Pomology: a treatise on the culture of fruit and fruit trees

POMO k OGY :

A TREATISE ON THE CULTURE OF

FRUIT AND FRUDT TREES.

GIVING

EXPLANATIONS HOW TO APPLY CERTAIN CHEMICALS AND MINERALS
TO FRUIT TREES TO INSURE THEIR HEALTH AND
PERFECT BEARING QUALITIES.

FOUNDED ON

FIFTEEN YEARS OF OBSERVATION AND EXPERIMENTS.

BY DANIEL NARRIGAN.

4,
COLUMBUS:
OHIO STATE JOURNAL BOOK AND JOB OFFICE,

ak S65.

POMOLO GY:

& TREATISE ON THE CULTURE OF

FRUIT AND FRUIT TREES.

GIVING

EXPLANATIONS HOW TO APPLY CERTAIN CHEMICALS AND MINERALS
TO FRUIT TREES TO INSURE THEIR HEALTH AND
PERFECT BEARING QUALITIES.

FOUNDED ON

FIFTEEN YEARS OF OBSERVATION AND EXPERIMENTS.

BY DANIEL NARRIGAN.

COLUMBUS:

GH1O STATE JOURNAL BOOK AND JOB OFFICE,

}

PAR. 1865.

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year of our Lord one
thousand eight hundred and sixty-five,

BY DANIEL NARRIGAN,

in the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the United States tor the
Southern District of Ohio,

POMOLOGY.

THE EARLY DECAY AND NON-PRODUCTIVENESS OF FRUIT TREES OF THE
PRESENT DAY.

Thirty-five and forty years ago such a thing as a failure in a fruit
crop was scarcely known west of the Alleghanies; and even through-
out the older settled and longer cultivated States of Pennsylvania,
Maryland, Delaware and New Jersey, an over-abundant crop of fruit
often caused as much speeulation, if not vexation, to know ‘‘ what
to do with it,” as the entire failure of later years has caused in not
giving any todo with. Many have been the reasons assigned for
this great change, but late frosts in spring generally had to take the
blame, while in reality the exhausted soil was the delinquent. By
exhausted soil, we do not mean soil impoverished in toto, but only in
mineral substances, which are necessary not only for the health of the
tree, but must exist to produce sound and well ripened fruit.

It is a well established fact, that if we have a hot, burning spell
the latter end of a summer, so that after-vegetation can not extract
the mineral properties brought to the surface through the intense
heat, we will have a geod grain year the following season, and also
see more prospects for a fruit crop than ordinary years. While most
of the products of the earth, used as the food of man, must undergo
a chemical change by cooking or some other course of fermentation
before they become wholesome or palatable, fruit of all kinds comes
ripe from the parent stock, ready for food, with a rich flavor, high
aroma, and all the properties atttainable by the most perfect chemical
combination. To produce these results, much more is necessary in
the soil than what would be adequate to yield a heavy crop of grain
or grass. Trees are but plants of.a large variety, and plants want
substance to live and produce seed to propagate their kind. What
to feed fruit trees with, so as to make them what nature has designed
them to be, has been, for fifteen years, the study of the writer of this
treatise, and by investigation, close observation and practical exper-
iments, he has succeeded in discovering a mode of treatment by which

4

fruit trees can not only be kept healthy, but be made perfect and con-
stant in their bearing qualities.

PLANTING TREES.

It would be a good thing if every tree could be planted in, or
raised from, the seed, as they would be firmer to resist high winds,
and naturally more productive, since they strike deeper root than a
transplantsd tree, draw more of mineral substances from below the
surface of the soil, and are generally more valuable. As trees, how-
ever, are generally raised in nurseries till large enough to transplant,
some knowledge is necessary to transplant them properly. The soil
should be reasonably loose, at least for some distance around the
tree, which should by no means be planted too deep, so as to deprive
the top or surface roets of the warmth of the sun and tne action of
the atmosphere. One inch of soil over the upper roots is sufficient.

PRUNING.

Prune or trim your trees in June or July, as then the wounds heal
over in a very short time. Never raise the tops of your trees too
high. Prune low, and shelter the trunk from the scorching rays of
the summer’s sun and the cutting winds of the winter. Den’t count
on raising any other crops on an orchard, especially after the trees
become of any size and begin to send their roots about im quest of
food. By no means injure any roots by plewing or cultivating, as
every root cut, no matter how small, is so much loss to the tree:
Always have an eye tothe future handling of a tree while trimming,
and make it convenient for climbing, having limbs at proper dis-
tances to rest the feet and hands upon while gathering fruit or work-
ing in it. Some varieties only produce fruit in the more shaded
parts of the tree, such, for instance, as the Rhode Island Greening
apple. For this reason.a young tree should be watched, when first
beginning to bear, and note taken of its peculiarity, so as to either
trim it with a dense or open top, as the nature of its fruit might
require. ‘Tough grass sward should not be allowed to form around
the trunk of a tree, but be carefully removed to the distance of sev-
eral feet, without injuring the roots. Above all, feed your trees, as
it is unreasonable to suppose that'a fruit tree should produce year
after year without exhausting the soil. The fact that ground pro-
duces eighty bushels of corn to an acre is no reason why it should
produce heavy crops of apples, pears, peaches, plums, cherries, or

