Part 60

We have nothing to say that has not been well said by Downing, in his most interesting chapter on the Quince. His Fruit and Fruit Trees of America, by the way, is beyond all question the best pomological manual, all things considered, which has appeared at home or abroad.

To return to the quince; we marvel that so few trees have found a place in our collections of fruit. Quinces bear transportation, and will, upon an average, bring two dollars a bushel. They sell extravagantly high every year, and yet no one seems to take the hint.

Our favorite mode of increasing the quince, is by layers. The tree being low and inclined to be bushy, there is always an abundance of suitable wood to lay down. Twenty or thirty or even more rooted plants may be obtained in a single season; and the layers throw out such a profusion of roots that the only difficulty will be to separate each plant with its roots from the tough and matted abundance which will be found to have filled the soil. If laid down in the spring, they may be removed by midsummer, a cool and moist day being chosen, and the plants shaded until they start again to growing. If this is done, a second set of layers may be put down to remain over fall and winter and be removed the next spring.

Trees intended for the fruit-compartment of the garden should be trained to a single stem, when they will make a low and not altogether unsymmetrical tree; at any rate, a tree much more convenient than the quince bush which we usually find in our garden corners.

Where the seed is to be planted, they should be prepared; they are covered with a thick mucilaginous matter which restrains their quick germination. Let them be put into water for twelve hours, and the water will become nearly as thick as paste. Pour it off and repeat the operation until they are nearly clean; mix them with sand and sow them immediately.

CUTTING AND KEEPING GRAFTS.

Many experienced orchardists suppose the best time for cutting grafts to be immediately on the fall of the leaf in autumn.

Grafts should be cut in mild weather, when the wood is entirely free from frost. Select the outside limbs and the last year’s growth of wood.

Too much care cannot be observed in keeping the varieties separate. Tie up in bundles and mark the names of each kind as soon as cut. A moment’s carefulness may save years of vexation.

When the grafts are to be used at home, it is well to lay them in the cellar where frost will not reach them, and slightly cover them, so that they shall not evaporate the moisture which they contain. Too much wet injures them. Half-dry sand is as good as anything, and if packed in an old nail-keg and put in a cool place, they will require no further attention until it is time to use them.

When grafts are to be sent to a considerable distance, they should be carefully wrapped in moist cloth, with folds enough to exclude the air entirely. For convenience of carrying they may be packed, in this condition, in a box, and the space filled in with cotton-wool, chaff, bran, or any similar substance.

It is stated by some, that grafts taken from the lower limbs of trees will produce fruit the soonest; while those from the middle and top and from the upright shoots will make trees of the finest form. We confess a slight prejudice against the lower limbs of trees, as it was thence that “switches” were cut in the mischievous days of our youth, wherewith to apply Solomon’s doctrine of discipline. Whether they will make upright trees, we cannot say; but they are supposed to have a tendency to make upright men.

FROST-BLIGHT.

It is a matter of great importance that all cultivators of fruit unite in making observations on this subject, and that it may be done with some unity of purpose.

1. Let the examiner select trees upon which are seen small water-shoots, that have evidently grown late in the fall. Usually, a tuft of withered leaves will indicate them. Examine also all the new wood which retains terminal leaves or is winter-killed at the tips.

2. The pith will be, in apples, an iron-rust color, and in pears greenish black or pepper color; the inner skin will be discolored, and the wood of a greenish, waxy appearance. On cutting down to the point where these shoots unite with the branch or trunk, the diseased sap will be found to have discolored the whole neighborhood. In many cases which we have examined, half the trunk is affected. We examined a bearing pear-tree, which to the eye has not one sign of unhealthiness, but which, on cutting, is found to be affected throughout, and will, undoubtedly, die in spring.

3. Let a comparison be instituted between trees in different circumstances.

Is there any difference between slow-growing varieties and those which grow rapidly?

Is there any difference between trees in cold, northern aspects, whose sap, in autumn, would not be likely to be excited, and those with southern aspects?

Is there a difference between trees upon a fat clay or rank loam of any kind, and those upon a warm, dry, sandy loam. It is supposed that any causes which produce a coarse, watery, flabby tissue in a tree, predispose it to injury by frost, and thus to the blight; and that the fineness and firmness of texture of trees growing in a sand-loam on a gravelly subsoil give them great power of endurance.

4. Let trees which are found to be in an injured condition be marked and examined again as follows:

(1.) At the breaking up of winter, to see if any change of condition has taken place.

(2.) At the breaking of the bud into leaf.

(3.) At the full development of leaf and when the downward current of sap is begun.

5. It is a matter of great importance to ascertain whether the character of the season which follows such frost-injuries as have befallen fruit-trees in this region, modifies the disease. Some think that blight will follow without regard to the ensuing season; others suppose that a dry, and warm season will very much prevent the mischief; but that a moist and warm spring and summer, will give it a fatal development.

It is ardently to be hoped that accurate observations will be made, and upon a large scale. We presume that it need not be added that the exact truth of facts is the first step toward any sound explanation; and that our object should be to find out facts, and then, afterward, to deduce principles.

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BOILING POTATOES.—Not one housekeeper out of ten knows how to boil potatoes properly. Here is an Irish method, one of the best we know. Clean wash the potatoes and leave the skin on; then bring the water to a boil and throw them in. As soon as boiled soft enough for a fork to be easily thrust through them, dash some cold water into the pot, let the potatoes remain two minutes, and then pour off the water. This done, half remove the pot-lid, and let the potatoes remain over a slow fire till the steam is evaporated; then peel and set them on the table in an open dish. Potatoes of a good kind thus cooked, will always be sweet, dry and mealy. A covered dish is bad for potatoes, as it keeps the steam in, and makes them soft and watery.