762 THE AMERICAN FARMER. 



is dried in the sun. The fine flavor of the fruit is retained, and as nothing but water is 

 removed, the addition of water restores the fruit to its original condition as far as any dried 

 product may be restored to that condition for culinary purposes. The weight of a bushel of 

 apples after being dried in a fruit drying evaporator, will be only from six and a half to seven 

 pounds, and one hundred quarts of blackberries will weigh only about forty pounds. This is 

 a very convenient method of preserving fruits that perish quickly, since when cured in this 

 manner they can be packed away in jars, boxes, or paper bags where they may be safe from 

 insects, and be kept any length of time until wanted for use, while during those seasons in 

 which there may be a surplus of fruit, a quantity may be preserved in this manner and kept 

 until a season of scarcity, when it will command a good price in market, or if preserved 

 simply for home use, be very useful for household purposes. 



Protecting Fruit Trees and Vineyards from Frost. To retard the blossom 

 ing of fruit, and thus secure protection from frost, it is a good plan to heap up a body of snow 

 and ice around the trunk and roots in cold weather, say February or March, or to mulch 

 deeply when the ground is well frozen. This will have a tendency to retain the frost in the 

 ground later, consequently the fruit buds are retarded in opening until past all danger from 

 spring frosts. Another method of keeping off the frost, is to make a dense smoke near the 

 trees or vineyard by making small fires and burning gas tar, straw, wood, etc., to prevent 

 rapid radiation from the ground. Carriage sheets, light blankets, or paper are sometimes 

 thrown over small trees and vines to protect them from frost, but this is scarcely practicable 

 where there are many that require protecting. 



THE LARGER FRUITS. 



The Apple. Of all the different varieties of fruit grown in the temperate zone, the 

 apple stands first in importance, being the most extensively cultivated of any, and 

 embracing the most numerous varieties. From the most remote periods of antiquity, 

 this fruit has been renowned, and ancient poets and writers speak of it as being endowed with 

 superior virtues. There is probably no portion of the whole world in which the apple thrives so 

 well, and attains such a degree of perfection, as in the northern and middle portion of the United 

 States, the choicest apples of Germany and northern Europe scarcely equaling many varieties 

 that have originated in this country. The source from whence all the different varieties of 

 apples have originated, is a species of crab-apple growing wild in most portions of Europe. 

 Although there are two or three varieties of the crab-apple growing wild in this country, 

 these have not been used in propagating the apple here; it came from seeds of the species 

 that were brought here by the European colonists. 



The apple tree is very hardy, of slow growth, and long-lived. In its wild state, it is a 

 very long-lived tree, but when cultivated the average period of life is from fifty to eighty 

 years; by good care an apple orchard can be kept healthy and productive even much longer. 

 It is, therefore, the best policy in planting an orchard to take pains in securing the best 

 varieties suited to the section grown, and give the best of care. Although generally a tree 

 of medium-sized growth, it sometimes attains enormous proportions. It is stated by the best 

 authority that on the grounds of Mr. Hall, of Raynham, Rhode Island, are two apple trees 

 that are more than one hundred and forty years old; the trunk of one fourteen years ago, 

 measured at one foot from the ground, thirteen feet two inches in circumference, and the 

 other, one foot less. These old trees bore fourteen years ago between thirty and forty bushels 

 of apples; but in the year 1780 (when nearly forty years old), they together bore one hundred 

 and one bushels of apples. An apple tree in Duxbury, Massachusetts, has been known to 

 yield in a single season one hundred and twenty-one and a half bushels; this tree has a girth 



