348 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



In forming the head for orchard trees, I should not allow 

 the lower limbs to start out less than five or six feet from the 

 ground, and at that distance they will rest upon the ground 

 when grown and loaded with fruit. 



There are three or more objects gained by judicious prun- 

 ing. First, larger fruit ; second, by letting in the sun- 

 light and air, fruit of a much higher flavor ; and third, greater 

 ease and convenience in gathering the fruit. 



INSECTS. 



Besides the curculio (which we have never known to med- 

 dle with the apple-tree), the caterpillar is the only. enemy 

 that we have had occasion to contend with. We have always 

 been successful when we charged upon him in season, and 

 taken him unawares, when in camp. The only sure and 

 effectual remedy, is to attend personally to his case, with 

 ladders, — stripping the nests and all their occupants from the 

 tree with the hands, and stamping them under the foot. The 

 borer has never troubled us. 



HARVESTING. 



Apples for the market should always bo picked from the 

 trees by hand. If winter apples, they may be kept in open 

 barrels or bins, in the barn or sheds, until in danger of freez- 

 ing ; then barreled up and put in a cold, dry cellar, and kept 

 as cold as can be and not freeze. 



The following is a list of sweet and sour apples that ripen 

 in succession the year round : Early Harvest, Red Astricau, 

 Gravenstein, Porter, Hurlburt, Nonesuch, Greening, Baldwin, 

 Russet, Early Sweet Bough, Golden Sweet, Ramsdel Sweet, 

 Pound Sweet, Danvers Sweet, Ladies' Sweet. 



Horace M. Sessions. 



Col. Wilder said : I am pleased with the paper of Mr. 

 Sessions, illustrating as it does how certain lands, which were 

 not susceptible of cultivation for other purposes, could be 

 converted into orchards for the apple. These side-hills and 

 rough lands were often selected by our ancestors for the same 

 purpose, and containing, as they often do, rocks like the 

 granite, which are perpetually yielding up potash for nutri- 



