CORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
JULY 3! 
onto 
A GLANCE AT THE PEAR TREES. 
About this time it is well to keep a good 
watch over the pear trees. Those which are 
likely to be overloaded should have their 
fruit tbumed out, removing the smallest 
from each cluster and the greatest number 
from the slender branches. An equal distri¬ 
bution over the entire tree will insure the 
largest specimens without injury to any 
particular branch. A good, large pear tree, 
or even a small one of a few years’ growth, 
is worth all the attent ion which may be re¬ 
quired to keep it healthy and vigorous, bub a 
little neglect may result in its destruction. 
Sometimes the pinching off of the ends of 
our luxuriant shoots, at, this season, will aid 
much in equalizing growth and make a more 
severe system of pruning at another season 
unnecessary. 
Drouths frequently occur in summer just 
at a time when the fruit requires the great¬ 
est amount of moisture to enable it to reach 
full size aud maturity, and when this hap¬ 
pens the trees should be mulched quite 
heavily, in order to keep up a supply at the 
roots, for without water there can be neither 
fruit nor a new growth of wood. More trees 
suffer from the waul of moisture at the roots 
than for manure, in our climate, and there 
is no better way of supplying the deficiency 
than by applying some kind of coarse mate 
rial to the surface of the soil above them. 
Frequent stirring of the soil may in a meas¬ 
ure take the place of a mulch, but not fully 
in dry seasons, or upon very porous, light 
soils ; besides, one application of some good 
material as a mulch will last au entire sea¬ 
son, after which the orebardist, may rest 
content in regard to any failure which 
might have resulted in consequence of 
drouths. Of course, upon heavy and natu¬ 
rally moist soils, mulching may be more in¬ 
jurious than beneficial; but few men would 
select such land for a pear orchard, at least 
not until it was thoroughly underdrained, 
after which a light mulch would be bene¬ 
ficial during summer, even if for nothing 
more than to save frequent cultivation. 
PEAR SLUG. 
This pernicious insect has been quite abun¬ 
dant in pear orchards the present season ; in 
fact, it is to be found in small numbers every 
year, but only occasionally does it do any 
great amount of injury, it is a small, black, 
slimy caterpillar, which eats out the green 
portion of the leaves, merely leaving the 
midrib and woody parts. This mischievous 
little slug is the larva of a small fly known 
as the Srlandri Cerrtsi of Peck. A few days 
is sufficient for this pest to destroy the leaves 
of a large tree, or even an entire orchard ; 
hence the need of immediate attention upon 
their first appearance. As the slugs have a 
slimy, sticky coat, almost any caustic sub¬ 
stance, like dry lime or astu-s, is certain 
death, and even dry dust from a road or 
field thrown over the trees will usually de¬ 
stroy them. Dusting the trees with lime is 
the most certain destroyer. There are also 
several other species of this insect, some of 
which attack the rose, linden and cherry, 
but all are readily destroyed in the same 
manner. 
PRUNING. 
Where the branches in the heads of trees 
have become too thick to admit of a free 
circulation of air or ligat sufficient to mature 
the young growth, the thinning out of such 
may as well be done now as at any other 
time. Interlacing and crowding branches 
can be seen more readily now than when 
denuded of foliage in w inter, and the wounds 
made in severing will heal quite as readily. 
The trees may be either trimmed up or 
headed back, as may be desired, the different 
varieties requiring different treatment in 
order to bring them to the required form, 1 
either for convenience in cultivating or the 
better sustaining of their load of fruit. 1 
The pear orchard, like everything else 1 
upon the farm or in the garden, requires ’ 
attention in ©rder to make it profitable as 1 
well as satisfactory. ‘ 
limb has any bad effect. If it slightly checks 
the growth it enhances the productiveness of 
the tree, and fruitfulness in a fruit tree is 
always more important than mere symmetry 
of form. It is in fact the highest beauty of 
a fruit tree to bo fruitful, because beauty 
consists in the harmony of any object with 
the ends of its being. A cebbrated physician 
lias said that in his opinion no woman ever 
looks so well as when she is in what is gene¬ 
rally spoken of as “an interesting condi¬ 
tion.” An apple tree growing tall and thin 
and bearing leaves only may be ornamental, 
but is not so truly beautiful as one laden 
with ripe or ripening fruit. 
