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Horticultural. !&■ W. II. RAGAN, CLAYTON, IND. HIGH vs. LOW HEADS FOR FltUIT TREES. shall be glad to get the views of the readers of the Rural World in regard to the system of heading apple trees here recommended." At the proper height (which should not be less than five feet) for the formation of the top, allow the tree to form permanent branches. The same upright leader should be preserved, allowing the less vigorous and horizontal branches to form the top, always removing strong growing rival branches, which are apt to make splitting forks. Hold on to the spurs and less prominent branches of the body, until the top is completely formed and the tree sumciently vigorous to over-grow the wounds without leaving the body full of dead wood. Do not suffer the formation of too many branches, as they will become crowded as the tree grows older. When trees are so formed, a very little annual pruning, which may generally be done with a pocket-knife, will be stffficient. Perhaps a branch when neglected may break with its load of fruit, when to remove it, a saw will be necessary. The wound should be painted to preserve the wood from decay. I think trees suffer less from the removal of large branches, when the operation is performed in open weather, during the winter season. Horticulturists differ on this question, and I shall not urge any theory; only to say, (all other things Doing equal) it is the season of most leisure, and therefore most convenient. We make the above extract from the last Annual Report of the Indiana Horticultural Society, and is part of a paper on the apple, contributed by myself to that Society. Corroborative of the views here expressed, which are only the result of long and careful observation, we publish the following, copied from Colman's Rural World. We, however, think the writer is mistaken in starting his branches twenty inches apart. That is too wide: "To form the head of an apple tree properly, is a nice operation. From large observation, we are satisfied that the general system adopted is an erroneous one ; for in many years past, the system of forming low heads has Deen recommended, but experience has demonstrated that low heads are not the thing—that the lower branches don't produce the fruit; that the fruit needs the air and the sunlight, and the best is produced on the higher parts of the tree. In planting trees now, experienced orchardists recommend that the lower branches should not be permitted to start nearer the ground than five feet, and then many varieties will run their branches to the ground before they are ten years old. _ But the great error in the early pruning of the tree is; in cutting off the stem to force out the side branches. This is recommended by most of our pomological writers. We are a convert to the straight-stem system. The stem should be Sireserved as the base for the branches, tun out the side branches from this stem, beginning not nearer the ground than five feet. Start one branch about this distance from the earth and about twenty inches above this, and on another side of the stem, start another branch (that is, preserve one), and twenty inches above this preserve another; and so continue till you have the desired number of branches—say some five or six—rising one above another, forminga symmetrical, well-balanced head. As thc branches grow,* they will fill up all the space, encircling the tree the proper distance. There will now be a proportion to the branches; a base for them; and they will rise one above another, for air and light and sunshine, and the fruit produced will be large and uniform. Now there will be no branches breaking from the body of the tree, each branch bears its proper proportion, and the tree is healthier, tougher and in a more natural condition. To have the least trouble and the highest success, the straight-stem should be preserved in the nursery. Most nurserymen cut off the stem to force out side branches, and they thus start too near the ground. The better way is, to let the tree take its natural course. An apple tree two years old is better for planting, where the straight stem is desired, than an older tree, as it is more easily trained and the stem ?better preserved. Not one tree in a hun- tdred that is not planted, is trained in the jway here recommended; but we are satis- jfied it is the proper system to adopt. We " Lux," in Western Rural, is responsible for the following. He is, perhaps, correct in his statements of facts and figures. Yet we would disabuse the public mind, of that erroneous impression that he would sell for as much as a bushel of corn, and give from two to three thousand quarts to the acre, and at less expense for cultivation, we prefer to raise berries and buy corn. When we can make as much money on four acres raising fruit as a man can on eighty acres raising grain, we prefer to let those raise grain who are partial to faining a living by the fullest extent of row-sweating. Three or four months of each year devoted to fruit growing, and STUMP-THE-WORLD