NEW ENGI^AND FARMER. 



PUBLISHED BY GEO. C. BARRETT, NO. 32, NORTH MARKET STREET, (at the Agricultural Warehouse.)— T. G. FESSENDEN, EDITOR. 



VOL. XI. 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, JUNE 19, 1833. 



NO. 49 . 



From the Lihnu-ij of Agr. and Hort. Kiiou'lcdg 

 ORCHARD. 



On the Management and Priming of Orchard 

 Trees. By C. Hariuson, Esq. 



The simation of nn orcliard ought uniformly to 

 be one that will admit of a free circulation of aii- 

 .lud the direct influence of the sun. It should lie 

 well firotectcd on the eastern side, as the blossoms 

 of the tree are frequently injured by cold easterly 

 winds and frosts. 



In the following remarks, I propose, in the first 

 piace, brietiy alluding to the nature of the soil 

 ridaptcd for orchard trees ; secondly, the manner 

 •of pruning orchards ; thirdly, the method I adopt 

 for destroying insects, lichen, &c., injurious to the 

 growth of orchard trees. 



1. Soil. The substratum ought to be dry, so 

 that the moisture can be readily carried away, 

 otherwise trees planted will be liable to become 

 stunted in their growth and mossy ; and, conse- 

 queutly, unhealthy and unfruitful, or the fruit 

 very inferior in size. Attention to make the 

 ground dry, (provided it is not naturally so) will 

 be amply repaid, by the greater fruitfulness of the 

 trees. This may be done by trenching over the 

 ground, and then, while the trench is open, laying 

 at the bottom a number of brick bats or small 

 stones, &c., and over these something to fomi an 

 even surface ; the whole must be well beaten or 

 rolled, and a number of cross drains so constrncj- 

 ed as to conduct the moisture away by one ma* 

 or centrah drain. ' 



2. In Pruning Orchard Trees care must be taken 

 to prune' away the branches so that no two of them 

 rub together, thereby causing them to canker. 

 Thi^interior of the head ought always to.be kept 

 open, other\yiB*tlu;.. trees will moss and close up 

 the pores of the "wood. Trees always bear more 

 abundantly if trained to and kept in a conical form, 

 the horizontal form of the branches causing tlieni 

 to be more productive of blooming buds than other- 

 wise they would be, and the trees are never so 

 confused in this form as in others. Every winter 

 the trees should be carefidly looked over, and 

 all unnecessary wood taken away, as it is far bet- 

 ter both for the health and fruitfulness of the trees 

 to do it every year, thau to suffer them to become 

 crowded, and then once in ten or fifteen years cut 

 away large quantities of wood. 



3. Insects, Lichen, ^-c. — Persons who have an 

 opportunity of collecting a quantity of soap-suds, 

 will fuid it of essential service to wash the trees 

 with it at any time (except when in bloom;) a])ply 

 it by means of a small engine or syringe. This 

 prevents insects breeding so extensively, as well 

 as prevents moss and lichen increasing. 



4. Thinning the Fruit. — It is of great import- 

 ance to thin fruit as far as practicable ; not only 

 is the fruit left much finer, but that which is lost 

 in number is more than compensated for by the 

 increased size of those that are sutiered to remain. 

 The trees are more certain to mature fruitfid buds, 

 to produce fruit the following year, and the alter- 

 nate bearing of crops is avoided ; aud each year 

 may be equally successful, (unless by casualitcs,) 

 and not as is often the case, oue year loaded to ex- 

 cess, and the following nearly barren. The time 

 to thiu the fruit is, when it is beginning to swell. 



In addition to the foregoing very excellent re- 

 marks of Mr. Harrison, the following plan for 

 forming 



An Orchard in Miniature, as proposed by a cor- 

 resjiondent in the Gardener's Magazine, may, ivhere 

 space is an object, be adopted with advantage. — 

 " By planting the jirojjcr sorts, apples may be 

 grown on as small a space of ground as gooseber- 

 ries ; and a. small or large square, according to the 

 size of families, appropriated to apples, will grow 

 every year enough to sujiply their wants. I am 

 not vain enough to thmk that I am alone in grow- 

 ing them in this way, as I should think horticul- 

 tural economy would prompt many besides myself 

 to gratify their eyes, their pockets, and their appe- 

 tites, in so easy a way. I have uiy groiuid a 

 strong clay nioidd, trenched two feet deep, in De- 

 cember ; as soon as it is settled, say a fortnight 

 after trenching, taking advantage of a frosty morn- 

 ing, the holes are opened and left for the frost to 

 mellow. February is the best month for planting 

 on heavy ground ; by that time the earth taken 

 from the holes will be iu a fine pulverized state. 

 The holes need not be very large ; two feet over, 

 aud one and a half feet deep, will be enough ; 

 with some rich soils there will be no occasion for 

 trenching ; but then the holes must be larger, say 

 three feet over, and two feet deep ; the plants 

 must be six feet apart every way ; I arrange mine 

 in quincuux. With a six feet measuring stick 

 this is done with scarcely any trouble. I really 

 do not know any sight more pleasing to a domes- 

 tic mind (for what fruit contributes more to our 

 comfort than the apple?) than this orchard in niin- 

 nature, when covered with bloom, and again when 

 laden with fruit, as they seldom miss bearing in 

 abundance. 



