raise other things better. Not every man has a farm adapted to fruit, but let those of us who have fruit farms see to it that those natural apple lands do not lie barren any longer.

MR. PARRIS. What has been your experience in grafting old orchards?

MR. PERLEY. If they are not too old, nor on too poor ground they may be grafted, and sufficient fruit taken off in five years to pay for grafting and all other expense you need to put upon them. If they die within six or seven years you have got your pay. In some instances I have known old orchards to be grafted and bear for many years. If the orchard is very old and badly run down, success is more doubtful. I have grafted some trees that have never paid me; I have grafted others that have paid a hundred fold and more.

MR. PARRIS. Would you cut off the dead limbs and suckers and unnecessary limbs ?

MR. PERLEY. If I had an old orchard, I should begin by enriching the roots, then cut out all the bad and too big limbs and graft the best ones. You must cut severely; it will be a tremendous shock to the tree, but only by such an heroic method can you renovate it. You must throw vigor into it. A stunted tree almost always has not roots underneath in proportion to the top. MR. PARRIS. Do you practice mulching?

Mr. PERLEY. I have tried mulching, but it has not proved so satisfactory with me as has been represented by some. Spreading compost upon the surface has, in every instance within my observation, done better. I call to mind a young orchard near where I live, planted upon a rocky side-hill, so rocky that I hardly know how the man will get his apples. He planted in the grass of the pasture, dug holes, not very large, because he could not, and washed every sprig with soft soap, as far up as he could reach. I do not know a more promising young orchard than that. MR. PERCIVAL. What would you advise about planting young orchards where old ones have gone to decay?

MR. PERLEY. I never would do it. The ground is already exhausted of the food peculiarly adapted to apple trees. I did it once and know about it. I would as soon throw a tree away; it is labor lost.

MR. THING. You say you would never set a new tree in the place of an old one, because the ground is already exhausted.

Why would not the same treatment that would renovate an old orchard cause a young one to grow?

MR. PERLEY. It might, but I should rather take new land. If I had no other ground, I would let the trees that remained have the use of that ground until they were gone, and would then put in other crops before again planting trees. If you have only occasional vacant spaces, the roots of the trees that remain will run across the vacant spaces and interlock.

MR. GOULD. I freely admit, sir, that I have an axe to grind, and I may as well acknowledge it first as last. I have had an opportunity of acquiring information in all the States in New England except Maine, and many questions have been started here, and some which have not been started would be of great interest, not only to me, but I believe to the whole agricultural public. Taking the liberty to speak as an individual, and yet, believing that I speak the wishes of thousands besides myself, I say that I should be very glad if we could have the distinct experience of the farmers of Maine in relation to these controverted questions.

In the first place, I should like to hear the experience of the farmers of Maine with regard to aspect. What is the true aspect for an orchard, and if various aspects are desirable, the law which regulates results due to aspect in different parts of the country, in different soils, and in different climates? There was a time in my agricultural life, when, if I had been asked, I should have spoken in quite a dictatorial manner in regard to orchards. I had the conviction that one aspect was preferable to another; but within the last eight years I have been accustomed, with other gentlemen, to go to Pleasant Valley in New York State, the great seat of the vine culture, and there we have instituted a series of experiments with regard to vines which makes this matter of aspect far more interesting and intricate than I at first supposed. The object of the experiments at Pleasant Valley is to determine chemically the amount of acid and the amount of sugar in the grapes grown in each locality. They are sent there from an area of 300 miles in diameter, and all the various soils and climates are represented in this collection. Every gentleman who sends his box of grapes to be tested, with regard to acid and sugar, sends with it a statement of the aspect of the vineyard,— whether it slopes to the northeast, or northwest, to the southeast

or southwest, east or west, north or south, as the case may be ; so that when we have a determination of the amount of sugar in each particular box of grapes, we have a statement of the aspect under which it grew, what the average temperature for each month was of the vineyard where it grew, and also an accurate statement of the character of the soil. In that way we have all the elements of judgment. Now, it is an astonishing fact, that we have found the greatest amount of sugar, which is the great desideratum in the grape, in fruit coming from vineyards of all varieties of aspect. We have found vineyards having a northwest aspect, those facing the southeast, those facing the north and those facing the south producing the greatest amount of sugar. Now, the question is, what is the law that regulates the effects of aspect? I should be exceedingly glad to hear that question discussed by the gentlemen present. One has an orchard sloping to the northwest; his neighbor has one sloping to the southwest; he can testify as to his own orchard and as to his neighbor's orchard for a series of years, and that information would be of great value. It would enable us to determine with clearness what is right and what is wrong.

