224 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
July 
THE ORCHARD AND THE GARDEN. 
Manuring Pear Trees. — I notice in the March 
number of the Cultivator, a short article on transplant¬ 
ing fruit trees, by Mr. Worden, in which he recommends 
manuring the ground highly for them, and speaks of 
producing a growth of 8 feet in a season, on a pear 
graft, by the use of hog manure. This manuring ground 
highly for fruit trees, may do well at the east , with 
some kinds , as, for instance the apple, but for the pear, 
I do not believe such a system is safe at all. At 
least it would be utterly ruinous here at the west with 
the pear tree, and more or less hurtful with all kinds of' 
fruit trees on a large proportion of our soil. It is well 
known that the pear tree is liable to a disease called 
the frozen sap-blight, which I have heard has almost 
destroyed many of the finest pear orchards at the we$t. 
and as I learn from various sources, is becoming some¬ 
what prevalent at the east. Those who are best ac- 
quiinted with this disease, believe it to be caused by a 
rapid and unripe, or a very late growth, which utterly 
unfits the trees for withstanding our severe winters. 
Nothing could be more likely to produce such a growth 
than to excite the roots by manuring them so highly, 
and hence I view it to be very unsafe; although under 
favorable circumstances they might escape. A thorough 
cultivation of the soil, aided, if necessary, with some 
weaker, less stimulating manure, I should much prefer. 
The thorough cultivation alone, is a great plenty here. 
So far as I have seen, the poorest. soils of our prairies 
and openings, are the most favorable to the health and 
productiveness of the pear tree. The great desidera¬ 
tum, the “ ne plus ultra” in growing pear trees, (and 
indeed, every kind of fruit tree,) is to have a firm , well- 
ripened tissue , w r hich alone will insure them against in¬ 
jury in our trying winters. I should much rather have 
a firm, sound growth of two feet in a season, than a 
forced, unripe growth of eight feet. In regard to the 
west, I speak as having had some little experience here; 
of the east I know less to be sure; but if I am wrong 
in thus advising in regard to pear trees there, will Mr. 
Thomas, or some other experienced horticulturist, set 
me right. But if I am right , will our friends remember 
this, if they wish to raise pear trees. 
Budding. — I do not agree with Mr. Smith, in the 
March number, in regard to budding. He recommends j 
stripping off the leaves before inserting the bud, and 
after it has started, to cut off the top. As to stripping 
off the leaves, it seems to me to be not only perfectly un¬ 
necessary, but very injurious to the trees. Nor would 
it be so very easy to prepare a lot of several hundred 
or thousand trees in this way, as in a nursery, for in¬ 
stance. I am sure I should seriously object to having 
caterpillars do it for me, even if they were inclined to. 
about the right time, and quite as much on account of 
losing the leaves as anything else. The tree, if thus 
stripped, would of course lose the leaves already formed, 
and that at a time when its main strength (so to speak,) 
lay in its leaves, the roots having been pretty well ex¬ 
hausted in forming them. The leaves, as every one 
ought to know, are indispensably necessary to enable 
the tree to complete and ripen the growth already com¬ 
menced, and if the first, main set of leaves be removed, 
it must put forth a new and comparatively feeble set, 
with which to finish its growth. To do this, the roots 
must be again severely taxed, which of course enfee¬ 
bles them, and thus the whole growth is materially 
checked in the operation, and a comparatively stinted, 
weakly growth ensues. The tree may, however, after 
a time, partially recover, so as to cause somewhat of a 
rapid growth in the bud which has started, in conse¬ 
quence of removing the top above it. This growth will 
of course be the most rapid and unripe, when other trees 
not so treated have mostly closed and are ripening their 
growth, and hence, winter will overtake it still grow¬ 
ing, or at least, very much unprepared for that season. 
Thus, by this operation, the order of nature is seriously 
broken in upon, which all know cannot be done with 
impunity. 
The effect will generally be. that the growing bud will 
freeze down more or less, which, with the shock received 
by the tree at the time it was budded, and when winter 
sets in, will make the growth the next season much 
more feeble than if it were treated in the ordinary way. 
This, at legist, is my experience on the subject. I have 
no doubt if Mr. S. will but try the common method, and 
it favored with common success in it, he will fully agree 
with me. Budding in the summer, and removing the 
top shortly after, so that the bud will start to grow im¬ 
mediately, is, however, practised a few degrees south 
of here, as I have been informed by Mr. Alldredge, 
an experienced nurseryman living at Indianapolis, la. 
He writes me that he buds mostly in June and July , 
and tops 15 days after—that he succeeds better with 
apples in this way than by grafting, and frequently ob¬ 
tains a growth of from two to three feet the same sea¬ 
son. The difference in the length of the seasons, (to 
say nothing of the difference in the soil.) there and in 
this latitude, (about 42|,) especially at the east, is so 
great as to render his success entirely unattainable so 
far north as this. I can think of but one possible ad¬ 
vantage which this method would have over the usual 
one in this latitude. That is this; so far as I have no- 
ticed, the buds, when they first start, after the top is 
removed in the summer , are never troubled by insects, 
which in the spring sometimes eat out and destroy the 
buds. 
“ Peculiar Growth of Varieties.” —A few words 
in regard to wnat Mr. Thomas says in the same num¬ 
ber, about 11 the peculiar growth of varieties.” On this 
subject he and I do not agree fully on some points, but 
on some of the most important ones we do agree, and I 
trust I shall be excused for again calling the attention 
of such of your readers as are interested in this subject, 
to them. 
1st. That the characteristics of fruit trees, the de¬ 
scription of which I laid so much stress upon in my arti¬ 
cle in the Horticulturist, to which he alludes, and which 
I am so desirous of seeing incorporated as a part of the 
standard descriptions of varieties, in our horticultural 
works, form “ a useful auxiliary to the description of 
some varieties.” 
2 d. That they furnish “ important aid to accuracy to 
every nurseryman, who ” lastly, 11 may usually recog¬ 
nize his trees by the appearance of their growth ,”—that 
is, if I understand him, if he will but take the pains to 
study and make himself familiar with the peculiar cha¬ 
racteristics of the different varieties. 
It is earnestly to be hoped then, that our nurservmen 
and horticulturists will take hold of this thing with a 
determination to make themselves as thoroughly ac¬ 
quainted with their varieties as possible, so that if there 
were any “ mixing ” among varieties of trees they had 
purchased or propagated, they might be able to detect 
and neutralize the mistake. This branch of horticultural 
knowledge, is, in my opinion, a very important one, 
