370 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
Dec. 
no cutting nor forming of the branches can impart 
life to a tree which is languishing in a hard, sterile, 
and neglected soil, overgrown with grass and weeds. 
The Utility of Leaves. 
Every person conversant with vegetable physio¬ 
logy is aware that the all important requisite in the 
growth of line fruit, is a good supply of large, vi¬ 
gorous healthy leaves. A tree which is kept defo¬ 
liated for a single season, must die ; and fruit grow¬ 
ing upon branches which are deprived of their 
leaves, cannot ripen—examples of which are fur¬ 
nished by the instant cessation in growth and ripen¬ 
ing of fruit upon trees which become stripped by 
leaf-blight. In one instance, a dense crop of plums 
remained half grown and flavorless for several 
weeks, in oonsequence of the premature dropping 
of the foliage—a second crop of leaves three weeks 
afterwards, effected the completion of their growth, 
and their ripening to honied richness. The editor 
of the Michigan Farmer, mentions the following in¬ 
teresting case, in illustration of the same principle. 
* £ B. B. Moore, Esq., of Detroit, has a magnificent 
grape vine, spreading itself over one side of his 
house, which is at this time [Sept.] richly laden 
with fruit. After the clusters were formed, a cow 
entering the enclosure, ate off' the leaves entirely, 
within her reach, but left the fruit unmolested. 
The consequence is, that upon the portion of the 
vine which was beyond the reach of the animal, 
(which constitutes the most of it,) never were finer 
clusters developed, while upon the small portion 
from which the leaves were removed, the clusters 
dwindled away, and have come to nothing, and that 
too up to the very line of separation between the 
mutilated and unmutilated portion.” 
Culture of Fruit. 
I am a new subscriber to The Cultivator , and 
wish to know the most proper time for pruning, bud¬ 
ding and transplanting the apple, pear, peach, 
plum and quince—also, the grape vine—with a ca¬ 
talogue of some of the best varieties of each. O. 
H. W. Quaker Springs, Ga., Sept. 1849. 
The best time for transplanting is while the 
ground is in good condition for working, and between 
the period when the tree has ceased growing in au¬ 
tumn, and before the leaves burst in spring. In se¬ 
vere climates, tender kinds are most safely removed 
in the spring. In autumn, the work need not be de¬ 
layed till the leaves fall, but they should be stripped 
off at the time of removal. Peach trees may be 
safely set out even as late as in blossom, and when 
the leaves are opening, if the young shoots are 
shortened back three quarters of their growth all 
over the tree; for this lightening of the head, les¬ 
sens the draft on the roots, and the peach, possess¬ 
ing quick re-producing powers, soon sends out new 
shoots. 
Pruning may be done in winter, or in the early 
part of summer. At the latter season, the new 
wounds made by cutting off small shoots, quickly 
heal over. 
Budding is performed only while the stock is in a 
rapidly growing state, or before its growth has 
ceased—the bark must peel freely. But the work 
must not be done too soon, or before the inserted 
buds have become sufficiently matured. Some expe¬ 
rience is necessary to enable any one to determine 
precisely, the most successful period. The bark 
of the plum peels less freely than most other trees, 
and if hardened buds can be had, it must be done 
early, or while growing most rapidly—other fruit 
trees may be budded when the growth begins to di¬ 
minish in rapidity. 
The grape is usually pruned late in autumn, and 
hardy sorts in winter. 
A few of the best varieties of fruit for the South, 
are the following:— 
Apples .—Early Harvest, Sweet Bough, Graven- 
stein, Fall Pippin, Yellow Bellflower, Swaar, 
Rhode Island Greening, Red Canada, Pryor’s Red, 
Rawle’s Jannet. 
Pears. —Tyson, Washington, Seckel, Bartlett, 
Gray Doyenne, Louise Bonne of Jersey (onquince,) 
Dearborn’s Seedling, Bilboa, Flemish Beauty, Pa¬ 
radise d’ Automne, Beurre d’ Aremberg. 
Peaches. —Tillotson, Serrate Early York, Gross® 
Mignonne, Oldmixon Free, Large Early York, 
Early Crawford, Crawford’s Late, Ward’s Lata 
Free, Heath Cling, Druid Hill. 
Plums. —Washington, Green Gage, Jefferson, 
Lawrence’s Favorite, Purple Favorite, Purple 
Gage, Coe’s Golden Drop, Red Diaper. 
Grapes —hardy open air,—Isabella, Catawba, 
Bland, Lenoir, Ohio. For grape house, Black 
Hamburgh, White Muscat of Alexandria, Royal 
Muscadine. 
Quince .—Orange or apple quince. This varies 
much in form, from different seedlings, some being 
nearly round, others pear-shaped; and even on the 
same bush in different seasons, we have seen all 
grades of form from nearly spherical to that of a 
Capiaumont pear. 
For further information, we must refer our cor¬ 
respondent to the books on this subject. 
Laying Flans for Work. 
The comparatively leisure season of winter, affords 
a peculiar opportunity for the cultivator of fruit to 
look over his practice and system of culture, and see 
where he may not introduce material improvements. 
In the first place, every land owner may ask him¬ 
self the quest-ion,—Have I trees enough planted? 
Cannot I get a heavier or more profitable return from 
my land, by extending my orchard, or improving-the 
character of its products? 
Many farmers have lately discovered that ten acres 
of orchard afford them more than 200 acres in corn, 
wheat, potatoes and grass. One hundred to five 
hundred dollars per acre are not unusual, where unu¬ 
sual pains have been taken to get the very best sorts. 
Are we not losing by delay? Remember, a market 
in Europe is beginning to open for fine apples and 
pears. Even the owner of a single square rod in a 
village, has gathered several bushels of grapes from 
a single vine in one year. 
Have those about to plant selected the best ground? 
Remember that in most localities hills or elevated 
grounds are better than low and frosty valleys—ten¬ 
der fruits may bear well in the former, and be cut 
off in the latter—and that however dry the surface, 
a wet subsoil is very bad for all tender fruit trees. 
Let every person who has or expects to have a fine 
fruit garden, remember that a peculiar sin of vagrant 
boys is fruit stealing—that the circle of idle village 
boys’ rambles has a radius of at least a mile and a - 
half—and that a terrific hedge of osage orange is a 
more quiet and secure protection than spring guns, 
emetic-tartar, or bull-dogs. Let the hedge and 
fruit-trees advance in growth together. 
Has the soil for receiving the young orchards been 
sufficiently prepared? Subsoiled? Trench-plowed? 
Deeply intermixed with manure and tempered with 
ashes? This labor may quadruple the crop in five 
years, and improve its quality beyond any scale of 
measurement. 
