■ FRUIT CULTURE. 375 



It is of as much importance that we give to our apple trees the 

 food -they require to produce wood and fruit yearly as to any other 

 crop the farmer cultivates. Apple trees exhaust the soil of cer- 

 tain constituents required to make wood and fruit, and these can 

 be best supplied, in most cases, by a compost of muck, mixed with 

 lime and ashes. This should be turned over several times before 

 applying, and be spread in the fall, as a top dressing, as far as the 

 tops extend. When the trees get old, some* stable manure may be 

 mixed with the compost, and with good results. 



Pruning. 



Much depends upon properly pruning a young orchard. Good 

 judgment and a fair share of mechanical ingenuity is needful. 

 Commence the formation of branches for the top at about four feet 

 above the ground. Avoid crotches, when it can be done, for when 

 the trees are loaded with fruit they are apt to split down and spoil 

 the tree. Shape the top in the way it should be, and when it is 

 old it will not depart from it. Take out all cross limbs, and thin 

 out inner limbs where it is necessary to admit more sunlight into 

 the top. If this be done when the tree is young, it will prevent 

 the production of needless wood, and the damage from cutting off 

 large limbs. Small limbs may be cut off in June or July ; larger 

 ones in September or October. The spring of the year is not the 

 time to trim an orchard. Cut off a limb in the spring and the sap 

 will run out, the wound turn black, and soon commence to decay. 



Selection of Fruit. 



It is no more difficult to cultivate varieties- which will produce 

 good crops of fruit, good to cook, and to eat, and to sell at high 

 prices, than such as will scarcely pay for gathering. I will name 

 a few of those which have proved desirable in the section where I 

 reside. For instance, the Baldwin, Roxbury Russet, Tolman's 

 Sweet, and Peck's Pleasant. For late autumn, the Nodhead and 

 Porter. For early autumn or late summer, I consider the Red 

 Astracliftn as preferable to any other one, being a very hardy tree, 

 a good bearer, good for cooking and eating, and always saleable 

 at a good price from its beauty. There are doubtless many others 

 equally valuable, but I mention only a few leading sorts of Oxford 

 county. 



In conclusion, I wish to say a word in regard to gathei-ing and 

 marketing. The market value of fruit depends very greatly on the 



