SCtje anb tl)e ®rcl]ar&. 
CULTURE OF FLOWERS. 
We hail with pleasure every indication of increased 
attention to the architecture of oar dwellings, combining 
elegance and simplicity of structure, with convenience 
and comfort in use; every proof of increasing taste in the 
arrang'enient and disposition of the farm building’s, every 
new addition made to the orchard or fruit garden, as a 
fresh contribution to the happiness of the owner; nor do 
we view with less satisfaction the evident imimlse which 
the culture of flowers has received within a few years. 
It is true the selection and arrangement may not always 
be in the best taste; but a great point has been gained, 
the culture has commenced, and time and experience 
will correct the minor dithculties that beset tiie way of 
the lover of flowers. It is but a few years since flower¬ 
ing shrubs and plants were a rarity, unless indeed some 
of the most common kinds, such as the rose or the pink. 
Now, mingled with these, may be found the dahlia, ho¬ 
neysuckle, hydrangeas, tulips, and the multitude of other 
beautiful flowers which have been introduced and accli¬ 
mated among us, to meet the demand which an improved 
and cultivated taste in these matters has created. _ 
We repeat that we hail with pleasure the indications 
that meet us every where, that the culture of flowers is 
increasing; that the fair hands of American wives and 
daughters find a pleasure in planting, watering, and train¬ 
ing those choice productions of nature; and that the farm- 
er^in his yards, finds flowers instead of grass or weeds, 
while the daily replenished flower pot of the sitting 
room, gladdens the senses and causes the fatigue of the 
field to be half forgotten iii its beauty and perfume. All 
these are indications of good; of multiplied rational en¬ 
joyments; of increased domestic comforts and happiness; 
of a less ardent hankering after wealth alone; and of an 
improved and more refined taste. 
It is true we may here be met with a cold calculating 
cuibono? What good will the culture of flowers do? 
Will they add to our food or raiment? Will they increase 
our wealth? Will they be meat and drink to us? If not, 
what are they good for, and why recommend their cul¬ 
ture? We answer, because that eating and drinking, 
and wealth, and fine apparel, are not the only, or indeed 
the most common means of happiness, and in themselves 
are very far from constituting the great end and aim of 
human existence; because the observer of nature is in¬ 
sensibly and almost necessarily led to “ look through na¬ 
ture up to nature's God;” because the presence of the 
beautiful in nature has a tendency to elevate and refine 
the mind; and because the contemplation of beautiful 
objects has a more controlling and enduring influence on 
the character and destiny of man from his earliest to his 
latest hour, than almost any other influence that can be 
brought to bear upon them. Every thing that has a ten¬ 
dency to make home delightful, that strengthens the so¬ 
cial affections, that betokens and inculcates purity and 
neatness, that furnishes incentives to industry, that gives 
rational and innocent amusement, while it adds to our 
stock of useful knowledge, is surely deserving of com¬ 
mendation and adoption. The culture of flowers does 
all these things, and more, and are they to be cast aside 
as nothing worth? 
We trust there is not a farmer in the state, we do not 
believe there is one, but would feel better pleased to find 
his humble cottage windows shaded with the climbing 
or Michigan rose, his porch covered with the neatly 
trained honeysuckle, his limited yard filled with shrub¬ 
bery and flowers, among which his children are playing, 
and in tending which the elder ones find a pleasing em¬ 
ployment, than to come from his daily toil to find his 
house and yards naked and unornamented, his children 
dirty from playing in the street, and his wife and daugh¬ 
ters spinning street yarn, or retailing scandal. Will not 
these widely contrasting influences have a corresponding 
effect on the man—on the whole family? There is 
another reason why we love to witness the extension of 
flower culture. It is because it is principally conducted 
by women, and nothing can more contribute to their 
health, their spirits, and their general welfare, than some 
interesting employment, that shall keep them more in 
the pure air, and give that exercise so essential to the 
human constitution. If American women would spend 
an hour or two daily in their gardens or yards, tending 
their flowers, planting, training, weeding, far, far better 
would it be for them than the indulgence of those seden¬ 
tary habits which take the lead in the long train of cau¬ 
ses which are annually consigning to a premature grave 
. so many of the young and beautiful of our country. Let 
every one then cultivate flowers. They require little 
space, they furnish a necessary and a tasteful employ¬ 
ment, they cost comparatively nothing, and they contri¬ 
bute much to the happiness which forms the grand object 
of pursuit with all. 
