306 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
PLUMS. 
One of the most successful cultivators of plums, is Mr. 
Isaac Denniston, of this city. For more than fifty 
years, the production of choice fruits of various kinds,' 
has been with him an object of attention, and he has the 
gratification of having on many occasions borne ofi* the 
palm as the exhibitor of the finest specimens of plums at 
the New-York Horticultural Shows. He has upwards 
of forty valuable kinds, ripening from July to November. 
Perhaps the richest of all these varieties, is the Schuyler 
Gage. The history of the introduction of this fine kind, 
Mr. Denniston informs us, is as follows. The original 
tree was brought from France by Aaron Burr, and given 
to Col. Schuyler, formerly of this city. For some rea¬ 
son or other, Col. Schuyler did not feel disposed to dis¬ 
seminate the variety, but after his death, Mr. Denniston 
bought the identical tree which had been bi-ought from 
France, and transplanted it to his garden. The fruit, 
which ripens in August and September, resembles in ap¬ 
pearance, the Green Gage, but is higher flavored, and 
more spicy. The tree is much more hardy and thrifty 
than the Green Gage. 
Amnng other very rare and superior kinds, is a seed¬ 
ling called Mrs. Bleeker’s Large Red. This originated 
from stones sent Mrs. B. from Germany. The fruit is 
large, of a bluish red—very melting and rich. Ripens 
in August and first September. 
Murray’s Queen Claude. —Green, good size—very rich 
and sweet. Ripens in August. 
Lawrence's Favorite. —This is one of the richest of all 
plums. It is said to have been produced from the seed 
of the Green Gage, by Mr. Lawrence of Hudson, N. Y. 
The fruit is of large size, nearly round—the skin a dull 
green, covered with blue bloom. A clingstone, ripens 
in August and first September. 
Mr. Denniston has several very choice seedlings origi¬ 
nated by himself. He has no less than seven kinds which 
came from a tree obtained several years ago from Mr. 
Banker of Esopus. All these are good—some of them 
superior—but all quite distinct in their characters. To 
one of these seven seedlings, the name of Denniston’s Im¬ 
perial Seedling , has been given. This, besides being of 
very superior quality, is one of the' most beautiful of 
fruits. It is large, round, of a golden yellow color,with 
a beautiful damask blush on one side. Ripens in Sep¬ 
tember. Very productive. 
Another of these seedlings, which was a great favorite 
with the late Judge Buel, is yellow, with a slight pink 
tinge. Ripens in August. Very productive. 
Mr. Denniston kindly offers to give buds of any of his 
fruits to those who may wish them. 
Mr. D.’s garden consists of four acres, and a greater 
product of four acres than he obtains, is rarely seen. Of 
these, the greater number are plums, but there are many 
apple and pear trees. All are managed in the best man¬ 
ner, and produce abundantly. Notwithstanding the large 
number of fruit trees, which seem to stand as closely as 
trees ought to stand, Mr. D. manages to raise a large 
quantity of vegetables of all kinds, and considerable In¬ 
dian corn, besides an abundant crop of the finest red and 
white Antwerp raspberries. The latter are equal to any 
we have ever seen. Mr. D.’s mode of managing them, 
is to train them to stakes placed in rows four feet apart, 
and about three feet apart in the rows. In August, all 
the stalks or canes that have borne fruit, are cut down, 
reserving from four to six stalks of the new growth, for 
bearing fruit the next season. The tops of these are cut 
off to about four-fifths of the growth, and the stalks are 
then, by a piece of matting, bound round near the top, 
fastened to the stake. In this way they are kept up so 
that they may be conveniently hoed—they bear abun¬ 
dantly, and require no protection in winter. The rasp¬ 
berries are generally grown under the plum trees—in¬ 
deed, nearly all the ground in the garden is made to 
yield, annually, a double crop. 
The soil of Mr. Denniston's garden is a loam, lying on 
i pretty compact clay, which is not generally more than 
a foot or two from the surface. He thinks this kind of 
Boil, made rich by street manure, is the best for plums. 
