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has most fully fitted to the growth of the apple. If our soil is lacking in any one of these constituents, we must supply it ourselves. So I say that a limestone or granite soil is better than any other, and here in Oxford county no one will deny that we have a granite soil; and from my observation of many localities, at least, in Oxford county, the granite is very largely composed of feldspar.

Our friend from Connecticut has spoken in regard to the protection of orchards. I simply wish to mention in that connection. one very serious loss from lack of protection. You have better trees where they are not twisted and turned about by the winds and heavy gales that we have. We all know that our forest trees are what we call "shaky," the high winds blow them back and forth, and induce broken trunks at the butt. Apple trees are in a measure liable to the same injuries. If we get them out of the range of these strong winds, we have more healthy trees. But beyond that, when we come to harvest our apples, it is very unpleasant to find, after some northwest gale, twenty-five out of fifty barrels on the ground. I have seen one-half the crop on one hundred trees shaken off in fifteen minutes by a single gale. We want to place our trees where they shall not be exposed to these strong winds.

I agree most cordially with our friend in regard to the preparation of the soil. After having selected it, let it be thoroughly drained first, if necessary, and then thoroughly tilled. I would not plant an orchard upon a piece of ground without subsoiling it. You cannot do that well after you get your trees planted. You might do it, perhaps, within three or four years, but soon the roots run out so far that it is not possible. Then, when you come to dig the holes, don't talk about digging out great holes; if the whole field is what it should be, all the hole you want is sufficient room to spread out the roots. Then sift the finely pulverized earth among the roots, so that they will have a chance to grow. My experience in this is, that the roots of the tree should be placed so that they will form a support all round the tree, otherwise you will have to stake it, and I would not give a cent for a tree that needs to be staked. I would not have it in my orchard. When you have spread the roots properly, lay the earth upon those roots, gently pressing it down, so that there shall be no air spaces around or among the roots. Let the earth be brought closely in contact with every root, no two roots touching each other, and, if possible,

no two roots crossing each other-but all spread about the tree so that where they take hold of the ground, you have a perfect support to your tree. I should hardly agree with him in regard to pouring water into the hole. I would select for setting out a tree a time when the ground is dry enough that you may handle it readily and intermix it thoroughly with the roots without any trouble, and trust to the next rain that comes to settle it down.

Now in regard to the choice of trees. As to their age, it depends upon how thrifty they were in the nursery. I should prefer pear trees not more than one or two years old. There is an old and

trite saying, "As the twig is bent, the tree is inclined." We may train up a little tree just as we may train up a little child, and shape it about as we please. But take one that has grown up high and awkwardly, perhaps, in coming from the nursery, all the buds will be rubbed from one of the side limbs, (if they are not broken,) and it is difficult to make a good tree without cutting it close down again. I would say then, take small trees; I certainly would not have them more than three or four feet high, because small trees need no staking, their roots are more likely to be sufficient, and you need to cut them back but little.

I was glad to hear the question raised as to the distance that trees should be set apart. I see no greater error in connection with the cultivation of orchards than in the distance between the trees. Mr. Gold says, thirty or forty feet. In the main I agree with him. It depends much upon the variety. The Baldwin, the Greening, and several other large growing trees, should certainly have forty feet. I have in mind an orchard set out 24 feet one way, and 27 the other, making 25 on an average, The trees have now grown to full size, and a man cannot handle a ladder properly among those trees. He must push it up among the branches to get at the apples. The branches interweave, and we know that the roots are interwoven more than the branches. The roots of apple trees frequently run off four or five rods from the trunk. Thirty or forty feet is little enough for the larger growing trees, and I am not sure but it is little enough for almost any. The last I set out, I put fifty feet apart. And here, upon our hillsides, where land bears only a moderate price, we ought certainly to give trees all the room they need; and for another reason, because they will be more profitable in the end. It requires a good deal of courage in a man to cut down trees that he planted ten or fifteen years before; very few will do it. Again, the ten

or fifteen years' growth of those trees which you cut down is so much taken out of the soil, that ought to have gone into your standards. On my way to this place, I passed a row of trees Now I am quite certain that half of

set about twelve feet apart. them would be worth more in ten years than all of them will be. Experience has convinced me that it is a serious error to set trees too close.

The time of planting in my judgment, is when the leaves are off and the ground dry. It is absolutely necessary to have a dry soil in order to set a tree well. If you plant in the fall, the sooner you do it after the leaves drop the better; and if in the spring, let it be as soon as the ground is sufficiently dry to do it properly.

In regard to the subsequent treatment of the orchard, I would say by all means keep it under cultivation until the trees are so strongly established that they can bear swarding over without serious check to growth. I agree too that it is desirable to plant low-growing crops, such as beans, tomatos, cucumbers, etc. Turnips and potatoes were mentioned; I would suggest to whoever may plant potatoes or turnips in their orchards, that they take care to manure liberally with unleached ashes. Potatoes and turnips are potash feeding plants, as well as the apple tree, so that if you take potash out of the ground in the form of potatoes or turnips, you must replenish the supply in the soil, or your apple trees will suffer. Ten years is the shortest period which an orchard should be planted out before it is swarded over.

