1849. 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
S3 
these cases the plants perished. Judging that the 
failure might result from want of light, he applied a 
sash of lights to a bed of lettuce sown early in autumn. 
Entire success followed. 
The frame, to be warm, was made thick, being con¬ 
structed of six inch scantling, laid up like a log-house, 
sloping to the south, as in a hot-bed. The only care 
needed till spring is, that the snow does not become so 
heavity piled upon the glass as to endanger the panes, 
which, if small and thick, will not be the case. Rais¬ 
ing the sash to admit air, when warm weather ap¬ 
proaches, is all that is necessary. Spring rains should 
be admitted,- or watering given. 
We have obtained fine early lettuce, by transplanting 
fall-sown plants, which had remained dormant through 
winter, into a small hot-bed, made about the time the 
frost disappears from the soil, and which thus came 
into use two weeks earlier than from seeds sown direct¬ 
ly into the soil of the hot-bed. 
The Early Tillotson Peach. 
Some of the finest fruits are slow growers in the 
nursery. The Sine Qua Non apple, one of the best 
and most productive early varieties, is of slow growth. 
Kence it has never been a popular fruit with nursery¬ 
men, with whom handsome and thrifty growth is a 
very important requisite, so long as purchasers regard 
the appearance of the tree they buy, more than the 
quality of the fruit it is to bear. For this reason, the 
Early Joe, a superlatively good apple, but of slow 
growth, will not probably become very popular, until 
the public find out that fine fruit and good cultivation, 
are quite as important as pretty trees wdien young. 
It is for the same reason that the Early Tillotson 
peach is disliked and underrated. A nurseryman at first 
sees the tree only, which is not of handsome growth, 
and the leaves are often much covered with mildew 
towards autumn. He perceives at once that it cannot 
attract the attention of buyers, and it is neglected. 
But where it has come into bearing, it is better appre¬ 
ciated. It often requires two years from the bud, for 
the trees to attain the size of some other trees of only 
one year; but in many instances noticed, the old or 
bearing trees, growing more freely, are as large as 
other sorts of the same age. We have noticed bearing- 
trees of all ages, from five to twenty years and more, 
and they would not suffer by a comparison with three- 
quarters of the other popular varieties of the same age, 
either in size or productiveness. 
The season of ripening is very nearly the same as 
the serrated Early York, but is more variable, often 
considerably earlier, and sometimes even perceptibly 
later. 
This peach appears to flourish at the south even bet¬ 
ter than here. T. S. Pleasants, near Petersburg, Vir¬ 
ginia, says, “ Among a great many fine varieties, there 
is none, taken altogether, that I esteem so highly as 
the Early Tillotson. It is of full medial size; its. fla¬ 
vor scarcely to be surpassed; and in time of ripening it 
is earlier than any other peach of merit I am acquaint¬ 
ed with. Had I only known its excellence in time, and 
planted as extensively as I might have done, it would 
have yielded me this season a large sum.” At Ed¬ 
wards, Miss., it ripened on the 20th of 6 mo., (June,) 
one day earlier than serrated Early York; and at Mo¬ 
bile, Ala., on the 10th of the same month. A Mobile 
correspondent of the Horticulturist says, his trees were 
planted in 1847, “ and from the few specimens on the 
trees this season, [1848,] I think they will be as good 
as could be desired.” The trees must be kept well 
pruned, by the shortening-in mode, to have the fruit in 
perfection; we have frequently had fine, handsome, 
globular specimens, two inches and a quarter in diame¬ 
ter. Many persons prefer its flavor to that of the serrated 
Early York, the reverse, however, often being the case. 
We do not regard it, taken altogether, as a variety 
of so high merit as the serrated Early York; but we 
consider it as too valuable to be rejected. 
Orchards of New Hampshire. 
In this locality, the first care of the settlers, was to 
plant an orchard. This -was done on the best land 
their premises afforded; and as corn and grain produced 
without manure, that was put around the young apple 
trees. Consequently the trees grew rapidly and com¬ 
menced bearing early. The great object for which an 
orchard was wanted, in those times, was cider, which 
was considered an almost indispensable beverage. I 
now see an orchard from which 70 to 80 barrels of 
cider have been manufactured in a single season, the 
whole being consumed in the family. 
My grandfather settled here about eighty years ago, 
and cleared up from the wilderness. He planted 
an orchard of about eighty trees, bringing them from 
Plaistow, forty miles, on foot ; and in ten years from 
the time they were set out, he made from them nine 
barrels of cider. Being highly manured, they matured 
quickly and decayed early, so that now only seven of 
them are left, and those are decaying. Such is now 
the fate of the first planted orchards; but new ones 
have been planted, and the character of the trees 
has been changed by grafting—fruit for market and 
domestic purposes, and not cider, being the object now. 
It is gratifying to see the change that has taken 
place within a few years in this respect. Thousands 
of scions have been set the present year, some sending 
to Boston for new varieties, and others procuring the 
best here. But from the manner in which some graft, 
we might conclude without further evidence, that they 
did not read “ The Cultivator,” otherwise, to say the 
least, they would not set scions in the extremities of 
the limbs of large and decaying trees. But these same 
individuals would no doubt be horrified at the idea of 
so far compromising their dignity as to admit they 
could learn anything from an agricultural publication l 
Here, as well as elsewhere, there are those who know 
too much to learn ! 
We have a young orchard of grafted apples, in which 
are some excellent varieties, and some that are infe¬ 
rior. The individual that grafted this orchard was 
rascally enough to put in scions taken from ordinary 
trees. Such a course cannot be too severely condemn¬ 
ed, and the person who would do it is almost too mean 
“ to get a living by stealing.” The safest course is 
for every farmer to do his own grafting, or at least to 
select his own scions; and then, if, after waiting 
anxiously a number of years, he finds his trees bear in¬ 
ferior fruit, he has the satisfaction of knowing that 
there is no one to blame but himself. With good tools 
and grafting wax, and care in setting, every one may 
graft his own trees, and he will find his advantage in 
so doing. W. L. Eaton. East Ware, N. H., No - 
vember 20, 1848. 
Seasonable Hints. 
During mild weather in winter, hardy fruit trees 
may be pruned, as well as grapes, and grafts may be 
cut. Young fruit trees, which have not had a conical 
bank of earth thrown round them,—the most perfect 
protection from mice—should have the snow trodden 
round them as often as it freshly falls, which will ex¬ 
clude the mice from them. Catterpillar eggs—known 
at a glance by their knobby clusters on the smaller 
branches—should be torn or cut from fruit trees before 
they hatch in spring. 
