532 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Nov. 



■WILLIAMS' FAVOKITE, OK EAKLY" RED APPLE. 



The fair crop of apples •which has been 

 raised the past season in many parts of New 

 England will, we hope, encourage farmers 

 and others to give more thought and care to 

 fruit raising. When the country was new and 

 the soil full of vegetable matter in the shape 

 of decaying roots and leaves of the old for- 

 ests that formerly occupied the ground, apples 

 grew almost spontaneously, and little skill or 

 care was required to secure an abundant sup- 

 ply. But now as one travels over New Eng- 

 land the dilapidated old orchards are the most 

 melancholy objects that meet the eye. The 

 gnarled and mossy trunks, dead limbs and 

 bushy tops of the few trees that mark the 

 sites of once thrifty orchards, suggest sad 

 thoughts of decay and ruin. 



Still, amid the^e evidences of weakness, fail- 

 ure and dissolution, one may see just enough 

 vigorous trees and thrifty orchards to inspire 

 hope that successful fruit raising is still possi- 

 Jble. Even here in Massachusetts, where the- 



ravages of the canker worm, curculio, and 

 other insects, in addition to the apparent loss 

 of vigor in the soil or the tree itself, have in- 

 duced many experienced fruit growers to re- 

 move their grand old apple trees as cumberers 

 of the ground, there is now and then an or- 

 chard that produces almost as vigorously as 

 of old, not only occasionally but regularly. 

 Of one such orchard, that of Capt. George 

 Pierce, of Arlington, we published last year a 

 pretty full account. We migbt mention an- 

 other, that of the well known seedsman, and 

 author of a Book of Flowers, J. Breck, of 

 Brighton, who playfully remarked to us the 

 other day that "my greatest trouble is to find 

 barrels enough for my fruit." Neither of 

 these men have any patent right or secret pro- 

 cess. Both are sociable, well informed gen- 

 tlemen, and are perfectly willing to give an 

 individual or the public any information in 

 their power, and are pleased to show visitors 

 their grounds, their trees and their fruit, and 



