SECRETARY'S REPORT. 63 



Sir, — The Massachusetts State Board of Agriculture desires informa- 

 tion upon the subject of Fruit Culture, and proposes the following 

 questions to the farmers of the State. 



You will confer a favor and assist the cause of Agriculture, if you 

 will take the pains to answer the questions, and to make such experi- 

 ments or inquiries as may enable you to answer them fully. 



You will be kind enough to return your answers in the inclosed 

 envelope, on or before November loth, directed to Charles L. Flint, 

 Secretary of the Board of Agriculture, Boston, Mass., with the name of 

 the subject or subjects upon which you have answered, indorsed thereon. 



APPLES. 



1. What are the best six and twelve varieties of the apple, for an 

 orchard of fifty or one hundred trees, for family use ? 



2. What varieties of the apple are best for the market, and how many 

 of each for an orchard of one hundred or one thousand trees ? 



3. What varieties of the apple do you consider most profitable for 

 winter keeping or for shipping to other markets ? 



4. What do you regard as the best method for packing and keeping 

 apples for winter use ? 



5. What is the character of the soil and aspect of the best orchards 

 in your vicinity ? 



6. What distances do you plant apple trees asunder, and how many 

 do you allow to the acre ? 



'7. What do you consider the best method of preparing the ground for 

 an orchard, and what the best sytem for its after-culture ? 



8. Has under-draining by tiles or otherwise been applied to your 

 orchards ? if so, with what effect ? 



9. Do you regard the ploughing of orchards beneficial or injurious to 

 the trees ? 



10. Do you consider it profitable to cultivate in your orchai'ds crops 

 of any kind ? if so, which are least injurious to the tree ? 



11. Has mulching been applied around your trees? if so, with what 

 results ? 



12. What manures or fertilizers do you esteem best for an apple 

 orchard ? What quantity to the acre ? What the best time and method 

 of application ? 



13. What experience have you in raising new and choice varieties of 

 the apple from seed ? if any, state your method of obtaining such ? 



14. Have you any method by which apple trees, bearing only in 

 alternate, may be made to produce every year? 



15. Are the orchards in your section of the State attacked by birds, 

 insects, or diseases ? if so, what preventives or remedies have you for 

 these evils ? 



