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abundantly dug in between the drills, and then the litter is re- 

 placed between the rows. This serves the double purpose of 

 keeping the ground moist, and likewise of keeping the fruit 

 from the dirt. The vines require to be replanted once in three 

 years. 



Peaches are cultivated to some extent, though under many 

 discouragements. They were raised nearly half a century ago 

 with much more success than of late years. A farmer in Wal- 

 tham has sold 700 dollars' worth in a season from his peach or- 

 chards. I mention such facts as these, which are unquestiona- 

 ble, with a view to stimulate the farmers to the cultivation of 

 fruit of every description. With the present rapid increase of 

 the population in the cities, and the multiplication of manufac- 

 turing villages, there is no danger of over-production. With 

 the extraordinary increase of wealth likewise, to which our 

 community is evidently destined, we may expect an increase 

 of luxury ; and I have known within the two last years, 

 peaches, which were brought forward very early in a green- 

 house, and were of the best kind, to be sold for six dollars per 

 dozen in the market. The cultivator, whose establishment is 

 small, sold to the amount of seventy dollars in a season, and 

 could have doubled his sales, if he had had the fruit. It need 

 not trouble the conscience of the farmer to administer to so 

 innocent a luxury as that of indulging in fine fruit, however 

 liberally his customers may be willing to pay for it. In gene- 

 ral, peaches are a short-lived tree, but as they are easily culti- 

 vated, and come soon into bearing, a supply should be con- 

 stantly coming forward. A rare-ripe peach-tree, on the farm of 

 John Welles, in Natick, in this county, producing fruit of an 

 excellent quality, continued in bearing more than a third of a 

 century, and being a natural peach, that is, not engrafted, 

 the trees from the stones of this fruit preserve entirely the char- 

 acter of the original. The best cultivators advise to keep 

 a peach orchard constantly cultivated, and cover the roots of 

 the trees with salt hay or litter, in the autumn. Some prefer 

 to plant these trees on land with a northern rather than a south- 



