The constitutional union., 1861-03-01
AGRICULTURAL,

CULTURE OF FRUIT TREEs-The follow ing, from the address of Hon. M P. Wilder, President of the American Genealogical Soci- ety, at the session lately held in Philadel phia, comprises much valuable information in reIa- tion to the culture of fruit trees:
 l. The healthful development of fruit trees. as of other living substances, depends on the regular reception of q certain quantity of ap- proprate food. This food whether derived from the earth, air, water, or other Datural elements, IS conveyed through the medium of the atmosphere and the soil. While VIC have on an indirect and imperfect control of the atmosphere and other meteorological agents, the great Arbiter of nature has committed the soil directly to our care and treatment
 ?. To this I may add the general sentiment in favor of thorough and perfect drainage, beneficial to all cultiyators, but indispensable to the fruit grower.
 3. Nc less uniform is the experience of the salutary effects of proper preparation of the soil for fruit trees, both in the nursery and in the orchard
 These principles are settled in the minds of intelligent fruit-growers; but they need to be often promulgated and enforced It should be equally well understood that success de- bends upon the adoption of the habits of the tree to the constituents of the soil, the loca- tion, and aspect, or exposure. X disregard of this principle, and the fckleness of seasons, are among the most common causes of failure; not only among inexperienced cultivators, but among pomologists.
 More attention should be given not only to the location, but especially to the aspect of trees. A common error Is to disregard the time of ripening. We plant our early fruits in the warmest and most genial locations. These should be assigned to our latest varie- ties. For instance, We, at the North, have too often placed our late fall and winter pears, like Easter Beurrc or Beurrer d 'Aremberg, in northern aspacts and exposed positions, where they are liable to injury by the gales and frosts of autumn, whereas we should have given them a southern aspect, and our most fertile soils, to bring them to perfection. The most favorable locations are not so indispen- sable to our summer fruits, which mature early under the more direct rays of the sun. and in much higher temperature. This rule may require notifications and even reversion to adapt 1t to the south or south western DOT tion of our country. And here 1 cannot refrain from expressing the earnest hope that our local catalogues may be framed with a wise reference to this principle, and that the day may not be distant when the socety's catalogue shall designate the particular local ity, aspect and soil adapted to each variety of fruit.
 But however important these considerations may be, the subsequent cultivation of trees, must receive passing notice, even at the risk of repeating some opinions of myself and oth- CTS, which are already before the public.
 The sentiments contained in the communi- cation of Mr. J. J. Thomas, at our last ses- sion, against the growth of any other crop in orchards, especially against relying upon small circles dug around trees in grass-ground, as method of culture, deserve to be held in perpetual remembrance Equally injurious, in my opinion, is the habit of deep digging or blowing among fruit trees, thereby cutting off the roots and destroying the fbrous feeders, which frequently extend beyond the sweep of the branches. However necessary the prac- tice may be of cutting off roots in old orchards, in the process of renovation, 1t should be carefully avoided ill grounds properly pre- pared, and where the trees are in a healthy or bearing condition. From experiment and observation, l am persuaded that working the soil among fruit treets, to the depth of more than three or four inches, shonld be carefully avoided. The surface should only be worked with a hoe, or scarifer, for the purpose of stirring the soil and keeping out the weeds Thus we avail ourselves of the advantages of what, in farming, is called fiat culture-at present so popular. For the same reason, manure should not be dug in to any conside- rable depth, and some of our wisest cultiva- tors now recommend its application on it's surface. So favorably impressed with this practice is the Massachusetts Board of Agri- culture, that it has ordered series of experi- ments with cereal grains and other products in the application of manures on the surface as compared with specified depths beneath it,