ORCHARD FRUIT CULTURE. 



33 



commendations made at such meetings, as 

 to the best fruits, or their particular modes 

 of cultivation, other than those of the most 

 general nature, which must be pursued 

 under all circumstances, will be of little avail 

 in guiding the neophyte in his proposed en- 

 terprises of fruit growing. 



As I have dabbled a little in fruit culti- 

 vation from boyhood, and, so far as the 

 fruits themselves were concerned, with con- 

 siderable success, I propose to relate to 

 you somewhat of my own experience and 

 views upon some branches of fruit culture, 

 not in exact order, probably, but in such 

 manner as what I have done can be under- 

 stood ; and. from the results of which, — if 

 there ever be any results worthy of observa- 

 tion, — a conclusion may be drawn for the 

 government of others, who may wish to 

 follow. But as I have not all the acces- 

 sories of soil, in which our fruits are grown, 

 I can only speak of those which I have cul- 

 tivated, and therefore can only tell one side 

 of the story, — leaving it for others, whose 

 practice has been different, to relate theirs. 



Within the last five years, I have been 

 laying the foundation for rather an exten- 

 sive orchard of fruits, for this region ; and 

 having the proper soils at command, have 

 already planted several thousand trees of 

 apples, pears, quinces, cherries, plums, and 

 peaches, in about the following proportions : 

 Apples, 2,000 Cherries, 400 

 Pears, 1,000 Plums, 300 

 Quinces, 600 Peaches, 200 



To commence, my farm is level, table 

 land, on the upper or south point of Grand 

 Island, in the Niagara river, in the state of 

 New-York, about six miles north of Buf- 

 falo and the outlet of Lake Erie, and three 

 miles below Black Rock ; latitude 42° 53' 

 N. Soil, the " Onondaga salt group," of 

 the New-York state geologists, — a " secon- 

 dary" formation, based on limestone, — 



Vol. iv. 4 



mostly a clayey loam, generally known 

 here as a limestone soil, — the same which 

 I presume you term a " strong loam," with 

 a subsoil at about a foot depth below the 

 surface, of stiff reddish clay ; dry, yet fer- 

 tile and strong, in all the elements for the 

 growth of wheat and other cereal grains, 

 Indian corn, esculent roots, and grass ; 

 mostly free of boulders and small stones, 

 which occur but occasionally. 



The original timber is white, black and red 

 oak, white and black ash, hickory of various 

 kinds, elm, basswood or linden, sugar and 

 white maple, beech, with many other varie- 

 ties ; but those named chiefly prevailing. 

 Altitude, 540 feet above tide water at Alba- 

 ny. Thermometer ranging from zero, sel- 

 dom but aometimes to two degrees below it 

 in winter ; up to 85°, and, but very seldom, 

 to 90° of Fah. in summer. Surrounded by 

 water, our fruits are hardly ever cut off by 

 spring frosts, which is common to all the 

 lake region. Nights, influenced somewhat 

 by the breezes of Lake Erie ; rather cooler 

 in summer than the country a few miles 

 east of us, and some five or six degrees 

 cooler than at Lewiston, twenty-five miles 

 north, and the country extending east 

 and west of that point, lying below the 

 "mountain ridge," or Lake Ontario basin, 

 below the Falls of Niagara, in which lies 

 Rochester, and the fine fruit region of the 

 lower Genesee Valley. 



Such is this position, near the northern 

 limit of the luxuriant fruit growing zone of 

 the northern states ; a section — if you will 

 permit me for a moment to digress from 

 the main subject — which, taken altogether, 

 is probably the best for the perfect production 

 of all their varieties, in open culture, of ap- 

 ples, pears, quinces, cherries, plums, peach- 

 es, grapes and melons, and the small fruits ; 

 including all its accessories of absence of 

 early and late frosts, regular bearing, growth 



