5 1 8 A GRICUL TURE. 



should be well worked into the soil by good tillage ; but, put on 

 as a top-dressing on sod, it will do a great deal of good. Un- 

 leached wood ashes are recommended as specially good for 

 nearly all kinds of fruit, and where they can be easily obtained 

 may be used. Apple trees require less frequent renewal than 

 other fruit trees, and under the best management will grow and 

 bear fruit a great number of years. 



Pruning. A moderate amount of pruning, especially of dead 

 limbs, may be done in the fall of the year, but if the trees are 

 to receive much cutting, it makes them tender for the time, and 

 should be left till early spring. There can be no fixed rule for 

 pruning apple trees ; remembering only that sunlight is abso- 

 lutely necessary to the health and growth of the tree, and the 

 production of good fruit, and that stove wood cut from healthy 

 trees is the dearest ever paid for. There is much work that 

 may be done in an apple orchard. Moss will accumulate on 

 trees in wet seasons, no matter how good the treatment or cul- 

 tivation, and the task of removing it is a tedious one. But the 

 destruction of nests and rings of eggs on the branches, as well 

 as cocoons and insects in the crevices of the rough bark removed, 

 will undoubtedly prevent much damage to the foliage in the 

 spring, and recompense for all trouble. 



Spraying apple trees with the arsenites to destroy the codlin 

 moth, I am satisfied, from the testimony of those who have tried 

 it, and the common sense there is in it, we shall all have to prac- 

 tise, either voluntarily or by statutory compulsion. I think it is 

 settled beyond question that spraying apple trees in early spring 

 destroys the codlin moth. I am not so positive about its destroy- 

 ing the moth crop in August, after the apple is pretty well 

 grown. However, it is claimed by the advocates of spraying 

 that it will kill the August crop of worms. It was also claimed 

 that spraying with arsenites would destroy curculio in plums. 

 Now the same persons, after years of experience, believe the 

 jarring process the only effective one. It may prove to be the 

 case with spraying apple trees in August. 



PICKING, GRADING, AND PACKING APPLES FOR MARKET. 



It is of great importance that the apple be picked as soon as 

 ripe. Most fruit-growers delay too long. My experience would 