PEACH. make in regard to the responsibility of a fruit-grower. He would have us believe that about four months of the year would complete thc labors and toils of the fruitgrower, and that we might "lie in the shade or visit our neighbors " the remainder of the year. No occupation imposes more constant care, and attentive, intelligent, well directed labor than that of the fruitgrower^ Yet it is not that drudgery, or exhaustive toil, that characterizes so much of our farm labor. One of the chief causes of failure, on the part of so many that have embarked in the fruit business grows out of this erroneous impression, that it is an occupation of ease, comfort, and remuneration, and that all that is necessary is to "embark," and frequent harvests of plenty, will be the result. It is similar to other occupations in having a "seed time," a time for cultivation, and sometimes a harvest time. "Lux" evidently wishes to monopolize the business in his section, as he is careful to caution "settlers' against coming amongst them: "It may not be uninteresting to your readers to learn that the fruit crop of Union county will be worthy nearly as much as usual. We realize on about one-fourth of the usual crop of strawberries about one- half as much net profit as we would have done had we harvested a full crop. The blackberry crop was heavier than usual, and is one of the most profitable crops grown ; fromthree-fourths of an acre one man has realizedaa net profit of over $400. The apple crop is not quite as heavy as usual, but will bring twice the average price. Peaches, although not half a crop, are selling rapidly for shipping at $(! per bushel. Grapes have no promise of being of much value this year; but pears and quinces will yield nearly double the usual quantity, and if they command as good prices as other fruit, in proportion, the fruit will be quite as valuable as in average years. When a quart of berries will marketing the products, is sufficient for us. The balance of the time we may lie in the shade or visit our neighbors or travel around the world. We are not anxious for any more settlers here, as we don't want the business overdone. Our crops will all be in the market and accounts settled by the time Northern peaches come in market, and we are satisfied with the profits." TO MEMBERS OF INDIANA HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. We publish the following correspondence for the purpose of correcting an erroneous impression that prevails to some extent among members of the Horticultural Society, in regard to the action of the State Commission of _ Public Printing. The extravagant, I might say reckless, manner is which our public printing has been done in the past, is sufficient excuse for the somewhat strict manner in which this committee has criticized the matter entrusted to their care. We think our Secretary, can get in whatever matter may be of interest, or of permanent utility : Clayton, Ind., January, 1,1871. Hon. W. W. Curry, Sec. State, Indianapolis:—! called at your office some timo ago to see you in regard to our society printing. I would call your attention to the fact that the Indiana Horticultural Society differs from other public institutions in one essential particular. It Is organized for the sole and only purpose (aside from that of mutual association) of disseminating knowledge of horticulture amongst the people, while a mere business reportof an organization like that ofthe State Board of Agriculture, or of the benevolent institutions would be entirely satisfactory, and Indeed is all that the public desires to know, yet it would fall far short of the object in the case of I. H. S. This organization lias, indead, no business to transact, except that necessary to the maintenance of the society, hence a business report, such as our last volume presents; can only be an absurdity, falling far short of the desired end. A full report of the discussions is very desirable. What Mr. A. or Mr. 15. says in regard to certain varieties will go far toward determining tlie character of trees and plants, to be cultivated by the reader. I have no particular object in saying to a society composed of a few fruit-growers, all equally as well posted as myself, that Wilson's Albany Strawberry is the most valuable variety, or that Juc-unda is worthless, but if tills information is published tlie public Interest ls advanced. I commend tlie spirit of economy that prompted our Last Legislature to the appointment of a court, of censorship, composed of yourself and theGovernor.whose duty it should be to strike oti from our liill of expenses, as well as from the public inspection, that vast amount of mere verbiage that lias heretofore characterized our public printing, hut at the same time would cite you to our part published records for tlie evidence t hat I. H. S. lias only published matter of value. Hoping that yourself and his Excellency, the Governor, may lie able to see the propriety and justice of our claim to public patronage and that you may at an early day forward me your decision in this matter, 1 am with much respect, W. H. Kaoas, Sic. Friend Ragan .