342 ^ Desirable Apple. 



Orchards in Grass— Protection. 



ED. Western Horticulturist : — There are very few old orchards in this part 

 of Jasper county, and of these only one was injured by the severity of h\st 

 winter, and that one is past all redemption. Other orchards planted on or about the 

 same kind of soil, with nearly the same aspect and exposure, are uninjured. All of 

 the old orchards are planted on cleared land (formerly timber and bush) ; soil thin, 

 and clay within eighteen inches of the surface, with no protection nearer than from 

 twenty rods to a half mile. The damaged orchard has been murderously pruned 

 within the past two years, and a crop of small grain was raised among the trees in 

 1872. The other orchards are in sod, or left to grow up in weeds. 



One orchard in particular, which is in a blue grass sod, is entirely exempt from 

 injury in every particular, and it never produced a larger crop of fruit than this 

 season. I leave you and others to draw your own conclusion. 



Of the young orchards — those unprotected seem to have fared better than those 

 which were otherwise situated. A near neighbor of mine has an orchard of four 

 hundred trees, which is protected by a White Willow hedge on all sides. That 

 orchard suflfered considerably last winter, and this season has blighted to death. 

 Even a few yearlings, grown from root grafts among the trees are also blighted ; 

 soil deep prairie and sloping to the south and east. Several other orchards standing 

 on open prairie do not show bad effects of the winter to any extent, and one in par- 

 ticular on a hill-side, pitching steep to north, has passed through the winter sound. 



Early Harvest, Red Astrachan, Red and Sweet Junes, Oldenburg, Chenango, 

 Benoni, Fameuse, Ben Davis and Rauls Janet have fruited well this season, while 

 Northern Spy and Yellow Bellflower, thirteen years planted on clay soil, hung fuller 

 than I ever saw before. 



A Desirable Apple. 



EARLY in September, we received specimens of an apple from Mr. E. E. Brown, 

 Onslow, this state, which he calls the Summer Harvey. The fruit was past its 

 prime, but so far as we could judge, may be classed very good in quality. Taking 

 into account, also, the good character of the tree (as given by Mr. B.), the size of 

 the fruit and its season, we should think it valuable. With the exception of the 

 Oldenburg, all our early summer apples are below medium in size. Size more than 

 quality takes preference in the market now-a-days. Let 'em have the big apple. 

 Mr. Brown writes : 



" I sent to Springfield, Vt. (my birth-place), for the cions of this apple. The trees 

 have stood upon the old homestead for some seventy years. But when I was there 

 eight years ago, they looked as though they would soon succumb to old time. 

 Younger trees in the neighborhood are bearing, and it is the favorite apple. I 

 supposed for a long time that this apple was the E. Harvest, but when I got trees of 

 the Harvest, I at once discovered a difference. The Harvest with me is a poor 

 bearer, the Harvey is one of the very best. The fruit is also nearly double the size 

 of the Harvest. I have one tree-top grafted — one-half with the Harvest, and the 

 other half with the Harvey. The latter half bore a good crop this season — the 

 former not a single specimen." 



