ORCHARDS. 53 



The rapid growth of the trees caused us to abandon cultiva- 

 tion in 1851-2, when the first orchard was mulched with trash 

 washed from the meadows to the margin of the upland ; the 

 second was dressed with twenty bushels of ashes, sown broad- 

 cast ; the other trees, being farther apart, have received a 

 yearly dressing, and crops have been raised between them. In 

 the spring, we annually apply about half a peck of ashes 

 immediately around the trunk of each tree, taking care that it 

 makes a ridge completely around the same ; this forms a bar- 

 rier over or through which the borer seldom or never attempts 

 an ingress into the tree. 



This is the panacea to which I attribute my success in 

 raising peach trees. Since applying ashes in this manner, I 

 have not lost half a dozen trees from any cause. As to the 

 cause and cure of other diseases which the peach tree is " heir 

 to," I believe nothing dehnite is known. The curled leaf 

 happens periodically, causing many trees to shed their foliage 

 prematurely, which, undoubtedly, retards their growth and 

 lessens their productiveness. The yellows seldom affect trees 

 in this vicinity ; and I am not certain that I ever lost a tree by 

 this disease — certainly not more than one. 



The borer is undoubtedly the worst enemy that the cultiva- 

 tor of the peach tree has to contend with ; l)ut the application 

 of ashes, as before described, has, for eight or ten years, proved 

 with me a successful remedy. Whether this periodical appli- 

 cation has also prevented a more extensive spread of the 

 " yellows," I am unable to state ; but it is not at all improba- 

 ble. Our long, cold northern winters, and late, backward 

 springs, are serious obstacles to the successful cultivation of 

 the peach in this county. 



The severity of the last winter not only destroyed the crop, 

 but essentially injured the trees, in most locations. Our crop 

 of peaches in 1853-4 probably averaged two hundred bushels, 

 whilst that of the present season was less than ten bushels ; 

 but the trees have, in a great measure, recovered from the 

 shock, and exhibited (in the latter part of the season) en- 

 couraging signs of youthful vigor. 



Of the two hundred and seventy-five trees raised by me, 

 about fifty were inoculated, and consist of Early York, Early 

 Rose, Oldmixon Freestone, Golden Rareripe, Stump the World, 



