secretary's budget. 427 



clover in 1887. If you are not willing to plow it up, give it twenty tons 

 per acre of good stable manure this winter, and half as much annually 

 every winter hereafter. In this case the manure should be spread 

 with a brush harrow or smoothing harrow. — Faim and Fireside' 



SOIL FOR APPLE ORCHARDS. 



The statement that orchards succeed best on low and moist land 

 in some places at the west, appears to apply only to certain localities. 

 Secretary Rockwell, of Warsaw Horticultural Society (111.), says that 

 the trees on dry upland have done best in that region, and that 

 orchards which presented a compromising appearance after the last 

 intensely cold winter, afterward recovered more completely than was 

 expected, with a promising crop. He writes to the Prairie Farmer 

 that on good land with thorough cultivation, trees are vigorous and 

 thrifty ; on poor land there were many dead and dying trees. A re- 

 markably flourishing orchard in that neighborhood, of 400 trees, has 

 received good cultivation, and the trees are examined every year for 

 borers. 



CLOVER FOR ORCHARDS. 



J. A. Fetters gave an account of his orchard management to a 

 Tueeting of the Ohio Horticiiltural Society. The orchard has been 

 twenty years in bearing, and the trees are as thrifty as ten years ago. 

 It is kept mostly in clover, occasionally breaking it up and sowing 

 again to clover. The hogs are kept in the orchard all the time, but 

 ■when the fruit is ripening they are driven to closed quarters every 

 night, and in the morning before turning them out again the apples are 

 gathered which have fallen. From sixty trees, six hundred bushels 

 were gathered. It is well to bear in mind that clover would be detri- 

 mental to the success of the orchard if manufactured into hay and 

 drawn from the ground yearly ; while with a sufficient number of swine 

 to keep it eaten down, the clover and swine together would keep the 

 orchard in fine condition. On land not naturally rich, an additional 

 top dressing with manure would be important. 



WOOD ASHES FOR FERTILIZINa ORCHARDS. 



A lady of Seneca Falls, N. Y,, inquires how to use wood ashes 

 for fertilizing an orchard; in what quantities, and at what season of 

 the year. 



When wood ashes are spoken of as a fertilizer we very naturally 

 have our thoughts mainly upon the potash they contain, and regard 



