VALLEY HORTICULTUKAL SOCIETY. 287 



like the Duchesse, are sure to succeed in growing apples, and plenty 

 of them. These top-worked trees will, of course, be more expensive 

 in the first place, but in the end they will repay the increased cost a 

 hundred-fold. I believe that much good will be accomplished by 

 the introduction of hardy Russian stock, but many of these varieties 

 are yet in the experimental stages, and, for present use, we must 

 depend largely on varieties that have proven successful. 



Are there not other causes that will help us account for the 

 general failure of the apple? In passing through the country we 

 see trees standing in grass. Where the grass is not mown, or pas- 

 tured, we see a good crop of it in almost any orchard. Now, I think 

 we are expecting too much of our land when we ask a crop of hay 

 and a crop of apples off the same piece of ground ; and while we may 

 get some hay, our apple trees will soon rebel, and either die outright 

 or cease to yield fruit under such unfavorable conditions. If we 

 pasture the orchard the case is only slightly improved, — we are still 

 raising two crops where only one can be profitably grown. The 

 grass roots take both food and drink from the trees : they are really 

 starved, and after one or two hard winters they are ready for the 

 brush pile. And then we say this is no country for fruit, any way, 

 and wish we hadn't planted those trees, and conclude that the surest 

 apples to raise are Irish potatoes, — we can sell them, and buy apples 

 from our storekeepers. Buy apples ! What does that mean:' It 

 means that you and your family will be hungry for fruit more than 

 half the time, unless you happen to live in, or very near, a town, 

 and always have a few spare dollars in your poclvet. 



Now, what is the inference from what I have said about apple 

 planting? It is this : plant hardy kinds, give them plenty of room, 

 sunshine and good soil are needed, cultivate thoroughly, manure the 

 land well ; after the trees come into bearing, sow buckwheat on the 

 land at the time of the last cultivation, plow under in the spring. 

 Cultivate through the spring and early summer, and sow buckwheat 

 again. 



Mr. A. C Hammond, secretary of our State Society, sows rye 

 in the fall, and plows under about the first of June the next year. 

 He says this treatment gives splendid results. If you try the last 

 plan, and have a good promise for a large crop of rye, do not be 

 tempted to secure that crop, it will spoil jour orchard if you do. 

 You sowed it to plow under, and under it must go, if you want to 

 save your trees and grow fruit. 



If you fear damage from mice or rabbits in winter, wash your 

 trees with about one and one-half to two pounds of copperas, dis- 

 solved first by boiling in water, to one peck of lime. No animals 

 will eat bark covered with copperas, and your trees will be safe. 



Always prune your trees when young to avoid cutting off large 

 limbs when older, as such pruning, in our country, is always 



