70 STATE POMOI.OGICAL, SOCIE^TY. 



personal character, of rare intelligence, and of as thorough and 

 comprehensive a practical knowledge of farming and of any- 

 thing connected with farming as any man that I ever met. He 

 took my orchard when it was partly run down and he made a 

 good orchard of it, and what I shall try this afternoon will be 

 simply to repeat a few of the lessons that I learned from Mr. 

 jMerrill. 



The gist of his success in orcharding is what must be the gist 

 of every success in every pursuit of life — thoroughness. If he 

 had anything to do with the orchard, he tried to do it thoroughly 

 right down to the bottom. If we were talking, for instance, of 

 setting out new trees, he would cultivate that field for two or 

 three years before he set out a tree, — plow it and cultivate it and 

 get it into thorough condition, get all the rocks out, get it smooth 

 and the soil light and easily pervious to light and air, — get the 

 field into thorough condition two or three years before he set out 

 his trees. 



We have always found it to our advantage to buy trees. 

 Some fifty years ago, I think, they used to raise their trees and 

 do their grafting. We find it very much better to buy trees. 

 We get excellent stock and they are very cheap, and I guess it 

 is a good deal better than it is to go to the trouble and expense 

 of raising our own stock and trying to graft them. 



I don't think too much stress can be laid upon the importance 

 of care in planting the trees. I think the first setting out of the 

 tree has a great deal to do with the character of that tree for the 

 rest of its life. If there are any of the roots that are torn in 

 the slightest degree, we cut them off smooth, and separate the 

 roots out so that the tree will get a good chance to set. A mis- 

 take that was made in my principal orchard wdien that was set 

 out some fifty or sixty years ago was in starting the crown of 

 the tree too low. They had an idea that by letting the branches 

 start out pretty low down it would save trouble in picking. I 

 think that has been a very great mistake. My trees are set out 

 thirty feet apart, and I wish they had been thirty-five or forty 

 now they have got full grown. We find on those lower branches 

 which are easy to pick we are lucky if we get No. 2S. They 

 are mostly cider apples. Our new trees we are starting out the 

 head pretty high up, so that we shall not have any branches 

 hanging down low. It is not only that these low branches raise 



