34 



ORCHARD FRUIT CULTURE. 



of tree, ease of cultivation, and excellence of 

 flavor, in the United States ; the "great lake 

 country," south of a line drawn west from 

 the head of Lake Ontario, and east as far 

 as Oswego. The reason of this I shall not 

 attempt to explain, other than the influen- 

 ces of such large bodies of fresh water ; 

 but that such is the fact, all experience 

 agrees in the entire success which has thus 

 far attended fruit cultivation, while the 

 greatest efforts which have been made to 

 produce the best fruits in wide, variety, even 

 but a few miles south of the lake basins, 

 upon the high lands, which furnish the 

 sources of the waters of the Mississippi 

 valley, have failed altogether in the com- 

 parison. On this subject, by the way, I 

 beo - to refer you to a communication from 

 Mr. Springer ; I believe it is on fruit cul- 

 tivation, in the Transactions of the Board 

 of Agriculture of the state of Ohio, for 

 1848. This assertion, I am aware, is a 

 broad and sweeping one, and will probably 

 challenge the attention of many prominent 

 and experienced pomologists of our coun- 

 try. But, "come one, come all," to an ex- 

 hibition of our northern fruits, then in sea- 

 son, at the Syracuse State Agricultural Ex- 

 hibition, on 12th September next, where 

 the North American Pomological Conven- 

 tion is to hold its next session ; and we fear 

 not to abide the result of a contest. 



But, to the main subject. I say that my 

 soil is mostly a clayey loam. It is so ; yet 

 the top soil varies somewhat in its compo- 

 sition, — running from a vegetable mould 

 into gravelly, and occasionally a sandy 

 loam, all intermixed more or less with 

 clay ; the latter greatly predominating, and, 

 in the long run, by far the richest in pro- 

 moting the mature growth of the tree, but 

 not always the quickest in pushing forward 

 the young trees, — premising, always, that 

 the ground be divested of surplus, or stand- 



ing water, by proper draining ; a plough 

 furrow usually answering the purposes of 

 mine. 



During the past five years, I have set out 

 in orchard about 1000 apples, and have 

 about 1000 more left in my nursery, now 

 about fit for planting, and which I purpose 

 to plant out within the next two years.* 

 As I design growing for market chiefly, a 

 large variety is not my object. I prefer- 

 red to select such standard fruits as I know 

 thrive well in this locality, and pay my 

 chief attention to them. I have, however, 

 upwards of thirty varieties altogether, in- 

 dulging the amateur only in a small way. 

 My standard varieties are chiefly thus : 

 Early apples — Yellow Harvest, Williams' 

 Favorite, Early Joe, Sweet or Large Yel- 

 low Bough, Golden Sweeting. Fall ap- 

 ples — 'Fall Pippin, Gravenstein, Jersey 

 Sweeting, Rambo, English Belle Bonne. 

 Winter apples — Baldwin, Yellow Belle- 

 fleur, Hubbardston Nonsuch, Newtown Pip- 

 pin, Northern Spy, Herefordshire Pearmain, 

 Pomme Gris, Rhode Island Greening, Ame- 

 rican Golden Russet, English Russet, Rox- 

 bury Russet, Swaar, Ladies Sweeting, Tal- 

 man's Sweeting, Esopus Spitzenberg, Van- 

 dervere, Westfield Seek-no-further. Seve- 

 ral of the above, however, I have in small 

 number, — twenty varieties comprising the 

 bulk of the trees, which all flourish and 

 succeed well in this region. The great 

 fault of our market fruit-growers is their 

 proneness to run into too many varieties ; 

 a few, on which the public taste is settled, 

 when of decidedly good quality, being alto- 

 gether the most profitable. 



A word upon apple planting, and subse- 

 quent cultivation : The orchard ground 

 should be well cultivated, and in good 

 crop-bearing condition before the trees are 



* I grow my own apple, quince, and plum trees ; op- 

 portunity being had a few years ago to try a large lot of 

 seedlings, which I preferred to transplant into my own 

 grounds, and graft with kinds of my own selection. 



