, even of 
the Isabella, and slightly to cover them with earth, 
after being previously pruned. 
