108 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1891. 



The care of an orchard after it comes into bearing is light 

 compared with any of the cultivated farm crops and it is safe 

 to say it will make a larger average return in proportion to the 

 expense for labor and fertilizers. As no crop of any consider- 

 able value can be grown in a close set orchard after the trees 

 substantially shade the ground the trees should have the full 

 benefit of the soil either by clean cultivation or by frequently 

 cutting whatever growth there may be and leaving it upon the 

 ground. 



Poultry may be kept to advantage in the orchard ; with fifty 

 hens to the acre in a bearing apple orchard no other care will 

 be required for the soil than to run the cultivator occasionally 

 for the triple purpose of stirring the soil, turning up the grubs 

 and furnishing food for the fowls ; no other fertilizer than that 

 furnished by the fowls will be required to grow first-class 

 fruit. 



In setting an apple orchard the selection of varieties will 

 depend upon the object in view : if to grow fruit for the whole- 

 sale or export trade few varieties will be re(]uired. A few years 

 since an effort was made to ascertain the quantity of each of the 

 different varieties exported and from the best data that could be 

 secured it appeared that between eight and nine tenths were 

 Baldwins. For an orchard for the above purposes, however 

 large, the following varieties will be found sufficient : Graven- 

 stein, Hubbardston, Rhode Island Greening, Baldwin and 

 Roxbury Russet. If a home market is to be supplied the 

 above list would be extended by adding any well-known local 

 varieties and a limited number of Astrachan and Williams' Favor- 

 ite. There are many other excellent apples fully equal in qual- 

 ity to those named but not as reliable for a crop under ordinary 

 conditions. The Tompkins King is an excellent apple and, well 

 grown, commands the highest price in market, yet it often fails to 

 give satisfaction. The Northern Spy has high quality and a 

 reputation that sells it easily in market, but its frequent failure 

 prevents its general cultivation. The list might be indefinitely 

 extended by varieties that under favorable conditions might be 

 desirable which can only be proved by trial. 



