224 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



climate like that of New England, if the location is not such as 

 to protect the trees during the gales and high winds of the 

 spring months, there should be hedges planted to protect them. 

 My little experience in my own section of the State has led me 

 to' believe that our orchards do not, as has been generally sup- 

 posed, suffer from the north-east winds, but from the south-west 

 winds which prevail at the time when our trees are in blow, 

 and whip them almost to pieces. In very many cases, farmers 

 have been led to believe that their fruit crop has suffered from 

 the severity of the winter months, when it was really on 

 account of these high winds which prevail when the trees are 

 in blow. Those orchards in our section that are protected by 

 what is called " the back-bone of the cape," facing the south- 

 west, have proved fruitful and profitable, and I have seen other 

 orchards surrounded by hedges that have done well. It seems 

 to me, therefore, that while we exercise great care in selecting 

 the best varieties of fruit, we should also be careful in the 

 choice of location. 



In most seasons there are apples enough in Brewster and 

 Orleans, and that part of the county ; there are in Barnstable 

 very few apples. I will venture to say, that if there are crops 

 anywhere in that section, the trees have been protected, far my 

 own experience has led me to believe that it is only in that 

 way that a crop of apples can be obtained. 



Dr. Durfee. I do not think it is any object for anybody to 

 attempt to plant an apple orchard now. I am very much dis- 

 couraged in regard to apples ; I think it is next to impossible 

 to raise a crop. I have enough slugs of the canker-worm lying 

 on the ground in my garden, to eat the leaves of all the apple- 

 trees in this city, if they were suffered to go up the trees. The 

 number is perfectly incredible. When I say there are thou- 

 sands, I do not exaggerate. I find them going all over the 

 county, far and near. The few trees I have in my garden, I 

 have tarred, and I supposed, up to last year, that I had con- 

 quered the worm. I did not have a very large number last 

 year, but wherever they did light upon a tree, it was death to 

 the crop ; but this fall they have come in greater numbers than 

 I have ever seen them before. 



I think, if we are going to do anything to protect our trees, 

 we must begin in time. I did not begin soon enough. I am 



