1849. 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
119 
Pruning Young Pear Trees 
I have a number of pear trees from grafts inserted 
last spring, which have made from 3 to 4^ ft. of wood 
the past season; consequently they are so slender they 
will not support themselves without staking. Should 
they be headed back in the spring, so as to ensure a 
more stocky growth, or shall I continue to stake them 
until the trees are sufficient to support themselves? The 
trees are of the Beurre Bose variety. W. Doolittle. 
Borodino , Onondaga Co., N. Y. 
It would doubtless be best to stake the trees in the 
first place. Cutting them back half way down, would 
make crooked stems, and cutting down wholly, would 
only cause a repetition of the same difficulty another 
season. If they throw out side shoots, nip off the ends 
after they have grown some inches. This course will 
soon render the tree stiff. But in any case, the tree 
will become better able to support itself as it grows 
older, provided the stem is not kept closely trimmed 
up, which enlarges the top faster than the tree has 
strength to support it, the result of a very common error 
of the inexperienced. It is better to lessen the top, 
and suffer side shoots to remain one year, which will 
give the stem a gradual taper upwards, so essential to 
strength, instead of the long and uniformly slender form 
from repeated close trimming. 
To Prevent the Ravages of the Cut Worm. 
Eds. Cultivator —Most gardeners have experien¬ 
ced a great deal of vexation from the destruction of 
their plants by the cut worm. The cabbage plant ap¬ 
pears to be in special favor with these destructives. 
They are much more abundant I think in southern gar¬ 
dens than at themorth, and in many gardens, the plat 
devoted to cabbages has to be often almost entirely re¬ 
planted. There is a simple and efficient preventive 
which requires only to be known to be universally prac¬ 
ticed when necessary. 
On the site of your intended row of plants dig a nar¬ 
row trench three or four inches deep, and in the bottom 
of this trench set your plants as usual, and the cut 
worm will not go into the trench to injure the plants. 
The experiment was fully tested the past summer by 
the writer, and proved perfectly satisfactory. When 
the plants have become a little stout and able to resist 
the enemy, the earth must be gradually gathered about 
them until the whole plat once more becomes a level. 
The plants will head with this mode of culture quite as 
well as by any other. I have left about half of the 
plat at times, to be set in the old mode, and from one- 
fourth to two-thirds of the plants have been destroyed, 
while not one in the trenches has been injured in the 
least. I had but little faith in the plan when first 
pointed out to me, but repeated experiments have sat¬ 
isfied me that it is an efficient one. I don’t pretend to 
give the reason of the thing, though I am convinced of 
its efficacy. Wm. N. White. Athens, Geo. 
Destruction of Fruit Buds by Frost. 
The buds of the Peach and other tender fruit trees 
throughout this section of country, were all destroyed 
by the cold weather of the winter of 1847—8, so that 
in this section of country there was hardly a peach to 
be seen. I have about thirty thrifty trees of the above 
variety, from three to six years old, and last fall I did 
not have a single peach. On examination, I find there 
is a clean sweep made of them this winter also, as I 
cannot discover a living bud on any of them. The 
Nectarine and Apricot have suffered a similar fate. 
The degree of cold has been from 10° to 14° below ze¬ 
ro, and it ranged at that for several days in January. 
There is one circumstance that I cannot account for, 
and that is this: Our village is situated at the foot of 
the Shawangunk mountain, on the east, and it is thought 
not to be so cold in winter on the flat as on the moun¬ 
tain, by two or three degrees. I was presented the 
other day a branch of a peach tree, by J. Bennett, Esq. 
which he cut from one of his trees, with the buds all 
alive, and in a healthy condition, and he informed me 
they were not injured on the mountain; and where he 
lives is not more than a mile from our village. 
Query —Why are they not killed on the mountain as 
well as on the flat ? R. H. Drake. Bloomings burgh, 
Sullivan Co., N. Y. 
It is not very unusual for fruit buds to be killed bv 
frost in valleys, when they escape on hills; and the rea¬ 
son is, that the degree of cold is greater in valleys at 
such times. It has been repeatedly proved that the 
mercury will sink several degrees lower on the banks 
of rivers, in still, cold mornings, than on points eleva¬ 
ted 200 or 300 feet higher. The gravity of the air is 
in the ratio of its coldness, and consequently falls into 
the lowest places, when not disturbed by wind. Eds. 
Seedlings vs. Suckers. 
Eds^ Cultivator —Notwithstanding all that has 
been -written and published in our various Horticultural 
Journals respecting the merits and demerits of seedlings 
and suckers, as stocks for the production of fruit trees. 
I am of the opinion that the true cause of the inferiority 
of the latter for this purpose, has never yet been fully 
brought to view. Mr. Downing, than whom there is 
perhaps no higher horticultural authority in our country , 
says it is because il Suckers are always more liable to 
produce suckers.” With all due deference to such distin¬ 
guished testimony, if I may be permitted to speak from 
experience, (and it is by experience alone that the ques¬ 
tion can be determined,) I would say that the seedling 
is just as liable to produce sprouts as the suckers. 
During the past year, I have trimmed with my own 
hands, preparatory to transplanting in the nursery, at 
least 50,000 seedlings, and I found invariably on the 
different varieties, many plants with from one to six 
suckers; and let any nurseryman try the experiment by 
trimming and shortening the tap root of any quantity 
of seedlings, and heel them in during the fall, letting 
them remain in the ground until the buds begin to ex¬ 
pand pretty freely in the spring, and he will find sprouts 
or suckers enough to satisfy him of the truth of my as¬ 
sertion. 
But the true cause of the inferiority of suckers for 
stocks, I conceive to arise from the fact, that they have 
been accustomed to derive their chief support from the 
parent tree, through the medium of the large tap-root 
which adheres to it, as the small rootlets thrown out 
are generally too feeble to extract much nourishment 
from the soil. When this large tap root is broken for 
the purpose of transplanting, and the sucker loses the 
support of the parent tree, it often exhibits a sickly 
life, and frequently dies of sheer starvation. The dif¬ 
ference therefore in profit to the nurserymen, to say no¬ 
thing respecting the interest of the purchaser, I regard 
as equal to two hundred per cent, in favor of seedlings. 
So thoroughly satisfied do I feel on this point, that I 
have long since determined to grow seedlings in suffi¬ 
cient quantities to supply myself with them exclusive¬ 
ly, and thus avoid entirely the use of suckers. 
Peach seedlings which are still used in some places 
quite extensively, as stocks for the plum, are still 
worse, and the public generally, I think, ought to be 
cautioned against them. Charles Hamilton. Can¬ 
terbury, Orange Co., N. Y. 
Be not in haste to turn cattle to pasture. It is best 
to keep them at the barn till there is a good bite of 
grass. Sheep may be turned out, on dry land, this month. 
