190 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



There is no difficulty in raising a tree on the feame spot if the 

 ground has been carefully cultivated and well manured previously. 

 If an orchard has been subject to the plow in previous years, plow 

 again and cultivate with root crops of some kind. If the ground 

 be naturall}' heavy, turn the furrows towar,ds the tree so as to form 

 a dead furrow between the rows. Clean the bark, cut out dead 

 limbs, and wait patiently for new branches to grow. The main 

 point is so to cultivate as to produce new wood for a series of 

 years. Still, in a majority of cases, planting young trees between 

 the old ones is preferable, for the young tree will be old enough to 

 bear with profit as soon as an old tree will be renovated for the 

 same purpose." A judicious combination of the two methods may 

 be the best in many cases." 



In connection with the opinion last quoted, I would remark that 

 the principle upon which the practice of rotation is based, viz., 

 that any crop cultivated for a succession of years upon the same 

 spot tends to exhaust the soil of those mineral elements which 

 that crop specially requires, is believed to hold good in regard to 

 trees. In the operations of nature, when one growth of trees is 

 cut down or destroyed by fire, not the same, but a different class 

 of trees takes its place ; and the policy of planting new orchards 

 on the site of old ones is deemed to be of doubtful expediency. 

 It is true that, with good culture of the ground, young trees will 

 grow pretty well for a series of years. But during thirty, fifty or 

 more years previous a severe draft was made upon the soil for 

 those mineral ingredients which go to made up the inorganic por- 

 tion of the tree and for the leaves which have been annually shed 

 by it, to say nothing of the fruit also ; and whether such an or- 

 chard can be as productive and profitable as if planted on soil pre- 

 viously devoted to other uses, is so far from being certain or prob- 

 able that I would greatl}'^ prefer another location, if a suitable one 

 exists on the farm. 



Selection or Varieties. 



No one cause has produced more disappointment in orcharding 

 than the planting out of varieties too tender for our climate. 

 Many persons, on beginning an orchard, have procured sorts which 

 they know to be satisfactory elsewhere, thoughtlessly supposing 

 that a fruit good in one place is alike good in other places. While 

 some thus selected have succeeded well, others have not. As in- 