-—Your letter concerning the report of the Indiana Horticultural Society is re- ceieved. In answer, I have to say: 1. Neither Governor Hendricks nor myself, find the suporintendance of the public printing a pleasant affair. Everybody is in favor of economy in others, but nobody wants the pruning knife applied to his own department. And Just such claims for special exemption as yours, come to us from all quarters, until we feel like letting eacli one print what lie pleases. 2. Mr. Kingsbury seems strangely to have misapprehended our requirement as to what matter should be excluded from his report, and hence greatly misrepresents us. We did not undertake to limit tlie size thereof, or to say precisely what should or what should not go in. What we told him was precisely what I have told you in conversation ; we desired him to exclude all mere formal or routine business, and while preserving ail that was of value, to make it as compact as possible. If the discussion of fruits is valuable, why, put it in; but surely the adjournment from morning to afternoon, the appointment of temporary committees, or tlie introduction of a visitor, is not of sucli public importance as to be put into a book, and printed at the expense of the State Treasury. .'*. That you may know precisely what we mean, I send you one of your reports for 1870, in which I have penciled those portions which seem to me utterly useless. It may seem to you a small matter, and yet it makes one twelfth of the book, and it is the accumulation of these small matters which make tbe great ones. Tlie Governor and Secretary are not "censors" of the printing. We are only authorized to order the printing of what is required for the "public service ;" aud we ask you only to put such matter into your report. >V. W. Cukky. • * Experience in Grape Culture.—I planted in the spring of 1870, 1636 Concord, 100 Hartford Prolific, 100 Ives Seedling varieties. Soil of moderate fertility, being clay loam with clay sub-soil, and would grow probably fifty or sixty bushels of corn per acre. I plowed as for corn, and checked the ground four and six feet. The vines of two years growth being trimmed to three or four buds and roots shortened to eight or ten inches, cut smooth from the under side. I then, with the hoe, enlarged the intersections of rows sufficiently to receive the roots in their natural position, then with the hoe, pulled the fine earth on and around the vine, working the soil under and among the roots with the hand, leaving the vines about two inches deeper than they were in the nursery. This is a very fast way of setting vines or trees, and, I think, as good as any on our soil, when one is not very particular about having them in a perfect line. I tended them the first year about the same as corn, plowing three or four times and hoeing once. I pruned none until the following February, when I cut all the sprouts off but one or two of the strongest, and cut them back to two orthree buds. I let from two to four sprouts start, according to strength, and trained two canes to a stake for bearing, and layered the others. The result of the second year was two canes to each stake, six to eight feet high, and 1GO0 well rooted vines, which were planted in the spring of 1872, and are now ready for a crop next summer. In February of 1872, I pruned off all the latterals and main vines to from three to five feet, according to strength. I cultivated with double shovel and one horse harrow, being very careful to plow shallow, and kept the vines tied securely to stakes with twine. The result of the third year, was five tons of grapes, (which sold in Indianapolis at five cents per pound, —$500, on a fraction over one acre,) and a vigorous growth of wood; with the exception of Ives Seedling, which yielded but a small quantity of fruit and made a very slender growth of wood. I don't like it as a market grape. I got no fruit last year in consequence of the severe cold of last winter, which killed the fruit buds, but left plenty of the smaller buds from which sprung a good growth of wood, which was pruned last November and taken down and slightly covered with earth. Will some experienced grape grower please tell me just what time in the spring to take up these vines; whether before the buds swell or after; and whether I shall tie them up to the stakes immediately on uncovering them, or would it be better to let them lie on the ground for a few days ? G. W. Blue. attention. We therefore give the following as an item of interest to all who desire information on this subject: "Vegetable life depends as much on vital functions for its preservation as animal life. But the way trees are treated ordinarily, in their removals from one location to another, indicates a very limited knowledge of physiological laws. Plants repose at night like higher organizations, waking in the sunlight of morning, invigorated and refreshed. Through the long, tedious months of winter, they sleep profoundly. While the leaves are green and vigorously performing a series