1849. 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
213 
She fjorticnltaral ^Department. 
CONDUCTED BY J. J. THOMAS 
Care of Fruit Trees. 
It is asserted that the entrance of the borer may b& 
prevented by removing the soil, and applying a wash of 
sulphur, soft soap, and tobacco water, to the base of the 
trunk; and that this mixture is so offensive to the per¬ 
fect insect, that no eggs are ever deposited in bark to 
which a coating has been applied. 
It often happens that young fruit trees, which have 
been well transplanted and properly attended to in the 
spring, are neglected at midsummer. The soil becomes 
bard, and its moisture is withdrawn and its fertility les¬ 
sened, by a growth of grass and weeds. To remedy 
this evil, the unskilful cultivator waters the surface, but 
instead of reaching the roots, the hard soil excludes the 
water, which only tends to the further hardening and 
baking of the surface, w T hile the roots remain dry be¬ 
low. Many young trees thus perish in hot weather; or 
surviving, make a feeble growth, and are more liable 
to destruction by winter frosts. 
Under good management, the soil is kept clean and 
mellow for many feet about each tree, during the whole 
season. Treated in this way, the degree of moisture 
which the earth will retain a few inches below the sur¬ 
face, compared with the meagre supply of a hard or 
grass grown surface, is surprising, and it renders wa¬ 
tering rarely necessary. 
Mulching, or covering the ground about the tree with 
straw, coarse yard litter, or leaves from the wood, will, 
if timely performed, obviate the necessity of watering, 
even in extreme cases. Midsummer' drouths, will 
scarcely affect trees thus protected, in connection with 
a clean mellow surface. A correspondent of The Hor¬ 
ticulturist mulched 50 trees out of 150, all of which 
had commenced growth alike. Those which were 
mulched, all lived. Of the remaining hundred, fifteen 
perished. 
Where, however, trees have been neglected till the 
period of severe drouth, and where watering be¬ 
comes necessary the hard surface should be removed 
as far down as the roots will admit, and the water then 
poured on, and the earth replaced. Mellowing the sur¬ 
face and mulching will afterwards prove very bene¬ 
ficial. 
Instead of watering the roots, which should be very 
sparingly performed on trees not yet in leaf, a frequent 
washing of the stems and branches has been found of 
great advantage to young trees the leaves of which ex¬ 
pand tardily. Water applied copiously at the roots, before 
there are leaves to draw it up, is apt to induce water- 
soaking and decay j but if the surface of the bark is 
moistened, immediate absorption takes place through 
the pores, and a daily repetition, with shading from the 
sun, will usually restore to freshness and vigorous 
growth, trees which have become actually shrivelled 
from drying. 
In addition to proper treatment of the soil, and wa¬ 
tering, fruit trees need watching against diseases and 
enemies. The fire-blight will soon make its appear¬ 
ance; the remedy is to cut off instantly and burn the 
limb, two or three fe'et below the affected part. This 
course, if faithfully pursued, will in most cases, arrest 
the disease. The black-knot on the plum needs a simi¬ 
lar treatment; but as it spreads less rapidly, little more 
than the affected parts need cutting off; and where the 
excrescences are on the trunk or large branches, the 
wounds should be washed with a solution of copperas. 
Peach trees should be examined for the peach-worm, 
which confines itself to the bark at the root, and is 
hence easily followed in its hole and destroyed. The 
apple-borer penetrates the solid wood, and is far more 
difficult to destroy, and it is nearly impossible to save a 
tree, unless taken early. At first, the worm may be cut 
out with the point of a knife; or if deeper, it may be 
punched to death in its hole by a flexible wire or twig. 
Budding Cherries. 
Inexperienced cultivators are often much puzzled 
account for their want of success in budding the cherry,, 
Usually, it should be budded earlier than most other 
kinds of fruit trees; but there is a certain period in the 
growth of the stock, most favorable to success, varying; 
considerably with seasons and circumstances. If tho 
work is done too early, the buds will not have become 
sufficiently matured; if too late, the vigor of growth m 
59 —BUDDING CHERRIES. 
the stock will have too much subsided, and adhesios 
will not take place. The best rule, applicable to all 
cases, is to insert the buds just as the terminal buds of 
the stock commence forming. Adhesion at this period 
takes place perfectly, and the inserted buds are usually 
at that time well hardened. Adopting this rule, w© 
have been quite successful at all the various periods 
from the middle of summer to the first of autumn. 
When the scions are not well ripened, success i& 
greatly dependant on cutting out with the buds a large 
portion of the wood—say at least one-third of its dia¬ 
meter, or nearly one-half. This prevents the drying of 
the bud till complete adhesion cakes place. 
The above figures very distinctly represent the 
successive stages of budding, and may hence be useful 
to those not acquainted with this easy mode of propa¬ 
gating fruits, which is not so extensively known as 
grafting. 
Summer Priming Hardy Grapes. 
There are two leading principles to be adopted in th© 
summer pruning of the grape vine:—1. Fruit cannot 
grow and ripen without the leaves. 2. Shoots and 
leaves cannot become fully developed in growth, if so 
thick as to form a dense mass. 
The summer pruning of hardy grapes usually con¬ 
sists in cutting or pinching off every shoot, when th© 
grapes are about the size of peas, about three joint* 
above the upper bunch. The object is “to prevent the 
vigor of the vine all operating in the formation of leaves 
and wood, and to throw it into the fruit;” as well as to 
expose the bunches to the action of the sun. Now, the 
growth and ripening of fruit is wholly dependant on the 
leaves; and the greater the amount of leaves, provided 
they are not crowded, and are fully exposed to the 
light of the sun, the more perfect will be the fruit. For 
this reason, it is better to reduce the number of shoots, 
either by. leaving but few buds at the winter pruning, or 
by removing entirely, all superabundant shoots as early 
in the season as practicable; and to omit stopping or 
shortening the shoots till the fruit is nearly of full size, 
