86 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



[Reply of Theron Johnson of North Andover.] 



I have a dark, heavy soil, under-drained, subsoil clayey, en- 

 riched last year a little, but not before for five or six years, 

 with barnyard-manure, about two shovelfuls to each tree, 

 put on in the fall : this spring it was spread over the orchard. 



I have not pruned, except to cut away dead wood. I have 

 lost a number of trees by blight, but have tried no remedy. 



I think standards the most profitable on our soil, but 

 cannot say why they are best, except that it is very difficult 

 to make dwarfs grow here ; on lighter soils I think dwarfs 

 generally do better. 



In picking and ripening pears my usual rule is to let all 

 kinds hang, till, by lifting the pear, it readily parts from the 

 tree. Vicars and late pears I let hang as long as safe. Dif- 

 ferent varieties vary in ripening from one to two weeks after 

 picking. I find, that, by placing them as soon as picked on 

 a shelf in a cool cellar, they have kept better than any other 

 way. 



[Reply of John O'Brien of Bradford.] 



My soil is a sort of dark-brown loam, neither light nor 

 heavy, from twelve to fifteen inches deep, with a subsoil of 

 very fine yellow, having as near the color of ground ginger 

 as any thing I can imagine, and I am satisfied that it is the 

 soil for the apple, pear, and grape. It is enriched every fall, 

 as my pear-orchard is my kitchen-garden. I plough under a 

 very liberal supply of barnyard-manure, excrement of horses 

 and cows, Avhich is the best fertilizer that I know of for all 

 kinds of plants, when properly applied to the soil. Wood- 

 ashes are excellent, but they are too scarce and too costly 

 for profit. 



I have been equally successful with pruning done soon 

 after the fall of the leaf and that done the 20th of March 

 oh both pears and apples ; though I think the proper time to 

 prune is during the dormant period, when there is no upward 

 flow of sap. I believe pruning systematically done regulates 

 the growth and welfare of the tree, and has a great tendency 

 to induce the maturity of fruit-spurs, thereby producing fruit 

 earlier and of better quality, to say nothing of the uniformity 