This plan tvill not extend to the strong growing 

 sorts, as they are not easily kept within bounds; 

 but the following six will amply repay the trouble 

 and trifling expense of planting. I have placed 

 them in the order of their ripening : — Mank's Cod- 

 in, Ilawthornden, Kerry Pippin, Downton's Pip- 

 pin, Christie's Pippiy, and the old Golden Pippin. 

 The trees must be ctosen with stems not exceed- 

 ing one foot six inches in height. In Septeiuber 

 I look over the trees, take oft' superfluous wood, 

 and shorten the long shoots ; this strengthens the 

 bloom buds, which are formed abundantly upon 

 the young wood of all sorts named. Of course in 

 doing this an eye must be had to the formation of 

 the trees, which ought to be gradually brought in- 

 to a haudsonie round bush. For die first five 

 years a row of strawberries may be grown, be- 

 tween each row of apples, or any other dwarf 

 light crop; but strawberries are most in keeping, 

 a word which, in every gardening operation ought 

 never to be lost sight of. Let me add — they ought 

 to be worked on Paradise stocks, or the siuall wild 

 crab (mine are on the last) not by any means on 

 the free stock raised from apple pips, the very 

 worst that can be used. 



Another correspondent (Ilowden we believe) in 

 the 17th number of the very useful and interesting 

 publication above alluded to, thus describes a very 

 ingenious "plan for planting a piece of ground to 

 the greatest advantage." In the winter of 1814- 

 15, on account of some alterations of roads, plan- 



tations, &c., a piece of land dropped into my 

 hands, of an awkward shape for tillage, and rather 

 too small for pasture; I therefore concluded to in- 

 troduce a little spade husbandry ; as the house was 

 pretty near to the farm-yard, the intercourse or 

 advantages betwixt them would be reciprocal. 

 Accordingly, having no gardeners, I set farm labor- 

 ers to make so many ditches, four feet wide and 

 two feet deep, at every twelve yards, clear across 

 the whole ; the turf and good soil were thrown on 

 one side, and the bad soil on the other. The la- 

 borers wondered what such ditches could mean, 

 as they were as wide at bottom as at top, and par- 

 ticularly when I ordered them to be filled up a 

 foot thick with fresh farm-yard dung. I had pre- 

 pared a compost of turf and dung the year before, 

 which was laid upon the whole, about nine inches 

 thick, in which I planted fruit trees in the follow- 

 ing order : — at every six feet, in the centre of what 

 I now call a border, was planted a standard, then 

 a gooseberry, then a currant, then a dwarf, then a 

 curraut, then a gooseberry, then a standard, &c. 

 I was not so particular as some are in the choice 

 of fruit trees ; I gave my nurseryman a kind of 

 roving commission, to send me a couple of each 

 of such as be could recommend, and then added 

 two, four, six, or eight of such as I could recom- 

 mend myself. On the edges of the borders I 

 planted rows of strawberry plants, six inches apart, 

 which I liave only renewed about twice in ten 

 years ; the fri.it is always excellent, and supplies 

 a large family all the strawberry season, which 

 saves much garden ground for that crop. The 

 spaces betwixt the borders, T cultivated at my lei- 

 sure ; some were appropriated for nursery ground, 

 some for potatoes, peas, cabbages, &c. ; some for 

 experimental agriculture, lucerne, mangel wurtzel, 

 &c. The orchard has succeeded beyond my ut- 

 most expectations. I had forty-eight apples from 

 two Keswick Codlins the first year, but have never 

 had patience to count them since ; last year I had 

 at least seven bushels ofii" the same two trees! Six 

 dwarf llawthorndens produced above fifteen bush- 

 els, and I have, at this moment, two bushels of 

 Wyker Pippins from one graft of my own putting 

 in, only ten years ago. Two Dumelow's seed- 

 lings, planted twelve years ago, produced at least 

 eight bushels of beautiful fruit, scarcely one of 

 them less thau ten inches round, and many of them 

 twelve inches. The nonpareils are a very similar 

 crop ; as for the Mank's apple, &c. there are gen- 

 erally as many apples as leaves ; and when in blos- 

 som they seem an entire bunch of flowers. 



My Method of Pruning is particidarly simple. 

 It will remind you of the old way of pruning, or 

 rather cropping tiie vines at the third eye. I 

 do not stand coimting eyes, but from every 

 shoot that is three feet long, I cut off two, 

 aud of course leave one ; from such as arc 

 three inches long, I cut ofi' two, and so on. The 

 wood left form biuls ibr the following year, and 

 as the tree gets crowded aud out of shape, I take 

 ofi" a whole bough or branch with a saw. Any 

 boy will learn to prune in a few minutes. [The 

 lojipiug of trees here suggested is, we must con- 

 fess, a rather too unceremonious mode of proce- 

 dure to be recommended as a substitute for the 

 skilful application of the pruning knife. — Ed.'\ I 



