Soil and the W. W. Pearmain. 



15 



WESTERN HORTICULTURE. 



What of My Soil? 



ED. Western Horticulturist :-1 wish 

 to plant an orchard of one thousand 

 apple trees, besides other fruits, such as the 



pear, cherry, etc. As my situation and soil ; '« be largely composed of minute particles 

 are peculiar, I should like your opinion upon ^^ sharp sand, 



however, to interfere with the growing of 

 grain or grass. I inclose a sample of my 

 soil. Charles Wooster. 



Silver Glen, Neb. 



Remarks. — Your soil and situation are 

 indeed "peculiar." Under a magnifying 

 glass of ordinary capacity, the soil appears 



of all shades or hues. 

 The soil, together with the constant presence 

 of water so near its surface, is such that we 

 will not venture an opinion upon its adapta- 



its fitness for fruit. 1 am located at Silver 

 Glen, Merrick county, Nebraska, in the 

 Platte Valley, about a mile from the river. 

 The surface of n)y place (160 acres) no- 

 where varies but a few feet from a general 

 level. Soil sandy, and from two to four feet 

 deep, with subsoil porous. From two to 

 six feet below the surface is a strata of coarse bility for fruit growing. We can only say 

 gravel, in which water is always everywhere that, were we planting an orchard upon such 

 found ; ordinarily, not nearer to the surface soil, in the first place the ground would be 

 than three feet, though in a very wet spring plowed, and the trees set upon the natural 

 it will stand within a foot or so of the sur- | surface, and about thirty feet apart each 

 face for some weeks. There is sufficient | way. Then make land, north and south, 

 fall, however, to allow of surface draining. | of the space occupied by each row of trees, 



The country has nothing of the appearance 

 of a marsh, and without knowing, one would 

 never mistrust, from growing crops, that 

 water was near. There is often a little ap- 

 pearance of alkali in the soil, not sufficient. 



by throwing the soil up to the tree in ridges 

 about the trees, as represented in the cut, 

 and some eighteen inches higher than the 

 natural surface. In a soil so porous, we 

 should also regard mulching of importance. 



Soil and the W. W. Pearmain. 



IN the Horticulturist of the present 

 month (November), Mr. Henry Walton 

 wishes to knowif the White Winter Pearmain 

 apple succeeds well on prairie soil, and says 

 that, on timber land, they are worthless. 

 I can assure him that they are the same on 

 the prairie. I have had a considerable ex- 

 perience with this apple in the southeast 

 quarter of Van Buren county, Iowa, on high, 

 rich prairie, having a slight descent to the 

 southeast. The first trees were planted in 

 the spring of 1843, and grew more rapidly 

 than any other trees in the orchard, the 

 wood, whether of slow or rapid growth, be- 

 ing of a soft, spongy texture. In about four 

 years they began to bear, and increased in 

 bearing every alternate year for about ten 

 years, when they began to decline in bear- 

 ing, and also in the quality of the fruit ; so 



that, in the course of five years from the be- 

 ginning of the deterioration, they were 

 entirely worthless. At about this period 

 the trees began to die, by beginning at the 

 ends of the limbs, as described by Mr. Wal- 

 ton, and now, every tree of the first planting is 

 dead, and most of them converted into ashes. 



I have younger trees of this variety, of 

 different ages, and whether five, ten or fif- 

 teen years old, the fruit is knarly, scabby 

 and worthless. The variety seems to have 

 a permanent, chronic disease. When the 

 trees and fruit were in their prime, neither 

 had any superior. -The tree was vigorous 

 and symmetrical, the fruit of good sizo, and 

 unsurpassed in flavor and richness, and 

 readily commanded $1.50 per bushel. 



William P. Lippincqtt. 



Vernon, Iowa. 



