27() Missou7'i State Hoi'timdtural Society. 



ORCHARDS. 



HOW TO MAKE AN OLD OECHARD BEAR FRUIT. 



While admiring the dark green and luxuriant groAvth of grass 

 in the orchard, I remarked to Mr. Lewis that nearly all the old or- 

 chards of Herkimer seemed to be dying out, but that his trees were 

 looking unusually well — but did they bear fruit ? He said he found 

 no difficulty as yet in getting good crops. Last year, for instance, 

 when the apple crop in Herkimer w^as almost an entire failure, his 

 orchard, containing perhaps 170 trees, gave him a thousand bushels 

 of apples, and that is about his average crop. But how did he do 

 it ? The secret is worth knowing. Well, said he, '' there is no 

 great secret in the matter. You see I get large yields of grass from 

 this meadow by liquid manuring, but the trees are benefitted by 

 the manures quite as much as the grass, and perhaps more. I 

 feed my grasses and I feed my trees,' and they do not fail me." 



One great feature in the use of sawdust for absorbing liquid 

 manures, is that it can be spread evenly and is easily broken up in 

 minute particles, and thus becomes more available to the roots of 

 plants and trees. — A. Willard in C. Gentleman. 



L. H. Baily, one of the large apple growers of Michigan, says 

 he can make more money out of apples at twenty-five cents a 

 bushel than out of wheat at one dollar. Good apples never retail 

 in market as low as twenty-five cents ; tliey are seldom sold at less 

 than forty cents a bushel. At this rate they are worth double the 

 value of wheat, acre by acre, one year with another. Why do not 

 our farmers pay more attention to the orchards? 



BEST KINDS OF APPLES. 



Among the 7,000 apple trees a very large number of varieties 

 hr.ve been grown and are still growing, and the results of the ex- 

 periments here have been and are of much value to others, through 

 all the central portion of the State. Twenty-five acres of new 

 orchard were set last year. All the trees are sheltered on the 

 north, west and south sides, with wind-breaks — borders of soft 

 maple trees. Having but a brief tmie to stay after going through 

 the grounds to observe the effect of drainage on the condition of 

 the trees on tlie higher and lower or wetter soils, we put this 

 direct question to Mr. Henry M. Dunlap : "What are the best or 

 rather the most profitable kinds of apples for this region, all 



