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promoted by a judiciously conducted association of 

 growers. 



In the United States also, as elsewhere, the trees 

 naturally yield a heavy crop only every second year. 

 But Mr Pell, the owner of one of the finest orchards in 

 America — that of Pelham farm, at Esopus, on the river 

 Hudson — to whom I was subsequently indebted for 

 much kind attention at New York, has recently been 

 making experiments with the view of ascertaining 

 whether, by proper manuring applications to the roots, 

 an annual crop might not be secured from his valuable 

 Newtown pippin trees, of which he has two thousand in 

 full bearing. His experiments, he informed me, had 

 been perfectly successful, only he had begun to think, or 

 apprehend, that the life of his trees might be shortened 

 by this course, and that he might have to replace them 

 so many years sooner. But should this prove the result, 

 it might still be profitable, as it is with the peach 

 orchards of New Jersey, to have a succession of new 

 trees coming up to replace the old — and experiments on 

 the subject are deserving of encouragement. 



An interesting observation made by Mr Pell in regard 

 to the influence of crops of rye upon an apple-orchard is 

 deserving of a place among important physiological facts 

 as yet incapable of explanation. He cultivates his 

 orchard grounds as if there were no trees upon them, and 

 raises grain of every kind except rye — which crop he 

 finds so injurious that he believes three successive crops 

 of it would destroy any orchard which is less than 

 twenty years old. We in Europe, who think it bad 

 and exhausting husbandry to take three successive corn 

 crops of any kind from the same land without the 

 addition of manure, might be inclined to attribute the 

 ruin of an orchard, under these circumstances, to bad 

 husbandry only, were it not that similar successive crops 

 of other kinds of grain do not produce a like effect. 



