134 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan. 



late to make any definite arrangements, we received a line 

 from Mr. Brown, who was to speak on the Apple Orchard, 

 saying that owing to ill health he was unable to deliver the 

 lecture. Yesterday I engaged two Connecticut gentlemen 

 to occupy his time, who will do it well, — Mr. P. M. Augur, 

 State Pomologist, and Secretary T. S. Gold. 



THE APPLE ORCHARD. 



Mr. Augur. I will only touch upon two or three points, 

 as the time is limited. And first, the great value of the 

 apple. We could not well do without it, and its use, we 

 all admit, should be greatly increased. The question may 

 be asked. What land shall we use to plant apple orchards 

 upon? All agree that fertile land near our large cities, 

 near good markets, and where land is called for for market 

 gardening, is too valuable to plant apple orchards upon ; and 

 again, we find that by going back a little from the cities and 

 taking the land, if I may so speak, on the back hills, ele- 

 vated land, land with a strong soil, and a retentive subsoil, 

 we get our best locations. We find in Connecticut that 

 orchards planted on such land are more durable, that is, 

 they last longer. I was told a few years ago by an old dis- 

 tiller who lived in one of the towns in a farming community 

 that he knew it to be a fact that cider made from orchards 

 on this retentive soil, would yield one-third more brandy 

 than cider from orchards on the plain where the land was 

 sandy and light. The fruit is richer, its keeping qualities 

 are better, unquestionably so ; and for that reason, consider- 

 ing the lower value of those lands, and their greater value 

 for apple orchards, we should naturally choose such lands for 

 planting apple orchards. 



Now, having said so much, suppose we ask the question, 

 What shall we plant? Having selected our site for an 

 orchard, wliich I think should be one that can be cultivated, 

 what shall we plant? I am not going to say anything 

 about varieties, but we will take the ideal tree from the 

 nursery. If I should plant an orchard, I should want to 

 get an ideal tree, and then select the whole orchard to con- 

 form to that ideal. Many orchards have only a few good 

 trees, a great many leaning trees, a great many dwarfish 



