1858. 
THE CULTIVATOR, 
141 
Propagating - Dwarf Box. 
Will you or some one knowing in suck matters, in¬ 
form a subscriber how to manufacture “box edging,” 
material aid being on hand in the shape of a couple 
of cart-loads of fine, thrifty bushes two feet or more in 
height 3 
Whether the cuttings need shade? Whether they 
must be taken from the top or bottom of the plant ? 
Whether they should be planted in rows to work among, 
or in “beds” for mutual protection, and anything else 
expedient for a novice to know, who wishes to exercise 
himself thereon both to pleasure and profit. C. P. 
Faoli , 3 d mo. 15 
Cuttings are often grown without shade, but they are 
more certain to live and do better if protected from 
the sun's rays. The best shading for nursery culture 
is a high tight board fence or building on the south 
side; because, even after the plants become well es¬ 
tablished, they preserve a fine green appearance at all 
times, if protected from the sun’s rays. If unshaded, 
the shining of the sun upon them after intense cold, is 
sure to turn them brown and injure their appearance. 
But if this kind of shading cannot be had, the next 
best is to employ boards about a foot wide, which are 
placed on their edges, and inclined over the row of cut¬ 
tings, or rather the double row, for one board will shade 
two rows set three inches apart. A space of a foot 
may be left between each of these double rows—and 
will be kept clean by the hoe. Fig. 1. 
Fig. 1. End view of rows of box cuttings newly set out, 
and shaded with boards, a a, surface of the ground ; 6 6, 
double rows of cuttings ; c c, boards nailed to inclined 
stakes. Fig. 2. A prepared box cutting. 
The cuttings may be taken wherever they can be 
found, provided they are some five or six inches long. 
The leaves are to be stripped from three-fourths of the 
lower part, as shown in fig. 2, and they are then set 
upright in the earth, which is to be closely packed 
about them. They may be about an inch apart in the 
rows, to be afterwards transplanted to three inches 
apart when set out for edging. 
-»-©-o-- 
Pruning Old Apple Trees. 
Messrs. Editors —What shall I do to old apple 
trees that, having had large limbs cut off, are now rot¬ 
ted into the trunk nearly a foot 3 What month is 
the best to cut large limbs, so that they will heal over 
without rotting 3 An answer in the Cultivator will 
oblige H. F. Gifford. Falmouth , Mass. 
Decayed wood cannot be cured; but if the trees are 
not very old, the decayed parts may be cut away, and 
the cut surface covered with the w T ell known shellac so¬ 
lution—or by a mixture of tar and brick-dust. 
Cut large limbs, if necessary , in summer, towards 
the close of the growing season, and after a few weeks 
when the cut surface has become dry, apply the solu¬ 
tion or mixture above named. 
(The shellac solution is made by dissolving shellac in 
alcohol, till as thick as thick paint. It may be kept, 
conveniently, corked tight, in a wide-mouthed bottle, 
with a brush set in the cork, and thus always ready 
for use.) 
Transactions, &c., of Ag. Societies. 
Transactions of the New-York State Agricultural 
Society, 'with an Abstract of the Proceedings of the 
County Ag. Societies. Vol. XYI—1856. 
This is just issued, and forms an interesting volume of 
nearly 800 pp.—including the reports and addresses 
of the year 1856, the proceedings in inauguration of 
the Society’s present apartments in the Geological Hall, 
and numerous other papers. The third of Dr. Fitch’s 
Entomological Reports occupies 176 pages, and is ac¬ 
companied by a number of valuable plates. Prof. S- 
W. Johnson contributes an article on Soils, their Phy¬ 
sical properties, &c.; Prof. Nash one upon American 
Agriculture, and Mr. Goodrich one on the Diseases of 
the Grape and Sugar Cane. The present volume was 
submitted by Secretary Johnson under date of March 
26, 1857, and we much regret that it has been so long 
in getting into print. 
Transactions of the American Institute of the City 
of New-York, for 1856. 
About one half this of volume is devoted to the Pro¬ 
ceedings of the New-York Farmer’s Club, and the re¬ 
mainder to mechanical subjects. The Institute is repre¬ 
sented as in a prosperous condition. 
Fifth Annual Report of the Secretary of the 
Massachusetts Board of Agriculture, together with the 
Reports of Committees appointed to visit the County 
Societies. 
Mr. Secretary Flint has shown great care and indus¬ 
try in the preparation of the three hundred and twen¬ 
ty or thirty pages which constitute his Fifth Report. 
A well prepared digest of the proceedings, reports, &c., 
at the First Fair, held last fall, occupies a considerable 
space, and furnishes a large number of engravings 
which manifest a gratifying improvement on most at¬ 
tempts at the illustration of similar works. The volume 
is a creditable one both to the State and to its author- 
First An. Report of Prof. S. W. Johnson, Chemist 
to the Connecticut State Ag. Society, and Professor of 
Analytical and Ag. Chemistry in Yale College. 
This valuable paper contains the results of analyses 
of 62 samples of 5 different Guanos, and numerous 
Superphosphates, Poudrettes, Peats, &c., <fcc. A num¬ 
ber of introductory pages are devoted to general con¬ 
siderations on Manures, their action, comparative va¬ 
lue, the uses of special manures, their commercial va¬ 
lue, and the means of computing it, with much infor¬ 
mation on other points in connection. The whole bears 
the marks of the thorough research and prudent reason¬ 
ing we should expect from the writer, and shows his 
services to be of great value to the farmers of his own 
and other States. 
Ag. Address delivered before the Conn. State Ag. 
Society at Bridgport. By Donald G. Mitchell, Esq. 
A right good sermon (agriculturally speaking) is this 
for both reading and non-reading tillers of the soil. 
How to make Farming a paying, an instructive, a com¬ 
fortable business—in what respects it now falls below 
this high standard—is the theme treated, both grace¬ 
fully and practically, by the accomplished speaker. We 
are happy to welcome his active pen—which readers 
of the Cultivator ten or a dozen years ago will not fail 
to remember as then of frequent service in its column 
—once more at work in the cause of Agriculture, and 
we trust this may be but a beginning of its labors. 
