The Lancaster ledger. [volume] (Lancaster, S.C.) 1852-1905, 1859-01-19

"A few rods square of native vines in a
high state of cultivation. Vow easily
every family might cultivate sutficieucv
for their own consumption during the
summer and autumnal months but stilI
they are utterly neglected.
l shall not attempt on the present oc
casIon to give the details OF the best mode
of cuItivating the different varieties of
fruit trees or the soils best adapted
thereto. will only make few sugges-
tions, chiefly on points which it is essen.
italy necessary for us to observe in our
hot climate. All fruits do better on
tolerably rich soil, pears, apples, and cher
ries require much richer soil than the
peach-hut YOU cannot produce the lar
gest and best peaches without rich land,
at least'in all the necessary mineral in
gredicuts, which can be most easily sup.
piled by the application Of wood ashes
AS preliminary 20 the planting Of all
KIND oI irult trees, the ground should be
thoroughly trenched or subsoiled, the
holes should he dug from 8 to fee: wide
and from two to three feet deep and
then before filing up the holes, their bot.
toms should be dug up and their sides
dag roughly down with a pick or bar of
iron so as to prevent them from re.aining
water, which is especially neccs sarv in
stiff clay soil. The holes should then be
filled with the top soil, mingled with well
rotten vegetable manure, and shovel or
two OF wood ashes, unless the soil is
sufficiently rich Of itself If the first sum.
mer should prove dry, particularly where
trees are planted rs late as January or
February, they should lie thoroughly
muiched for two or three feet around
their stems with straw, leaves or other
vegetable matter. All fruit trees in this
climate should he pruned and shortened
IN SO rs to form low spreading heads,
branching at about two feet from the
gr"und-this is essential 10 protect their
bodies from our scorching summer sun
Thousands of trees are annually crippled,
diseased and lost by neglect Of this pre-
caution. You cannot succeed well with
the peach unless the limbs are shortened
III so AS TO form low tlutened head. 1t
should never he permitted To branch into
few leading shoots or branches. Cut
OUT ali the leading shoo.s so as to Gitfuse
the sap equally into the side branches.-
lhs G'Ie branches may also be shortened
back to shoot bud. Dl good cultiva
ton, III conjunction with this mole of
pruning, your peaches will he near all one
size on the same tree, and double the size
OF those on trees pruned and cultivated
Oh the old pIan-and YOU will lever see
your trees split OF broken by the s!eet or
trui, acting on the long branches as so
many levers. BY proper planting and
cultivation, a tree will grow as much in
three Years as they will in ten or twelve
years, neglected rs they generally are. |
would advise YOU TO purchase no trees
from the North which YOU can procure
from our Southern Nurseries, as have
found from considerable experience anG
observation, that they do not GouIish
~ trees grown here, owing, | suppose,
TO their want Of acclimation besides
their nurseries are not supplied with the
Southern native seedlings which are in
dspensabIe. We can now purchase from
nurseries of our own and neighhoring
States, apples and pears, to ripen in sue.
cession from May to May and peaches
to ripeu from Nav to November aud
everything else Of the kind adapted to
, our climate ! have already alluded to
the great dvances the North has made
over us in the science Of Pomologv, aud
this has arisen chiefly from their numcr
Gus nurseries and porologicaI societies. -
Their first society was organized about
twenty-five years ago. Since then they
have been extended TO every Northern
State, and almost 10 every country; and
by those means they have not only col,
IecteG all foreign varieties. which are or
promise to I've valuable but besides, have
secured and tested host OF native seed
lings which excel all those imported from
Europe.
The South has been tributary to the
Northern nurseries To the amount Of hun
dreds Of thousands Of dollars, for trees, the
greater part not adapted TO their climate,
until recently we had no good nurseries,
and until very lately no pomological So
cieties. Hundreds Of improved seeding
kinds adapted to our climate, have been
lost from want Of propagation and dissem
ination. The South is at last arising
from her apathy. We have now several
extensive and reliable nurseries and some
societies--a great number Of superior ma.
tive seedlings have been Elected and
tested, and are now in the nurseries for
sale. The northern and middle States
were beaten in their exhibition Of apples
at the National Pomological fair, held in
New York, last September, by West
brook Il Mendenhall, Of Greensboro, n.
G. have no doubt tha. the South car,
il she exerts her energies, excel the North
in most fruits.
Hundreds of superior seedlings are
scattered over the South which only re
quire knowledge and industry TO bring
into general cultivation. Every District
should have their local societies to exam
inc and compare the fruit in their neigh
borhood, so rs 10 bring all local varieties
before the public. A convention was re
Gently held m Charlotte, n. c., and the