ORCHARDS. 113 



arc absolutely starved ; and thus mulcliing, by preventing the 

 evaporation of the moisture in which the food of plants is held 

 in solution, keeps them always well fed, prevents the fruit from 

 being checked in its growth, and so becoming stinted and knurly 

 in its appearance, or falling prematurely ; and, by affording a 

 constant flow of sap, gives the rejoicing cultivator an abundance 

 of fair, large, and juicy fruit from stalk, and herb, and vine 

 tree. 



James Richardson, Jr., Chairman. 



BARNSTABLE. 



In former years, every farmer had his orchard, and apples 

 were abundant. Of late, the crop of apples has been uncer- 

 tain. The canker-worm has ruined hundreds of orchards, and 

 in many " that which the canker-worm hath left, hath the palmer- 

 worm eaten." The pear was seldom cultivated. Our fathers 

 thought that it required a growth of fifty years for a tree to 

 come into bearing; that the grandfather must plant, and the 

 grandchild partake of the fruit; now, the pear produces in two 

 years after the young tree is grafted, and is the easiest of all 

 fruits to cultivate. By the skill and science of modern horti- 

 culturists, new and delicious varieties have been produced, and 

 every man who owns a rood of ground, may have pears at all 

 seasons of the year. 



Soil. — The best soil for the pear is a strong loam, on a dry 

 subsoil ; it will, however, adapt itself to as great a variety of 

 soils as any fruit tree. Wet soils are unfit, and sandy should 

 be improved by a top-dressing of clay or heavy muck. 



Exposure. — A south-west exposure is tlie worst in this 

 climate. The strong, dry, south-Avest winds which prevail in 

 the early part of the season, blast the tender leaves of the 

 pear. They wither and turn black, and the tender shoots on 

 the windward side shrivel and blast. Every old pear tree in 

 the county leans towards the north-east, showing that a south- 

 west exposure has always been more injurious than an easterly. 



The pear, when engrafted on the quince, becomes dwarf in 

 its habits, bears early, but is not long-lived. Dwarf trees may 

 15* 



