130 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



care for the old orchard by manuring and by pruning - and other means, as long 

 as such work seemed to pay, and at the same time plant and cultivate its suc- 

 cessor. Shall we plant new trees in the places from which old ones have been 

 removed? Unless some precautions are taken to provide the soil with those 

 elements drawn out by the roots of the old trees this will seldom be productive 

 of satisfactory results. By the careful removal of the stump and the roots of 

 the old tree, and by the use of manures with lime and ashes, the ground might 

 be fitted to receive the young tree ; but I should much rather select a new plat 

 of land and rear a new orchard apart from the old one, and this I would do in 

 season to prevent a break between the failure of the old and the bearing of the 

 new one, and, as I have before stated, in cases when the fruit is of desirable 

 varieties, I would use every means to keep it in healthy and bearing condition. 



Now as to varieties. The past ten years have wrought somewhat of a change 

 in the list of favorites, and have proved that many kinds in an ordinary orchard 

 are not desirable ; also that nearly all our orchards are sprinkled too freely 

 with summer and fall varieties. Some kinds once thought to be number one, 

 as respects hardiness, keeping and quality have been forced down in the scale, 

 while others have risen in esteem. It is not advisable for the farmer to try 

 many experiments with new varieties. A few tried and proved ones will give 

 far more satisfactory results both as regards home use and marketing. The 

 Astrachan, the Tart Bough, and the Yellow Harvest, are thrifty growers and 

 good bearers, and the quality of each is excellent. Add to these the Sweet 

 Bough and the Golden Sweet and you have a good selection of summer apples. 

 For a selection of fall apples take the Fall Pippin, the Maiden's Blush, the 

 Famcuse, and the Jersey Sweet. For winter the Greening, the Red Canada, 

 the Spy, the Baldwin, the English Russet, and the Tallman Sweet. These af- 

 ford a choice variety for home use, and all arc readily taken in the market. 

 First and foremost for all uses at home and abroad, in the hand or in the pie, 

 as a bearer and a keeper stands the Rhode Island Greening — not perfect, per- 

 haps, yet as near it as any one variety has yet attained. In old trees it is apt 

 to be a little scraggy and rough, and in cellars warm and dry the skin mildews 

 and turns black, rendering the fruit unfit for market. The Red Canada has 

 proved our best market apple, as perfect in form and color as the fruit of Eden. 

 As an eating apple it suits the taste of most persons, while as a cooking apple 

 it is inferior to many others. The trees are of slender growth, and are easily 

 affected by severe winters. The experiment is being tried of grafting this vari- 

 ety upon stocks of more vigorous varieties, such as the Astrachan or the Spy. 

 which may prove of great advantage. Let the stocks of the Red Astrachan or 

 Spy attain the bight of five or six feet in the place where they are to remain, 

 and then bud into three or four of the larger branches. 



The Northern Spy has risen in credit during the past two or three years, and 

 by many is placed at the head of the winter list. The trees are enormously 

 productive of timber, and can never be trimmed amiss or hardly ever too much. 

 They are slow in coining into bearing, and often one branch will be overbur- 

 dened with fruit while the remainder of the tree is barren. The fruit is very 

 uneven in size and unlike in form and color. The skin is extremely tender, 

 and finger marks and bruises show with remarkable effect. Yet it is a good 

 market apple and also choice for domestic use. The fruit is extremely showy 

 and often of enormous size. Ninety apples pressed in have been known to fill 

 an apple barrel. 



The English — or a< it is often called, — the Golden Russet, is noted chiefly 



