176 



The Canadian Horticulturist. 



A WHEEL LAND MEASURE. 



A device for accurately measuring off any piece of level land is given here 

 with. An old wheel from some cast-off buggy or other vehicle is required, and 

 may be of any convenient size. Make and fix the 

 handles as shown, so that the wheel may revolve 

 easily on its axis. To use the device, mark one 

 spoke with a strip of cloth or a dab of white paint, 

 and roll the wheel carefully along the desired boun- 

 dary with a stake or other object as a guide for the 

 eye. Count the number of revolutions the wheel 

 makes as the distance is traversed by the wheel, and 

 by multiplying the number of these revolutions by 

 the circumference of the wheel, the length in feet 

 may be found. To get the circumference, the wheel 

 may be measured with a tape-line or string — Farm 

 and Home. 



Fig. 76S. 



ABOUT CULTIVATING ORCHARDS. 



The diverse treatment which orchards receive throughout the country affords 

 a lesson showing the great benefit of giving them the best management and the 

 loss from neglected treatment. Neglect is too common, and poor crops and 

 scabby fruit is the result. In contrast with these neglected orchards, are a few 

 to which the owners give the best attention, and who receive good prices for the 

 copious returns of handsome fruit. One orchard of this class, which has grown 

 to full bearing size, affords the owner a handsome profit every year, while his 

 careless neighbors receive not more than one-fourth of his returns. This well 

 managed orchard is kept in grass, which is grazed short by sheep, the grass 

 afforded them being only one-half or two-thirds as much as would give them full 

 feed, the deficiency being made up with grain or meal. This is fed to them 

 regularly in long board troughs. The sheep eat every wormy apple as it falls, 

 and the fruit is thus kept nearly clear from insects. The droppings of the sheep 

 enrich the ground, and a top dressing of barn manure is added yearly. The 

 sales of the fruit from this orchard for many years have been equal to one 

 hundred dollars from each acre it occupies. The shade of the apple trees 

 prevents a rank growth of the grass, and the grazing of the sheep gives it some- 

 what the appearance of a lawn. The owners of some other excellent orchards, 

 who cannot use sheep, apply yard or barn manure more copiously. In one of 

 the finest visited, the annual application of manure had gradually made it two 

 or three inches deep ; the result was a superb crop of apples. Other orchards, 

 with less manure are kept clean and mellow with a gang plow or Acme harrow, 

 to keep the surface clean and in a finely pulverized condition. — Country Gentle- 

 man. 