A thousand dollars worth of plums, and several hundred 
dollars worth of other fruits have been sold from this 
garden in a year, besides much that was eaten, given 
away, or wasted. 
TREES FOR SHELTER AND ORNAMENT. 
It is a great defect in our American management, that 
there is a too indiscriminate destruction of forest trees, 
rt is the general practice to sweep off every thing, leav¬ 
ing the ground as bare and desolate as the deserts of Ara¬ 
bia. This is bad policy in more than one respect. First, 
it destroys the beauty of the grounds, which should never 
be done unnecessarily; for there is as much reason in 
allowing the eye the gratification of viewing agreeable 
objects, as there is in permitting the gratification of any 
other sense. This is a matter too much overlooked. A 
taste for the beautiful, properly regulated, should be in¬ 
dulged and cultivated. Too many of our people seem to 
be almost totally ignorant of this principle, and conse¬ 
quently, one of the chief sources of human happiness, is 
to them a sealed book. 
Second, in this climate, subject as it is to extreme 
heat and cold, the preservation and growth of trees, ei¬ 
ther as shade ©r shelter, becomes an important pecuniary 
object. Pastures and fields should be as much as possi¬ 
ble protected against bleak winds, by dense plantations 
of trees. Suitable trees should also be left in proper pla¬ 
ces for shade. An animal exposed in an open pasture to 
the scorching heat of midsummer, suffers great misery, 
and cannot be made to yield milk or take on flesh. Hor¬ 
ses, in such situations, soon become poor, and sheep 
sometimes die from such exposure. 
All steep side hills should be left in trees—they need 
not be left very thick—the best way is to leave them just 
thick enough to make what are called in the west, wood 
or grove pastures. Then, if the ground is smoothed a 
little, grass seed may be sown, and a fine sward will 
be soon formed. If the ground is natural to grass, it will 
soon become swarded without sowing any seed. These 
places will thus produce a good deal of feed—the grass 
will keep the land from washing—the trees serve for 
shade, and ultimately for fuel. All gorges, gulleys, &c. 
should be left in trees, or planted with them; they will 
frequently produce a good growth of wood, but will bear 
nothing else, and if the trees are destroyed, the land is 
soon cut up and washed away by rains. Managed in the 
right way, these steep side hills and gulleys serve to give 
interest and even beauty to a place, instead of wounding 
the senses, as they frequently do, by their unseemly na¬ 
kedness. 
The maple, oak, elm, hickory, ash, &c. among the 
hard wood trees, are suitable for preservation or plant¬ 
ing, and among the soft wood kinds, the various sorts of 
pine, fir and larch. The pine and fir, being evergreens, 
should be allowed their due representation in all groves, 
both as a matter of ornament, and for protection against 
the cold winds of winter. In Scotland, great attention is 
paid to the protection of mountain and hill land pastures, 
by plantations of trees. The larch is there recommended 
as one of the most profitable kinds that can be used—par¬ 
ticularly on account of its rapid growth, and its value as 
timber. How would the American larch do in this re¬ 
spect ? It may be well to say that the American larch is 
what in some neighborhoods is called juniper, though the 
real juniper is altogether a different tree. It is an ever¬ 
green of the cedar family, whereas the larch is decidu¬ 
ous. We have only noticed this tree growing naturally 
in wet and boggy ground. Will it flourish well in other 
locations? Would the Scotch larch do well on common 
uplands ? and would it be an object to plant it in such 
situations? What is the distinguishing difference in the 
Scotch and American larch, as regards their natural hab¬ 
its of growth, quality of wood, &c.? AVe shall feel obli 
ged if some one will answer these queries. 
Cattle Shows.— Niagara, at Lockport, Oct. 9, 10- 
AVayne, at Lyons, Oct. 8, 9, instead of 28th, as stated in 
our last—Herkimer, at Herkimer, Oct. 3, 4—American 
Institute, New-York, Oct. 16, 17. 
House all tools—plow for spring crops. 
