38 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



there is no good reason why we should not only produce freely 

 for home consumption, but for export also. It is true that there 

 has been a partial failure for a few years past. But it is equally 

 true that there is no crop grown which has not at times been a 

 failure. We have not given up raising potatoes because they 

 have rotted, or the growing of the different grains because they 

 have suffered from blight, rust, or insects. 



Our crops of all kinds are more or less liable to failure ; and 

 though apples, plums, and cherries have not been so productive 

 as formerly, we ought not to give vp trying to raise them on that 

 account. But it is useless to attempt to raise an orchard unless 

 we give the trees that care and attention which is necessary 

 to produce a crop, though, perhaps, on newly cleared lands we 

 may be able to raise orchards as well as formerlj^, if the trees are 

 protected from cattle and insects. There has beeff so much said 

 and written upon the different varieties of apples and manner of 

 setting trees that it seems unnecessary for me to add anything in 

 that direction. But I wish to say a few words with regard to 

 shelter and protection of fruit trees. I have observed that sugar 

 maples of second growth (which we know grow on the best of 

 soil for orcharding), are thriftiest in a position sheltered either by 

 forest growth, or on a southerly or easterly slope, being protected 

 from the north winds. We may learn a lesson from nature in tliis, 

 and I will add a word regarding my own experience. In the 

 spring of 1856 I purchased a hundred New York apple trees, 

 which were set out carefully. They all lived and grew finely the 

 first summer, but in the winters of 1856 and 1857 most of them 

 were winter killed, because, as I believe, set in an exposed situ- 

 ation, with no shelter. 



My neighbor, Joseph S. Kempton, Esq., procured a hundred of the 

 same kind of trees, the same season ; he set them on land sloping to 

 the east, a little higher from the river than mine, and in a sheltered 

 position. Very few of his trees were winter killed, and I have 

 frequently heard his orchard spoken of as being worth one thou- 

 sand dollars. I could mention a number of other similar instances. 



I am confident that more attention should be given to shelter for 

 orcharding ; but I believe the main cause of failure of apple 

 orchards is, the lack of proper food given to the tree. Old 

 orchards, in most instances have been permitted^ to gi-ow for years 

 without being manured or mulched, initil there is not ability in the 

 soil to enable the trees to make much growth, and less to produce 



