188 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



He believed it to be neither humanity or economy 

 to deprive a fruit tree of the nourishment which it 

 needs. Peaches with him had been the most 

 profitable crop — the crop had never failed. His 

 first trees he got from New Jersey, but he found 

 them to be no better, if as good, as those he could 

 get here. He fenced in a piece of land as a henery, 

 and set out his trees there, and found they would 

 grow about twice as fast as those outside the hen- 

 ery, and the fruit was much better. He plows the 

 henery in the spring, and the fowls keep it light 

 the rest of the season. The object in having the 

 trees in the henery was to allow fowls to destroy 

 the borer and curculio. The "President" peach he 

 considered his best peach. He has to shorten his 

 trees in, every year, they grow so fast. By short- 

 ening in trees which bore a late and inferior fruit, 

 he had got a good fruit, and in good season. Ap- 

 ples do not do so well in his section, except early 

 apples. The Legislature was providing a law 

 against stealing fruit, which he hoped would rem- 

 edy the evil to which the president alluded. 



Maj. Wheeler, of Framingham, thought the 

 fruit culture to be the most important and profita- 

 ble of any. Instead of diminishing, the prices 

 have been increasing the past thirty years. We 

 do not raise half enough for our own consumption. 

 We live in one of* the very best climates to raise 

 fruit. When we see that we do not raise enough 

 for our own consumption, and that new markets 

 are constantly opening, there is no fear of over sup- 

 plying the demand. lie contended that peaches 

 might be sent to England and sold at enormous 

 prices. Apples can be sent to the East Indies. 

 We have much soil that is calculated for peaches, 

 and we can raise them with more surety than they 

 can at the South. They are not so liable here to 

 be cut off by the late frosts in the spring. There 

 are farms in Framingham where the peach has 

 not failed for thirty years — while on others they 

 fail three times in four years. They should be set 

 upon high ground. He had examined many trees 

 since the recent cold weather, and found that the 

 buds were destx-oyed. Still he thought there was 

 enough left to give us a good crop. He recom- 

 mended cutting in every year — and then picking 

 off a large proportion of the fruit, so as to raise 

 that which is of a superior character. It is im- 

 portant to raise the best fruit — and it will always 

 bring the largest price. The pear has been much 

 neglected. He thought it could be cultivated to 

 advantage and profit. 



Hon. John C. Gray, of Boston, agreed that 't 

 was not good policy to planttrees in grass-ground. 

 He asked for information, what we are to do when 

 our trees grow too fast. If the ground is kept up, 

 the branches of the trees in a few years will meet. 

 He thought when trees are ten or twelve years 

 oli!, the ground may be put down to grass. Apple 

 trees ought to be set 40 feet apart. He thought 



the peach was an uncertain crop in our State ; such 

 was his experience. He found it necessary to put 

 out a dozen or two young trees a year in order to 

 keep his crop full. The changes of our climate he 

 thought to be the great source of failure of the 

 peach crop. He agreed with others in the advan- 

 tage of cutting in the trees. The old baking pears 

 he thought to be hardy and easy of culture — the 

 Iron pear and the Bartlett, for instance — while the 

 Seckle and others were hard to raise. The pear 

 tree he thought to be tender of drought; they are 

 effected more by our long summer droughts than 

 our cold winters. The apple he thought to be a 

 standard fruit, and he was not aware of any better 

 apple orchards in the world than the New England 

 apple orchards. We have a climate which raises 

 as many varieties of fruit as any climate in the 

 temperate zone. The peach he considered a tol- 

 erably certain fruit on high grounds. 



The Chairman inquired of Mr. Gray in regard 

 to the treatment of the yellows. 



Mr. Gray considered the disease incurable, and 

 advised getting the trees out of the way as soon 

 as possible. 



Maj. Wheeler recommended as a cure for the 

 borer on peach trees, the application of a strong 

 ley — say one pound of potash to four quarts of 

 water. He believed with Mr. Gray that there is 

 no cure for the yellows. One application of the 

 ley in August he thought would be effectual for 

 the borer. 



Mr. Buckminster said there was a difference 

 between the apple tree borer and the peach tree 

 borer. Their habits are different. If the farmer 

 places strong wood ashes around the roots of the 

 peach tree in the spring it will prevent trouble 

 from these insects. 



Maj. Wheeler had tried ashes, lime and tan, 

 and found them of no effect. The worms will go 

 in above the ashes. He did not consider them a 

 reliable preventive. He thought the wash would 

 kill all the young ones and the eggs. The gentle- 

 man spoke further upon the culture of apples. 

 There had been much neglect in setting out or- 

 chards. Soils, when they are set out, are not 

 generally dug deep enough. The hole for ajiple 

 trees never ought to be less than two feet deep 

 and six feet across. Another trouble is that peo- 

 ple do not get good trees. They ought not to be 

 set out until four years from the bud. The nurse 

 rymen do not trim and shape the trees as they 

 ought to, before they leave the nursery. 



Mr. Sheldon, of Wilmington, said he should 

 choose a sandy, loamy soil, where no water could 

 stand, for his nursery. He would have the rows 

 four or five feet apart. When the trees are small, 

 it is a good plan to sift ashes over them in damp 

 weather. When they arc big enough to bud, it is 

 a good plan to cover the ground with grass from 

 a meadow; it will prevent damage from the 