The first effect of bending down the 
branches of trees, whether by fruit or any 
other means, is to make them more produc¬ 
tive. Every farmer h*s noticed that varie¬ 
ties of apples Which grow tull and straight, 
as the Northern Spy, come more slowly into 
bearing than others, like Russet uud Green¬ 
ing, which naturally have a spreading head. 
He has probably also noticed that when 
Northern Spy trees once bear a full crop 
they are always afterward more productive 
and often bring a crop every year. The 
reason is that the top branches are bent, 
slightly downward by the weight of the 
fruit, the circulation of sap is checked, and 
tho tree making a smaller yearly growth, 
many buds which would have grovn to 
wood are changed to fruit. What such trees j 
need is a check to their vitality sufficient to 
set them to business, and a fuller crop may 
be allowed on such trees than on others 
whose vitality is naturally weaker. 
Thinning fruit is advisable in many eases 
to establish the habit of moderate bearing 
every year. Over two thirds of the country 
orchards yield less in the years with the odd 
numbers, and the price is then generally 
much higher. Last year (1874) fruit of all 
kinds was a glut. If one-half the apples had 
been picked off in midsummer last year, 
those which remained would have been 
much finer, have brought higher prices, and 
have left the trees in good shape to produce 
a fair crop in 1875. It is possible that the 
Codling moth has sometimes unwittingly 
done apple growers a service in thinning 
superfluous fruit, but of late years th is enemy 
has become entirely too much of a good 
thing and threatens to destroy the crop al¬ 
together. It is much safer and more busi¬ 
ness-like to destroy the moth and do what 
thinning needs to be done by bond. Tho 
worm will not cause the fruit to drop until 
it is too late for fruit buds to form for an¬ 
other year. The result is a crop of worm- 
eaten apples one year and none at all the 
next. 
-- ■ ♦ - 
SOMMER CARE OF APPLE TREES. 
We frequently notice apple orchards in 
coated with some soapy substance they arc 
usually avoided by this mischievous insect. 
The various species of bark lice so destruc¬ 
tive in some portions of the country, may 
also be kept in check by frequent applica¬ 
tions of soap or strong lye during the early 
part, of summer, before the scales of these 
insects become hardened. Good cultivation 
or liberal mulching when the trees are grow¬ 
ing in dry soils, will do much toward keeping 
them free from bark lice. Stunted fre^s, 
like stunted half starved animals, invite the 
attacks of parasitic insects and diseases. If 
every farmer would keep this in mind there 
need be little theorizing in regard to causes 
of failure among plants or animals. 
Jiang of a ^uralist. 
DAILY RURAL LIPE. 
From the Diary of a Centlcman near New 
York City. 
RASPBERRIES WITHOUT STAKES. 
duly 12 .—Every year as tho raspberries 
ripen I am reminded of the various plans 
proposed to produce this fruit with the least 
labor and expense. The noble but some¬ 
what, tender sort s, like the Hornet, Brinekle’s 
Orange and Fastolf, are disappearing from 
cultivation simply because they require pro¬ 
tection in winter and their places are being 
filled by smaller and inferior but liardy 
varieties. The “seedy” .Black-Ops, which 
grow and thrive almost anywhere, yielding 
a goodly quantity of fruit under the most 
“shiftless” management, are becoming ex¬ 
ceeding popular, and quite likely for no 
better reason. 
“ Fruits for the Million ” is a good enough 
motto, provided it does not lead us to neglect 
the best, which may require .a little more 
skill and care in culture. I think we ure, as 
a people, poor enough gardeners at best ; 
consequently it is bud policy to teach how to 
avoid giving even moderately good care to 
plants which we protend to cultivate at all, 
but the man who talks loudest of cheap 
culture is pretty certain to attract the great¬ 
est number of followers. 
The tendency to cheapen fruits by slovenly 
culture, has had its deleterious effect, 
whether intended or otherwise ; but the 
quality has not advanced under this system 
as our markets show very plainly, and it is 
to be feared a still greater decline will be 
seen unless something is done to awaken 
our fruit growers to take more pride in their 
profession. Some of our writers, as well as 
practical fruit growers, appear not to be 
satisfied in recommending the propagating 
and planting of the hardy, free growing 
which nearly every tree is surrounded by 1 sor * s > ^ut they actually advise slovenly 
THINNING 
FRUIT AND 
ON TREES. 
