THE CULTIVATOR. 
Dec. 
RENOVATING- A PEAR TREE.—Fig. 109. 
J. B. W., gives, in the Horticulturist, (from which 
work we take the above cut,) an account of the manner 
in which he renovated an “ outcast” pear tree. The 
writer of that article resides in Westchester county. 
He says that his Virgalieu pear trees, though they once 
bore excellent crops, had become nearly barren—pro¬ 
ducing “only cracked, blighted, miserable fruit.” He 
determined to see what could be done for them, and 
began with a trial with two trees in October, 1843, 
since which, he says, he has taken two crops of beau¬ 
tiful fruit—as good as grew on his farm twenty years 
ago. 
He describes the process he pursued with the trees 
as follows:— 
“ I first scraped off all the rough outer coat of bark, 
and coated the trunk of the tree over with soft soap, put 
on with a paint brush. I next cut out about one-third 
of all the poorest branches, and shortened the head 
of the tree one-third, by 'heading back 5 the prin¬ 
cipal limbs, covering the wounds after paring them, 
with the £ shellac solution,’ (the best thing I have ever 
tried,) recommended on page 32 ol the e Fruits and 
Fruit Trees of America.’ 
“ I then dug a trench, four feet wide around the 
whole ball of roots, very much as if I were going to 
transplant it. I left a ball of roots, b, untouched about 
six feet in diameter. The roots—all the roofs, large 
or small—that extended beyond this ball, I cut off; and 
I should judge that I cut off' about one-third of the 
roots; or, as you advised me, about an equal propor¬ 
tion to the branches reduced. 
“The trench itself, which was four feet wide, I 
dug twenty inches deep; and carted away all the old 
soil from it to another part of my garden. I next cart¬ 
ed in an equal quantity of soil from a field of good 
pasture, where the sod had not been broken up for 
several years. I drew this earth, composed pretty 
largely of the sod itself, and filled the trench around 
both trees. 
“To each tree I applied the following substances, 
viz: two bushels of refuse or scoriae from a blacksmith's 
forge, two bushels of charcoal, pretty well broken, 
and two pounds of potash well pulverized. These sub¬ 
stances I had on the spot, and mingled them with 
the fresh soil as it was put in the trench. After the 
trench was full of soil containing these stimulants, I 
had the whole of its contents thoroughly intermixed, 
by turning them over and over again with the spade. 
This is the whole of the process. Now a word about 
the results. 
“ The first summer after the trees had been operated 
upon—that of 1844, I was surprised and delighted with 
the luxuriance and vigor of the new growth. It was 
very healthy, and had the appearance of that of a very 
fine young tree. Suffice it to say, the tree had formed 
a new and handsome head. 
“ Next season, 1845, it blossomed moderately. But 
almost every blossom set, and gave me a fruit. Every 
fruit, to my great joy and satisfaction, was large, fair, 
and smooth; the growth was clean and healthy, and 
the leaves dark green in color. 
“This year, I have had a fine crop: two bushels 
from one tree, four bushels from the other. They were 
superb fruit—genuine, old-fashioned Virgalieus; and I 
cannot doubt that my trees will continue to bear such 
for many years.” 
REVIEW OF THE SEASON. 
The most remarkable characteristic of the past sea¬ 
son, may be said to have been the prevalence of a high 
degree of heat for a longer period than usual; the wea¬ 
ther having been mostly very hot from the first of June 
to the 10th of September. In general, there has been 
a greater supply of moisture in the shape of rain, than 
in 1845. Drouths have occurred in some sections, but 
not to the same extent they did last year. The sea¬ 
board, from Texas to Rhode-Island, has had quite an 
unusual quantity of rain. 
Upon the whole, the season has been favorable for 
most crops. In some sections of the western part of 
the country, as in the valley of the upper Mississippi, 
we have heard of some injury from drouth. From the 
central and western portions of this state, also, wehave 
heard the same complaint. 
Wheat has yielded well, generally—the crop giving, 
it is believed, a greater aggregate quantity for the whole 
country, than has ever been produced in any previous 
year. Account from the southern states, speak of the 
crop having been unusually large; but it appears that 
considerable damage was sustained in consequence of 
heavy and long-continued rains; which, occurring while 
the grain was standing in shock, caused it to sprout. 
In some of the southern districts of Pennsylvania, the 
Hessian fly, (Cecidomyia destructor ,) damaged the crop, 
and in the county of Onondaga, and some contiguous 
counties, in this state, the ravages of the “ weevil” are 
stated to have been quite injurious. In the western 
wheat-growing states,—Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wiscon¬ 
sin, Michigan, &c., the yield is everywhere spoken of 
as uncommonly heavy, and of excellent quality. 
Indian-corn has proved a heavy crop over the whole 
country. We do not recollect a year when this crop 
