PROCEEDINGS OF THE FARMEES' CLUB. 225 



where hay bears the high price that it does among the tobacco 

 growers of the Connecticut River Valley. 



Fruit Growing in Pots. 



Mr. N. C. Meeker. — While at the Pennsylvania State Fair, held 

 at Easton, I saw fruit growing in pots, and as it was new to me, I 

 give the particulars as to the mode of cultivation. 



Frederick Seitz, a brewer, in Easton, had on exhibition twenty- 

 four varieties of pea^h trees and some nectarines growing in pots 

 and loaded with fruit. The pots are from twelve to fourteen 

 inches tall, and have a capacity of ai)out five gallons, while the 

 trees are from two and a half to four feet high. Each pot has an 

 opening of about one-third in the bottom. 



The orchard house, usually a lean-to, should not be less than 

 fourteen feet wide, and as long as one pleases; it is similar to a 

 cold graper}'. The lower side is four and two-third feet, the upper 

 is twelve feet high. Mr. Seitz's is forty-four feet long, and holds 

 eighty trees. The pot stands over a place which first is a hole 

 made by digging out a few shovelsfuU of earth and then filled 

 with rich soil, usually compost. In this fibrous roots will form, 

 descending through the pot as the soil in the pot is not sufficient 

 to produce fruit. When the fruit is ripe the pot is tipped on one 

 side, and these fibrous roots are cut off. This is done that the 

 wood of the trees may harden and the fruit buds develop them- 

 selves, otherwise the tree would continue to grow and produc a 

 mass only of green soft wood. 



In the fall the pots are put away close together in a corner, 

 heaped up with dry soil, tan, or sand. It is a good way to dig a 

 trench ; place in it the pots and cover them up with soil, but not 

 any of the branches. The point aimed at is to keep them quite 

 dry, subject to no change and to exclude the sunlight with some 

 coverino^. The air should be cold — frost is to be avoided, thouah 

 it will do no hurt if the roots and trees are dry. A cellar suffici- 

 ently large would be a good place. 



Mr. Seitz thinks it would be a good plan to have the trees placed 

 in the sheltered spots during the warm and growing season, and 

 he intends to try it next year. 



The process of planting is first to place in the bottom of the pot 



broken pieces of stoneware, crooked, an inch or so deep, as spaces 



for the roots to work down through, then soil is added in quantity 



according to the roots, for the tree must be set in its accustomed 



[Am. Inst.J O 