A NEW ENEMY OP THE APPLE TREE. 
We perceive from a letter of Dr. Harris, published in 
a late number of the Mass. Plowman, that the insect 
which has caused such serious losses to the growers of 
the pear, by producing the disease called the fire blip^M, 
has attacked the apple tree, and promises, where undis¬ 
turbed, to destroy them as effectually as it does the pear 
tree. This insect is a small beetle, called the Scolytus 
pyri, one-tenth of an inch long, and of a deep brown co¬ 
lor.^ It deposits its egg in the buds, from the roots of 
which the worm or grub penetrates towards the pith of 
the branch, around which it passes, making a circular 
THE CULTIVATOE. 
burrow between the bark and the pith, thus cutting off 
the circulation of the sap, and giving to the branches 
that withered, blighted appearance, from which the com¬ 
mon name of the disease is derived. The remedy is to 
cut off the branch below the part injured, and burning it 
before the insect has left it. To secure this object, and 
experience proves that it will be successful when prompt¬ 
ly and fully carried out, the branch must be cut off as 
soon as the leaves begin to wither, and sufficiently low 
to ensure the destruction of all the worm eaten buds. 
This course has saved the pear in many orchards, and 
there is no doubt it will be equally successful with the 
apple, should the attacks of this insect become generally 
extended to that tree. 
MANAGEMENT OF FRUIT TREES. 
Messrs. Editors —The article in the June number of 
the present vol. of your paper, headed the Peach tree, 
requires some notice, and probably a much more extend¬ 
ed one than my time will admit of at present. In the 
first place, allow me to say that the disease of the peach 
tree called and known as the yellows, is not contagious, 
and I will hold myself ready to prove, not theoretically 
or speculatively, but practically, that there is no such 
thing as a healthy peach tree being infected by another, 
standing adjacent and having the yellows. I will not 
say that this or any other disease cannot be inoculated; 
but if it can, I have not been able to do it in several ex¬ 
periments made for the purpose. 
I will endeavor to detail some of my experiments and 
observations in regard to the yellows, &c., and believe 
that I can show it to be the result of error in their cul¬ 
ture. This farm had upon it in 1836, a small apple or¬ 
chard, the trees standing at distances of 32 feet; between 
the rows of apple trees, peach trees were planted, at dis¬ 
tances of 16 feet, tree from tree. The peach trees were 
in a very unhealthy condition, some of them being in 
the last stage of the disease called the yellows, ceased to 
live after that year; others not so bad, but having the 
disease in its worst form, (every part of the tree being 
affected,) received my care and attention. My first de¬ 
sire was to get rid of the peach worm, which I readily 
accomplished by the use of salt and saltpetre around the 
trunks of the trees, &c., and at the same time I gave to 
those trees producing good fruit, a top dressing of ma¬ 
nure. In 1838-39, my orchard was entirely free from 
the worm, and appeared in a healthy condition, with the 
loss of only 3 trees out of about 40 that had the yellows. 