of labors, preparations are made for a coming season of cold, ice, snow and other influences which reduce the vital force to the lowest point without destroying it. That is the best time in the life of a treo for transplanting it. That business is admirably managed in France They don't think of waiting for a mere stick to grow into a broad, speading tree. No, they select splendidly developed trees, with waving branches, and place them where their grand appearance will be admired. In the squares of New York, the Park Commissions are now pursuing the proper and only promising plan of success by bringing in from the country well grown trees, dug up out of the frozen ground, with all the roots covered with two or three feet of the earth in which they grew. Being set out in their new positions, the cardinal bearings being the same, in the spring they will rouse up like refreshed laborers, and bud and blossom as they did before. That is the true system. It may be accomplished at any period if the roots are never injured or exposed but clothed, thickly and securely, with their own attached soil. Never cut off a limb or a twig till they have a secure foothold. Leaves are the breathing organs of trees. Most persons make a fatal mistake in trimming trees when transplanted. They die because they cannot breathe, oxygen being thrown off and carbon absorbed from the atmosphere. —Scientific American. ~m Remedies for Rabbits.—The following, from Purdy's Small Fruit Recorder, is an effectual remedy against rabbits, but we would caution our readers against raising it where dogs are plenty, as we have known instances where they have committed sad havoc amongst trees so treated, by gnawing them, and besides, rancid grease may be objectionable if administered too liberally. The easiest, cheapest, most effectual, and least objectional remedy we have tried, is blood, administered during the winter, as occasion may require, it being washed off by heavy rains, when it should be renewed. Dilute the blood with warm waterto keep it from forminga clot, and apply with a swab made by tying corn husks to a stick or cane: "I have read many inquiries in your columns for a specific to prevent rabbits from barking young fruit trees. I have also read many answers to those suggestions, and all the remedies are objectionable, and some impracticable where many trees or young hedges require protection from rabbits. Allow me to give your enquiring correspondents a remedy more simple than all others, and one that I have tried for several years, and found entirely satisfactory in every case. It is this: Take a bacon skin, or piece of pork, (more rancid the better,) in_ one hand, and grasp thc young sprout with the other. Commence at the ground and smear the grease upward far enough to be out of reach of rabbits. Do this thoroughly, and the trees aro safe during the winter. For larger trees I recommend a paint brush and a pan of old grease. Cannot some one'giyea sure remedy for striped bugs on vine? I have tried Paris green and lime, and find it will not do. I find many recommendations of lime, salt, etc., for worms and bugs in your columns, all of which I havo found dangerous to my plants, and shall use no more of them." * Transplantation op Trees and Shrubs.—The transplantation of trees and shrubs is of so much importance and yet so little understood that anything that throws light on the subject is worthy of Lye for Apple Trees.—We notice a great deal of questioning as to whether strong lye from wood ashes can be used as a wash for destroying insects on apple trees. We wish to state, if it will be any benefit to the public, that we have an orchard upon which we have used strong lye washes for thirteen years. The application was made every year, between the middle, of May and first of July in order to destroy the bark lice. It has accomplished, fully the purpose for which it was used. and the orchard is considered the finest^ collection of apple trees in tho town. The trees are thrifty, bear every year, arid'* are almost free from lice.—Ohio Fttrm/r. \ t^Of fA
Object Description
Title | Indiana farmer, 1874, v. 09, no. 06 (Feb. 14) |
Purdue Identification Number | INFA0906 |
Date of Original | 1874 |
Subjects (LCSH) |
Agriculture Farm management Horticulture Agricultural machinery |
Subjects (NALT) |
agriculture farm management horticulture agricultural machinery and equipment |
Genre | Periodical |
Call Number of Original | 630.5 In2 |
Location of Original | Hicks Repository |
Coverage | United States - Indiana |
Type | text |
Format | JP2 |
Language | eng |
Collection Title | Indiana Farmer |
Rights Statement | Content in the Indiana Farmer Collection is in the public domain (published before 1923) or lacks a known copyright holder. Digital images in the collection may be used for educational, non-commercial, or not-for-profit purposes. |
Repository | Purdue University Libraries |
Date Digitized | 2010-09-30 |
Digitization Information | Original scanned at 300 ppi on a Bookeye 3 scanner using internal software. Display images generated in CONTENTdm as JP2000s; file format for archival copy is uncompressed TIF format. |
