236 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
July? 
would doubtless prove a very safe and efficient farm 
fence, or form a good fruit-garden boundary. 
Fruit Gardens and Nurseries. 
The nursery of Hovey & Co., at Cambridge, is 
decidedly the best in the vicinity of Boston, and one 
of the best in America. The broader alleys are lined 
with rows of specimen fruit trees, among which 
there are one thousand of the pear, consisting of 
about six hundred different varieties. They are 
mostly on pear stocks, and are trained as pyramids, 
and average about seven feet high. Nearly all are 
in bearing. They are the finest collection we have 
seen. The green-houses, hot-house, and conserva¬ 
tory, are in the aggregate about 400 feet long, and 
are densely filled with rich and rare plants. A lemon 
tree was loaded with fruit, many specimens measur¬ 
ing four inches long, and three in diameter. A 
beautiful drooping acacia about 15 feet high, and 
an Agave americana, (century plant,) expected 
soon to bloom, are among the interesting objects of 
the collection. Hovey & Co. occupy 36 acres of 
ground, and they have one of the most extensive 
collections in America, embracing fruit and orna¬ 
mental trees, shrubs, &c., down to the most delicate 
green-house plants and annual flower seeds. 
The great and celebrated collection of specimen 
fruit trees of the late Robt. Manning of Salem, now 
under the charge of his son, the present Robert Man¬ 
ning, is a place of great interest to the pomologist. 
Nearly 1000 kinds of the pear have borne fruit here. 
There are some pear trees growing on quince stocks, 
about 25 years old, still healthy and vigorous, al¬ 
though they have not received high cultivation. 
The grounds and fruit garden of Otis Johnson, 
of Lynn, are remarkable for the perfect neatness of 
their keeping, and the high state of vigor and thrif¬ 
tiness of the trees. Some hundreds of dwarf pear 
trees trained in the pyramidal form, exhibited the 
excellence of the culture they received. This gar¬ 
den has long been celebrated for the large number 
of premiums its specimens have taken at the exhi¬ 
bitions of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society. 
The nursery of H. H. Crap© of New-Bedford, is 
well filled with one of the finest collections of pears 
for sale that we have seen. He confines his atten¬ 
tion mainly to this fruit. About 30,000 trees are of 
good size for transplanting. He states that the 
Deodar Cedar and the Scarlet currant both prove 
perfectly hardy on his grounds. 
An excellent nursery for hardy trees only is that 
of S. H. Colton of Worcester. It occupies 20 
acres. In addition to the fruit trees with which it 
is mainly occupied, there are many thousand of the 
American Arbor Vitae (or white cedar of New- 
York) for screens and hedges, for which purpose it 
is becoming much sought. 
Fruit Garden of J. M. Earle. 
J. M. Earle, (President of the Worcester Hor¬ 
ticultural Society,) furnished many interesting facts 
on fruit culture. Among all the new pears, he re¬ 
gards the Paradise d’Automne as decidedly the most 
promising of the autumn varieties, for that locality. 
Its growth is rapid, and so far as has been proved, 
it is quite productive. He is confident that the 
cracking and failure of the White Doyenne cannot 
arise from exhaustion of soil, the disease having 
within a few years, made its first appearance at 
Worcester, on young and old trees alike. In some 
instances, however, on trees standing closely side by 
side, of equal size, age and treatment, the branches 
being interwoven, one tree bore worthless fruit, 
while the other was loaded with large, fair and per- 
feet specimens. 
He has fruited the Diana grape, but does not re¬ 
gard it so valuable, all its qualities considered, as 
some have represented. It is however, a very de¬ 
sirable sort, ripening about three weeks before the 
Catawba, and is of high flavor. But unless well 
cultivated, the fruit is small. The published figures 
give a fair representation of the finer bunches un¬ 
der high culture. With the best treatment (which 
it shonld always receive) its growth is nearly as vi¬ 
gorous as that of the Isabella. 
Evergreen Screens. 
The grounds of J. P. Cushing, near Boston, fur 
nish some very fine specimens of evergreen screens, 
bordering the carriage ways when the side view 
is to be concealed, or where they lead to the back 
buildings. The trees employed for this purpose are 
chiefly Norway fir, American Arbor Vitse, Ameri¬ 
can White Pine, and Balsam fir, and are 20 or 30 
feet high, about 8 feet apart, not sheared, but form¬ 
ing a close and effectual screen. An Arbor Vitae 
hedge, four and a-half feet high, presented the 
smoothest and most perfectly dense wall of verdure 
we have ever seen. It has stood fourteen years, 
and is kept well sheared. 
Grounds of James Arnold, New Bedford. 
These form one of the most perfect specimens of 
modern gardening on a limited scale in America. 
Only two or three acres are occupied, yet within 
this space there is more variety, in open lawns, 
winding walks, groups of shrubs and plants, dense 
screens of verdure, changing vistas, and rustic ar¬ 
bors, than is afforded by some other places of ten 
times the extent. All is in the most perfect finish 
and keeping. The fruit and kitchen garden is sur¬ 
rounded on three sides by a massive wall of granite 
twelve feet high, the inner face being wholly cover¬ 
ed with fruit trees, trained upon the trellis. Under 
glass, were noticed fine ripe clusters of the Black 
Hamburgh grape, and full grown peaches were red¬ 
dening. 
Cultivating Orchards. 
For a few years past, about eighty thousand dol¬ 
lars’ worth of fruit trees have been annually set out 
into orchards in the single state of New-York. If 
these were all treated in the best manner, in prepa¬ 
ring the ground, in carefully transplanting, and in 
good care and cultivation afterwards, each year’s 
planting would probably be worth to the owners in 
ten years, not less than three millions of dollars, so 
far as their value may be measured by a sum of mo¬ 
ney. The question arises, what proportion of this 
great number of trees are actually advancing w T ith 
full promise of wffiat they might attain? What por¬ 
tion will really become in ten years, by the best 
treatment, full-sized, healthy, and productive? 
Several intelligent individuals have given it as 
their opinion that not one half of the trees that are 
set out, ever survive the third year. A very large 
number are certainly lost by careless removal, has¬ 
ty transplanting into hard ground, and total sub¬ 
sequent neglect. But of those whieh survive, there 
are undoubtedly not one-tenth, that make half the 
growth they would attain under good management. 
We have seen whole orchards of young peach trees, 
smothered to death the first summer by the heavy 
growth of meadow grass w’hieh nearly enveloped 
them. A far larger number, however, are those 
which are not killed outright, but which linger year 
after year with a slow and feeble growth. Now, this 
