J. A. Warder

“ She prunes and trains magnificently, and gives us the finest models for imitation, whether for park scenery, as in the lone tree of the prairie, or in the scattered groups of the island groves that are so often seen in the broad savannas of the West, or in forests of noble shafts, gazed at with admiration, then felled by the ruthless ax, and converted to man's economic uses. ”

“ Indeed it is a very remarkable fact in the study of botany, and the pivot upon which the science and art of horticulture turns, that while there are plants which show no tendency to change from their normal type, even when brought under the highest culture, and subjected to every treatment which human ingenuity can suggest, there are others which are prone to variations or sports, even in their natural condition, but more so when they are carefully nursed by the prudent farmer or gardener. These may be called respectively the plants of nature and the plants of culture. ”

“ Lindley, in the Gardener's Chronicle, says very truly, that "every bud of a tree is an individual vegetable, and a tree, therefore, is a family or swarm of individual plants, like the polype with its young growing out of its sides, or like the branching cells of the coral insect." ”

“ The culture of fruits, and gardens also, contributes in no small degree to the improvement of a people by the excellent moral influence it exercises upon them. Everything that makes home attractive must contribute to this desirable end. Beyond the sacred confines of the happy hearthstone, with its dear familiar circle, there can be no more pleasant associations than those of the garden, where, in our tender years, we have aided loved parents, from them taking the first lessons in plant-culture, gathering the luscious fruits of their planting or of our own ”

“ Pruning is one of the most important operations that we perform upon plants,—especially woody plants. Pruning, in some sort, has to be performed at all periods of their existence and growth, and upon all plants, from the noble forest tree, or the fruit trees of the orchard, of [252] whatever kind, to the humble bushes and brambles that yield us their abundant and most welcome fruits: the trailing vine that adorns our arbors and covers our trellises with its rich and tempting clusters of grapes, also needs to be pruned. ”

“ Such at least would have been an appropriate setting for so valued a jewel as the fountain of health, and it is certain that the pursuit of fruit-growing is itself conducive to the possession of that priceless blessing. The physical as well as the moral qualities of our nature are wonderfully promoted by these cares. The vigorous exercise they afford us in the open air, the pleasant excitement, the expectation of the results of the first fruits of our plants, tending, training and cultivating them the while, are all so many elements conducive to the highest enjoyment of full health. ”

“ In his Elements of Botany, the same writer says: "An embryo is a young plant produced by the agency of the sexes, and developed within a seed—a leaf bud is a young plant, produced without the agency of the sexes, enclosed within the rudimentary leaves called scales, and developed on a stem." "An embryo propagates the species, leaf-buds propagate the individual." He shows each to be "a young plant developing itself upwards, downwards and horizontally, into stem, root, and medullary system." ”

“ This is the true stock for those who wish to indulge in the luxury of dwarf apple trees. Such are very appropriate for the small garden, or for the specimen grounds of a nursery establishment, and they sometimes make beautiful objects in the lawn or among the shrubbery, but they are wholly unsuited for orchard planting, as many a poor deluded purchaser has found out to his sorrow, a few years after having been beguiled by the smooth-spoken tree peddlers, who have sold many thousands through the country to farmers to plant as orchard trees. ”

“ The eggs are dropped singly upon the blossom end of the apple, that affords an entrance to the young worm, which passes to the core, about which it consumes the pulp and the seeds. The worm is whitish, becoming flesh-colored. In warm weather it attains its growth in three or four weeks, and makes its exit by gnawing through the side of the fruit. It instinctively seeks the stem of the tree to secrete itself under the scales of bark, and this affords us an opportunity to destroy it in the pupa state, for it will creep under any shelter that may be put in its way. ”

“ Fall planting has many advocates and many advantages, but the fewest practice it. In the far north, with a long, trying winter approaching, it can not be recommended; but, as the spring advances, there is a great press of work; everything is to be done at once, and all is hurry; hence, for the milder latitudes, with our charming autumnal weather, comparative leisure, and the soil in good condition, everything invites us to plant in the autumn, and with those south of latitude forty degrees, the planting season will often continue until mid-winter. ”

“ Sheep, on the contrary, may often be introduced into an orchard with advantage, as they will eat off a great many weeds, and thus clear the land of such intruders; but they will also spoil low-headed young trees by eating all the leaves within their reach, and they should never be allowed access to the orchard in winter, at least not while there are any trees remaining with smooth bark, as they will often attack such and strip off all that they can get at: sheep are often very desirable in cider orchards when used to crop off the herbage closely, just before the ripening and fall of the fruit. ”

“ For the removal of small limbs from young trees, hardly any time can come amiss—better to do it out of season than to neglect it, and it is a good rule to have a sharp pruning knife always at hand when passing through our young orchards. There is but one time when pruning is absolutely interdicted, and that is when the wood is frozen. When so circumstanced, it should never be cut nor disturbed in any manner—not even to gratify your best friend, by helping him to a few grafts from your proved tree of some coveted variety. ”

“ Trees are great feeders; they need a reasonably fertile soil, for though their roots run wide and deep, in search of nourishment, if the necessary food be not in the soil, [220] they will certainly fail to thrive as they should. The analysis of the ashes of our fruit trees, which contain the elements they have derived from the soils on which they grew, enables us to ascertain what kinds of plant-food should be present in the soil we are about to use, or what materials we may safely and judiciously add to it as manures. ”