The orchard being in good health, I resolved to test 
my then theoretical views; having planted a few trees to 
supply me with fruit in ease these should be destroyed, 
I went more cheerfully to work and selected eight trees 
standing in a row, and had the ground manured for about 
10 or 12 feet on each side of the row of trees; it was 
then plowed and potatoes were planted in every third 
furrow, this furrow receiving an additional quantity of 
manure. The balance of the orchard was plowed during 
the month of September; a part thereof received a dress¬ 
ing of manure and was i)lowed in; another part was ma¬ 
nured after being plowed, and a third part without ma¬ 
nure; the whole orchard was sown with wheat, and the 
following spring with clover. The effect was that a 
large majority of the peach trees showed some symptoms 
of disease, but more perceptible on those where there was 
no manure, where the manure was turnetl under and where 
the potatoes were planted. Of the S trees where the po¬ 
tatoes were planted, I was resolved on saving 4 of them 
if possible, for here I thought the greatest amount of in¬ 
jury was done, (though I have thought differently upon 
this subject since,) yet in this case the injury met my 
fullest expectation, and the 4 trees unattended to had the 
yellows and were about to die, when Mr. J. L. McKnight 
and a friend of his, both living in or near Bordentown, 
N. J., and both peach growers, came to see my orchard; 
these gentlemen pointing to three of these trees, asked 
if I could cure them; I told them it might be possible, 
but they were very far gone; their remark was that they 
thought these trees could not be restored to health. The 
middle one of these 3 trees being most diseased, was se¬ 
lected by me to be cured, and if Mr. McKnight and his 
friend will call and see me in September next, I will 
promise to give them some perfectly sound fruit, to be 
gathered from this tree, though the fruit is not of a very 
good kind. The other two trees died for want of atten¬ 
tion, and were cut down this spring. Now this is one 
instance, of which I have ample testimony, of this dis¬ 
ease being curable; though it is not the first instance of 
cure with me by very man 3 % The disease was produced 
by the i)low, and the cure by rest, with a top dressing of 
stable manure and ashes. 
I deem it unnecessary to say any thing more about my 
orchard at present, but beg your indulgence to permit 
me to ask attention to the effect produced from plowing 
orchards. A person living within 2 miles of me, has an 
apple orchard that was to within the last 3 5 ’^ears, a most 
prolific orchard, but in consequence of some of the trees 
putting on the appearance of decay, he thought that to 
manure it and plow it would be of service; this he did 
three years ago, and the orchard producing no fruit the 
next yeai-, and the trees appearing more unhealthy, he 
manured and plowed again; but still he has no fruit, and 
his trees are growing worse instead of better. Another 
person about 7 miles distant, has an apple orchard that 
he had worked in corn three years ago; one of his peo¬ 
ple being at my house the year following, I inquired if 
there was any fruit on the trees: ‘‘ No! the fi'ost has 
killed all the apples.” I then asked him about trees 
standing in different parts of the orchard, where I knew 
they could not plow, and was told that these trees were 
135 
full of fruit, and that the “ frost did not hurt them.” I 
desired him to say, the next time he was asked why these 
trees were full of fruit and the others not, that they could 
not injure them with the plow. I could give very many 
instances of this kind, hut my object being to call atten¬ 
tion to this matter, I will ask every one to make his own 
observations and comparisons; let every farmer look in¬ 
to his neighbor’s orchard and his own, and see what the 
effect of plowing is when compared with the unplowed 
orchard adjacent to that plowed; let him call to recol¬ 
lection the fine orchard planted by his father, that is go¬ 
ing into decay, and ask himself the cause, and he will 
receive more knowledge upon this subject than could be 
derived from volumes written upon orchards—though I 
would strongly recommend the perusal of all works writ¬ 
ten upon the subject of our business; the avocations of 
life are always promoted by a proper and strict inquiry 
after truth, and no agent should be neglected to the ad¬ 
vancement of so desirable an end. 
My system is to work a tree just as I do the corn plant; 
the one as an annual, the other as a perennial; give the 
tree all the cultivation it is to have while young, and be¬ 
fore a set of organs are wanted for the perdurable for¬ 
mation of fruit, and when the tree puts on the appear¬ 
ance of premature decay, I give to it a coat of manure 
spread upon the surface of the ground: this I apply in 
the fall of the year, always preferring long to short ma¬ 
nure, and when ashes are deemed necessary I have put 
them on in the spring. 
