1851. 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
47 
We cannot answer the inquiry about the gnawing of 
rabits, having had no experience with them. 
Training Dwarf Pears .— 1 !< Is it proper where a 
dwarf pear seems inclined to run up too high, to cut the 
top off?” S. P. M. 
Inquiries of this kind are often made, and we there¬ 
fore subjoin a few figures by way of illustrating the 
mode of training dwarf pears. They are most usually 
trained in the form of a pyramid, as shown by figure 1; 
but some prefer them in the form of dwarf standards, as 
indicated by fig. 2. 
When a pyramid is intended, a 
mode of pruning must be adopted 
quite similar in principle to that 
applied to the trimming of young 
hedges; that is, to induce a broad 
and sufficiently thick growth at 
the bottom by successively cut¬ 
ting back. For example, if we 
have a young tree of one seasons’ 
growth from the bud, Fig. 3, 
about two thirds of the top should 
be cut off as shown by the dotted 
line, leaving a stump with eight 
to twelve buds, as in Fig. 4. 
During the second year, these 
buds throw out shoots, and form 
the tree represented by Fig. 5; 
and if, during the growth of these 
shoots, the upper one or leader 
does not keep decidedly ahead of the others, the tips 
of the side shoots, are to be nipped by midsummer. 
The same operation is repeated the second year, but at 
a greater height, and so on till the pyramid in Fig. 1, 
is formed. This is merely an outline 
of the work; there are several more 
minute details observed by skilful 
pruners, which may be pointed out 
on a future occasion. 
If the young tree is left untouched, 
it will form a head similar to that 
shown by Fig. 6, resulting in the 
dwarf standard, Fig. 2; requiring 
however, in most cases, a slight 
shortening back, to preserve a good 
form. 
Pyramidal training need not be 
confined to pears on quince; some 
of the finest specimens we ever saw 
were pyramids on pear stocks, this mode of manage¬ 
ment keeping them within limited bounds, and contribu¬ 
ting towards their productiveness. 
w 
Fig. 6. 
It may be well to add that there exists a serious diffi¬ 
culty in the way of the general introduction of dwarf 
pears. They require richer soil and higher culture than 
other trees, at the same time that more than nine-tenths 
of all trees not dwarfs generally planted by our land 
owners suffer greatly by neglected and deficient culture. 
Still more so then, would these. 
Bitter and useless experience is too little for the 
mind, but too much for the heart. 
The Spanish Chestnut. 
The heavy loam of this neighborhood is unsuita¬ 
ble for the chestnut; and I believe the nearest tree that 
grows wild, is seven or eight miles from this place. 
When transplanted into common soil, the leaves as¬ 
sume a sickly, whitish cast. I have a Spanish(?) 
chestnut however, in my garden, which grows in a 
border of selected earth about three feet wide and 
fifteen inches deep; and it would be very productive, 
if the anthers were not so far diseased as to yield 
little or no 'pollen. Previous to the present season, 
it had not produced to my knowledge more than 
four or five chestnuts in ten years. In the summer 
of 1849, I ascertained the cause of its barrenness, 
and thought of applying pollen from the wild kind; 
but it was not convenient to do so then, and the 
thing was omitted. In the last summer however, a 
branch was accidently brought home by one of my 
family; and though I knew it not till next day when 
it was withered, I shook it over the lower limbs, 
and the result has been several dozens of fine chest¬ 
nuts. 
I intend to plant a wild tree in the same border. 
The theory of this process has been known since 
the days of Linnaeus; but persons who are botanists 
have been surprised and amused at the result. D. 
T. Greatjield , near Aurora , N. F, 11 mo. 1, 1850. 
Experiment with a Plum tree—Curculio repelled ? 
William Hooper of Kelloggsville, Cayuga Co., 
has a plum tree which had regularly dropped its 
fruit prematurely until the present season, when it 
bore a fine crop. Its productiveness is ascribed to the 
following experiment:—Bound the tree, at the dis¬ 
tance of a foot or more, a small trench was cut last 
spring, and filled with several quarts of salt. The 
directions (which were found in a newspaper) men¬ 
tioned a peck to each tree; but apprehensive that so 
much might prove injurious, they lessened the quan¬ 
tity. The tree appears quite healthy. D. T. 11 
mo. 4, 1850. 
Sharp Frosts in Valleys. 
Lawrence Young, Chairman of the State Fruit 
Committee for Kentucky to the Pomological Con¬ 
gress, states the following fact in illustration of the 
advantages of planting tender fruit trees on elevated 
ground instead of in valleys. Lieut. Maury placed 
a thermometer on a high portion of his orchard 
grounds, and another at the bottom, thirty-five feet 
lower. At 1 A. M. he found the thermometer at the 
bottom at 28°, and being surprised to see that on the 
hill at 33°, changed their position, but Was soon 
convinced that there was a difference in temperature 
between the two points of Jive degrees. 
English and Scotch Acres.— The English acre con¬ 
tains 4,840 square yards—the Scotch, 6,150. The 
Scotch acre, therefore, is rather more than one-fourth 
the largest. 
