28 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
Jan. 
some fretting, may be saved by having a place for every¬ 
thing and everything in its place, and habits of leaving 
things out of order, which are very hard to conquer, 
and which, like all kinds of carelessness, are the bane 
of fine farming, be prevented. And it is of vital conse¬ 
quence, that everything be done at the right season. 
A few days delay, not unfrequently results in great loss¬ 
es ; sometimes the entire profits of crops, or their 
amount over and above their cost of raising, are des¬ 
troyed by planting out of season. To prevent confusion 
and embarrassment, every thing should be before the 
eye of the farmer at once, that nothing may be neglect¬ 
ed ; and those who can think of but one thing at a time 
should have a memorandum book, constantly in the 
pocket, for noting down and for reference to at all times, 
every thing, small and great, important and unimportant. 
It is by attention to these things, and many others, 
that some farmers are enabled to obtain large profits 
from their farms ; while others, on equally good land, 
as great in extent, and with as much capital as a 
beginning, make but a scanty living, and obtain no sur¬ 
plus revenues with all their industry and frugality. T. 
THE ORCHARD AND THE FRUIT GARDEN. 
GRAFTING THE PEAR ON THE APPLE. 
T. S. Humrickhouse, of Coshocton, Ohio, in a com¬ 
munication published in Hovey’s Magazine, gives a 
minute account of the results of his experiments in root¬ 
grafting the pear on the apple. As frequent inquiries 
are made by the cultivators of fruit, as to the success of 
this practice, in consequence of the difficulty of procur¬ 
ing pear stocks, we believe a brief abstract of these 
experiments may be useful. 
The first trial was made in 1838, by only eight 
grafts, one-half of which grew the first season, but died 
the second and third. 
Seventy-six were grafted in 1839, about one-half of 
which grew the first season, but nearly all of them sub¬ 
sequently died, or became very much stunted in growth. 
None appeared to have made roots of their own. 
Forty-eight were - grafted in 1840. Twelve grew. 
Among these, two out of five of the Passe Colmar, 
grew, and after remaining stationary, or nearly so, for 
three years, threw out roots of their own, on which 
they have become established and thrifty trees, the 
apple root having rotted entirely away. Out of four of 
the Capiaumont, and three of the Urbaniste, only one 
of each grew, which now appear to be throwing out 
roots of their own, and are becoming thrifty, after hav¬ 
ing, for several years remained stationary. Out of five 
Bezi Yacts, one has thrown out its own roots, and be¬ 
come thrifty. Two out of four Bartletts grew and 
flourished, without being dwarfed at all. They have 
both borne; on one the only fruit was small and defi¬ 
cient in flavor; the dozen or more, “ of fine appear¬ 
ance/ 7 on the other tree, were all stolen by boys, before 
examined. 
In 1841, fifty-nine were grafted, about one-half of 
which either failed or came "to nothing; the remaining 
half, of the Seckel, about three-fourths grew, one-half 
of which have become thrifty. 
One hundred and seventeen were grafted in 1842. 
About one-third grew; most of these appear to have 
done but poorly. 
In 1843, seventy-two of the Bartlett and Easter 
Beurre were grafted, about one-half of which grew, 
and a number are thrifty. In all the experiments, 
these, with the Seckel, appear to have done best. Of 
several other varieties, the grafts were entire failures. 
On the whole, it will be perceived that only a very 
small portion have proved to be good trees, and in some 
seasons, none of them. The apple roots selected were 
one-half to three-quarters of an inch, and some an inch 
in diameter, two years old, and they consequently must 
have been quite thrifty. We have seen many hundreds 
of the pear grafted on apple roots, not one-half of which 
grew; and among all which did grow, not one has be¬ 
come a thrifty tree, but they have remained nearly sta¬ 
tionary for several years, gradually decreasing in num¬ 
ber by successive deaths. 
From the preceding experiments we may infer, that 
by selecting the largest and thriftiest stocks, and a few 
particular varieties, in the most favorable seasons, and 
in the very best soils, partial success may be expected; 
but, under ordinary circumstances, the prospect of suc¬ 
ceeding with any is so small, as to render the practice 
not one to be recommended. We have seen in some of 
the English periodicals, directions for encouraging the 
emission of roots at the point of junction of pear grafts 
on apple stocks, by making small slits with narrow 
gouges; but further information, as to success usually 
attendant, was not given. 
We have known some varieties of the pear, and espe. 
cially the Summer Bon Chretien, to be grafted on large 
apple trees, at standard height, with good success. It 
happened only in some seasons that the fruit was sensi¬ 
bly altered from its usual character. In one of the 
experiments already spoken of, one of the Seckel grafts 
on an apple root which bore, yielded fruit of double the 
usual size, of a pale green color, of excellent flavor, 
perfectly melting, and without any grittiness whatever. 
The fact that dissimilar stocks often change considera¬ 
bly the size and quality of pears is well known; and it 
becomes a very interesting subject of inquiry for nurse¬ 
rymen, amateurs, and the raisers of fruit for market, 
whether an advantage might not result in some cases, 
by the employment of apple stocks for pears, to be 
grafted on large trees at standard height. If. for in¬ 
stance, the Seckel, the richest of all pears, but dimi¬ 
nished in value by its very small size and very slow 
growth, could be doubled in size, and the trees soon 
made productive, by grafting on large apple trees, 
without lessening its delicious qualities, it would be a 
most valuable discovery. The result just stated, on the 
authority of T. S. Humrickhouse, and which he says 
is corroborated by the statement of A. H. Ernst, an 
eminent nurseryman at Cincinnati, indicates the strong 
probability that such a result may be looked for in some 
cases. Is not this suggestion well worthy of trial? 
Those who have large apple trees can easily make the 
experiment—and if it should happen to fail, the loss 
will be very small, and the trees remain, but little 
injured. T. 
FRUIT CULTURE ON MARTHA’S VINEYARD. 
Messrs. Editors —It is over twenty years since I 
began to take a Horticultural publication. Your excel¬ 
lent paper (The Cultivator,) is received, and perused 
with much pleasure. The knowledge I have obtained, 
is worth ten times the cost of the paper. In fact, the 
perusal of them, has caused an entire revolution in my 
mind. Twenty years ago, I did not think I should 
