104 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



gronud bone, or one to three of boue and potash, may be thrown 

 so that a portion shall fall into the hole and the remainder upon the 

 pile of soil nsed for filling in abont the roots. After planting, the 

 mulching material is to be drawn about the trees, covering a space 

 of from three to four feet in diameter. 



Trees planted in the manner described will make a vigorous 

 growth at once, and will be more hardy and live longer than those 

 planted in cultivated land ; while the cost of land and its prepara- 

 tion for planting will be far less than if the land were smooth and 

 cultivated. 



Until the trees are large enough to bear the land should be de- 

 voted wholl}' to their growth, and after they begin to produce fruit 

 more plant food must be applied in some form, and animals must 

 be turned in, to assist in the destruction of injurious insects that 

 develop in and feed upon the fruit. For the destruction of the 

 codling-moth, apple-maggot, and curculio, sheep, swine, cattle, 

 and horses may be turned in ; and if the plum is grown, poultry 

 also must be employed to preserve the fruit from the attacks of the 

 last-named insect. 



As to the results of the above-described method of fruit grow- 

 ing a few examples must suffice. I find the following account of 

 an old orchard in the " Torrington (Conn.) Register : " — " Proba- 

 bly' the largest orchard in this town is on the Levi Hodges farm. 

 Col. Hodges set out about a thousand apple trees, and about eight 

 hundred of them are now large, health}' trees. Most of the orchard 

 is on a steep hill-side, and if the apples drop they keep on rolling 

 until they reach the bottom. The ground is very rock}' and good 

 for little else, but the exposure is a warm one, with favorable con- 

 ditions for the growth of the apple. Sheep are allowed to run in 

 the orchard, which the owner considers an element of its success. 

 It is an otf or odd 3'ear orchard, except one portion, which 

 has worked around to bearing the even year. The crops for the 

 past sixteen years are as follows: In 1871, the j'ield was 1,200 

 bushels; 1873, 2,500 bushels; 1875, 2,000 bushels; 1877, 600 

 bushels; 1879, 600 bushels; 1881, 900 bushels; 1882, 800 

 bushels; and the present season, 1,000 bushels." 



Of the newly planted orchards I will give an example or two, as 

 an illustration of the use of fertilizers to give the trees a start. 



Last spring Hon. James J. H. Gregory, of Marblehead, the 

 well-known seedsman, planted one hundred apple trees in turf on 



