182 BOARD OF AGRTCULTtJRE. 



make forming the business of life, and to those who have 

 inherited the ancestral estate, as you reverence the old home- 

 stead, and as you value the reputation of Massachusetts 

 husbandry, be not dissuaded from setting an orchard. 



Mr. L. P. Warner, of Sunderland. I would like to know 

 what varieties Mr. Slade would advise us to set. I have sup- 

 posed that only a few varieties would grow to perfection on 

 the Connecticut River. The Northern Spy I have never seen, 

 the Snow Apple I have never seen well ripened, and I could 

 mention several other well-known varieties which will grow 

 in New York and other States, which I have never seen in 

 our State. My idea is, that it is not necessary that we should 

 grow all the varieties of apples that are called good in Mas- 

 sachusetts. Let us grow those that we can ripen to perfection. 

 We have as good varieties of summer, fall and winter apples, 

 that will ripen in Massachusetts, as they have in any other 

 State in the Union. I know that the varieties differ some- 

 what in different localities ; but in the latitude where I live, 

 the Baldwin, Rhode Island Greening, Hubbardstou, and what 

 we call the August Sweeting, are apples that grow large, fair 

 and handsome, and ripen in their season. 



Question. Does the Russet grow well in your vicinity? 



Mr. Warner. It does tolerably well. I think it does not 

 grow so well with us as it does in Essex County. I may as 

 well say here, that I am familiar with an orchard of forty 

 trees, set out seventy j'-ears ago last spring, and it bore last 

 year two hundred bushels of handsome apples, and this year, 

 one hundred bushels. That is a ftict which I think is some- 

 what remarkable. I will further state, that that orchard has 

 been kept constantly under culture. That is, the ground has 

 been stirred every year, and generally it has been planted to 

 potatoes, but of course it did not produce much. It was 

 planted more for the purpose of keeping the ground in good 

 condition than it was for the crop. But I was surprised when 

 I saw the fruit that came from it last year. There were two 

 hundred bushels of very handsome Russets. I did not see 

 them this year, but I was told that it bore one hundred 

 bushels. 



Question. Will not hogs injure the roots of the trees ? 



