1851. 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
77 
€jif Initknltntnl fepitrtrarat. 
CONDUCTED BY J. J. THOMAS. 
Items in Fruit Culture. 
Trimming Down Lists. —Thomas Rivers, the celebra¬ 
ted English nursyman, has fruited about one thousand 
varieties of the pear, and out of this great assemblage 
has selected only four for raising extensively for market 
on his own grounds, viz: Bartlett, Beurre d’Amalis, Ca- 
piaumont , and Louise Bonne of Jersey. In this coun¬ 
try, the Bartlett and Louise Bonne of Jersey, are not 
excelled for the same purpose ; the other two might be 
profitably superseded, as they are not of first quality 
here. 
Early Joe Apple. —So very agreeable to the taste is 
this new delicious summer fruit, that we have heard Jona¬ 
than Buel of East Bloomfield, N. Y., who has long culti¬ 
vated it, remark that he had seen a man eat a half peck 
of them at one time, by taking up one after another, be¬ 
fore he was aware of the quantity he had consumed. 
Shortening-in the Peach. —-We lately witnessed an 
interesting example of this operation performed by the 
frosts of winter. A tree of the Early Anne, planted 
about ten years ago, stood in so frosty a locality, that 
about one-half of each of its annual shoots were destroy¬ 
ed by frost every winter, this variety being more tender 
than most sorts. The consequence was that this tree 
was kept in a comparatively neat and compact form, 
with the bearing shoots quite evenly distributed through¬ 
out the head. Other sorts more hardy, standing side by 
side, and which had not been subjected to this natural 
shortening-in, had extended their principal branches into 
long and naked arms, with the fruit-bearing portions at 
their extremities only. 
Grafting Wedges. —In cleft-grafting, as every graft¬ 
er knows, a good iron or steel wedge is wanted, to keep 
the slit open till the graft is inserted, and accurately ad¬ 
justed. One of the largest sized cut-nails or cut-spikes, 
ground to a wedge upon a grindstone, has been found 
one of the cheapest and most convenient for this pur¬ 
pose, the head of the nail serving a good purpose in 
withdrawing the wedge. 
Recovering Dried Grafts. —It often happens that 
grafts of particular fruits are received in a dried or with¬ 
ered condition from being badly packed; and being sup¬ 
posed to be worthless, are thrown away. The writer 
once received in autum a small package of a new and 
rare sort of apple, from a distance of some hundreds 
of miles, without any protection at all, and they were 
quite thoroughly seasoned. They were encased in moss, 
and buried a few inches beneath the surface of the earth 
on a dry spot of ground. By spring they had gradually 
imbibed moisture, and had become plump again, and on 
being set, every graft grew. Efforts of this kind often 
fail in consequence of applying the moisture too copious¬ 
ly and suddenly. Shoots in so withered a condition 
should receive it so gradually as to require some weeks 
at least for the completion of the process. 
Short Lists. —Samuel Walker, President of the Mas¬ 
sachusetts Horticultural Society, says that if he were 
confined to only one sort of pear, he would choose the 
Vicar of Winhfield , from its free growth, productive¬ 
ness, fair and large fruit, and long continuance. F. R. 
Elliott, of Cleveland, says that were he to choose but 
one variety of the apple, he should take the Belmont. 
Robert Manning of Salem, Mass., gives as the three best 
pears, the Bartlett, Autumn Paradise, and Winter Nelis; 
and B. V. French, of Braintree, Mass., regards as the 
three most desirable apples, the Porter, Rhode Island 
Greening, and Baldwin. 
How long will Buds Keep? —This inquiry is often 
made, how long will scions for budding keep with safety, 
and to what distance may they be sent? The answer 
must vary exceedingly with circumstances. If the 
growth is green and succulent, and the buds have not 
become matured, they are sometimes sensibly injured by 
being kept two or three days only; while on the other 
hand, if the wood is well ripened, and the buds plump 
and hardened, they may keep several weeks without in¬ 
jury. In some instances we have received buds from a 
distance late in summer, and being well matured we have 
kept a part over till spring, and set them as grafts with 
success. 
Influence of Graft on Stock. —Dr. Kirtland says 
u A graft of the Newtown Pippin will invariably render 
the bark of the stock rough and black, (the habit of 
the variety,) within three years after its insertion.” 
Nurserymen, who by digging up trees, become familiar 
with the growth of the roots, often notice that certain 
sorts always have certain peculiarities, on* stocks of 
whatever sorts. For instance, the Yellow Bellflower 
always has fine, fibrous, horizontal roots; the Graven- 
stein has large, strong, descending roots; the Yellow 
Spanish Cherry is remarkable for its large heavy roots, 
whatever the stock may be. 
Long Lists—Gooseberries.— The catalogue of the 
London Horticultural Society enumerates 149 sorts of 
the Gooseberry regarded as worthy of notice; and Lind- 
ley gives a list of more than 700 prize sorts. A selec¬ 
tion of probably one dozen might be made from these, 
which would embrace all that is desirable, the others 
either very closely resembling them, or else being in¬ 
ferior in quality. 
Dwarf Fruit Trees. —It may be questioned whether 
a very extensive introduction of dwarf trees will succeed 
so well in this country as some anticipate, until those 
generally who plant trees, learn to give them better cul¬ 
tivation than they now commonly receive, dwarfs indis- 
pensibly requiring good treatment. And yet they may 
prove better adapted to some soils than trees on com¬ 
mon stock. Dwarf pears have in various instances with¬ 
stood the severity of winter, or made fine growth, in 
localities where trees on pear stocks have perished or not 
flourished. Lindley found that in the chalky soil at 
Rouen, the cherry on cherry stock was languid and 
sickly, while it was healthy and vigorous on the Mahaleb 
stocks. Would not this stock be worthy of trial in those 
portions of the western States where the cherry has 
proved so difficult of culture? 
Shortening-back in Transplanting. —The Horticul¬ 
turist states that an orchard!st on the Hudson tried an 
experiment by planting out 78 peach trees of large size, 
three years growth from the bud. One half were head¬ 
ed back so as to reduce the buds one-half; the rest were 
unpruned. The season was dry, and twelve of the 3° 