Description
Title | Page 1 |
Subjects (LCSH) |
Agriculture Farm management Horticulture Agricultural machinery |
Subjects (NALT) |
agriculture farm management horticulture agricultural machinery and equipment |
Genre | Periodical |
Call Number of Original | 630.5 In2 |
Location of Original | Hicks Repository |
Coverage | Indiana |
Type | text |
Format | JP2 |
Language | eng |
Collection Title | Indiana Farmer |
Rights Statement | Content in the Indiana Farmer Collection is in the public domain (published before 1923) or lacks a known copyright holder. Digital images in the collection may be used for educational, non-commercial, or non-for-profit purposes. |
Repository | Purdue University Libraries |
Digitization Information | Orignal scanned at 300 ppi on a Bookeye 3 scanner using internal software. Display images generated in CONTENTdm as JP2000s; file format for archival copy is uncompressed TIF format. |
Transcript | Horticultural. !&■ W. II. RAGAN, CLAYTON, IND. HIGH vs. LOW HEADS FOR FltUIT TREES. shall be glad to get the views of the readers of the Rural World in regard to the system of heading apple trees here recommended." At the proper height (which should not be less than five feet) for the formation of the top, allow the tree to form permanent branches. The same upright leader should be preserved, allowing the less vigorous and horizontal branches to form the top, always removing strong growing rival branches, which are apt to make splitting forks. Hold on to the spurs and less prominent branches of the body, until the top is completely formed and the tree sumciently vigorous to over-grow the wounds without leaving the body full of dead wood. Do not suffer the formation of too many branches, as they will become crowded as the tree grows older. When trees are so formed, a very little annual pruning, which may generally be done with a pocket-knife, will be stffficient. Perhaps a branch when neglected may break with its load of fruit, when to remove it, a saw will be necessary. The wound should be painted to preserve the wood from decay. I think trees suffer less from the removal of large branches, when the operation is performed in open weather, during the winter season. Horticulturists differ on this question, and I shall not urge any theory; only to say, (all other things Doing equal) it is the season of most leisure, and therefore most convenient. We make the above extract from the last Annual Report of the Indiana Horticultural Society, and is part of a paper on the apple, contributed by myself to that Society. Corroborative of the views here expressed, which are only the result of long and careful observation, we publish the following, copied from Colman's Rural World. We, however, think the writer is mistaken in starting his branches twenty inches apart. That is too wide: "To form the head of an apple tree properly, is a nice operation. From large observation, we are satisfied that the general system adopted is an erroneous one ; for in many years past, the system of forming low heads has Deen recommended, but experience has demonstrated that low heads are not the thing—that the lower branches don't produce the fruit; that the fruit needs the air and the sunlight, and the best is produced on the higher parts of the tree. In planting trees now, experienced orchardists recommend that the lower branches should not be permitted to start nearer the ground than five feet, and then many varieties will run their branches to the ground before they are ten years old. _ But the great error in the early pruning of the tree is; in cutting off the stem to force out the side branches. This is recommended by most of our pomological writers. We are a convert to the straight-stem system. The stem should be Sireserved as the base for the branches, tun out the side branches from this stem, beginning not nearer the ground than five feet. Start one branch about this distance from the earth and about twenty inches above this, and on another side of the stem, start another branch (that is, preserve one), and twenty inches above this preserve another; and so continue till you have the desired number of branches—say some five or six—rising one above another, forminga symmetrical, well-balanced head. As thc branches grow,* they will fill up all the space, encircling the tree the proper distance. There will now be a proportion to the branches; a base for them; and they will rise one above another, for air and light and sunshine, and the fruit produced will be large and uniform. Now there will be no branches breaking from the body of the tree, each branch bears its proper proportion, and the tree is healthier, tougher and in a more natural condition. To have the least trouble and the highest success, the straight-stem should be preserved in the nursery. Most nurserymen cut off the stem to force out side branches, and they thus start too near the ground. The better way is, to let the tree take its natural course. An apple tree two years old is better for