236 AX AMERICAX FARMER IX EXGLAXD. 



ground at the same time was dug over eight inches deep, and the 

 trees pruned. The following year the proprietor writes : " I 

 never housed any thing like 50 bushels before ; now there are at 

 least 75 bushels, while my summer fruit was at least double the 

 usual quantity." Upon this, Mr. Thompson remarks : " The 

 lopping-in of the trees and digging the ground, as above describ- 

 ed, were doubtless advantageous proceedings ; but the draining 

 of the ground was unquestionably the main cause of the extraor- 

 dinary change in the condition of the trees; for stunted specimens, 

 that previous to the draining were covered with moss, had made 

 no shoots for years, and were in such a state of decrepitude that 

 there was nothing to cut away but dead wood ; these had pro- 

 duced vigorous shoots when I saw them in 1847, and have con- 

 tinued to do so up to the present time. Such vigor cannot be 

 attributed to the cutting-in, for in these cases it was not practiced ; 

 nor to the digging of the ground, for although this was done 

 before draining was thought of, yet the trees went backwards ; 

 the decay of their branches increased under all circumstances till 

 1843, when recourse was had to draining, and since then they 

 have continued to do well, producing vigorous shoots shoots 

 upwards of three feet in length ; and in the present season the 

 fruit was abundant, large, and highly colored." 



A case was mentioned before the Staten Island Farmers' Club, 

 in 1850, of an under-drain having been run near two greengage 

 plum-trees, which had previously been for many years entirely 

 barren ; the year after, without any other operation upon them, 

 they bore bushels of fruit. 



The following satirical sketch of the management of the De- 

 vonshire orchards, contains an amusing account of the ceremony 

 of "shooting at the apple-tree," before alluded to.* 



* From the London Gardeners' 1 Chronicle. 