EFFECT 
A correspondent of the Indiana Farmer 
advises thinning fruit, and among other rea¬ 
sons says that the heading down of the limbs 
by overbearing is very injurious to trees, and 
many are often ruined thereby. Of course 
where a limb is so heavily weighed down 
that it breaks, the appearance of the tree to 
which it belongs is injured, but further than 
this we doubt whether merely bending the 
a dense mass of suckers springing from the. 
base of the stems or larger roots. To remove 
these is one of the things needing attention 
in summer. The longer the suckers are al¬ 
lowed to remain t he more difficult to remove, 
and the more abundant they are likely to 
become. If the sap of the tree is diverted 
frerr, the branches to producing suckers at 
the base of the stem the more abundant will 
buds become at this point, hence the contin¬ 
ual increase of such useless and injurious ap- 
| pondages. 
In removiug suckers, the soil should be re¬ 
moved no their very base, and then cut them 
away with a sharp instrument. A strong 
chisel is an excellent, implement for this pur¬ 
pose. After removal fill in the earth again. 
While the base of the stem is laid bare it is a 
grod time to look for apple-tree borers, espe¬ 
cially the larva of the Saperda Candida. 
which usually deposits her eggs close to, or 
just under the surface of the ground, if one 
has ashes, lime, charcoal, or even old plaster 
from walls may be applied around the stems 
of apple trees with beneficial results. 
The removal of what are called “sap 
sprouts” from the main branches of all trees, 
should be attended to while they are small, 
unless one cares nothing for the future wel¬ 
fare of his orehai'd, Every season’s negleet 
only tends to increase the quantity as well as 
injurious effects. Tent and canker worms 
need looking after at this season, and the 
first appearance of those pests should be 
heeded, else multiplication of numbers will 
bring corresponding disastrous results. 
Washing the stems and larger branches 
with soft SOfcp will net only remove the mass 
and old dead bark but prevent insects from 
depositing their eggs thereon. The rat¬ 
headed apple-tree borer (Chrysobotlins fem- 
oratn ) is very partial to neglected apple-trees 
with a very rough bark, as the eraek 3 are 
convenient and safe places for laying her 
eggs, but when scraped smooth and well 
culture, and little or no attention. Using 
stakes to keep up the canes, aud prevent the 
fruit from being splashed with -soil, is be¬ 
coming an obsolete practice in hundreds of 
plantations, and the results are anything 
but desirable, no matter who advocates 
the system I have cultivated about every 
thing known in tho way of raspberries, but 
liavo never seen a good productive sort 
which did not require stakes, if neatness in 
the appearance of the plantation or cleanli¬ 
ness in the fruit were of any consideration. 
I have visited many of the most noted plan 
tations where no stakes or other supports 
for the canes were used, and have yet to see 
one that did credit, to the owner or scientific 
horticulture. 
Pinching off the ends of the canes at a 
hight of two feet or more, in order to make < 
them grow stocky and throw out lateral 
branches may help to keep the plants from 
bending over across the space between the 
rows, also in a measure offer less resistance 
to prevailing winds, still rains, if nothing 
else, are sure to break down large numbers, 
while young and tender, and others will go 
down the following season when loaded 
with ripe fruit. Dirty, filthy fruit and a 
waste far more than sufficient to pay for 
tho cost of staking and tying up the canes, 
are sure to follow this slovenly system of 
culture. 
The strawberries and raspberries which 
reach our markets in a filthy condition, are 
swift witnesses against these no-mulching, 
and no-staking culturisLs of small fruits. 
The only practical remedy, is for our market 
men to set their faces against sandy fruit 
and compel growers to either do better or 
leave tho field to men who will consider 
that a thing worth doing at all, is worth 
doing well. 
BUDDING TREES AND SHRUBS. 
July 13.—The season for budding various 
trees and shrubs is at hand, although it may 
be too early in some localities and with 
some kinds and too late for others. The 
principal conditions worthy of particular 
attention are to have the stocks growing 
rapidly and the buds used plump and fully 
developed. The ash sprouts about the fence 
corners may be budded with White Fringe, 
(Chronanthns Virginica.) 
