Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1875-11-05

To the Editor of the Times:


me to give to the good people of Charles
county my experience in planting fruit
trees from northern nurseries. Some few
years ago purchased thousand peach
trees, from nursery located in Pennsyl-
vania; and having previously prepared
everything, as soon rs l received them l
fastened to put them in the ground with
all possible speed and care. The result
was that out of Thousand trees only a
bout seventy five lived, and had as well
have planted so many dry pea-sticks; and
what is still worse most of the seventy
five have never attained any size, or borne
any fruit worth the naming. Now l am
fully persuaded, had I not been in such
hurry to plant the trees, but taken the
time to examine their roots, would have
found them perfectly dead.
My object in writing this is to suggest
to those who expect to plant trees this fall
(before doing so or paying the bilD to ex-
anime well and see if the roots are not dry
and dead, or nearly dead, as to forbid the
expectation of their living. 1t is the Gus
tom of northern nurserymen to send their
agents through the country and contract
to deliver trees on given day in the fall /;
they engage to deliver so many that neces-
sity compels them to commence taking
the trees out of the ground long before the
sap has all descended into the roots
They are then, as think, laid out on the
ground where they were dug under too
slight covering, till the time approaches
to deliver them, regardless of the fact that
that they are imposing on the confding
purchaser, and we'll knowing also that
they viii get their pay and be gone before
the cheat is detected. Hence it is we may
go through an orchard of trees planted in
the spring, or previous fall, from one Of
these northern nurseries, and it ill look as
if boys had been playing with dry pea
sticks and had left them standing in rows,
unless the purchaser perchance has had
the good fortune to be one of those whose
trees were taken up last. But there is no
necessity for our being exposed to the
ante 6ellum luxury of being shaved by q
Yankee, in fruit trees at least, for just over
the Potomac, in Fairfax county, there are
several nurseries in flourishing condition
sufficiently near to purchase fruit trees,
and also near enough for you to follow
them and seek that redress if imposed up
on which you cannot have when dealing
with northern man.
Many years ago, whilst reading the Pa
tent Office Report "a thing never do now
l crossed lecture on fruit and fruit trees,
written by nurseryman living near
Fredericksburg, Va, by the name of n.
r. Robey. His views on this subject SO
nearly squared with my own that it called
my attention to his nursery, and from that
day to this, although l have never seen
the man in my life, have uniformly re-
commended his nursery to all my friends
seeking fruit, and have the satisfaction
to say that am yet to see the first man
who was dissatisfied with his bargain
You may take me through young or
chard and I can without hesitation tell
you whether the trees were purchased
from Robey's or northern nursery. II
from the former, will see all the little
trees growing aud in a fourishing eondi-
ton, and if from the latter, l will see
them maintaining a death struggle for
existence, with one-half or two-thirds
dead, unless, as I have said above, the
proprietor is one of the fortunate ones
who got his trees out ofthe last digging of
perhaps forty thousand trees.
Again, apple trees brought from the
north ripen their fruit in August, drop it
in September, aud the fruit decays in
October. Apples imported from the
south of US, am satisfied from my own
observation and from the experience of
some of my friends in the county, would
turn cut much better. Downing tell US
that "all soils will bring apples proftably,
except sand" Now all our soil is more
or less sandy, when compared with the
heavy loan of the Blue Ridge mountains
of Virginia, where apples are so fine and
well favored. But have been told that
when planted anywhere on the banks of
the Potomac, from Cobb Neck to Lower
Cedar Point, they grow finely and will
keep till April. May not that arise from
the fact that one-fourth of the soil is bro
ken up oyster shells2 If so, few bush
els of lime, carefully scattered under the
trees "a little at time) will cause our ap-
pies to hang on longer, and keep better.
Peaches and all stone fruits delight in
rich light sand, and pears in medium
soil, but apples flourish best in heavy
rich loan, and lime has tendency to
stiffen land and make it more adhesive
I will here remark. for the benefit of the
inexperienced, that peach trees planted in
stiff clay boar two or three years only,
and are killed by the borer, whose pres
ence may be known by the gum or glue,
which may be seen in the spring on the
surface of the ground around the root.
I observe that Mr.. H. R. Robey adver-
tises in your valuable journal, and again
insist that our people cannot DO better
than purchase from him. 1t is unnecessa-
ry for me to say, in conclusion, that have
no connection whatever with Mr.. Robey's
nursery-that this is wholly ''labor of
love-" FRUCTUs.
Wauseon, Fulton Co., o. "R. P. Hall l. Co.
Gentlemen send me one dozen bottles