THE GENESEE FARRIER. 



aa'^ the surface soil kept mellow by the use of the 

 culvivator with the addition annually of such a dre&s- 

 i)i!r of suitable manure as is ackno^\ledgsd to be 

 naoesai^i-y for the preservation of the soil in a proper 

 condition in case any other root or grain crop were 

 to be taken from it. Provided always that the cul- 

 tivator is an intelligent and careful man who attends 

 to the necessary routine of keeping the ground clean, 

 pruning the trees in a preper manner, and providing 

 against the attack of vermin, and other depredators. 



That this variety may be cultivated with profit, it 

 is also necessary that the owner should make provis- 

 ion for the marketing of fruit, and that the fruit 

 should be picked in due season and house ripened, 

 having a market, or purchaser, in view, to receive 

 them when in good condition, and in such a commu- 

 nity as can appreciate choice pears 



Tiie Louise Bonne of Jersey is a large and juicy 

 pear, sub acid and melting, a very productive bearer 

 on the quince, as well as a very ornamental and vig- 

 orous tree; ripens in this vicinity about the last of 

 September. Healthy trees, such as that in the an- 

 nexed cut, of from six to eight years from the bud, 

 will produce from two to three pecks, after thinning 

 about two-thirds of the original crop, which should 

 be done to preserve the vigor of the tree. If the 

 whole crop is allowed to remain, the tree would bear 

 more than a bushel, but the specimens would prove 

 inferior in size and flavor. Such trees may stand at 

 10 feet apart, or at least 400 trees to the acre. 



Making a very low estimate from the actual pro- 

 duce of such trees, during the past season, and allow- 

 ing for cost of trees, annual labor, and rent of land, 

 with other contingencies, we could show that a small 

 profit could be realised in the sixth year, and each 

 succeeding year, an annual gain of from three to five 

 hundred dollars per acre. 



We shall contioue this subject. * 



EE-GHAITTING OLD APPLE TREES. 



Eds. Genesee Farmer: — In the January number 

 of your journal you discuss the utility and the practi- 

 cability ot " Improving Old Apple Orchards," and as 

 the same subject in some of its aspects was discussed 

 at the Annual Meeting of the Fruit Growers' Socie- 

 ty, on the 7th inst, with interest and profit to the 

 Convention, I wish to add a few words to what has 

 already been f?aid; more for the sake of gathering 

 up what seems to be the combined experience of our 

 best cultivators and experimenters, than for the sake 

 of adding anything new to what has been set forth. 



It is evident from the results brought before the 

 meeting that thrifty, vigorous young apple trees, not 

 more than twenty or thirty years old, can always be 

 made profitable by grafting with the best standard 

 varieties of free g;roioing or vigorous varieties. The 

 new tops formed by judicious grafting will become 

 abundantly productive in five years, bearing at that 

 age nearly or quite as much as a tree twenty years 

 from the first transplanting. 



^^Success in grafting over trees of this age is best se- 

 cured by grafting quite early in the season ; for the 

 reason that after the circulation of sap becomes very 

 active in the tree, the check produced by amputation 

 of large limbs is so great that injury and stagnation 

 to the force of the tree is the consequence. In early 

 grafting, vigorous young sprouts are secured, which, 

 together with the scions inserted, keep up a healthy 



flow of sap, and secure the old wood from death and 

 decay. The practice of sawing off the limbs which 

 are to be grafted, at a leisure time in the latter part 

 of winter, and before the weather is warm enough to 

 do the grafting, is, therefore, quite in accordance with 

 sound principles. 



The difficulty of securing a symmetrical form and 

 a new growth of top near enough to the ground to 

 render the fruit accessible, is often urged against 

 grafting old trees ; but in most instances where trees 

 are worth grafting over, this can be secured by graft- 

 ing the upper parts of the tree first, cutting off 

 quite large limbs which have a vigorous flow of sap, 

 and inserting a larger number of scions upon them, 

 cuttinfr them in instead of splitting the stock, if it is 

 very large. By this practice the force of the tree 

 for the coming season is directed inta the lower and 

 weaker branches ; these branches will, by this -in- 

 crease of sap, become very thrifty, and can be grafted 

 the following spring with great care and success; by 

 inserting the graft in the lower limbs farther from 

 the trunk than those first set in the upper parts of 

 the tree, they will be found to grow rapidly, and, not 

 being shaded by the upper ones, they will soon be 

 equally vigorous and productive. 



The idea that it is practicable to renovate an old 

 tree by cutting it back and thus securing some vigo- 

 rous sprouts with large healthy leaves, whilst the soil 

 about the roots is allowed to remain uncultivated and 

 unenriched by strong and lasting manures, is incon- 

 sistent with facts. The result produced is simply to 

 cause what life there is in the whole tree to be ex- 

 pended in a " course of sprouts, ' which, in another 

 year become more feeble than the old limbs were, and 

 the tree, galvanized into lite for a time, falls into in- 

 curable decline. The proper course is, when the vigor 

 of the tree is not great enough, to feed it where only 

 it can be fed, through the soil, by cultivation and 

 manuring; and in manuring, do not be misled by 

 special vianvres, nor even by guano, wliich, altho' a 

 useful stimulant, is not by any means to be relied 

 upon for a steady and reliable fertilizer. The best 

 fertilizers are placed by a kind Providence directly in 

 our way, and, as if to make it certain that we should 

 use them, most of them are utterly worthless for 

 anything else, and in fact an offence to us. We can, 

 then, scarcely go amiss in plowing in all the nuisances 

 about our farms ; and thus, while we purify the home- 

 stead we are increasing the harvest ; we can scarcely 

 give the orchardist a better receipt for renovating hia 

 orchard than by saying to him, " follow your nose." 



Another inducement for grafting over trees of con- 

 siderable age, is, that many of those old orchards of 

 natural fruit occupy the positions which are most de« 

 sirable for such purposes. There are many farms 

 upon which suitable soil can be had only in limited" 

 quantity, and none but such soil is valuable for or- 

 charding; if this be occupied, W3 have no choice but 

 to graft the standing trees. A young orchard planted 

 among the old trees will never flourish, nor will it 

 do well if the old trees be cut down, until some 

 J ears of time, and care in plowing, manuring, &c., 

 have restored to the soil its original fertility ; the 

 site of an old orchard is one of the worst places 

 for a young one, whilst it may be very productive 

 of grain or grass. 



Many of the orchards which were productive 

 and vigorous a few years since, have now become 

 unprofitable, simply "because they have become too 



