184 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
June. 
Shaping Trees and Shrubs. 
Who has not observed the great difference-in 
beauty between a handsomely-shaped tree, and 
one of uncouth or distorted form, of the same 
species? How,often do purchasers of ornamental 
shrubs and trees anxiously search for symmetrical 
specimens—forgetting, or not knowing, that the 
most irregular may be easily pruned''into any 
desired shape? If the Dutch gardeners display so 
much skill in training vegetable growth in pea¬ 
cocks and hedgehogs, American gardeners may 
find an appropriate exercise of their skill in imi¬ 
tating the graceful and beautiful in nature. 
At the present season, or during the com- 
mencement of vigorous growth , this desirable ob¬ 
ject may be most easily accomplished. By occa¬ 
sionally removing needless shoots, but more fre¬ 
quently shortening-back such as are overgrown 
or pinching-in those that threaten to become so, 
and by lopping certain portions to induce dormant 
buds to push where branches and foliage may be 
deficient, a degree of skill may be exercised, not 
unworthy of comparison with that of the artist 
who developes a beautiful statue from a shape¬ 
less block of marble. 
Even small plants, which otherwise would grow 
tall and meagre, may be made to assume a bushy 
and thick appearance, by pinching off the ends 
of the leading shoots while they are young. The 
English gardeners have acquired a skill in mana¬ 
ging in this way their pot plants intended for 
public exhibition, that is really astonishing to 
those who first witness the rich and symmetrical 
masses of flowers and foliage which they are thus 
enabled to present to view. 
A great error is often committed when flower¬ 
ing plants are placed in open ground, by crowd¬ 
ing them too closely together, giving them too 
much the appearance of weeds. They are much 
the best when every plant is allowed full room to 
expand. When crowded, the flowers are fewer 
and more imperfect, and the plants and foliage 
slender, and greatly inferior in beauty to the dense 
and rich mass of well developed leaves and bloom 
of a freely growing uncrowded plant. 
Liquid Manure for Fruit Trees. 
Cultivators of the pear are often puzzled ot 
guess the reason that frequently the same tree 
bears fruit of the best quality, and at others near¬ 
ly worthless, a fact familiar to all pear raisers. 
Perhaps this difference is more striking in the case 
of winter pears, which are sometimes yellow, melt¬ 
ing, and delicious, and at others, green, hard, dry 
and tasteless. We are satisfied that the manuring 
and cultivation which they get, has a large influence 
in the matter, and have ascertained that some 
sorts, to be really fine, must have a warm and rich 
soil; such for example, as the Easter Beurre, and 
Chaumontel. We are inclined to think from some 
little observation, that liquid manure will yet be 
found to contribute greatly to the full develop¬ 
ment of the quality of some sorts of pears, and 
for the information of such as may wish to try it, we 
here give Dr. Lindley’s remarks on the best time for 
its application. 11 For fruit, the proper time for 
using liquid manure, is when the fruit is beginning 
to swell, and has acquired, by means of its own 
green surface, a power of suction capable of op¬ 
posing that of the leaves. At that time, liquid 
manure may be applied freely, and continued from 
time to time, as long as the fruit is growing. But 
at the first sign of ripening, or even earlier, it 
should be wholly withheld. If liquid manure is 
applied to a plant when the flowers are growing, 
the vigor which it communicates to them must al¬ 
so be communicated to the leaves; but when 
leaves are growing unusually fast, there is some¬ 
times a danger that they may rob the branches of 
the sap required for the nutrition of the fruit; 
and if that happens, the letter falls of.” 
It may perhaps be well to add, that liquid ma¬ 
nure, like all other kinds of watering, should 
never pe poured on the surface about the trees, 
as this will only harden the crust, without reaching 
the roots. A few inches of ffie surface should 
first be removed, the liquid then applied, and the 
earth replaced, or else a thick mulching given. 
The practice of making holes about the tree with 
a crowbar, and pouring the liquid into these holes, 
may succeed on porous soils. 
Experiments with the Curculio. 
The number of remedies is a sufficient proof of 
the extent of the damage committed by these co¬ 
leopterous rogues, as w T ell as of the difficulty of 
circumventing their attempts. It would be some¬ 
what interesting, and we fear rather frightful, to 
estimate the aggregate amount of damage com¬ 
mitted by them in the United States; probably it 
would amount to at least half a million of dollars 
annually. We therefore cheerfully give to our 
readers every remedy which promises any pros¬ 
pect of success, for their trial. One of the latest 
we have seen, appears in the Pennsylvania Farm 
Journal, and consists in placing a small iron fur¬ 
nace filled with live coals, on a high stool, as near 
to the low r er branches as safety will admit, and 
then sprinkling pulverised sulphur lightly over the 
coals. It is done early on calm mornings, so that 
the fumes of the sulplier pass up through all parts 
of the tree. The w r riter states that after several 
experiments, he found this invariably to bring 
down the curculios, and to give him good crops 
among trees which when neglected yielded noth¬ 
ing. Cultivators of fruit may easily ascertain by 
trial whether this is more effectual, or more ea¬ 
sily performed than the jarring method. 
A remedy for that pest of the smooth-skinned 
fruits, the curculio, has been suggested. I intend- 
ed to have communicated it to you before this; I 
trust, however, it will be in time to enable horti¬ 
culturists to try it and test its efficacy. A friend 
of mine mentioned it to me, stating that he had 
tried it last year with perfect success. 
Wood ashes , thrown over the trees when the dew 
is on, or when the leaves are wet, for a few times, 
(three or four, unless it should be washed off by 
a shower,) will be sufficient to prevent the attack 
on the fruit by this destructive insect. 
If the ashes could be sifted on dry, it would be 
best; if not, they may be a very little dampened, 
just sufficient to enable you to throw’ them to the 
top of the tree with the hand. A coarse bag filled 
With the ashes, and hung on the end of a pole, 
would be a good arrangement for sifting, by shak- ' 
ing it over the tops of the trees. This sprinkling < 
of the ashes should be commenced as soon as the i 
