\<>. 4.] FRUIT CULTURE. 251 



the month of April. I am along the Hudson, where apples 

 ripen twenty days in advance of those in Massachusetts. 



Question. Would apple trees be likely to thrive and 

 do well on plain land? We have in the valley, lying back 

 from the meadows, a sandy loam, — quite sandy. 



Mr. Powell. That soil is better adapted to peaches, 

 cherries and some kinds of plums. Apples need a soil that 

 is what might be termed heavy loam, and if there should be 

 in it some clay that would be better. 



Question. Is the Jonathan apple a good bearing one, — 

 equal to the Baldwin ? 



Air. Powell. Yes, Baldwins will yield more barrels but 

 sell for lower price. There is an apple here in New Eng- 

 land that is not well known and is of very superior quality, 

 and that is the Sutton Beauty. I have three hundred trees 

 of this variety on my farm. 



Question. Is it a good keeper? 



Mr. Powell. An excellent keeper, and it can be taken 

 out of storage and used early, or it can be kept late. It is 

 good early, and equally good late. 



Question. Does it make a-good cooking apple? 



Mr. Powell. The very finest, and as a table apple at 

 least fifty per cent better than the Baldwin, — a beautiful 

 apple in appearance, equally attractive as the Baldwin, and 

 very prolific. It will stand against the apple scab, when the 

 Baldwin will go down. 



Question. Will you give us your method of trimming 

 peach trees? 



Air. Powell. Every branch is taken off the tree when 

 it is set. Cut off all the side branches, prune quite closely, 

 then head down to about eighteen inches, and let the top 

 come out at about this point [showing]. The second year 

 keep the trees pruned open, let the sunshine down through 

 all parts of the trees, give the trees free circulation ; in a 

 year like the present, when we have wet weather, a tree not 

 kept open with a free circulation of air will suffer very much. 

 In the intervening years that follow, take out a great deal of 

 inside wood. Cut back branches, at least one-third of all 

 the growth annually after they begin to bear. 



