1847. 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
85 
THE ORCHARD AND THE GARDEN. 
TRANSPLANTING FRUIT TkEES. 
Eds. Cultivator —When trees are taken from the 
nursery, where the ground is made rich, and placed in 
poor soils, they thrive like a horse that has been well 
fed with oats, and then is given nothing but straw to 
cat. The ground should be made richer than where 
they had formerly stood. I have had some experience 
in the planting of trees for 20 years, and have tried va¬ 
rious ways to make them thrive on light and dry soils. 
Hog manure is the best I ever tried, particularly for the 
pear, being very rich, and of a moist nature, taken 
fresh from the pen, and mixed thoroughly with the soil 
as far as the roots extend. In using this manure, a 
Beurre Diel pear, budded on a stock to the ground, no 
larger than a pipe stem, grew eight feet the past sea¬ 
son. This manure is generally thrown out of the pens 
and never removed, when one load is worth ten of cat¬ 
tle or horse manure. The planter should know what 
kind of trees his soil suits. The Swaar apple, and Bald¬ 
win, Yellow Bellflower, Roxburv Russet, and others, 
might be mentioned, that require a light and dry soil. 
They will then be large and very fine; whereas, if placed 
on a wet soil, they are small, and destitute of flavor; 
and the nurseryman is generally blamed, and called a 
scoundrel for selling such trees. On the other hand, 
the Ribston Pippin, and many others might 'be men¬ 
tioned that require a moist soil. The pear requires 
richer ground than the apple, and should never remain 
in grass. A top dressing should be plowed or spaded 
in every year, for trees must have food. 
THE PIE APPLE. 
This was raised from seed by Mr. Moore, in one of 
the eastern states. About 30 years ago, Mr. Moore’s 
son came to this place, and brought grafts. The tree 
then grafted stands on the farm of Mr. Hadden, (my 
neighbor.) The tree is a vigorous grower, and bears 
large crops every year. It commences ripening in 
August, and is in use a long time. The tree grows 
beautifully in the nursery, making very straight stalks. 
Young wood, dark brown, with large white buds. 
Fruit, from medium to large; color, red ; flesh, fine¬ 
grained, with a sweet and acid mingled together, and 
of a spicy flavor, and with the addition of a little butter, 
makes a middling good pie, without spice or sugar. 
This will compare with Mr. Comstock’s Garden apple, 
saving a grocery bill. 
This apple brought in our market, 50 cts. per bushel, 
when other good apples brought twenty five cents per 
bushel. I sent a box of the Pie apple to Messrs. 
Elwanger and Barry, of Rochester, which they pro¬ 
nounced larger and better than the Early Strawberry. 
Schuyler Worden. 
Oswego, N. Y., Nov. 28th, 1846. 
BUDDING FRUIT TREES. 
Eds. Cultivator — I wish to corroborate the “im¬ 
provement in budding” suggested by your correspon¬ 
dent, “ R. T., Prospect, Conn.” in your October num¬ 
ber, and would state, that pruning above the place of 
inserting the bud, has been practiced by me with im¬ 
proved success. About the 1st of August, of the pres¬ 
ent season, I budded several small apple stocks, amongst 
-ne number was one, which in about two weeks there¬ 
after, was entirely stripped of its leaves by caterpillars, 
the larva of which had escaped notice at the time of 
inoculating. The insects were promptly destroyed, 
soon after which, the inoculate started vigorously, as 
well as the leaves above, which in September were 
again full size. I then removed the top immediately 
above the inoculate, which is now, (Nov. 16th,) 14 
inches in length. 
In conformity with the above detailed accidental ex¬ 
periment, I would suggest that stocks to be budded be 
entirely stripped of their leaves prior to inserting the 
bud. The flow of sap to the extremities would thus be 
retarded, and a vigorous action on the inserted bud be 
induced. Soon after the inserted bud starts, the wood 
above should be removed. 
Thus the danger of losing the stock, resulting from 
an immediate excision of the part above is obviated, 
and not only greater certainty of retaining vitality in 
the bud, but a growth of twelve or sixteen inches the 
first season, obtained. 
The practice by this method, if as uniformly success¬ 
ful, must, I think, entirely supersede grafting, as the 
labor is less, the risk obviated, and every advantage se¬ 
cured. In the advantages of early budding, as sugges¬ 
ted by your correspondent, R. T., I fully concur. 
Chas. R. Smith. 
Solon, Cuyahoga Co., 0., Nov. 16, 1846. 
GARDENING OPERATIONS. 
It is well to be in readiness for the commencement 
of gardening operations at the earliest period which thn 
state of the weather and the condition of the soil will 
admit. Some articles can hardly be put in the ground 
too soon after the frost has left it. This is the cass 
with peas, lettuces, radishes, early cabbages, parsneps, 
spinach, parsley, &c. It is rare that these plants are 
killed by frosts that occur after the season has so far 
advanced that the ground has once become fairly set¬ 
tled. 
For peas, the earliest varieties, such as the Early 
Washington, the Prince Albert, and the Cedo-nulli, 
should be chosen, and they should be planted on tb* 
warmest and most sheltered soils. Parsneps and spi¬ 
nach, also may be sown in the open air as soon as tbo 
ground can be worked. 
It is a great advantage to give some plants a start 
in a hot-bed; particularly lettuces, cabbage, cucumbers, 
tomatoes, and egg-plants. By forcing in this way, 
several weeks may be gained over plants grown in the- 
open air. The chief advantage of raising plants by this 
mode of artificial heat, is to have them in an advanced 
state by the time it will do to transfer them to the open 
grounds; but cucumbers and early radishes may remain 
in t.he beds till they are so far matured as to be fit for 
use. 
In this latitude it is not deemed advisable to start 
hot beds until March, but farther south, they may be 
put in operation in February. It is of but little use to 
force plants which are designed to be afterwards trans¬ 
ferred to the open air. until the spring has commenced, 
and there is a probability that the weather would not 
be so severe after they are set out as to seriously check 
their growth. It is an injury to keep them in the hot¬ 
bed after they have reached the proper size for setting- 
out, as the effect is to “ draw them up,” as it is called, giv¬ 
ing them long slender stems, which prevents their growth. 