The suckers from plum trees or seedlings 
growing in the fence corners or elsewhere 
should be budded with choice sorts and re¬ 
moved to the garden next, year if desired, or 
let alone to supply some traveler with a 
choice morsel. The flowering almonds, and 
double flowering plums and peaches may 
also lie budded upon these stocks, and beau¬ 
tiful little trees produced in a } T ear or two in 
this way. Cherry stocks may also be em¬ 
ployed not only for the different kinds de¬ 
sirable for their fruit, but the double flower¬ 
ing varieties so much admired for ornamen¬ 
tal put poses. Roses may also be budded at 
this season ; in fact, the budding-knife can be 
employed to advantage upon hundreds of 
trees and shrubs, un i the man or woman 
who is so fortunate as to have a garden, and 
not know how to propagate the various 
kinds of plants by budding, loses many a 
chance of spending an hour in transforming 
an inferior plant into a superior. A boos 
which tells all about this operation, and 
much more, will cost but a trifle and the in¬ 
formation obt ained from it if put to practical 
use will be worth hundreds of dollars to any 
family who possess a farm or garden. It is 
a pleasure to know how to do a thing even 
if one never does it. 
PLANTS FOR NAMES. 
“A Rural Reader,” sends me three 
plants for name: 
No. 1 is a long, slender-leaved herbaceous 
plant with dark blue flowers, and is found 
growing wild over a wide extent of country, 
and commonly called spiderwort. It’s bo¬ 
tanical name is Trad*!scan f in Virgin ica. 
No. 2 is Lilium Philadrlphiouin, a very 
pretty native species, growing about two 
feet high ; the flowers are orange - red, 
standing erect upon the stem, instead of 
nodding as in the more common. L-cnna- 
densc arid L-yuperbum which are abundant 
in low meadows throughout the Northern 
States. 
No. 3 is a pretty shrub with clusters of 
white flowers, known as the dental leaved 
Viburnum , V-dcntalum. The viburnum sure 
all handsome shrubs, and well worthy of a 
place in tlxe garden, and probably would be 
found there more frequency if they were 
not so common in the woods and old fields. 
There is nothing like scarcity or a reputation 
for being “ far-fetched ” to excite curiosity 
which results in high appreciation: 
A NEW MORMON CURRANT. 
Some twelve years since T received a 
package of currant seed from Utah, said to 
have been saved from the choice wild varie¬ 
ties of that region of country. These seeds 
were sown and the plants produced there¬ 
from have been carefully cultivated ever 
since, none of them showing fiuit until this 
season, which, by the way, is a long time to 
wait for one to learn whether be has a good 
or worthless currant. At last a few of the 
plants are in bearing, and a more worthless 
lot was never seen. The fruit is about as 
large as pigeon shot, and of a deep golden 
yellow, very acid and few on a bunch. They 
are quite distinct from the large, but equally 
worthless Yellow Rocky Mountain currant ; 
consequently the stock of plants is for sale 
cheap. They "would make a fit companion 
for the new Hybrid Utah cherry which tree- 
peddlers have been hawking about the 
country the past season, at one to two dol¬ 
lars per plant. Twelve years hoeing and 
rent of laud, all to get the smallest and 
most worthless currant known, but I have 
doubtless more of the same sort yet to be 
heard from. 
Of course there are pretty fair sorts of 
currants found growing wild in the Western 
States, and Territories,. some of which I 
have cultivated many years, but my new 
golden seedling is not one of them, although 
belonging to the same species. 
American Crab Apple (Pyrus Corona- 
ria.)—A more beautiful object than this it 
would be difficult to find. Its ordinary bight, 
says the Gardener’s Monthly, is from 10 to 
18 feet, with a bole of from 5 to C inches in 
diameter ; but trees of it are sometimes found 
in old cultivated spots, which measure from 
25 to 30 feet in hight, with a bole of from 12 
to 1G inches in diameter. Its clusters of rose- 
colored blossoms of large size, its beautiful 
foliage and its fragrance, make it an object 
worthy of attention, 