In planting, let the utmost care be taken to set the rows perfectly straight-as straight as a line of soldiers, well drilled. It requires two or three men to do it well. There must be a man upon one side to set, and a man on the other side to set, and another to hold it. You cannot do this thing cheaply. It must be done well, and it must be done at some expense or it cannot be done well. It is economy to plant straight and well, and there is beauty in it, too. There is beauty in almost anything, if it is done well, but particularly in an orchard.

I was troubled when a boy, and I have been troubled even since, when plowing in an orchard with oxen, where the trees were not perfectly straight; the off ox always will have his head on the other side of the tree. It is a terrible annoyance. He will be sure to carry his head or horn round and break off some little limb which you set everything by. I never let an ox go into an orchard except to plow, and then only after having been through the

orchard close to the trees with a plow drawn by a single horse. I take a horse and a straight whiffletree, and wrap that well around with cloth, so that it shall rub but little if it hits a tree, and put a trusty boy on the horse, and then I can get near the trees; after that, I put in oxen and plow between the rows. It is almost impossible to get men to plow without plowing out the roots. They are anxious to do the work thoroughly, and perhaps it's not their fault always, and perhaps it is; at any rate, the utmost care should be taken not to break the roots of the tree with the plow. If a root is broken, you ought to dig down and cut it off with a knife. I would say, that after the roots get spread, thorough cultivation, not deep, is what is wanted in a young orchard.

Those about to plant orchards of course will cast it over in their minds what should be the manure. I have found nothing better than a good compost made of manure and muck; old yard manure is good, ashes we know are good, lime is good, superphosphate is good, but avoid green stable manure.

I would say further, put your manure on in the fall, pile it a little cone about the tree, and in the spring spread it-the little pile will keep the mice away from the roots during the winter. Frequently we see orchards almost girdled by mice, and particularly those standing in grass.

Now, in regard to this matter of cultivation, some may be discouraged and say, "If we have to cultivate this ground ten years, the orchard will cost more than it will come to." You will pardon me for citing my own experience. I have a pear orchard of about three acres which has been under cultivation ten years. The crops I have taken from it have paid all the expenses of cultivation, the expense of buying and planting the trees, and I have those trees as they now stand over and above the expense. I do not know what they are worth, but no one could induce me to cut them down for ten nor twenty dollars apiece; so I say it is not all out-go. While you are cultivating your ground the ten years, you may have your pay as you go along.

After the trees get large enough to take care of themselves, it becomes a pretty serious question what we shall do. My judgment is,―subject to change when I see reason to change,―to run the orchard to grass, and pasture it with sheep. Other things will do; but calves are dangerous-hogs are dangerous. They bark the trees, and so will sheep sometimes, if you pasture too close; but take it all in all, I had rather have sheep in my orchard than

any other stock; they manure it more evenly, they enrich it in a peculiar way. There is something in the old saying, that "sheep leave golden tracks." I know they manure a piece of ground. better than any other stock. Allow me again to cite my own experience here. I have an orchard of a little over four acres, one which my father had plowed and planted, and mowed and hoed, as Mr. Gold treated one upon his farm. When I took the farm, the orchard was run out, and for ten years I hardly got ten dollars profit out of it. I undertook to cultivate it. In plowing, the roots would stick up all about. It was terribly discouraging. I manured it, but still the apples did not come. Going into that field one day when it was in potatoes, I made up my mind I would never put the plow into that orchard again, live as long as I might, and I left the potatoes in the hills. I never again put the plow in, but left it to grow up to grass, if it would; I did not care much whether it would or not. Little or nothing has been done to it since, except to pasture sheep. I turned in half a dozen at first, and in four or five years increased them to twenty or twenty-five. Now for the result. The sheep were turned on in 1856; no account was taken until 1860. Then I got 620 bushels of apples. There are 260.trees in the orchard. In eleven years, from 1860 to 1871, I harvested 6,417 bushels from those acres, which brought me $5,046.66, exclusive of some which I made into cider, leaving me a net profit, over and above expenses, of $4,598.79. I have charged the cost of fencing, the cost of the little manure I put upon it, and the cost of some underdraining that it needed; I have charged eight per cent. on the estimated value for rent and taxes, and over and beyond all these expenses, that piece of land has paid me $4,598.79; more than $100 a year profit per acre; and all I did was simply to turn it to pasture, putting in sheep. I do not think I put on $20 worth of any other kind of manure. The trees have averaged only $1.85 per year. That looks small, but when you take the aggregate, it foots up very satisfactorily. It is more profitable than any other farming I do. I will state that last year there were only sixty bushels of apples in that orchard, so that some other years yielded pretty heavily; one year, 1,002 bushels, another 1,025, and another 704 bushels. I have turned in young stock since, which have done very well, but the trees are now somewhat old, and the bark hard, so that calves have no inclination to gnaw them. I turn horses in sometimes, they are less injurious in an orchard than neat stock. They browse but

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