Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1870-02-16

Trees.
Levi Washburn said that for the last six
years he had given the subject Of Fruit trees
almost his entire attention and thought TINT
no one subject was Of more interest to far
mers. The apple tree originated from the
European Grab, and by constant cultivation
and improvement had arrived at its present
perfection. How long can the Improvement
60 on His belief, which has been strength.
ened by the opinions of Fruit-gower- aud
Nurserymeu with whom he ha, discussed tho
matter is that it can go no farther We
have reached a point at which all attempts TO
improve the Apple tree will tend to destroy
its vitality Some few varieties, which like
the Founding" have not been under eli.
tiyation 30 long, may DO well for awhile, hut
the Baldwin, X. l. Greening, Spit1nburg and
other kinds which twenty-five years ago would
flourish anywhere are now failures. The
universal expression throughout the country
seems to be that the apple tree has lost It's
vitality. 1t is claimed that onr soil Is ok.
hausted Of the elements necessary iog the life
of the tree. That this is not so is shown by
the fact that in newer States, as New York.
Ohio, Iowa and Minnesota, trees are not more
thrifty than here. Neither is the argument,
that our climate has changed a good one. for
a Crak troa mill ba,r A. ,pall .. -t.tI.tl
ever did. You can account for this trouble
with our orchards in no other way than that
the tree has lost its vitality 1t &, the same
with the Pear and Plum aud the Cherry.
Even trees that are apparently thrifty win
bear no apples or at least very few
Our present Grab was started from the
Siberian and at the State Fair last fall one
man showed over $50 varieties. A Grab will
grow anywhere. Plant one beside a Bald.
win which bears none and the Grab will be
loaded. Have known Crabs three years Old
to bear one bushel A tree to be truly hardy
and sound must have large leaves, for they
are its lungs. The Orab-tree has large leaves
and it is doing as well as trees erer did Then
here is our remedy for poor trees. Take the
Grab, cultivate it, improve IT, raise seedlings,
get out new varieties-in fact 20 over the
whole ground again and we shall have trees
as they were in their palmiest days. There
are already varieties of the Crab which keep
az well as the best winter apples. and also
some as large as Baldwins. These last are
the " Tetofsky and were introduced into
this country by government The above
theory is the belief Of every one who has ex-
amned the matter to any great extent. He
thinks trees are better transplanted from "a
distance if they are not exposed The best
looking and best bearing trees in this vicinity,
the d" Founding came from Mass. Hi, be-
lief is that it makes no difference where the
tree was raised, and he has conversed with
thousands upon the subject When trees die
you curse the dealer and nurserymau but IL
you ever have orchards again, YOU have got
to 60 back to the Crab
Mr.. Eaton inquired if we could not im.
prove from natural fruit
Reply by Mr. Washburn. Plant Bald
win seed, and the tree you raise will have 20
I inuIt vitality Auuh the ithlhN lu ilff il7tiis-
The root of the Crab is mass Of iibcrs, aud
AZ the number of these is reduced in the
same proportion, do you diminish the vitality
Of the tree.
| W. W. Walbridge said all tree dealers
sing the same old song-fruit trees are diving
and they have Just the thing. The man who
sold US the Dwarf apple-tree, claimed that
they were perfectly hardy, were raised in
Brandon, and would bear from one bushcl to
a barrel in four or Eve years. The truth WIS
that the trees came from Rochester, ~ v,
and were not fit to bush peas with The
people of this town alone have been robbed
of over $4,000. One man told up in Coches-
ter that he was ashamed to come back to
Randolph, he had swindled people so. Now
here is another story about Crab trees --
What we most need to know, is that the men
from whom we get trees are reliable,
Levi Washburn said he had studied the
matter many years. Some years ago bought
$50 New York trees they have borne but
little; also bought some from town nursery
with the same result None Of the trees are
worth twenty-five cents. Has an orchard Of
Crabs that are doing well. G. NJ. Howard
has observed that trees have done better iu
the last five years than at any time within the
previous twenty. Does that look as though
they are running out? The reason why stand.
ard trees do not succeed in Minnesota is be-
cause the climate is too dry. Crabs which
grow wild there do we'll The Tetofsky Grab
ripens in sixty days from the blossom, and
lasts two weeks; yet ii is claimed to be hardy
and good. Was told by fruit growers in
New York, that were they to start other or
chards, the trees should be Badwins aud
Greetings The trees have not run out there
The Baldwin is too tender a variety to be
grown in cold climates Have noticed many
orchards of standard trees, aud find that in
all cases where the trees have been taken care
of the owners have been repaid. An old
nursery man told him that with the exception
Of trees knawed by mice, not Bethel tree
or " Nodhead" tree had died, When you set
out fruit trees take only hardy kinds G. s.
Paine thinks il will not spoil an orchard to
pillow IT, Mentioned one in Massachusetts
which commenced bearing twelve or fifteen
years ago, and the ground has been under
constant cultivation since producing crop
each year The trees are almost all Bald
"iuoi auu LUIS 1Vai p"iN l"iENlFf n"ihN tlfN'
yielding thirty bushels
@. NJ. Howard says root pruning produces
fruit, Has plowed his own orchard and the
trees are more thrifty for IT, They bear cv-
cry year.
Loren Ketohum has observed thai orchards
which have been pastured are thrifty.
Samuel Howard would judge by some Of the
talk that we must wait until the Grab il per-
tected before we eau have fruit Grab APP
Piles are good only little while in the fall 10
make sass aud cider" IL SO, why 10 we
buy 80 or 100 trees when two or three will
do TO experiment WITH Often when we buy
the Transceneeat Grab, dealers give us infa-
rior kinds He mentioned some orchards of
standard trees money could not buy, Thinks
our soil is somewhat exhausted aud that trees
will not Aonrish M whara tha conntr. v,a.