Tama County Republican. (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1867-1872, 1870-03-03

in the Summer when the tree grows
the fastest; never take off large limbs
unless absolutely necessary on account
of former neglect If you want :
thrifty orchard, keep small grain and
grass out of it, also, never permit livt
stock OF any kind in your orchard
while your trees are small; poultry
should have free access to your or
chard, as they will destroy many in
sects. Keep leaf rollers, caterpiller'
and all other noxious insects Of
your trees. TIE best time to clear
leaf rollers and caterpillers from tree
is in the Winter. The eggs Of th'
caterpillers may then be picked of
from the limbs, and thrown on tht
ground or in the snow, which is tht
end of them. 1t is absolutely neces
sary to keep young trees, especially
clean of rollers, as they will not thrive
I with their limbs hanging full of these
pests sucking the very life.sap out o
the trees.
Cultivate your orchard freaucntl,
IN the fore part of the season, will
cultivator and hoe. In hot dry sea
son, loosen the ground for yart
around the trees nearly, or quite, t
the top roots, which is tar better thar
mulching, as the air and small showers
of rain will have better access to the
roots, and ground well-worked and
kept fine will not dry out halt as quicl
as hard baked earth.
:hink the following varieties of ap
pie are perfectly hardy for Tama coun
ty:
Red and Sweet June, Red Astra
chan, Duchess of Oldenburg, Benoni
Autumn Strawberry, Colvert, iona
than, Bailey, Sweet Sops of Wine
Golden Russet, Perry Russet, Nader
Blush, Willow Twig, Ben Davis, Wine
Sap and many others.
The Siberian Crabs, of the different
varities, are perfectly hardy.
AS far as | am acquainted with the
Siberian Crab, l think the Trancend.
ent the best; the tree grows very Wig
orous, bears oung and its fruit is ad
mired by all lovers of fruit, although
the smaller varieties are we'll worthy a
place in the orchard or.garden, as they
| often bear when two or three years
old. The small Siberian Crab should
be about 10 or II feet apart, each way
| never had much experience will
dwarf apple trees. l bought doze,
dwarf trees of tree pedler some
years ago, which all died the first year
after ! planted them, except 3 OF them
survived, but never had a blossom.
have seen dwarf apple trees in this
county that did exceedingly well.
l believe the pear quite as reliable
as the apple. The only serious trouble
here, we think, is that we have beer
mostly experimenting with unreliable
sorts, shipped from the east, which
proved to be unhardy and entirely
worthless for our climate.
The Flemish Beauty, with some 1C
or II other varieties prove, SO far, to
be perfectly hardy with me-
have not much faith in dwarf pear
trees, though had both dwarf and
standard to bear quite young. Dwarts
are apt to root-freeze, unless mounds
of earth are thrown around the tree.
before hard freezing in the fall.
Plant pear trees Cleaning as applet
not more than IL to 16 feet apart, eacl
way, and only sorts proved to be
hardy in your vicinity, cut back long
struggling shoots every season while
the tree is young, compelling low,
dense growth; otherwise, cultivate and
treat them the same as the apple tree
Perhaps no part of our Western do.
main is better adapted to the plum
than Iowa. The native wild plum
is found in great abundance along the
rivers, creeks and hill-sides, in Tama
county. Most of the wild plums Of
Iowa are worthless and not worth cul
tivating, yet many of them are nearly
If not quite, equal to the improved va
rieties, and when we take in considera
tion the i'll success which has attended
the cultivation OF the finer improved
vatietles for the past years, it certainly
behooves us to turn our attention tc
some kinds which will, at least, fill
the void which will be occasioned by
the failure of the foreign improved va
rieties. Besides the hardy nature OF
the native plum, it is exceedingly pro.
ductive and is not as much molested
by the curculio which is making such
sad havoc among the tame varieties
l think it would be a matter of econ.
omy tor every farmer to plant small
grove Of the best wild plums. The
fruit makes excellent preserves and its
blossoms, in the Spring Of the year
furnish bee feed at time in the sea
son when bees need 1t the most.
The Lombard with several other va.
4 Il L l.. L