1851. 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
79 
winter, and not left till spring when the work would be 
more likely to be omitted altogether. 
There are a number of operations either necessarily to 
be performed now, or which may be done to great advan¬ 
tage in order to lessen the pressure of spring labors, 
among which may be enumerated the following: Prun¬ 
ing orchards; shortening-in peach trees; pruning har- 
hardy grapes; clearing off the caterpillar eggs from the 
small shoots of apple and other trees,- making labels for 
marking trees, and thus preventing mistakes in names; 
and making the various fixtures for gardening purposes, 
as figured and described in the first number of last year’s 
Cultivator. 
Hovey’s Magazine. 
We copy from a late number of Hovey’s Magazine, the 
following interesting scraps, which will doubtless prove 
acceptable to our readers as well as exhibit the value 
of this pioneer journal of horticulture, now in its six¬ 
teenth year-— 
Large Nectarines. —Under the pomological head it 
is stated that a basket of the Lewis Nectarine was ex¬ 
hibited at the Hall of the Massachusetts Horticultural 
Society, from the grounds of S. H. Perkins of Brook 
line, the average size of which was about eight inches in 
circumference. A few were about nine inches, or as 
large as an Early Crawford peach. 
McLaughlin Plum.— This new variety which origi¬ 
nated in Maine, and which has already been very highly 
commended, bore on the grounds of the editor the past 
season. He states it to be “ the only variety which can 
claim an equality with the Green Gage,” and adds, “ we 
shall be much mistaken if it does not become one of the 
most popular of all plums.” In form, color, and quality, 
it much resembles the genuine Green Gage, but is much 
larger in size. 
The “ Rough and Heady” Apple. —This is a fine, 
pleasant and refreshing, but not rich summer apple, of 
a greenish yellow color , beginning to ripen soon after the 
Early Harvest, and continuing for several weeks. It 
has already been described as a new variety under the 
above name in the Genesee Farmer. It has been culti¬ 
vated in Ontario and some other counties of westen 
New York, to some extent, for the past twenty or thirty 
years. It would be desirable to know its origin and 
original name, as the one here given is not pomological, 
neither is it appropriate, the fruit being remarkably 
smooth. 
Salt for the Curculio. —A communication from C. 
Goodrich of Burlington Vt. gives the following experi¬ 
ments:—Flower pots were filled with garden soil, on 
which a layer of fine salt, a quarter of an inch thick was 
deposited. On this bed of salt were laid punctured 
plums containing eggs of the curculio. The grubs came 
out of the plums, passed down through the salt into the 
soil, from which perfect curculios emerged some weeks 
afterwards. The same result took place when fresh air- 
slacked lime was substituted for salt, and where soil 
alone was used. The pots being exposed to the weather, 
the salt was soon washed into the soil, but there was no 
difference in the appearance of all the insects. 
Bearing Trees for sale at Nurseries. —The fol¬ 
lowing passage occurs in a description of Hovey’s nur¬ 
sery, in the notes of an English traveller :—“ I was not 
aware that the method of Mr. Rivers was adopted in 
this country, which I find is the case here, viz: that of 
keeping fruit trees, especially pears, in a prepared state, 
fit for removal at almost any age, with a certainty of 
bearing a crop of fruit the same season. This is effected 
by lifting the trees every fall, by which they forma large 
mass of fibrous roots close to the stem, and they may be 
carried to any distance, with the sure prospect of bearing 
fruit the following season, if planted in the autumn. I 
believe this is the only nursery in America where this me¬ 
thod is practiced. But in my opinion it is as profitless 
a method here as in England—from the same cause— 
that few gentlemen fully consider the value of a few 
years gained in their life-time, which is the case by 
planting a handsome established tree in the fall, and 
gathering a crop the following summer. But such trees 
cost more money, “aye, there’s the rub.” They will 
rather buy trees one year from the bud, at a low rate, 
than pay two or three dollars each for trees in a fruit- 
bearing state. These remarks are not directed to those 
planting orchards , but to those with small grounds and 
large means. 
Canker or Decay. 
A correspondent at Abingdon, Md., writes as follows: 
“ I have near my house some forest trees,which have been 
barked; and where so injured, are decaying. Wishing to 
save them, I looked up information on the subject, and 
found in Forsyth the following directions—for which he 
received a high premium from Parliament. 
• “ Cut all the decayed parts, smooth the surface, and 
apply the following composition :•—Take 1 bushel of fresh 
cow-dung, half a bushel of old lime, half a bushel of wood 
ashes, and a sixteenth of a bushel of sand—the last 
three articles to be first sifted: work and beat together 
till smooth—or by adding urine and soap suds, the mix¬ 
ture may be made liquid, so as to be applied with a 
brush. The mixture being smoothly applied over the 
wound, dredge on dry ashes, mixed with one-sixth part 
of the ashes of burnt bones-—repeating the dredging 
every half hour, till all moisture is absorbed—rubbing 
with the hand till the plaster becomes a dry smooth sur¬ 
face. Will you please say whether you know anything 
of this method of averting decay? Would not anything 
that would exclude the air do as well as this mixture?” 
The disease termed by English writers canker, a sort 
of gangrene of the bark and wood, does not appear to 
prevail to much extent here, and consequently we have 
not proved to much extent the efficacy of remedies. 
There is no doubt that the above mentioned treatment 
is one of the very best for anything of the kind which 
may be of such a nature as to extend or spread. But 
for simple decay caused by bruises, the shellac solution 
would undoubtedly be all that the case would require. 
We have seen old apple and pear trees, the trunks of 
which had contained considerable decayed portions, 
very successfully treated by merely cutting out those 
portions, and giving the freshly cut surfaces a good var¬ 
nish of shellac. This varnish is made by simply dissolv¬ 
ing gnm shellac in alcohol, so as to be of the consistence 
of paint—keeping it in a large-mouthed bottle, well 
corked to prevent evaporation; and if the cork is made 
to form the handle of a brush, the brush being within 
the bottle, it is at all times ready for use. 
