1892.] TRANSACTIONS. 15 



noted that what Mr. Pell did was done " with his might." 

 That was many years ago, and his example has found few imita- 

 tors. But of his labor, and the fortune that it earned, he thus 

 wrote : 



"For several years past I have been experimenting on the 

 apple, having an orchard of 2,000 bearing Newtown Pippin 

 trees. I found it very unprofitable to wait for what is termed 

 the ' bearing year,' and it has been my aim to assist Nature, so 

 as to enable the trees to bear every year. I have noticed that 

 from the excessive productiveness of this tree, it requires the 

 intermediate year to recover itself — to extract from the earth 

 and the atmosphere the materials to enable it to produce again. 

 This it is not able to do, unassisted by art, while it is loaded 

 with fruit, and the intervening year is lost ; if, however, the 

 tree is supplied with proper food, it will bear every year ; at 

 least such has been the result of my experiments. Three years 

 ago in April, I scraped all the rough bark from the stems of 

 several thousand trees in my orchards, and washed all the 

 trunks and limbs within reach with soft soap; trimmed out all 

 the branches that crossed each other, early in June, and painted 

 the wounded part with white lead, to exclude moisture and pre- 

 vent decay. I then, in the latter part of the same month, slit 

 the bark by running a sharp pointed knife from the ground to 

 the first set of limbs, which prevents the tree from becoming 

 bark bound, and gives the young wood an opportunity of 

 expanding. In July, I placed one peck of oyster shell lime 

 under each tree, and left it piled about the trunk until Novem- 

 ber, during which time the drought was excessive. In Novem- 

 ber the lime was dug in thoroughly. The following year I col- 

 lected from these trees 1,700 barrels of fruit, part of which was 

 sold in New York for four, and others in London for nine dol- 

 lars per barrel. The cider made from the refuse, delivered at 

 the mill, two days after its manufacture I sold for three dollars 

 and three-quarters per barrel, of 32 gallons, exclusive of the 

 barrel. In October I manured these trees with stable manure, 

 in which the ammonia had been fixed, and covered this imme- 

 diately with earth. The succeeding autumn they were literally 

 bendino; to the ijround with the finest fruit I ever saw, while the 

 other trees in my orchard not so treated are quite barren, the 

 last season having been their bearing year. I am now placing 

 round each tree one peck of charcoal dust, and propose in the 

 spring to cover it from the compost heap." 



