1848. 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
181 
on two sides—tlie west and the north,-—the hedge being 
untrimmed, and from 14 to 18 ft. high. That on the 
west side is thick, thrifty and verdant, while that on 
the north is every way inferior, with nothing in the so’l 
or adjacent cultivation to make this difference. And yet, 
I think I have lately discovered the reason. The rain 
storms in this vicinity are, with scarcely an exception, 
from the east or west. The consequence is, that the 
hedge on the west side gathers a large amount of rain, 
that would fall beyond it were the hedge removed, while 
that on the north side receives merely as much rain as 
falls upon the surface of the soil at its roots. Hence 
the thrifty hedge is profusely watered and the other 
not. 
V. Fall planting of Gooseberry cuttings. 
t In the autumn of 1834, I carried some gooseberry 
cuttings 120 miles in hot, dry weather. I planted 
them, without much care, in good gravely soil, in my 
garden. This was about September 28th. In the spring 
of 1835, before vegetation, even in the gooseberry, 
could start, I had occasion to remove a few of these 
cuttings. In doing this, they presented white, thread¬ 
like rootlets, some of them six inches long, which must 
have been emitted the fall before. These cuttings 
made more wood during that season, three to one, than 
any that I ever set in the spring. The reason never 
occurred to.me until lately. If I am wrong, will not 
some of your learned correspondents correct me. 
I reason thus. The first impression of the declining 
heat of autumn was the more thoroughly to ripen the 
wood of the cutting at the top. Meanwhile the accu¬ 
mulated heat of summer lingered deep in the soil long 
after the air above became cool with the chills of au¬ 
tumn. Through the influence of this bottom heat, the 
process of granulation, at the bottom of the cutting 
went on, and the rootlets were emitted. In the spring, 
the plants started with considerable of the vigor of 
plants already rooted. On the other hand, cuttings set 
in the spring, feel the drying influence of the sun at the 
top, while the bottoms are immersed in cold earth, 
where the work of granulation and the emission of roots 
cannot go on. Those acquainted with the chemistry of 
heat, will readily perceive that the downward progress 
of heat in the spring is necessarily slow. Hence cut¬ 
tings set at that season are in an unphilosophical condi¬ 
tion, heat at the top and a chill at the bottom, when 
conditions exactly the reverse are needed for the speedy 
and certain growth of a cutting. Does not this expe¬ 
riment, and these principles apply to all cuttings ; and 
have we not yet much to learn on this subject? 
VI. Fruit trees in Clusters, 
I have several plum trees growing in clusters of from 
three to seven stems each, growing from a common 
root. They are well trimmed up, and spread outward 
so as to form a round, open combined head. They have 
the advantage of being low, so that the fruit is rea¬ 
dily gathered, while the tops are less exposed to the 
wind, both in blooms and in fruit. The trees in ques¬ 
tion are the Bleecker—(the Lombard plum of Downing,) 
and have been regularly derived from the original as 
sprouts. This form of tree has the single disadvantage 
of being less readily cultivated by the plow than straight 
single standards. 
VII. Cherry Trees split by the Sun. 
I have two cherry trees standing in a very hot posi¬ 
tion, which are badly split by the sun. Now I think 
that a board, a foot or more wide, and set in the ground 
close to the tree, with its top fastened to the tree by a 
single nail, would remedy this evil. This remedy, I 
think, would be better than straw bound round the tree 
which, besides presenting an unsightly object, affords a 
shelter for insects. In the case of very large trees } 
standing in hot positions, two boards nailed together at 
the edges so as to form an angle might be used. 
VIII. Mixture of Beets and Carrots in seeding. 
In the spring of 1845, I planted 3 or 4 pecks of the 
ordinary turnep rooted beets, of good quality, for seed. 
Close to them and separated only by the space between 
the rows, I planted about as many yellow carrots, also 
for seed. They seeded well. I sowed this seed in the 
spring of 1846. Many of my carrots were red and 
many of my beets yellow. The seed was ruined. Now, 
although these two plants are of the same class and 
order in the Linnean system, and probably of very nearly 
the same vegetable principles, yet considering the dif¬ 
ference of herbage and inflorescence, who would have 
suspected their mixing? Query. —If we assume that 
red was the original color of the beet, may we not sup¬ 
pose that its varieties of other colors, were originated 
by such crosses as this? E. C. G. Utica, March, 
15, 1848. 
“Insects injurious to the Grape-Vine . 55 
{Cultivator for 1848, page 151.) 
By referring to the New-York Farmer for 1831, to 
the Genesee Farmer for 1832, page 133, and to Silli- 
man’s Journal for April, 1834, page 113, accounts of 
this troublesome visitor may be found. Nearly the 
whole colony on my vines, was extirpated by passing 
them between the thumb and finger; and by destroying 
the “minute worm or slug, ’’which I found to be the lar¬ 
va of the same insect. Under this treatment, requir¬ 
ing no great amount of labor, we had grapes in abun¬ 
dance. 
On my first discovering this depredator, a young stu¬ 
dent in Entomology, gave it the provisional name of 
Chrysomela vitivora, from its feeding on the vine, but 
it appears to be the Haltica chalybea, (steel colored) 
of Uliger,—Haltica having been separated from the for¬ 
mer extensive genus. D. Thomas. Greatfield, 5 mo. 
6, 1848. 
“Destruction of fruit buds by frost . 55 
{Cultivator for 1848, page 151.) 
The blossom buds of the peach are so admirably 
formed—so dry, that like a grain of Indian corn, or a 
seed of the cucumber, they endure without injury any 
degree of cold to which this climate is subject. Their 
safety depends however, on their continuing dry, —for 
as soon as the sap flows in and swells them, they are 
liable to perish if the mercury iu the thermometer, de¬ 
scends much below zero. 
After the leaves drop in autumn, these buds become 
very sensitive in mild weather, either at that season or 
in winter. Sometimes indeed, though very rarely, the 
blossom opens in the fall—to perish of course. The 
danger appears to increase with the amount of develop¬ 
ment,* and the same remarks apply to the fruit buds 
of the apricot. 
Among the mountains of Pennsylvania, in a climate 
much more rigorous than ours, where the cold through¬ 
out the whole winter is steady, the peach tree is very 
productive: and some of our most severe seasons have 
been succeeded by plentiful crops of this fruit; but when 
the buds start in autumn, our hopes of plenty are founded 
entirely on the mildness of the weather that is to fol¬ 
low, for ten degrees below zero, have been sufficient to 
destroy them. D. T. 5 mo. 8, 1848. 
Popular Errors. 
Edit. Cultivator —The article quoted in your last 
number,from the Gardener’s Chronicle, statingthat“Bal- 
sam seed 3 or 4 years old, saved from double varieties, 
is pretty sure to produce double flowers, whereas one 
year old seed is almost certain to produce single blos¬ 
soms.” is sheer nonsense of the witchcraft class, and is 
