344: STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



scooped up with large baskets and drawn in wagon boxes with great facility. 

 In any w^oods they are easily and rapidly raked into heaps for the same pur- 

 pose. It often happens that when there is no snow upon the ground in winter 

 farmers can draw leaves better than any other time. In portions of the coun- 

 try where snow does not fall and where forest leaves are abundant, the work 

 should not be omitted. 



The scarcity of fodder and the consequent value of straw renders it especially 

 desirable at the present time to save and use, to the best advantage, everything 

 of the kind. There is nothing better than leaves for protecting strawberry 

 and flower beds, for covering asparagus and for mulching all kinds of plants. 



J. P. Thompson^. 



Detroit, Michigan. 







MULCH, A GOOD THING. 



Mulching rarely receives attention except from those whose long experience 

 has clearly indicated the necessity of preserving the roots at a regular medium 

 temperature, avoiding alike excess of drought and moisture. The necessity 

 for it is equal — Winter and Summer — in "Winter to guard against sudden ex- 

 tremes of temperature ; in Summer, as protection from hot sun. Be careful 

 not to bury the roots in a mulch several inches deep, as this would certainly 

 injure the tree, and instances are known of specimens killed outright — victims 

 of too much kindness. The material (which may be anything light, open and 

 porous) should extend, in a newly planted tree, as far as the roots spread in- 

 stead of being heaped. close around the stem. — K. Y. Trihune, 



ORCHARDS IIS" GRASS. 



The New England Farmer gives the experience of a well-known orchardist 

 of West Millbury, Mass., upon orchards and their care, as follows : 



''Mr. AVaters has several large orchards on his farm, and says that he 

 believes he has sold more good apples from his trees, according to the time 

 they have been in bearing, than any man in his county, aixd he has never put 

 a plow into the ground since the trees have been large enough to bear. His 

 trees are trimmed but verv little, and the limbs bend down and lie on the 

 ground under their load of fruit, so they are supported at both ends. No 

 limbs are ever cut off to allow teams to pass under, nor does the fruit blow off 

 nearly as freely as when the growth is forced by trimming into the upper parts 

 of the tree. Plowing, he says, encourages excessive growth for a year or two, 

 iind necessitates subsequent trimming to remove the excess, but under his 

 system no more growth is made than is necessary for carrying and perfecting 

 the fruit. He top-dresses tiie land under tlie trees and as far as the limbs 

 shade the ground, once every three years, and never cuts the f/rass, but allows 

 it to grow up and fall down and cover the manure, thus keeping tlie soil cool 

 and moist at all times. He cultivates his orchard solely for the fruit, and 

 obtains fruit in abundance and of the linest quality. Mr. Waters has an 

 excellent soil for apples, but no better than that of some of his neighbors, 

 whose orchards are beginning to decay under the ordinary methods of treat- 

 ment, while his are growing more valuable and productive every year. 



