21 



have used no fertilizer save stable manure. The orchard has 

 not been cultivated for the last four or five years. 



]\Ir. Dkew. Well, I would make them bear some way. I 

 should try putting on some slag and potash, and should with- 

 draw any source of nitrogen. If that didn't make them bear 

 I should root prune them. If one method doesn't work, use 

 another. I would broadcast the fertilizer over the whole sur- 

 face, not up against the trunk, because the feeding roots are 

 on the extremities every time. 



Question. Is it inexpedient or a bad plan to set out an 

 orchard if care is taken to fertilize and to keep the earth 

 within three or four feet of the tree dug up for a few years 

 before ready to plow ? 



]\Ir. Drew. That method is practically used by one of the 

 best, if not the best, fruit growers in ISTew England, A. A. 

 Marshall of Fitchburg ; but in spite of that fact I do not 

 think ordinary people would succeed with it. 



QuESTiOiSr. Would you set ISTorthern Spies and then graft 

 over to Mcintosh or Baldwins ? 



Mr. Deew. Under ideal conditions that is all right ; but 

 you are taking a great many chances, — a dry season when 

 the buds will not take, insects that eat the buds, canker from 

 an imperfect union. There is no question but what the 

 jSTorthern Spy stock and the Tolman Sweet are the strongest, 



Mr. BuESLEY. How would you proceed to set trees on 

 rough ground that could not be plowed ? 



Mr. Deew. I should set out the trees and then spade 

 around them by hand. Hand labor is more costly than team 

 labor, as a rule, but there are thousands of acres in Kew Eng- 

 land where fine fruit could be, grown in that way. 



QUESTION. What do you think of putting pigs into a piece 

 of land that is rough and stony ? 



Mr. Deew. I would put the pigs in before I set out the 

 orchard ; I would not have them in afterward. 



]\[r. TuRNEE. "What is the difference between the Snow 

 and the Mcintosh ? 



]\[r. Drew. The Snow apple belongs to the same group of 

 apples as the Mcintosh. It is smaller, not as delicate in 

 flavor and does not adapt itself to so wide a country. It will 