planting, where the straight stem is desired, than an older tree, as it is more easily trained and the stem ?better preserved. Not one tree in a hun- tdred that is not planted, is trained in the jway here recommended; but we are satis- jfied it is the proper system to adopt. We " Lux," in Western Rural, is responsible for the following. He is, perhaps, correct in his statements of facts and figures. Yet we would disabuse the public mind, of that erroneous impression that he would sell for as much as a bushel of corn, and give from two to three thousand quarts to the acre, and at less expense for cultivation, we prefer to raise berries and buy corn. When we can make as much money on four acres raising fruit as a man can on eighty acres raising grain, we prefer to let those raise grain who are partial to faining a living by the fullest extent of row-sweating. Three or four months of each year devoted to fruit growing, and STUMP-THE-WORLD PEACH. make in regard to the responsibility of a fruit-grower. He would have us believe that about four months of the year would complete thc labors and toils of the fruitgrower, and that we might "lie in the shade or visit our neighbors " the remainder of the year. No occupation imposes more constant care, and attentive, intelligent, well directed labor than that of the fruitgrower^ Yet it is not that drudgery, or exhaustive toil, that characterizes so much of our farm labor. One of the chief causes of failure, on the part of so many that have embarked in the fruit business grows out of this erroneous impression, that it is an occupation of ease, comfort, and remuneration, and that all that is necessary is to "embark," and frequent harvests of plenty, will be the result. It is similar to other occupations in having a "seed time," a time for cultivation, and sometimes a harvest time. "Lux" evidently wishes to monopolize the business in his section, as he is careful to caution "settlers' against coming amongst them: "It may not be uninteresting to your readers to learn that the fruit crop of Union county will be worthy nearly as much as usual. We realize on about one-fourth of the usual crop of strawberries about one- half as much net profit as we would have done had we harvested a full crop. The blackberry crop was heavier than usual, and is one of the most profitable crops grown ; fromthree-fourths of an acre one man has realizedaa net profit of over $400. The apple crop is not quite as heavy as usual, but will bring twice the average price. Peaches, although not half a crop, are selling rapidly for shipping at $(! per bushel. Grapes have no promise of being of much value this year; but pears and quinces will yield nearly double the usual quantity, and if they command as good prices as other fruit, in proportion, the fruit will be quite as valuable as in average years. When a quart of berries will marketing the products, is sufficient for us. The balance of the time we may lie in the shade or visit our neighbors or travel around the world. We are not anxious for any more settlers here, as we don't want the business overdone. Our crops will all be in the market and accounts settled by the time Northern peaches come in market, and we are satisfied with the profits." TO MEMBERS OF INDIANA HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. We publish the following correspondence for the purpose of correcting an erroneous impression that prevails to some extent among members of the Horticultural Society, in regard to the action of the State Commission of _ Public Printing. The extravagant, I might say reckless, manner is which our public printing has been done in the past, is sufficient excuse for the somewhat strict manner in which this committee has criticized the matter entrusted to their care. We think our Secretary, can get in whatever matter may be of interest, or of permanent utility : Clayton, Ind., January, 1,1871. Hon. W. W. Curry, Sec. State, Indianapolis:—! called at your office some timo ago to see you in regard to our society printing. I would call your attention to the fact that the Indiana Horticultural Society differs from other public institutions in one essential particular. It Is organized for the sole and only purpose (aside from that of mutual association) of disseminating knowledge of horticulture amongst the people, while a mere business reportof an organization like that ofthe State Board of Agriculture, or of the benevolent institutions would be entirely satisfactory, and Indeed is all that the public desires to know, yet it would fall far short of the object in the case of I. H. S. This organization lias, indead, no business to transact, except that necessary to the maintenance of the society, hence a business report, such as our last volume presents; can only be an absurdity, falling far short of the desired end. A full report of the discussions is very desirable. What Mr. A. or Mr. 15. says in regard to certain varieties will go far toward determining tlie character of trees and plants, to be cultivated by the reader. I have no particular object in