342 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



ment in fruit. Again, the apple harvest has proved that it is folly to cultivate 

 inferior or unmarketable varieties, or those which are shy or irregular bearers. 

 If such trees in our orchards are thrifty and not too old, let them be top- 

 grafted, and let the orchards be well cultivated, manured and trimmed, and if 

 necessary the growing fruit thinned out, thus making a quality of fruit that 

 will be sought after and command a remunerative price. — /. E. Day in Post 

 and Tribune. 



THE FLOOD OF APPLES. 



For some reason the " bearing year " of apples seems to be the same all over 

 the country, and is now the even years, and when it comes thousands of bushels 

 rot in the orchards. The price for drying and cider making has been so low 

 this season that it would not pay to pick them up and draw to the factories. 

 What shall be done in such cases? Few know the value of apjjles as a food for 

 nearly all hinds of farm stock. They make excellent pork ; are fine for sheep; 

 make the horses' coats sleek and smooth; make the finest quality of milk and 

 butter. Properly fed they are worth at least $4 per ton for any of these pur- 

 poses. But how to feed properly, that's the important question. Begin by 

 feeding small quantities, gradually increasing until the animals have all they 

 can eat. There is no danger of over-feeding if this course is followed, but we 

 should remember they are very juicy, and if fed in large quantities the stock 

 should "have some dry food, such as hay, bran, mill-feed, or corn meal to pro- 

 duce the best results. To prevent choking, place the animal with neck in 

 stanchions, or between two stakes driven firmly in the ground, and through 

 holes bored at the right height place a pin or bar over the neck at such a 

 height that the head cannot be raised quite level with the body. This is a sure 

 preventive of choking in feeding apples, potatoes, or anything of the kind. — 

 J. iS. Wooaward, Niagara Co., N. Y. 



SETTING- ORCHARDS. 



Mr. William Saunders, the distinguished horticulturist in charge of the public 

 gardens and grounds at Washington City, observes that the outside rows of 

 trees in an orchard always grow more thrifty than the interior rows. He at- 

 tributes this to the cultivation of the soil in the fields alongside of the orchard, 

 giving room for the ramification of the roots iu cultivated soil. He thereupon 

 suggests that trees be set in two rows, twenty-five to thirty feet apart, theu a 

 space of 300 feet or more, and two more rows of trees, and so on over the 

 ground, the intervening 300 feet of ground to be cultivated in such crops as 

 may be desired, and the space between the rows of trees to be put in grass as 

 soon as they begin to bear. He thinks the cultivation of the ground would 

 keep the trees healthy and conduce to their bearing fruit. Mr. Saunders thinks 

 double rows of trees would shelter the crops between and be beneficial in that 

 way. 



