ORCHARDS. 99 



the judgment and experience of others ; in awarding the pre- 

 miums, the directors have not been governed solely by the 

 rapid growth of wood and branch, but have considered the 

 facilities for promoting the growth and the position of the 

 trees. 



Daniel Reynolds, Chairman. 



Mrs. R. Ba^or^s Statement. 



This orchard is situated on the farm of the late Richard 

 Bagg, Jr., in West Springfield, and consists of four hundred 

 trees. They were set in the month of April, 1851, in rows two 

 rods apart each way ; when set, holes were dug about two feet 

 square and two feet deep, and filled with rich meadow loam, in 

 which the trees were placed. The land has been cultivated 

 with hoed crops, and received a good dressing of manure and 

 ashes every spring. 



Ocran Dickinson's Statement. 



The orchard which I ofi"er for the examination of the direct- 

 ors, is in the immediate vicinity of my dwelling-house ; the soil, 

 a rich alluvial loam, admirably adapted to the cultivation of 

 fruit; with this view, I transplanted, in the fall of 1848 and 

 spring of 1849, what I considered a judicious selection from 

 several nurseries, of the most approved varieties of apples and 

 pears, as per catalogue annexed. The mode of cultivation 

 which has thus far been pursued with them, has been, chiefly to 

 promote a healthy action of the sap, and thereby to cause a 

 rapid growth of wood; to produce these results I have usually, 

 in the month of November, given them a full dressing of ma- 

 nure, fine and well prepared, as a top-dressing; and in the 

 spring this is dug in and thoroughly mixed with the soil ; in 

 June they are washed, trunk and limbs, as high as practicable, 

 with a solution of whale oil soap, prepared with one and a half 

 pounds of the soap to a pailful of soft water. This prepara- 

 tion protects the tree from insects, and keeps the bark of the 

 trees in a healthy state. During the summer the ground around 

 them is kept clean from weeds and grass, by the use of the hoe. 

 In pruning, I prefer the spring season, and the knife rather than 

 the saw; amputation of limbs should be prevented by the 



