1847. THE CULTIVATOR. W3 
are oiled, tender plants may be forwarded and the strik- 
a choice lot of seedling fruits maybe selected worthy of 
cultivation, many of which will either become extinct, 
or let our generation pass off before they are generally 
introduced, 
I notice in the Maine Farmer that a Society has been 
formed at Augusta for the purpose of encouraging the 
cultivation of good fruits—that an exhibition of many 
new and choice kinds were upon the ground. This So¬ 
ciety will undoubtedly render that State and the world 
very essential service. 
I would suggest and recommend that those friendly to 
the cause, meet at the capitol of our State, while the 
Legislature are in session, for the purpose of forming a 
Pomological Society, and make an exhibition of fruits. 
Those approving, let them express their views through 
the Cultivator, or any other channel which they may 
choose. I hope those who are most spirited and inter¬ 
ested in growing fruit, and approve of the measure, will 
fix upon a time and place. 
For many years we have not paid that attention to 
orcharding which the subject demands. Home con¬ 
sumption is sufficient protection and encouragement for 
the present, but we may soon expect to have foreign 
markets opened to us at the east and south by rail-way, 
which will command our surplus at remunerating 
prices. S. W. Jewett. Weybridge, Vt., 1847. 
Blight in Pear Trees Cured. —Having noticed 
several articles in the Cultivator respecting the fire 
blight in pear trees, I will relate my treatment of a tree 
in my garden of about 2 3 inches in diameter, during last 
summer. It was about the last of Juno that I first no¬ 
ticed the desease by the dropping of the leaves on one 
of the limbs, in about three days after the leaves turned 
black, which made me fear that I shotild lose my tree. 
I immediately examined Mr. Downing’s work, and there 
found the only remedy was the cutting off the affected 
part, which I did. This stopped the disease as far as the 
limb was concerned ; but still the whole tree began to 
droop, which led me to examine farther, when I found 
the bark on the body of the tree to be entirely dead, and 
all cracked open for about 4 feet from the'roots up¬ 
wards. I then immediately prepared some ordinary 
grafting salve which I melted over a slow fire, and kept 
it warm till I whittled the whole of the dead bark off 
of the tree to the naked wood. I then applied two 
eoats of said salve on the tree with a brush, dug about 
the roots, and left it. In about tivo we&ks after, my tree 
revived ; the fruit, which had not grown for two weeks, 
commenced growing, and ripened well, except it was 
most of it stung or indented on one side. The pears 
were Virgal'ieu. My tree now has an entire new bark, 
and is as full of blossoms as can be, and in perfect hfealth, 
at No. 48 Howard-street. A. Van Voast. Albany, 
May 13, 1847. ...... 
Germination of Seeds. — I noticed in the Cultivator 
for April, a method of ensuring the germination of small 
seeds. I prefer a different process, which is as follows : 
I take a piece of writing paper, five inches square, 
which I fold down or double in the middle ; I then tuck 
two of the sides into each other, so as to form a cylin¬ 
der open at both ends, two and a half inches long and 
one and a half inches in diameter ; two pins keep the 
paper in proper form. I then place it on a shingle, and 
fill it with rich, moist loam, then carefully remove it to a 
plate. When the plate is full I sow the seeds, and sup¬ 
ply water by pouring it into the pljate. In a few days, 
especially if the plate be put under a stove, the seed 
will germinate. Care must be taken in placing the 
cylinder in the ground, that there are no interstices be¬ 
tween its bottom and the bottom Of the hole in which it 
is placed. If the hole be made by pressing a good dibble 
perpendicularly in well-stirred soil, there will be no 
danger of this. If larger cylinders be used, and they 
ingot cuttings made certain. W. H. Hayward. Salem, 
N. H., April, 1847. 
Peach Grub. —Cultivators of the peach should exa- 
mine their trees early for the peach worm. Its presence 
may be perceived at a glance by the exuding gum at 
the surface of the ground, mixed with the pulverized 
bark, resembling saw-dust. Clear the earth away, fol¬ 
low the worn|"hole under the surface of the bark, to its 
termination, and the worm will be found, and may be 
at once destroyed. There is no other way of destroying 
this insect after it has once obtained possession. Air- 
slaked lime and leached ashes are useful in preventing 
its entrance, but by no means infallible. T. 
Cranberries on Upland. —In addition to state¬ 
ments heretofore published in the papers, the Prairie 
Farmer gives figures showing the relative sizes of fruit 
grown wild and on cultivated ground, showing the great 
superiority of the latter. In the cultivated cranberry 
the color was much more uniform, approaching at the 
blossom end to deep purple or black.” “ Most men in 
comparing the latter, would pronounce the cultivated 
fruit at least three times larger than the wild.” 
Productive Orchard. —A correspondent of the 
Prairie Farmer, says, that an orchard of 300 apple 
trees, owned by Elijah Capps, of Fulton Co., Illinois, 
nineteen or twenty years old from the seed, produces 
now from 20 to 40 bushels per tree. Much of this suc¬ 
cess may doubtless be ascribed to the new and fertile 
soil of that country; but it might be nearly approxima¬ 
ted further east, by deep, rich, highly manured soil, 
and constant and mellow cultivation. 
CORN FOR FODDER. 
Let no farmer neglect at the proper season to sow a 
plentiful supply. Several years’ experience enables the 
writer to say, that at least double the amount of the 
best fodder may thus be obtained from an acre, over any 
other known mode, and very often triple the amount. 
If most meadows which now produce scarcely a ton 
per acre, were plowed and planted in this way, they 
would scarcely fail to yield four tons of the best and 
finest cattle feed, and many would yield five or six 
tons. 
The management of the crop, however, must be of 
the proper kind, or complete success cannot result. 
Never sow broadcast,—for this requires four or five 
bushels of seed per acre, to succeed well, is less pro¬ 
ductive, and does not leave the ground clean. Invaria¬ 
bly sow in drills, as follows:—Furrow the land (after it 
is plowed and harrowed,) three feet apart, with a sin¬ 
gle-horse plow; scatter the seed thickly along these 
furrows from a hand-basket, so that there may be at 
least forty or fifty grains to the foot. Cover the seed 
by a two-horse harrow, run lengthwise, or crosswise 
with the furrows, and the crop is in. The only after¬ 
culture consists in running the cultivator once or twice 
between the rows—all weeds will be shaded and de¬ 
stroyed by the crop—and the ground will be left early 
in autumn when the fodder is cut, as clean as a travelled 
road. 
The seed may be sown any time during the early part 
of the present month—two bushels will be required per 
acre — an d it may be harvested early in autumn, in time 
for a crop of wheat. The stalks should be stacked as 
dry as possible—in small stacks—and well salted—or 
injury by heating and mouldiness will follow. T. 
tyrant Thorburn has lately sent to the Emperor ©f 
Russia 10 lbs. potato seed at twenty dollars per pound . 
