DEPAETMEXT REPOETS. 119 



been scrapad and smoothed down ia all sudden irregularities. It Avas staked off 

 according to the mode described by Thomas, the pears and cherries twenty by 

 twenty feet, the plums twelve by twenty. 



A few at a time of the 3'oung trees were carefully dug and set on the hill. 

 Last spring they were small and had a fair lot of good roots ; this fall they lose 

 no roots in moving, and we find many in addition. The holes are dug and 

 surface soil thrown in about the roots of the trees. The soil is moist enough. 



O 



The roots are well placed and the soil well tread in about them. The trees are 

 all set with the graft or bud-scar to the northeast and the trees all lean to the 

 Bouthwest. They will all be banked up a little. In a book a plat has been 

 made registering the name and joosition of each tree. So far, I feel that we 

 have done our part well, setting the trees on the most suitable spot on the farm. 

 If they die next year it will not be our fault. I intend they shall be mulched 

 three feet each way from the tree and cultivated with little or no manure, per- 

 haps raising some beans or potatoes for a few years. I want them to grow rather 

 slowly and may let the grass Avork in a little after a few years. This will depend 

 on the growth and appearance of the trees. 



THE APPLE ORCHARD. 



In the spring of 1873, I began some experiments in cultivating about trees, in 

 leaving them in grass and in fertilizing them with ashes and barnyard manure. 

 Previous reports have contained some account of these experiments. The trees 

 selected for this purpose wei'c in ground as nearly of even quality as could be 

 selected in the orchard. Most of the trees were of the same variety — Northern 



Spy. 



When the experiments were undertaken the trees had all been in grass for 

 several years. The grass had been mown and taken off the ground once or twice 

 a year. All but part of three rows running north and south across the middle 

 of the orchard have been cultivated each year since 1873. I may except part of 

 two other rows which have been mulched for tv.'o seasons, or manured with 

 fresh manure containing much straw. In some seasons the weeds were allowed 

 to grow after cultivation had ceased, which was about the middle of Augusts 

 Last year oats were sown in August ; this year, buckwheat. The tilled portions 

 were plowed shallow in the spring and harrowed or cultivated every two or thrc*o 

 weeks. In the following table I give the numbar of the tree and the number ot 

 the row, the average growth made yearly by some of the best branches for sev- 

 eral years previous to the experiment up to the present time ; also the circum-- 

 ference of the trees in the spring of 1873, and again in autumn of 187G. 



We cannot measure the health of apple trees by the tape line or yard stick. 

 much more than we can measure the health of an animal by the line or by the- 

 scales. 



In 18G8 the average grovv'th of the twigs was generally about 15 inches; iuj 

 1869, 10 inches; in 1870, 9 inches; in 1871, 8 inches; in 1873, inches; in, 

 1873, 5 inches. In 1875 none of the trees bore any fruit to amount to an;^- 

 thing. 



