THE SECRETARY'S PORTFOLIO. 173 



effect produced by manure would require at least fifteen two-horse loads. At 

 $1 per load, and half as much more for drawing and spreading, these would 

 amount to more than four times as much as keeping the ground clean by 

 cultivation. 



Mr. Henderson believed it is generally admitted throughout the Northern 

 and Eastern States, and in many portions of the Middle States, that very few 

 orchards will possess sufficient vigor unless cultivation or top-dressing is given 

 to the soil. As a general rule for guidance in determining what treatment to 

 adopt, the annual shoots may be examined, and if in young orchards they are 

 less than two feet in length, or in bearing orchards much less than one foot in 

 length, they should receive additional stimulus by manure or cultivation. 



The general opinion was that our farmers have plenty of time to set out in 

 the fall and set well, while early in the spring they are pressed for time and are 

 liable to neglect the necessary precautions. Trees set out in the fall will, for 

 the most part, if properly done, thrive as well or better than those put out in 

 the spring. — A 7 . Y. Farmers'' Club. 



THE NEW ORCHARD AT MICHIGAN AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE. 



We are located in a place subject to great extremes of heat and cold, the 

 thermometer reaching 32° and 33° below zero. 



In spring we have late frosts, in autumn early frosts, in summer severe 

 droughts. Fruit trees of some sorts, as Sweet Bough and Baldwin, have been 

 struck dead, or have lingered a useless, hopeless life for a few years after the 

 severe winters. Beautiful, valuable trees are sadly missed. It has taken a 

 little time for us to regain courage and decide what it is best to do, — give up 

 entirely or try again. Within twenty years much has been learned in regard to 

 hardy sorts, and the best sites for orchards. Last spring, after a mild winter, 

 I ordered trees a year old, of pears, plums, and cherries. Some of them were 

 two years old, but all sound and thrifty. They were selected in about the fol- 

 lowing proportions: Of pears, 5 Belle Lucrative, 5 Seckel, 5 Beurre d'Anjou, 

 5 Beurre Bosc, 5 Bartlett, 5 Sheldon, 5 Howell, 5 Buffum, 5 Louise Bonne de 

 Jersey, 5 Flemish Beauty, 5 Clapp's Favorite. Of plums, 7 Wild Goose, 7 

 Smith's Orleans, 7 Jefferson, 7 Washington, 7 Lombard. Of Cherries, 10 

 English Morello, 10 May Duke, 15 Keine Hortense, 2 Yellow Spanish, 10 Belle 

 de Choisy, 10 Governor Wood, 3 Black Eagle, 10 Elton, 17 Early Piichmond. 

 These were not for the purpose of raising fruit for market. The young trees 

 were well set in nurserv rows. JNiearlv all have made a good growth this season. 

 The small trees were cheapest, most likely to live, transported with less risk, 

 and contained more roots in proportion to the rest of the tree. We had an old 

 pasture, part of which Avas a strong clay plateau, twenty to thirty feet above 

 the surrounding land, with no screens of any kind. A year ago this fall it was 

 broken up. This season it has been worked over, while it is now in excellent 

 condition, very mellow, and rich enough. It was subsoiled. This fall it has 

 been scraped and smoothed down in all sudden irregularities. It was staked off 

 according to the mode described by Thomas, the pears and cherries twenty by 

 twenty feet, the plums twelve by twenty. 