saying to a society composed of a few fruit-growers, all equally as well posted as myself, that Wilson's Albany Strawberry is the most valuable variety, or that Juc-unda is worthless, but if tills information is published tlie public Interest ls advanced. I commend tlie spirit of economy that prompted our Last Legislature to the appointment of a court, of censorship, composed of yourself and theGovernor.whose duty it should be to strike oti from our liill of expenses, as well as from the public inspection, that vast amount of mere verbiage that lias heretofore characterized our public printing, hut at the same time would cite you to our part published records for tlie evidence t hat I. H. S. lias only published matter of value. Hoping that yourself and his Excellency, the Governor, may lie able to see the propriety and justice of our claim to public patronage and that you may at an early day forward me your decision in this matter, 1 am with much respect, W. H. Kaoas, Sic. Friend Ragan .-—Your letter concerning the report of the Indiana Horticultural Society is re- ceieved. In answer, I have to say: 1. Neither Governor Hendricks nor myself, find the suporintendance of the public printing a pleasant affair. Everybody is in favor of economy in others, but nobody wants the pruning knife applied to his own department. And Just such claims for special exemption as yours, come to us from all quarters, until we feel like letting eacli one print what lie pleases. 2. Mr. Kingsbury seems strangely to have misapprehended our requirement as to what matter should be excluded from his report, and hence greatly misrepresents us. We did not undertake to limit tlie size thereof, or to say precisely what should or what should not go in. What we told him was precisely what I have told you in conversation ; we desired him to exclude all mere formal or routine business, and while preserving ail that was of value, to make it as compact as possible. If the discussion of fruits is valuable, why, put it in; but surely the adjournment from morning to afternoon, the appointment of temporary committees, or tlie introduction of a visitor, is not of sucli public importance as to be put into a book, and printed at the expense of the State Treasury. .'*. That you may know precisely what we mean, I send you one of your reports for 1870, in which I have penciled those portions which seem to me utterly useless. It may seem to you a small matter, and yet it makes one twelfth of the book, and it is the accumulation of these small matters which make tbe great ones. Tlie Governor and Secretary are not "censors" of the printing. We are only authorized to order the printing of what is required for the "public service ;" aud we ask you only to put such matter into your report. >V. W. Cukky. • * Experience in Grape Culture.—I planted in the spring of 1870, 1636 Concord, 100 Hartford Prolific, 100 Ives Seedling varieties. Soil of moderate fertility, being clay loam with clay sub-soil, and would grow probably fifty or sixty bushels of corn per acre. I plowed as for corn, and checked the ground four and six feet. The vines of two years growth being trimmed to three or four buds and roots shortened to eight or ten inches, cut smooth from the under side. I then, with the hoe, enlarged the intersections of rows sufficiently to receive the roots in their natural position, then with the hoe, pulled the fine earth on and around the vine, working the soil under and among the roots with the hand, leaving the vines about two inches deeper than they were in the nursery. This is a very fast way of setting vines or trees, and, I think, as good as any on our soil, when one is not very particular about having them in a perfect line. I tended them the first year about the same as corn, plowing three or four times and hoeing once. I pruned none until the following February, when I cut all the sprouts off but one or two of the strongest, and cut them back to two orthree buds. I let from two to four sprouts start, according to strength, and trained two canes to a stake for bearing, and layered the others. The result of the second year was two canes to each stake, six to eight feet high, and 1GO0 well rooted vines, which were planted in the spring of 1872, and are now ready for a crop next summer. In February of 1872, I pruned off all the latterals and main vines to from three to five feet, according to strength. I cultivated with double shovel and one horse harrow, being very careful to plow shallow, and kept the vines tied securely to stakes with twine. The result of the third year, was five tons of grapes, (which sold in Indianapolis at five cents per pound, —$500, on a fraction over one acre,) and a vigorous growth of wood; with the exception of Ives Seedling, which yielded but a small quantity of fruit and made a very slender growth of wood. I don't like it as a market grape. I got no fruit last year in consequence of the severe cold of last winter, which killed the fruit buds, but left plenty of the smaller buds from which sprung a good growth of wood, which was pruned