314 
THE CULTIVATOR, 
Oct. 
Error in Mulching. 
We often observe, In riding through the country, 
that the benefits of mulching are becoming in some 
degree appreciated, and that many attempts have been 
made by this means to mitigate the effects of the pre¬ 
sent season’s extraordinary drouth. Yet a great deal 
of it appears to be applied without any reflection, and 
is little better than no mulching at all. A small por¬ 
tion of litter is heaped up close to the foot of the tree , 
without one moment’s reflection, or without any know¬ 
ledge whereabouts the roots are that need the benefit. 
Now, it may be laid down as a rule, which is not far 
from correctness, that the length of the roots which 
r adiate on all sides from the base of the tree, is about 
equal to the height of the tree itself—and not as we 
often hear it stated, only to the length of the branches 
from the top. If, for example, a young fruit tree is 
ten feet high, then we may infer that the roots form a 
circle about twenty feet in diameter, the base of the 
tree constituting the centre. Over this great surface 
the finer and more inconspicuous roots form a net-work 
of fibres; and to derive full benefit from manure, cul¬ 
tivation and mulching, a very wide space of ground 
must be operated upon. This, we are aware, is a lar¬ 
ger allowance than is usually made, but our own ob¬ 
servations satisfy us that it is more nearly correct than 
the ordinary estimates. There is one exception, how¬ 
ever; and this is furnished by newly transplanted 
trees, whose roots have been cut very short on all sides 
in removal from their original locality, and which have 
not grown and extended so as to fill the usual circle. 
It is not necessary, however, in order that manuring 
and mulching may benefit trees, that the whole terri¬ 
tory of their roots should be covered, for a part of 
them will seize and carry a valuable portion of moist¬ 
ure and nutriment to the tree. We have just observed 
some striking practical proofs of this truth, which we 
shall illustrate by the 
annexed diagram, 
Manure 
Yard. 
n 
where 1, 2, 3, and 4, 
represent the places of 
a row of peach trees, 
standing on ground un¬ 
cultivated the present 
year, and nearly cover¬ 
ed with grass. These 
trees are about 8 or 9 
feet high, and two and 
of the 
shoots 
trunk with 
the present 
\ 
a-half inches in diame¬ 
ter; two of them (mark¬ 
ed 1 and 2,) grow with¬ 
in two feet of a manure 
yard, under which their 
roots extend and receive 
nourishment, and al- 
though immediately 
surrounded at the foot 
turf, they have thrown out 
dry season from two to two and a 
% 
half feet in length. The tree marked 3, stands seven 
feet from the manure yard, and its roots must there¬ 
fore go nearly or quite as far for nourishment as the 
height of the tree, yet the growth on this tree has been 
two-thirds as great as the two others, or about eighteen 
inches. The tree marked 4, is sixteen feet from the 
manure yard, and can derive no nourishment from it; 
its shoots have consequently not grown more than three 
or four inches. These trees are all about the same 
size, the manure yard having been placed there only 
a year or two since, and the branches from the central 
dots in the figure are intended merely to show the re¬ 
lative lengths of growth the present season on the dif¬ 
ferent trees. 
This experiment exhibits in a striking light the 
amount of benefit which trees derive from the extre¬ 
mities of their roots. Another experiment has afford¬ 
ed proof of the little advantage of working close to 
the foot of the tree. Two peach trees, of the same 
size as those just named, and in the same orchard 
growing in grass, had the turf removed and the ground 
kept clear of weeds, in a circle about four feet in di¬ 
ameter, about the base of each. These made a growth 
of about six inches only, while those wholly surround¬ 
ed with grass grew about three or four inches. These 
experiments were all made on peach trees of a single 
variety—the Tillotson. 
In another instance, a row of peach trees stood in 
old turf, about seven feet from a strip of manured and 
cultivated ground. The growth which they made this 
year was about double the length of the growth on 
another row of younger trees, wholly surrounded with 
grass, but which had been cultivated till the present 
year. 
Cultivators, to be successful, will therefore avoid the 
common 'practice of heaping little piles of litter in a 
small circle round the base of the tree—for it is evi¬ 
dent from the experiments we have just given, that 
the nutriment comes chiefly through the small fibres 
which are most numerous towards the extremities of 
the roots ; and to attempt to feed them by placing the. 
nourishment close to the trunk, is but little better than 
trying to give a man drink by pouring water into his 
boots, or than placing the oats for a hungry horse at 
the wrong end of his stall. 
Mulching therefore, (except for young trees newly 
set out,) should be spread in wide circles, or over the 
whole surface, leaving the earth bare near the trunk 
where it is not wanted, and where it might serve to 
invite the attacks of mice. 
NEW PLANT—DICTYANTHUS PAVONIJ. 
This singular plant has produced several of its pe¬ 
culiar shaped flowers, which, in their general appear¬ 
ance when expanded, resemble that singularly offen¬ 
sive flower, Stapelea pinnata , except being somewhat 
lighter in color and without the offensive smell. The 
plant is a climber, and for its singularity worthy of a 
place in every hot-house, or perhaps warm green-house. 
Ours is growing in equal parts turfy loam and peat, in 
the hot-house. Edgar Sanders. Albany. 
