THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
is very ornamental as well as edible. A very 
vigorous foliage demonstrates sufficiently its ca¬ 
pacity for screening. It woul d indeed be Btrange 
if in this long-kno wn shrub, a valuable hedge 
plant should be discovered. If such is ever the 
case, the morit of strenuously aud persistently 
calling the attention of the public to the fact 
will be due to Mr. Win. R. Smith. 
the torment and drain upon their liveB of this 
gangrene and gnawing. 
Along in those cracks, at equal distances, 
holes about three by four inches, were out 
through the shells. Into these, and up and 
down tho rotten space, stout wires were bent and 
thrust. This regimen worried and drove the de- 
cay “down and out.” After thorough cleaning 
had thus been done, water was poured into tho 
wood it will be winter-killed, almost certainly. 
Another mishap that must bo guarded against, 
is root-killing; and one of the preventives 
against root- killing is a wot soil (?), The tempera¬ 
ture of a wet soil can bo lowered to only about 
82° above zero ; while that of a dry soil can sink 
to 40° below zero, and still lower, if the weather 
is cold enough. [We think-oar friend is wrong 
in this. Ice may be far below 32° though, it is 
One of the prettiest combinations of wild flow¬ 
ers I remember having seen, was near the Bra¬ 
zos where, on a bank, the Indian apple plant 
and the Mist Flower—Oonooliuum ccelestinnm— 
grew up together, forming a soft hut brilliant 
carpet in front of the dense and high-dependin^ 
vine-drapery of that, rich bottom land. 
It is a smaller grower and more profuse 
bloomer than M. arboreus, the West-Lndian spe¬ 
cies commonly found in greenhouses, but other¬ 
wise both kinds are much alike. 
W. Falconer. 
TREE SURGERY. 
QEW. WJI. H. NOBLE, BRIDGEPORT, CONN. 
LACK OFTIMLEY SURGERY IN THE ORCHARD. 
There are little items of home and home¬ 
stead earn, rarely known and more rarely prac¬ 
ticed. They arc not great or vital matters; 
but thoir negleot loaves a good work undono, 
and a waste all tho whilo gaining. 
One of theso neglected duties is the rightful 
care of our fruit trees. I never go near an 
old homo lot cr homestead, or to a residence 
which has known the household presence of a 
century, but I find lots of their tumble-down 
and gangrened trunks. Somebody ha? driven 
his loaded cart hub against a choice Apple or 
Fear, and gouged a big wouud into sap-wood 
and bark, or In haste or ignorance, some large 
limb has been sawed off, and a long stump 
THE WINESAP APPLE, 
This variety, in the West particularly, is one 
of the most reliable and marketable sorts culti¬ 
vated. Tho tree is perfectly Lardy, comes into 
bearing early, and is very prolific, fruiting annu¬ 
ally. As to quality, it is quite above medium-a 
little too tart for some—handles, ships and keeps 
well. I Q Illinois, Iowa, Missonri, Kansas and 
Nebraska, it is classed among tho “iron dads.” 
No orchard, or nursery is considered complete 
without a good supply of Winesaps. We have 
to thank Ex-Governor Furnas, of Nebraska, for 
the specimen from which onr engraving is 
made. h 
PLAN FOR AN ICE HOUSE 
THE WINE 
holes at the top of the hollow, and tho whole 
Interior again churned and washed clear of dirt 
and insects. 
Strong hydraulic cement, moist enough to 
flow from a tiu trough fitted to the second open¬ 
ing from the ground, was then poured therein, 
and worked down with those same wires, so as 
to fill compactly every space of the void. As the 
filling mounted to an opening, that opening was 
stopped tight. The like pouring of cement was 
continued from higher orificop, till under the 
pressure of the column and the working of the 
wires, all tho hollows were filled. The whole in¬ 
side to the topmost opening, thus became a mass 
-- —», effectually shutting out moisture, air 
l 3. Tho very year this operation was 
• growth, 
-j 
I have no doubt that, in time, they 
—.• every orevioe and opening .with 
!AP APPLE. 
true, a better non-conductor than the dry soil — 
Eds.] 