last November and taken down and slightly covered with earth. Will some experienced grape grower please tell me just what time in the spring to take up these vines; whether before the buds swell or after; and whether I shall tie them up to the stakes immediately on uncovering them, or would it be better to let them lie on the ground for a few days ? G. W. Blue. attention. We therefore give the following as an item of interest to all who desire information on this subject: "Vegetable life depends as much on vital functions for its preservation as animal life. But the way trees are treated ordinarily, in their removals from one location to another, indicates a very limited knowledge of physiological laws. Plants repose at night like higher organizations, waking in the sunlight of morning, invigorated and refreshed. Through the long, tedious months of winter, they sleep profoundly. While the leaves are green and vigorously performing a series of labors, preparations are made for a coming season of cold, ice, snow and other influences which reduce the vital force to the lowest point without destroying it. That is the best time in the life of a treo for transplanting it. That business is admirably managed in France They don't think of waiting for a mere stick to grow into a broad, speading tree. No, they select splendidly developed trees, with waving branches, and place them where their grand appearance will be admired. In the squares of New York, the Park Commissions are now pursuing the proper and only promising plan of success by bringing in from the country well grown trees, dug up out of the frozen ground, with all the roots covered with two or three feet of the earth in which they grew. Being set out in their new positions, the cardinal bearings being the same, in the spring they will rouse up like refreshed laborers, and bud and blossom as they did before. That is the true system. It may be accomplished at any period if the roots are never injured or exposed but clothed, thickly and securely, with their own attached soil. Never cut off a limb or a twig till they have a secure foothold. Leaves are the breathing organs of trees. Most persons make a fatal mistake in trimming trees when transplanted. They die because they cannot breathe, oxygen being thrown off and carbon absorbed from the atmosphere. —Scientific American. ~m Remedies for Rabbits.—The following, from Purdy's Small Fruit Recorder, is an effectual remedy against rabbits, but we would caution our readers against raising it where dogs are plenty, as we have known instances where they have committed sad havoc amongst trees so treated, by gnawing them, and besides, rancid grease may be objectionable if administered too liberally. The easiest, cheapest, most effectual, and least objectional remedy we have tried, is blood, administered during the winter, as occasion may require, it being washed off by heavy rains, when it should be renewed. Dilute the blood with warm waterto keep it from forminga clot, and apply with a swab made by tying corn husks to a stick or cane: "I have read many inquiries in your columns for a specific to prevent rabbits from barking young fruit trees. I have also read many answers to those suggestions, and all the remedies are objectionable, and some impracticable where many trees or young hedges require protection from rabbits. Allow me to give your enquiring correspondents a remedy more simple than all others, and one that I have tried for several years, and found entirely satisfactory in every case. It is this: Take a bacon skin, or piece of pork, (more rancid the better,) in_ one hand, and grasp thc young sprout with the other. Commence at the ground and smear the grease upward far enough to be out of reach of rabbits. Do this thoroughly, and the trees aro safe during the winter. For larger trees I recommend a paint brush and a pan of old grease. Cannot some one'giyea sure remedy for striped bugs on vine? I have tried Paris green and lime, and find it will not do. I find many recommendations of lime, salt, etc., for worms and bugs in your columns, all of which I havo found dangerous to my plants, and shall use no more of them." * Transplantation op Trees and Shrubs.—The transplantation of trees and shrubs is of so much importance and yet so little understood that anything that throws light on the subject is worthy of Lye for Apple Trees.—We notice a great deal of questioning as to whether strong lye from wood ashes can be used as a wash for destroying insects on apple trees. We wish to state, if it will be any benefit to the public, that we have an orchard upon which we have used strong lye washes for thirteen years. The application was made every year, between the middle, of May and first of July in order to destroy the bark lice. It has accomplished, fully the purpose for which it was used. and the orchard is considered the finest^ collection of apple trees in tho town. The trees are thrifty, bear every year, arid'* are almost free from lice.—Ohio Fttrm/r. \ t^Of fA |
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