Now we are told by Mr. Perley, that a northern aspect is the one which, on the whole, is the most desirable in Maine for an apple orchard. I have no doubt that his testimony is correct in regard to Maine; but it is certainly not the case in New York. There, generally speaking, orchards facing towards the east do the best. In the counties of Orleans, Niagara and Wayne, the orchards generally slope towards the east. Now, if we can have this information clearly and distinctly stated from each neighborhood in Maine, it would be of great value.

Then again with regard to planting. Some gentlemen say here that seventy trees to the acre is the most desirable number in Maine; that certainly would not be true where I have had the most experience. I would never put more than forty to the acre. I have no doubt that these gentlemen have good sound reasons for the statement they make, and I should like to hear the testimony of gentlemen all around me on the question whether the planting of seventy trees to the acre has been best in their experi

ence.

On the island of Rhode Island, where they have some of the finest orchards I ever saw, there are orchards which it is like going into a cavern to go into; there are large trees which have

borne noble crops for 150 years. I have seen other places where the trees interlaced their branches, and roots also, and the result has been disastrous. I do not know why it is that on Rhode Island their experience should be so different; but I know that such is their experience. There are some places where orchards will grow better when the trees are interlaced, and there are others where they will grow better if the sunlight can bathe the whole tree. It would seem to be consonant with the laws of vegetable physiology that those trees would be the best which received the greatest amount of sunlight, for that is the great energizing and vitalizing agency for all sorts of plants; but there are cases where it seems not to be so. For my own part, I confess that I am ignorant with regard to this thing. If we could get the experience of these gentlemen upon the point, it would go a great ways towards settling these questions which it is of inestimable importance to every farmer to have settled on a solid and satisfactory basis.

Mr. Perley prefers sheep to hogs; my experience is reverse of his. I think the hog is the best animal we can put into an orchard. I would have it surrounded by a stone wall that was hog proof, and I would let them run and root just as much as they pleased. In orchards thus treated, so far as my experience goes, there has been little trouble from insects, which are the great enemies of our orchards. One great reason why our orchard fruits deteriorate is because of the millions of noxious insects which infest them. I do not doubt Mr. Perley's experience, that in Maine, or in some parts of Maine, sheep are better. I should like to get the experience of other gentlemen present as to which has proved the better.

Then there is another question. If you are going to cultivate a new orchard, what is the best crop to put in? I want to hear from the farmers of Maine whether they have found the same difficulty from sowing grain in an orchard that I have. I never in my life saw rye sowed in an orchard where the color of the trees was not injured. The beautiful, lively green which is the evidence of health, vigor and strength, in an orchard, has invariably been taken off, and has been succeeded by a sickly yellow. I should like to hear whether rye has the same injurious effect here.

There are various inquiries of this kind which it seems to me could be very easily settled, if gentlemen would tell their own experience, independent of all theory--we should all be the wiser for it.

MR. ADAMS of Franklin. I have had some experience in fruit culture in Maine, and a fair share of success. My opinion is, that a slope to the south or east is the preferable one. We have in the

State of Maine an abundance of good rich loamy soil, of granitic origin, which is well adapted to the culture of the apple, the pear, the plum, and all the small fruits. It is surprising, that with so great advantages, our farmers do not pay more attention to fruit culture; for there is no branch of farming which will yield so much pleasure and profit as a good orchard and fruit garden.

In order to manage successfully it is necessary in the first place to select a suitable soil, and I like best a rich, rocky loam, where the forest growth was maple, birch and other hard wood, with good natural drainage, or else made dry by artificial drainage; other soils can be made to succeed, but it is cheaper and better to take one naturally adapted to the purpose, and we have plenty of such as are well suited to fruit, and better for that use than for any other. The lot selected should be well fenced, not only to keep farm stock out, but also to keep pigs in, as I have found them very useful in a large orchard.

What kinds to plant depends on the object we have in view. If for family use only we should select such as yield a succession of fruit, from the earliest to the latest. If intended for the market we should select such as are productive and hardy, of handsome appearance rather than of very high quality, and will bear transportation well. For such as are near large markets, the earliest soits are the most profitable. The best proved among these are the Early Harvest, the Red Astrachan, the High Top Sweeting, the Sweet Bough and Williams' Favorite. For house use and narket, among fall fruits, the best are the Porter, Garden Royal, Fall Harvey, Dean or Nine-ounce and Gravenstein. The most profitable winter fruits are the Hubbardston Nonsuch, Baldwin, Rhode Island Greening, Roxbury Russet and Talman Sweet.

It is a great mistake to attempt to grow a large number of varieties for market purposes. There is far more profit in a small number if the best only are selected. Every orchardist should have his own nursery and raise his own trees. He can grow them cheaper than he can buy them, and a great deal better trees. Let him plant out seedlings of one or two years old, in rows six or seven feet apart, so as to give plenty of room for the trees to develop properly, and while they are small, he can grow a row of early potatoes or beans between the rows of trees. The soil for