90 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



In the autuiim of 1843 I planted the seed that my orchard 

 has grown from, and not only raised trees from the seed, 

 but I budded the trees and planted them with my own 

 hands, and have had a great many crops of apples. I 

 regard the apple as the best fruit that God has ever given to 

 man, and the most delicious fruit that can be used in the 

 family the year round. My orchard comprises some twenty 

 acres, and as a rule my apples are sold in the markets of 

 Worcester. I find that I can get good prices for the best 

 fruit and poor prices for the poor fruit. 



In relation to peaches, I will say that the hardest work 

 that I ever had in my farm experience was to sell my crop. 

 That was years ago, when everybody had peaches, when 

 they were a drug in the market and brought very low prices. 

 I have some notions in relation to the peach tree. We all 

 know that the peach is the most uncertain of any of the 

 fruit crops, owing to the diseases which have attacked it. 

 The first that was known of the yellows in this country was 

 in 1818 ; I saw them first in 1842. Since then thousands of 

 peach trees have been ruined by the ravages of the disease. 

 The peach tree is short-lived, and it is not considered profit- 

 able to raise peaches here. It is true that by feeding a 

 peach tree with stimulating materials, as Mr. Hale does, we 

 may prolong its life, and perhaps it may l)e profital)le for a 

 period. But the question comes, AVhat is the reason that 

 Ave have this disease Avhich has come upon us? I believe 

 that peach trees grown from the stones taken from trees 

 that are healthy, will be longer-lived and more satisfactory 

 than trees that are nursery-grown from stones coming from 

 diseased trees, or l)uddcd, i)erhaps, from trees raised from 

 stones that come from diseased trees, and consequently they 

 are short-lived and not satisfactory. 



Mr. Hale has said that an apple should l)o well fed, and 

 fed every year. That was a good })oint that he made. An 

 a[)ple tree should l)e fed every year, the same as we feed our 

 other crops, in order to produce the best results ; and not 

 only apj)le trees, but all trees, even ornamental trees, will 

 not produce the same results if they are neglected in this 

 re«pect that they will if bountifully fed. We see a demon- 

 stration of that on Mr. Ilunnewell's grounds in AVellesley. 



