14 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
INQUIRIES RELATIVE TO FRUIT TREES. 
A correspondent makes the following 1 inquiries:— 
" Assuming that a proper soil has been selected, accord¬ 
ing to the Jan. No. of the Cultivator, 1844, p. 37, on 
which to raise various kinds of fruit trees, such as the 
apple, pear, peach, plum, and quince, I would inquire, 
1st. What is a good method of'preserving the differ¬ 
ent kinds of seeds for planting ? 
2d. What is the proper time for planting ? 
3d. The proper depth for covering ? 
4th. How near each other may trees stand until bud¬ 
ded, or grafted ? 
5th. Smallest size proper for budding or grafting 1 
6th. Do any of the above varieties ordinarily require 
protection in winter ? 
7th. If after suitable care in the selection of the hardi¬ 
est buds for insertion, any fail, what shall be done with 
the stocks next season ? 
8th. If any of those failing are cut or headed down, 
when shall it be done ?—that is with respect to the age 
of the tree and season of the year ? 
9th. Proper time for transplanting seedlings ? 
10th. What shall be done with the tap root ?” 
Answers. 
1. The best way to preserve the seeds of fruit trees, is 
to mix them with pure or clean sand, as this prevents 
their drying if it is kept moist, and also prevents their 
moulding or fermenting, which often takes place when 
moist seed lie some time in actual contact with each oth¬ 
er. The seeds of stone fruit should not become much 
dried internally—the outside should only be exposed 
long enough to the air to evaporate external moisture 
and prevent moulding, when they should be packed in 
sand. 
2. The best time for planting is autumn and spring. If 
they are well packed and exposed to the weather, so that 
their external coats may be split with freezing and thaw¬ 
ing, spring is as good as autumn, and sometimes better, 
as the seeds if planted in autumn are sometimes destroyed 
by mice or otherwise, from which they are more easily 
protected if remaining in a mass, unplanted, till spring. 
3. The depth of covering, as well as in most other 
seeds, must be regulated chiefly by the size of the seeds, 
and the nature of the soil. Small seeds, as of the apple 
and pear, may be an inch or less deep in a heavy soil, 
and one and a half to two inches deep in a very light soil. 
Peach stones, (which, if uncracked, come up mostly the 
second year from planting,) may be from two to four 
inches deep, varying with the soil, and cherries and 
plums, one or one and a half to three inches. 
4. Where land is plenty, and trees scarce, they may 
stand nearer than where the revei’se is the case. Before 
budding or grafting, as well as afterwards, they will grow 
faster and make finer trees, if not crowded in the rows. 
If not budded or grafted till the second year, they may 
stand an inch or two apart, to be set out to six or eight 
inches or more after the first season’s growth; but if bud¬ 
ded the first summer or grafted the next spring, they 
should be six inches apart at first. The rows, if only 
hoed between, may be one to two feet apart the first sea¬ 
son; if plowed, they should be three or four feet apart. 
5. The smallest size of the stock for budding must de¬ 
pend somewhat on the size of the shoots whence the buds 
are taken. Buds.from very large shoots cannot be well 
inserted into stocks smaller than themselves. As a gen¬ 
eral rule, however, half to three-quarters of an inch is a 
very good size for budding. For root (whip) grafting, 
trees may be one-quarter of an inch in diameter. For 
cleft-grafting, they are convenient, if from three-quar¬ 
ters of an inch to an inch and a quarter. 
6. The above named kinds of fruit are generally hardy 
throughout the northern States, except the peach. Some 
of the varieties of the latter, especially of the earliest, are 
tender. The best protection in winter, is to plant them 
on soils least liable to frost. In parts of the country in¬ 
clining to be hilly, other things being equal, the hill-tops 
are best and the valleys worst, as the latter become soon¬ 
est warmed by the hot sun, and the trees are driven for¬ 
ward earlier in spring-, and continue to grow later in au¬ 
tumn; while the sharper frosts to which such valleys are 
liable, still increase the difficulty. A wet subsoil is also 
detrimental. Mucky land, also, by radiating heat more 
rapidly, is more liable to frosts, than dry compact soils. 
Deep lakes, which do not freeze in winter, afford great 
protection to tender fruits, by softening the severe cold 
of the winter’s air. All these things are to be taken 
into consideration in setting out tender fruit trees. 
7. When buds fail, the stocks may be re-budded. 
Peach slocks, for this purpose, should be cut down to the 
ground, that fresh and vigorous shoots may spring up, all 
but the largest of which from each root, should be care¬ 
fully removed. 
8. The best time for thus heading down, is early in the 
spring of the year. It should be done when the tree is 
not more than two or three years old. 
9. Seedlings may be transplanted both in spring «nd 
autumn. 
10. The tap root should in all cases be cut of! a few 
inches below the surface, so as to throw out horizontal 
roots only. 
Our correspondent also inquires if se it is a good plan 
to stop the growth of trees in autumn in moist places, 
where frosts are expected 1» We do not understand this 
question. The only way to avoid the effects of frosts on 
tender trees, is to plant the trees where the frosts are 
least severe, and where the trees, from exposure to 
winds, &c., and by growing in a moderately fertile soil, 
will cease growing and harden their wood early in au¬ 
tumn. 
He also inquires if the small crook in trees at the sur¬ 
face of the ground, occasioned by the sprouting of the 
seeds before planting, will seriously affect the value of 
the tree ? It will not: especially, if in transplanting, the 
crook is placed beneath the surface. 
WINTER EVENINGS. 
The favorable opportunity for reading and study, af¬ 
forded by the long evenings of this season of the year, it 
is hoped will be duly improved by farmers. The school 
libraries which have been provided in several of the 
states, furnish to all an excellent means of acquiring use¬ 
ful information. As the agriculturists constitute the most 
numerous class in community, we think each of these li¬ 
braries should contain some books particularly applica¬ 
ble to their profession. It is important that the farmer 
should acquaint himself, as thoroughly as possible, with 
the natural laws which constitute the basis of the art by 
which he obtains his livelihood; and the more his prac¬ 
tice is made to conform to these unerring laws, the great¬ 
er will be his success. Besides studying the principles 
of his art, the farmer should keep himself constantly ad¬ 
vised of the improvements and discoveries in every de¬ 
partment of rural economy, which are from time to time 
made. The readiest, and indeed almost the only medi¬ 
um of acquiring this information, is Agricultural Pa¬ 
pers. They may be regarded as furnishing an opportu¬ 
nity for a mutual interchange of ideas on the various sub¬ 
jects of practical husbandry. They present in fact, to 
every farmer a medium for conversing with the most in¬ 
telligent and successful of those engaged in the same oc¬ 
cupation, in all parts of the country. The views of all 
may be obtained, compared, examined, and modified, to 
suit the particular circumstances of each individual—an 
opportunity which is almost equivalent to making a per¬ 
sonal visit to each correspondent. What an extensive 
field, for instance, for this interchange of opinion, and the 
acquirement of information, is presented through the 
medium of the Cultivator, with its three hundred 
correspondents, (which it actually had during the last 
volume) scattered over every state in the Union, besides 
several from the British North American Provinces, the 
West Indies, and a number of regular contributors from 
Europe! And for the sum of only one dollar , all the va¬ 
luable knowledge thus collected for one year, is to be 
obtained! It is scarcely possible that there is a single 
farmer in the country, who, being fully aware of the im- 
portance of the subject, and the advantages to be thus de¬ 
rived, would lose a moment’s time in becoming a subscri 
ber to The Cultivator. 
