1848. 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
83 
MORTICITIjTITHAIj BEPAICTMENT. 
CONDUCTED £Y J. J. THOMAS. 
Transactions of the Ohio Nurserymen and Fruit 
Growers’ Convention, held at Columbus , September 
2 9th and 30th, 1847. 8 vo. pamphlet, 46 pages 
The state of Ohio, in many respects a fine fruit 
country, Jias been rather remarkable for the confusion 
•of the names of its apples. Besides its native fruits 
many new names have been applied to old varieties in 
troduced from different sources, at an early period. More 
lately these were nearly all supposed to be new varie¬ 
ties of high merit. Recent investigations have restored 
in many cases the original and true name; in this way 
the Putnam Russet has been found to be the old Rox- 
bury Russet; the Little Pearmain, Bullock’s Pippin; 
the White Pippin, Canadian Reinette; Red Romanite, 
the Carthouse or Gilpin; Oxeye, the Vandervere, &c. 
In order to reduce this chaos to order, as well as bring 
out the finest native varieties, a Fruit Convention was 
held in central Ohio, and the results of its deliberations 
are given in the valuable pamphlet before us. For 
copies, we are indebted to M. B. Bateham and F. R 
Elliott, secretaries, by the latter of whom it was chiefly 
prepared for the press, and whose extensive acquaint¬ 
ance with eastern and western fruits, has eminently 
qualified him to throw light upon the subject. 
The present work contains outline figures of the 
Early Harvest, Tart Bough, (a sub-variety of the Early 
Harvest, but three weeks later,) Early Strawberry, 
Early Pennock, Roxbury Russet, Cooper Apple,Willow 
Twig, Wells Apple, Raules’ Jennett, Western Spy, 
Phillips’ Sweeting, and Ohio Nonpareil; the seven last 
are believed to be western varieties. A very large 
number of others are noticed, and some of them de¬ 
scribed. There are also figures and descriptions of 
seven new and fine varieties of cherry, originated by 
Dr. Kirtland of Cleaveland—making 19 figures in all. 
There are also notices of several known varieties of 
pears and some other fruits, which were exhibited to 
the Convention. 
This cannot fail to be a very interesting work to 
every amateur in the country; and to every nursery¬ 
man and fruit raiser in Ohio, it must be invaluable. It 
is sold at the office of the Ohio Cultivator, Columbus, 
for 25 cts. per copy, or $1 for five copies. 
A large field remains open for future labor, and a 
perkianent State Fruit Committee was appointed, and 
another Convention is to be held next autumn. 
Management of Fruit Trees, &c.—Timely Hints. 
Pruning. —Every cultivator of fruit should thorough¬ 
ly examine his orchard and fruit garden, before he is 
interrupted by the approaching busy season. Those 
who have large trees should give them the necessary 
pruning. A slight trimming every year or two, is much 
better than the more frequent practice of heavy prun¬ 
ing after years of neglect. 
The work should be done as early in the month as 
possible, that the wounds may become well dried be¬ 
fore the sap flows. There is more judgment and care 
needed in pruning large trees than in any other part of 
their management. The operator should constantly 
bear in mind, that a neat, handsome head is to be pre¬ 
served ; that the best shaped and most thrifty branches 
are to be left; and that the light of the sun should be 
admitted as far as practicable to all parts of the tree. 
A thrifty growth of the branches will thus be kept up ; 
and in connexion with good cultivation of the soil, the 
fruit will possess the large size, and fine flavor and 
appearance, so eminently desirable, and usually seen 
on young trees. The advantages of admitting the sun¬ 
light must be obvious to every one who has noticed the 
difference between the rich flavor of fruit fully exposed 
to the solar rays, and that which has grown under a 
thick mass of branches and leaves. Indeed, so impor¬ 
tant is this influence, that the exposed side of an apple 
is often found much richer in flavor than the shaded 
side—the rich acid of the Esopus Spitzenburgh, and 
the sugary sweetness of the Tallman Sweeting, are 
most strikingly observable under the dark red surface 
of the one, and brown sunny cheek of the other. 
Large wounds made in pruning, should be protected 
by a suitable air-tight and water-proof coating, other¬ 
wise they will dry and crack, admit rain, and finally 
become diseased from decay. The cheapest good coat¬ 
ing is a mixture of tar and brick-dust, applied hot; the 
best and neatest, is a thick solution of gum shellac in 
alcohol, kept corked tight, and applied with a brush. 
Pruning Peach Trees. —Pruning the peach is very 
little practiced, simply because its great advantages 
are generally un¬ 
known. Most cul¬ 
tivators, however, 
must have noticed 
the great difference 
in the size of the 
peaches, and still 
more in their quali¬ 
ty, grown in one 
case upon young and 
thrifty trees, and in 
the other, on old and 
stunted ones. Old 
trees might be ren¬ 
dered thrifty, and . ^ 
productive of large * "‘S^cted and unprumd Penh Tree. 
delicious fruit, if a regular system of pruning were 
kept up. The tendency in the growth of this tree, 
when neglected, is to form long and bare branches, 
with leaves and fruit only at the extremities, shutting 
out the light from the rest of the tree, and attended 
with slow and diminutive growth. Judicious pruning, by 
shortening-in, com- . 
menced while the v | 
tree is yet young, ' Kf 
and continued year¬ 
ly, will preserve a 
round, handsome 
head to the tree, 
and young and thrif¬ 
ty shoots will start 
from all parts of 
the branches, even 
down to their very 
commencement, at A properly pruned Peach Tree —Fig. 24. 
the upper extremity of the trunk. Old trees have, in 
some instances, been much benefitted even by the rough 
and unskilful trimming by the winds, and new and 
healthy branches have sprung up and borne finely on 
old and stunted trees, which had been thus accidentally 
relieved of a part of their useless limbs. A. J. Down¬ 
ing says:— a We have seen two peach trees of the same 
age side by side, one unpruned, and the other regularly 
shortened-in , and both bearing about four bushels. The 
fruit of the latter was, however, of double the size, 
and incomparably finer.” A similar experiment, mad© 
