94 STATE BOAKD OF AGEICULTUKE. 



and will almost ensure a \-igorous orchard, and a fine yield of most fair and 

 beautiful apples. A gentleman living in Washtenaw county told me, the other 

 day that from seven and one-half acres of apple orchard he took, the past sea- 

 son, 800 barrels of apples, which sold for $2 00 net, per barrel. Thus the net 

 receipts per acre were $313 33, while for the 7.|- acres they Avere $1,600 00. Do 

 not such returns warrant some care and labor? In fact, few manual labor pur- 

 suits will pay better in our State than the production of apples ; and in no State 

 are the inducements greater to plant large orchards, and give to them every 

 needed attention, that Ave may maintain our present Justly earned reputation of 

 being the first apple State in the Union. 



The Peach Orchard. 



It is pleasant to advise in the management of the peach tree, for a fruit so 

 delicious and so valuable v.ill certainly be preserved, if the knowledge is sufficient 

 to accomplish it. 



In September the peach-groAver should dig about his trees, close to the trunk, 

 and if he finds lumps of earth, chips, and peach gum just beneath the surface, 

 he should find out the borer in the tunnel or wound of the tree, and crush him. 

 The gummy mass leads to a quick discovery, and the labor is so light and so 

 remunerative that it were Avell to go over the orchard in the same way the next 

 season, in April or May, so soon, indeed, as the ground is suitably dry, to enable 

 one to AA'ork it pleasantly. In early May tin bands, tliree inches wide, should 

 be tacked around the tree with a single tack, especially where the soil is light. 

 These bands will keep the cut-worms from reaching the branches and cutting 

 off the buds. Such treatment is also desirable in almost all our orchards, and 

 even in A'ineyards. 



In May, too, so soon as the peaches have set, the curculio must be fought. 

 This adAice will apply equally well to the plum orchard. And what a loss, not 

 only in luxurious fruit, but also in cash, results from this neglect of the plum 

 orchard in our State ! Instead of raising no plums, Ave might as well, and at 

 slight expense, raise thousands of dollars worth annually. 



In the first place, keep all grass and weeds aAvay from under the trees : that 

 is, practice perfectly clean culture. This is desirable the season through, but 

 imperative in May and June, would Ave subdue this foe of our two most 

 luscious fruits in the most economical manner. As soon as the plums or 

 peaches are formed, j^lace tAvo chips, or pieces of oak bark, Avith the smooth sur- 

 face down, immediately against the tree on opposite sides, and flat on the ground. ^ 

 NoAV the curculios are nocturnal, and do their wanton business by night ; and 

 until the cool days are past, or along into June, Avill come down from the tree 

 by day and hide under the nearest screen. As the chips are so convenient, they 

 are of course appropriated. These little pilferers Avill lie thus concealed till 

 towards nightfall, Avhen they again betake themselves to the trees to repeat their 

 work of pillage and destruction. ISToav it is easy to take them from under the 

 chips, and thus cut short their evil Avork. The capture is most cheaply made by 

 boys, as f oIIoavs : With a vial in one hand, stopped by the thumb, they turn the 

 chips over, pick off the weeA'ils and put them into the bottles, thus carefully col- 

 lecting from under all the chips of the orchard. This gathering should take 

 place before four o'clock, or some of the curculios may have gone from the chips 

 to the tree, and thus have escaped. 



In June, Avhen the days begin to get hot, the little "Turks" will not leaA'e 

 the trees even by day, yet if the trees are suddenly jarred as by a sharp bloAV, 