An acquaintance of mine had his trees—which 
had been petted and were making a famous 
growth all killed by the cold winters of 72-3 
and 74-6. He was “mad,” and, on being told 
ho cared for them too well, he chose the poorest 
piece of land on his place, and in the spring of 
7o, set out an orchard, 16J* feet apart each 
way. The grouud was at once seeded down and 
has been mowed annually since. The trees were 
well mulched, and boro tins year for the first 
time. They are thrifty, healthy aDd able to 
stand a cold winter well, ire is converted. We 
Lave hut few Apples that *re hardy enough to 
stand the winters and bear. PerhapB, the fol¬ 
lowing is as good a list for this country as can 
D6 bad of tested Apples : 
SELECT VARIETIES FOR 250 APPLE TREES. 
lbO of Fameuse—onr very best winter Apple: 
2o each of Pewankee, Wealthy, Walbridge and 
Plumb’s Cider; 10 Duchess of Oldenburg; 10 
St. Lawrence, 5 Red Astrachan ; C Tetofaky ; 2 
each of Northern Spy, Sops of Wine, Sweet Pew. 
Bullock s Pippm, Wagoner, Belmont and Jewett’s 
Fine Red; and C sorts of Crabs for homo nse- 
nosale at all for them here. The Spy and the last 
four in the list should be top-grafted on some 
very hardy variety, Buoh as Plumb’s Cider. 
I believe that wo shall have good orchards here, 
«nd will make apple growing a success, just as 
soon as wa shall take proper precautions, and set 
only those trees which are top-grafted on crab or 
iron-clad stock. Setting out an orchard of 
this kind here Is expensive at this time beoause, 
so far as I know, only one of our unmerymen 
keeps a stock of these tir.a 9 , and we have to graft 
our own. The tirao will come, however, when 
the name of Wilcox will be held in as high regard 
among Western orohurdists as those of Warder 
and Downing now aro in our Amerioan porno- 
logical circles. 
Brown Co., Wls. 
10 more at nand when the 
const! notion of an ice house would be in order 
by all those who intend to make preparations 
for the enjoyment of this luxury next summer 
The construction of a building that will properly 
keep ice through the hot summer months is a 
very simple problem, if three points are kept 
weli in mind ; these are non-conducticn, drain¬ 
age, and the prevention of air spaces or drafts 
through the body of the ice. Ventilation over 
tho top of the body of sawdust covering the 
mass of icc, should also be provided for. The 
plan shown in the accompanying sketch fulfills 
all these requirements in a very simple and in¬ 
expensive manner. The sketch shows a sec¬ 
tional end view of the ice house, filled with ice 
and packed with sawdust. 
A represents the stone foundation in oroes 
section. It should be carried below the ground 
about two feet and rise one foot above the same 
B sectional views of the walls and roof, the 
sides formed of fonr-inch stndding ana boarded 
up smooth and tight on the inside, at least. The 
construction of the outside U more a matter of 
appearance, perhaps, but it might afio be made 
an additional protection. The roof is shineied 
of stone, i 
aud insects, 
performed, both trees marked by their growth, 
vigor of leaf, and size of fruit, the virtue of this 
regimen. J 
will dose over <- 
a new wood and bark. 
UKE SURGERY ON SOME OLD APPLE TREES. 
Some fine old apple trees, on the same home¬ 
stead, were saved and given new life by like 
means. There were, in some of these, great hol¬ 
lows, a foot or more aoross, and deep and big 
enough to hold a bushel. Some wero only 
holes whore the neglected stumps of limbs, left 
at the pruning, were at the mercy of the elements, 
aud had invited deoay. Those smaller voids, 
after allrotton wood and trnoleanliness had been 
carefutly dug out, were troweled fall of cement, 
and then coated with paint. 
Those larger places, after having been 
thoroughly cleansed of all nusoundness, wore 
filled with concrete of sharp, H maU, broken 
stones and cement, well rammed solid by an 
iron rod. The surface of this was then trowoled 
smooth with rich cement. This, when thoroughly 
hardenod, was heavily coated with thick paint, 
to keep all dry and tight. The result Is that, 
after some twenty years, most of theso unsight- 
ty. gaping wounds are entirely closed with sound 
wood, which, year by year, has lapped over the 
cement. In the largest, which once were only 
water log, waste and disease, there is now but 
a spaa s breadth of cement, whoso bareness 
year by year tho bark ourls over and contracts. 
MORE OF SUCH TALK TO COME. 
