78 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



Tlie general principles wliich govern successful fruit-culture 

 are now so well understood by intelligent cultivators, that thej 

 need only to be repeated and enforced. Your committee 

 would, however, submit the following suggestions as worthy of 

 consideration and for a more elaborate treatise would refer the 

 reader to the report made to tliis Board for the year 1859. 



1st. The salvtary influences of tJioroiig-h draining', the proper 

 preparation of the soil, and the necessity of judiciovs and care- 

 ful cultivation to ensure 'the healthful development and longevity 

 of fruit trees. 



In the preparation of the site for an orchard, thorough 

 draining of the soil is uniformly advantageous. This is now 

 admitted by all good cultivators to be an indispensable condi- 

 tion to perfect success in the production of fine trees and 

 handsome fruit. Wherever there is an excess of water in the 

 soil, at any season of the year, the health of the trees, sooner 

 or later, will be impaired and its life shortened. Most of the 

 diseases which have affected fruit trees, in our region, such as 

 the spotting of the foliage, decomposition of the bark, and the 

 blasting and cracking of the fruit, are attributable to uncon- 

 genial and imperfectly drained soils. In fact there are very 

 few locations where draining is not beneficial. In undrained 

 soils water accumulates first at the extremities of the lower 

 roots. When, therefore, autumn approaches, evaporation 

 growing less and less, and the temperature of the earth being 

 reduced, the roots become chilled and the functions of the tree 

 arrested, just at the time when in our climate they are most 

 required for bringing our fruits to perfect maturity. All lands 

 intended for orchards should not only be well drained, but the 

 land should be thoroughly ploughed, deeply if not subsoiled. 

 The advantages resulting from such properly prepared soils is 

 now so universally acknowledged as to need no further discussion 

 in this report. 



An orchard should always be kept free from grass, grain and 

 weeds. No other product should be grown upon the soil, 

 except vegetables, and these only while the trees are young 

 and occui)y but a small portion of the land. And when the 

 trees attain a bearing condition, the cultivation of tlie soil 

 should not extend to the depth of more than three inches, 