Shall I say a word here about peach trees 30 or 40 
years ago, which Mr. Downing represents to have grown 
any where in the United States, south of the 43° of lati¬ 
tude. Well, 40 years ago there was but little demand 
for peaches as a market fruit, and they ■were for the most 
part converted into pork and brandy. For these purpo¬ 
ses, it did not answer at that period of time, to pick them 
off the trees by hand, but a neat grass lay was considered 
as indispensable to facilitate their collection, as step lad¬ 
ders are at the present day. The peaches then were 
shook off the frees, and the best selected, either for dry¬ 
ing or for the still, and the hogs disposed of the balance. 
There were several reasons why orchards were not de¬ 
stroyed at that time by tillage, and perhaps the most pro¬ 
minent one was that a grain crop in the orchard would 
prevent or retard the gathering of the peaches, which by 
the by, were worth more than any grain crop that could 
be grown in the orchard; but whenever an old peach 
orchard was plowed a few times, a new one had to be 
planted, or at least such was the case 30 years ago, on 
some farms, to my certain knowledge. I do not wish to 
be understood that the peach tree can be grown at the pre¬ 
sent time with the same facility it could then, for I have 
no doubt that the pabulum necessary for the support of this 
tree, has become in a great measure exhausted from the 
soil—but I presume it can be restored—if so, we must get 
“ the neighbors” to resuscitate their soils and to form a 
good stock by proper tillage; but when the trees come 
into full bearing, we must then feel satisfied with what¬ 
ever nature may he pleased to do in the premises, for 
any stirring of the soil after this period of growth is ob¬ 
tained, has a tendency to bring the orchard into decay, 
of which I can show hundreds of surviving witnesses. 
A careful inquiry will show that the peach tree began 
to decline about the close of our last war with England; 
grain commanding a very high price at that time, peaches 
were only considered in a secondary point of view, and 
orchards that probably had not been disturbed with the 
plow for 15 or 20 years previous, were then put in wheat, 
corn, &c. This soon brought the orchard into decay, 
and in many instances they were not replaced; and when 
replanted, they have been treated very differently from 
the original. W'e must now have a crop of grain, grass 
or roots^ but in former times such things were not ex¬ 
pected from a peach orchard after it began to produce 
full crops of fruit. 
You have told us how to plow, manure, work and em¬ 
bellish our lands, to gather and secure our crops, with a 
long list of etceteras, but there is one matter that I think 
is overlooked, and requires more attention than appears 
at first view—and if not the base of Mr. Comstock’s pro¬ 
posed system for his million of dollars, is and has been 
mine for years; and that is, how long a plant can be cul¬ 
tivated without injury to the growing crop, or at what 
stage of growth should we cease to work a plant to ob¬ 
tain its greatest yield. 
I have heretofore given my views in regard to Indian 
corn, and I will now give some experiments made seve¬ 
ral years ago for my own satisfaction; but tliere has been 
no repetition of these experiments, as they fully corres¬ 
ponded with my views before making them. 1st. Two 
double rows, (25 yards in length,) of peas were planted, 
with an alley of three feet between the rows; they were 
all hoed when the pea vine was about 8 inches high, and 
at this time supports were placed to one of the rows. 
The other row Avas left without supports till the first 
blossoms made their appearance, when it Avas hoed again 
and then stuck. The pea vine in the first row, attained 
the height of about 3 feet 6 inches, and bore abundantly. 
The row hoed, when coming into bloom, attained the 
height of about 28 inches, and the crop was not equal 
to one-fourth of the first i-ow. 2d. Two double rows of 
bush beans Avere selected and treated Avith the hoe in 
like manner, but here the result Avas somewhat different; 
the beans hoed, when coming into bloom were checked 
ingrowth; but in a few days new branches began to 
push forth, and upon these branches the beans Avere good, 
but on the first branches the pods were short and defec¬ 
tive, and the crop not equal to the first row. The roots 
of some of these vines were carefully examined, but to 
speak of this part of the plant in this communication, 