In some future articles, I shall have a word to 
say about “pruning, as a fine art,” and about 
that sensitiveness of trees, whloh some one has 
lately oaliod “tree mind,”a sensitiveness that 
makeB suffering from decayed limbs, rotten 
trunks, and slovouly treatment In general 
something very muoh keener and more hinder¬ 
ing to tho lifo and health than would be any 
real injury, the gnaw of insects, or the waste of 
gangrene. 
uwu Dome incut's tnrougu, nut it was a more 
shell, somo throe lnohos thick, and one whole 
side was gone, dear to tho ground. I think it 
would havo keeled over many titnoa, had not a 
kind of cork-screw twist in its fiber, made one 
whole turn and stiffened it to hold abovo its 
shoulders its three stout and sonnd limbs In¬ 
side this shell, the borer-grubs and gnawing 
ants had honey-combed tho decay, and chan¬ 
neled burrows well into its sound wood. It 
looked as if a si iff northern blast would tonple 
over tho old thing. Bat the twist held it,Vnd 
THE TEXA8 INDIAN APPLE 
This is a beautiful and profuse-blocming 
scarlet-flowered, shrubby plant which bears an 
abundance of smallish, ecarlet fruits. It be¬ 
longs to the Mallow family, and is botanioally 
named Malvaviscus Drumuiondii. It is a native 
of Texas, where, in Leon county near the Trin¬ 
ity ltiyer, it is locally known as “ Indian apple 
plant.” I found it freely scattered along the 
banks and open bottom lands of tho thnzos and 
Colorado and their tributaries, but I don’t re¬ 
member having met with it on Trinity land. My 
friend Capt. Henderson of Jewett, however, 
sent me specimens from Leon county, with the 
following note:-"I herewith send'you some 
young plants, also shoots of older ones, to show 
yon the handsome red flowers and berries. It 
grows wild hereabout, and we call it ‘Indian 
apple plant Tho plants aro from throe to four 
feet high, aud die down in the winter, growing 
np again from tho same roots iu the spring, 
when they blossom all along through the sum¬ 
mer and fall.” 
It grows thriftily and blooms copiously in our 
uorthern gardens in the summer time, but as it 
is not hardy, It requires the winter protection of 
a well-clad cold-frame or a cool greenhouse, or 
It may be wintered quite successfully in the oel- 
lar, like a Crape Myrtle, Pomegranate, Fuchsia 
or Oleander, but tho roots must not get very dry. 
this, lay the ice to withiu a foot of tho inner 
walls all around. C, iu the picture, represents 
tho stones and D the sawdust. As yon fill j n 
the ice, keep the sawdust well packed down all 
around iu the space between the ioe and walls 
of the building. When you have reached as 
high as the eaves, cover the ice all over the top 
with two or three foot of sawdust. A ventilator, 
made like a Venetian blind with immovable 
slats, is shown at E, at tho farther efld of the 
building; one should also be placed at the oppo¬ 
site end. 
With this general plan to guide him, any 
intelligent person will have no trouble in con¬ 
structing a very good ice house. The dimen¬ 
sions, of course, mast depend upoa tho size of 
the family and the reauiremonts. A building 
10 fact wide, 14 feet long, with 12 feet walls, 
would be a good size for a farmer's family of 
eight to ten persons, and a dairy of a dozen 
00W8 - Willi an Bobebt Brooks. 
Ontario Co., N. Y., Nov. 2Tth, ISIS. • 
VAN’S VIEWS, 
BEST SOIL AND MANAGEMENT FOR AN APPLE ORCHARD. 
In the Pomological number lately published by 
the Rural I see its worthy contributor, ltonry 
Stewart, advises choosing a light soil for an 
orchard. This may bo the best plan in his re¬ 
gion, but hero in Brown Co., Wls., we have 
fouud, at a severe cost, that it is of no use to 
set anything.but crab Apples cm a light soil. I 
see that ho also recommends manuring the 
ground where the trees arc set; with us this will 
stimulate the tree to too great a growth, so that 
rnacu of the wood will not be ripened and will 
he wiuter-killed. According to him, all that ouo 
needs to care about is to get a good growth of 
the tree and the roBt will take care of itself; on 
the other hand, we wish to keep the tree from 
making moro growth than can be thoroughly 
ripened the same season. If there is nnriru* 
