POMOLOGICAL MEMORANDA. 



&c., "which, if they would do, would confer a much greater benefit to their readers, than 

 the loose and general remarks which are usually made in their descriptions. 



Working the Earth around the roots op Trees. — In the last October number of 

 your paper, I gave a word or two on mulching orchard trees. Those trees stood in a grass 

 meadow which was mowed for hay — of course unploughed, and the mulching was substi- 

 tuted for the ploughing. As the trees, invigorated by the mulching, hadmadegood growth, 

 and fearing that the repetition of that process alone would not answer the purpose the 

 present season — the mulch being removed early last fall, for fear it would harbor the mice 

 about the roots, and thus destroy them, early in May I put to work the plough, with a 

 pair of stout oxen, and a careful driver — the latter more particularly to keep the oxen 

 from goring the trees. Setting the plough, with a good coulter to it, (to cut the sod in- 

 stead of tearing it,) into the ground at six feet back from the tree, and as near within line 

 of it as would lay the furrow against the trunk — say twelve to fifteen inches — I upset the 

 sod six to eight inches deep, and gave four furrows on each side, eight in all, throwing out 

 the plough at six feet beyond the tree — the same distance as it was let in. 



The plan worked to my entire satisfaction. I measured young wood on many trees last 

 Saturday, (21st of June,) which had made nine to eighteen inches already, and still grow- 

 ing vigorously, while the grass all over the meadow is large and heavy, thus giving the 

 trees all the advantage of an entire ploughing to the field. The sods are not turned flat; 

 but perhaps, at an average, two-thirds over, so that the rains and the air can penetrate the 

 open earth, and reach the roots freely. This sod operates as a perfect mulch also — for 

 what is better than a rich, heavy up-turned sod about a tree? The fruit, too, hangs well, 

 and promises large growth. 



You ma}' possibly expect me to say a word of my trees planted a year ago, of which I 

 also gave an account in October. Owing to the heavy snows of last winter the mice nib- 

 bled many of them, and quite destroyed eight or ten of the 1,200 planted. The land 

 where they stand was all ploughed last fall, at an average of nine inches deep, and in April 

 following sowed into spring wheat, oats and barley, and seeded into grass for meadow. 

 Owing to its being in grain, and in consequence, subject to the depredations of mice while 

 growing and harvesting, I dared not trust the mulching around the trees. Still they are 

 growing remarkably well, many of them already having made a foot of wood up to this 

 time. 



Necessity of Thorough Draining for Fruits. — Having a small piece of stiff soil, 

 about half an acre, (clay loam on a clay sub-soil,) near my form-house, which lay in a 

 dishing shape, and of course catching and holding the water flowing on to it from the con- 

 tiguous grounds, and in a spot where I wanted fruit trees to stand, after thoroughly ma- 

 nuring and ploughing it, I planted it in apple, pear, plum and cherry trees, for house use, 

 and laid it into grass. I didn't look at the condition of the land as I should have done, 

 and paid no attention to draining it; yet I dug well around the trees every year, to pro- 

 mote their growth. Although well planted and tended, the trees did not grow loell, and the 

 English cherries all but one, several in number, died out, with the single exception of two, 

 and they stood still, barely holding their own. The others made small growth, and bore 

 a little fruit, but even that little in number was small in size. Suspecting the cause, I 

 made two or three small open drains about a foot deep, across the piece, but it was no go. 

 The trees refused to progress, and were becoming stunted and mossy. 



Last fall I went thoroughly to work and opened ditches two and a half feet deep, three 

 de at the top, and one foot at bottom, thirty to forty feet apart, laying the gr 

 beds, and leading the water as it fell or stood upon the ground, entirely away 