“ When the plant is young, its chief object is to grow; it must acquire size and development, to enable it to produce and bear up the enormous crop it is destined one day to yield. Hence in the early years of a tree there is none, or very little of this transformation of the buds, which are all of the pointed character, and when excited into growth, they all produce shoots and leaves only, which result in the formation of an increase of the woody fabric, that we call the tree. ”

“ But with our modern views of vegetation, though we know that all perennial plants do eventually die and molder away to the dust from whence they were created, and that many trees of our own planting come to an untimely end, while we yet survive to observe their decay, still, we can see no reason why a tree or parts of a tree taken from it, and placed under circumstances favorable to its growth from time to time, may not be sempiternal. ”

“ We are so blessed, in most parts of this country, with soil and climate that are well adapted to the production [150] of fruit in the open field, upon sturdy orchard trees, that there is less necessity for introducing these elegant methods of pursuing the fine art of horticulture; and yet there are reasons in the uncertain climate of our winters, why these plans of training and dwarfing should be pursued by those who have the talent and the means for doing it. ”

“ The operation is wonderfully conducive to the end we have in view, and we often see a vigorously growing but barren subject, transformed in a single season into a fruitful tree, covered with blossom-bearing spurs that are full of promise of delicious fruits. ”

“ Our farmers do not appreciate the benefits of having green food for their animals during the winter season. Being blessed with that royal grain, the Indian corn, they do not realize the importance of the provision of roots which is so great a feature in British husbandry; but they have yet to learn, and they will learn, that for us, and under our conditions of labor and climate, they can do still better, and produce still greater results with a combination of hay or straw, corn meal and apples, all properly prepared by means of steam or hot water. ”

“ The intruding weeds are subdued and a mellow condition of the earth is the result, while the roots are not torn and bruised, but are encouraged to turn their feeding fibres into the stratum of mellow soil above them. When the trees have become well established, or when the nature of the soil and the broken character of the surface of the orchard require it, we may seed down the ground with clover, which is preferred to any of the grasses: the broad foliage will shade the ground, and may remain on the surface as a mulch, or be moderately pastured by suitable stock. ”

“ Some persons are bewildered by the array presented in the catalogue, and fall back upon their own slender stock of information, selecting only one well known variety; but most persons commit a far greater fault by attempting to grasp all the varieties that are offered and commended, which is very well for some one person in every region to do. It is a labor of love for the benefit of his fellow townsmen; but it is far better for him who is about [699] to plant an orchard, either large or small, to determine which varieties are best adapted for his purposes. ”

“ It is not admitted, however, that any department of horticulture is to be considered useless, and many of its applications are eminently practical, and result in the production of vast [14] quantities of human food of the most valuable kind. This pursuit always marks the advancement of a community.—As our western pioneers progress in their improvements from the primitive log cabins to the more elegant and substantial dwelling houses, we ever find the garden and the orchard, the vine-arbor and the berry-patch taking their places beside the other evidences of progress. ”

“ The nursery will have become an orchard—one rather closely planted to be sure—but the trees can be dwarfed by root pruning with the plow, they shelter one another from the prairie blasts, and when too thick, alternate trees may be removed to the wood-pile, and thus cheer the owner on a winter's day.
Winter-killing is a serious evil in the nursery, as by it whole rows and blocks of certain varieties are sometimes destroyed, or very seriously injured. ”

“ We must study the circumstances that favor the development of cells, if we would be successful in propagating plants. Each bud being considered an individual, and capable, under favorable circumstances, of taking on a separate existence, we can multiply any individual variety indefinitely, and be sure of having the same qualities of foliage and fruit that we admire in the original, and that we may desire to propagate. ”

“ The measuring worms take their name from their peculiar method of locomotion; having their legs at each end of their long bodies, they walk by progressive leaps, arching up their backs by bringing their hind-legs forward, and then thrusting their heads out to their full length. Many of them drop from the trees, and hang suspended by a thread of silk, when disturbed, or when seeking the earth to undergo their transformations. Some of them are naked, or have few hairs; most are smooth, often striped, or of an uniform color, like the bark of the trees on which they feed. ”

“ The purchaser is his own master, and his tastes and wishes must be consulted; if he wants large trees, by all means, let him be indulged; he will have to pay in proportion, he will have more wood for his money, more weight to carry, or more transportation to pay for, more labor in planting, and vastly increased risk of the life of his trees; but, let him be indulged with his five year old trees, while his neighbor, for a smaller sum invested, with less freight, less wood, less labor, and infinitely less risk, will plant his maiden trees, and five years hence will market more fruit. ”

“ Every plant of high organization possesses the power of shooting out adventitious roots from its stem, under the favoring influences of moisture; and very frequently, even plants that have been raised from seed, are forced to content themselves with such adventitious roots, since it is the nature of many plants, for instance the grasses, never to develop their proper root, although the radicle is actually present. We are, it is true, accustomed to look upon the matter as though the buds must always be developed into twigs and branches, on and in connection with the plant itself ”

“ In Europe, and in this country also, root-pruning has been extensively practiced with the effect of partially dwarfing the trees, but more especially with the object of inducing prematurely the fruitfulness we so much desire, and which is a natural result of the diminished supplies of crude sap furnished by the contracted roots of a tree that has been treated in this manner. The balance between the wood-growth by extension, and that which results in fruitful spurs is sooner established, and the sap is directed to the formation and support of the fruit. ”