SECRETARY'y PORTFOLIO. 345 



CUI/nVATING PEACH ORCHARDS. 



It puts mc out of patience to hear any one wIiokg opinion lias any weight 

 deprecate or discourajre in any way the most thorough cultivation. 



I have an orchard which for 18 years has been plowed annually, to the 

 depth of five or six inches, some time in April or May; then in about two 

 weeks when the weeds have sprung uj), a heavy harrow han been passed over 

 both ways. After this, when the weeds were stronger and larger, a two-horse 

 cultivator set to run four or five inches in depth, has been passed over from 

 three to five times. This is each season's cultivation, and I suppose, according 

 to many writers' views, that my trees ought to have been dead long ago ; and 

 yet I bislieve there are more peaches of the best quality grown on the same 

 number of trees than in any other orchard in the state. Trees 18 years old 

 have made a growth of from one to three feet the present season, 1878, while 

 bearing a heavy crop. 



So far as my observation extends, those orchards best cultivated pay the 

 best. Theoretically, mutilating and tearing the roots while in a growing state, 

 ought to enfeeble, or kill outright, any tree whose roots are so near the surface 

 as are those of the peach. May not the aerating and pulverizing the soil more 

 than compensate for the loss of roots? At any rate the trees thrive admirably 

 under the severest cultivation. What would be the use of a smoothing har- 

 row, as you suggest, among red roots, pig-weeds and rag-weeds, after they had 

 attained any size? If the theory is correct, why not apply it to the cultivation 

 of corn? Every good farmer knows that the more thorough the cultivation, 

 the better the chances are for a good crop; and further, the cultivation must 

 be done at the season of the greatest growth, when the ground is filled with 

 the tender rootlets, and a square inch cannot be moved without mutilating 

 more or less of them. 



Too many people have the idea that when they have set out the trees for an 

 orchard tlieir duty has ceased, and the trees ought to grow luxuriantly and 

 bear abundantly, and of the best quality, without further care, except, per- 

 haps, to seed down, or as some suggest, sow buckwheat or some other small 

 grain. I would as soon think of sowing buckwheat among my corn to ensure 

 a better crop. Men say this farmer or that farmer is lucky and has good 

 crops every year, when the simple fact is, he is a thorough cultivator. It is 

 just the same with the orchardist — at least it is true in this vicinity. 



C. Engle. 



Pato Paw, Van Bureii Countii, Mich, 



FERTILIZERS. 



SOOT IN" THE GARDEX 



Those who have soot, either of wood or bituminous coal, should carefully 

 save it for use in the garden. It is valuable for the ammonia it contains, and 

 also for its power of re-absorbing ammonia. It is simply charcoal (carbon) in 

 4in extremely divided state, but from the creosote it contains is useful in de- 



