MICniGAX STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 437 



Muskegon, Mich., November, 1871. 

 To A. T. Lindermaa, Esq., Secretary of the State P&mohffical Society -. 



Inaccordauce with my promise to you, I now devote a leisure 

 hour in describing my methods of clearing up the sandy pine 

 stump lands of this lake shore, of planting, pruning, and cul- 

 tivating the peach, and my successes and failures with the varie- 

 ties I have tested, adding thereto a little from my observations 

 of the successes and failures of others in this viciuity. 



In clearing these stump lands, I have found it the most 

 economical way to cut off the tops of the grubs, and after 

 clearing the ground of logs and brush, to pull out the roots 

 of large size with a stout pair of oxen, hitched to a forked 

 hook with a wooden handle, which works very much like the 

 claws of a hammer, except that it is pulled forward, instead of 

 being turned back. The same oxen, with a narrow plow that 

 will cut deep, say ten to twelve inches, will then break it up. 

 Of course this furrow will stand nearly on its edge ; a fine- 

 toothed harrow then mixes the surface and subsoil, and takes 

 out many of the pine roots. As to the stumps, it is certainly 

 very desirable to have them removed, but it is not necessary to 

 success with the fruit. I prefer to raise a crop of potatoes the 

 first season, and work them thoroughly with a one-horse culti- 

 vator, and plant my trees the following spring. Still, if the 

 irronnd is broken and harrowed in the fall and re-harrowed in 

 the spring, it will do very well. The time of taking up and 

 replanting the peach or any other tree, shrub, or vine, is decid- 

 ly the spring, iu my estimation. As to future cropping of the 

 grounds there may be a question ; there can be no question of 

 the propriety or even necessity of continuing the summer cul- 

 ture as long as you tax the soil for the growth of the trees, or 

 the production of fruit. 



As to manuring, it may be essential to future cropping, but 

 I prefer that peach trees should not be stimulated other than 

 by frequent cultivation, till about the middle of August — till 

 they commence bearing — as a very rapid growth seems nearly 

 fatal to a sound, healthy, long-lived tree. 