3)

any thing that comes under the name of fruit, because fruit requires
different ingredients, or else in heavier proportions, than corn for its
development. The following is my application in the shape of a
chemical fertilizer. ‘The soda and saltpetre are dissolved in twelve
gallons of water, after which the sulphuric acid is poured in the solu-
tion, first, however, pouring the acid in two gallons of water ; last
of all, the solution of iron is poured in. This solution can be used
in liquid form, or better, be mixed with any common earth, and put
in a dry place, and used as occasion requires. Sprinkle the solution
over about ten bushels of earth, mixing and shoveling well the while,
when it can be used as occasion requires. This is above price on
young trees, too small to apply chemicals in the trunk of the tree by
boring. For all kinds of small plants it is of great value, as it keeps
mildew and insects away, besides feeds them wonderfully. Useit on
rosebushes, strawberries, raspberries, gooseberries, &ec. :

7 Ibs. sal soda; 3 lbs. saltpetre; 1 lb. sulphuric acid; 1 lb.

muriate tincture of iron.

The following preparation is for large trees, old enough to bear.
It is applied by boring from one to half a dozen holes in the trunk
of a tree, according to size. Bore.a little downward, to prevent the
powder from working out. The holes aré plugged up with com-
mon soap, which, as it dissolves, helps to spread the chemicals
through the tree, This will not fail to produce, not only a crop of
fruit for a certainty, but make the fruit perfect and free of worms, as
it destroys the larva or egg of the curculio (the cause of worms in
fruit), which is deposited when the fruit is young and tender, and
even in the blossoms, as supposed by many. No sooner is the larva
deposited, than it begins to feed on the fruit, if ever so little at first ;
and as the sap is charged with ingredients detrimental to insect life,
the larva dies and the fruit grows on to perfection. How long this
will last in trees is not yet ascertained, but it has shown itself in
unimpaired vigor in the third year, the longest time it has been on
experiment. It will effectually kill all borers in as well as worms on
trees, and has revived many, supposed to be gone beyond recovery.
Peach trees require more in proportion to size than apple or pear
trees ; nor will it last so long in the former, owing to their stronger
absorbents and the bitter nature of their leaves and fruit kernel; and
for the same reason a peach tree is shorter lived than pear or appple,
and yet, if attended to, easier kept up. ‘There are instances of peach
trees. bearing for over sixty years, retaining their full health and

6

vitality, never showing signs of disease or faultiness of fruit. Such
a tree could be seen in 1859, ten miles southwest of Havre de Grace,
on or a little to the left of the road leading to Baltimore. It stood
im the center of a knoll of rocks, highly charged with mineral sub-
stances and phosphorescent matter. This is an isolated case, but it
teaches a lesson. In all ordinary cases, where a peach orchard once
dies out, it is useless to attempt to raise the same fruit again.
Though other crops and even other fruit trees might prosper, the
peach will never do again, unless the soil is resupplied with those
ingredients extracted by their growth. It is really surprising what
results will follow the judicious application of chemicals to fruit
trees, more immediately the peach :

4, lb. oxide (or precipitate carbonate) of iron ; 4 Ib. flours of sul-
phur ; $ 1b. bicarbonate of soda ; 4 Ib. nitrate of potassa ; + Ib. car-
bonate of ammonia ; 3 oz. gum camphor.

Have all the above ingredients pulverized, and keep them in a bot-
tle, tightly corked up, to keep from evaporating. Use three-fourth,
or, in large trees, one-half inch auger; bore from two and a half to
five inches deep, as the size of the tree indicates. Any tree two
inches or more in diameter can be bored ; under that size the root
application ought to be used. A peach tree three inches through
wants at least three holes bored, pretty well across, and ina double
triangle, so as to have the stuff work on all sides. An apple or pear
tree, of the same size, about two holes, three-eighth inch auger. By
bending a small piece of tin or leather, you can form a kind of fun-
nel or canal, in which you pour powder and work it in the hole by
means of a little stick, used as a rammer. Plum trees want
full as strong an application as peach; cherry about the same, if in
bottom land, which is the poorest of all soil for fruit trees of any
kind, unless artificially supplied with minerals. One hole bored
pretty well across is sufficient for a tree two inches in diameter.

The “ fertilizer,” or ‘* root applieation,”’ is an excellent thing for
grapes, preventing the rot and producing heavy crops. It can be ap-
plied in solution, or after being mixed with earth, as any common
manure. Where quick work is required, use it in liquid form ;
otherwise, where a slower application is desirable, combined as above
described. ‘To see what wonderful effects it will have on trees, take
one that looks sickly, and is apparently about dying. Remove the
earth with care for several feet from the trunk, till you nearly touch
the roots ; then fill about one inch deep of the fertilizer in the uncoy-
ered place, replacing the previously removed soil by spreading it

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over the fertilizer, to keep the rays of the sun from striking directly
onit. Should there be too much earth, replace only part of it, as
roots dare not be covered too deep, the top roots not over two
inches. Half a dozen trees treated in this manner, and the chemi-
cals applied by boring, as elsewhere explained, will bring more fruit
regularly, and of a sounder quality, than half a dozen acres will, if
left to themselves.

HOW TO MAKE GOOD GRAFTING WAX.

Take four parts of resin, two parts of beeswax, and one part of
tallow ; melt all together till quite hot, then pour in cold water ;
grease your hands well and work the wax as it congeals, by pressing
and pulling, till it assumes a whitish look. This will keep for
years. Previous to using, put it in warm water, or expose it to the
sun, to soften. Always grease your hands, as it will stick otherwise
so you can’t work.

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