164 



Tfie Apple. 



Vol. VIII. 



From the American Farmer. 

 The Apple. 



Owing to the deterioration of tliis fruit 

 and the decay of many orchards in the 

 neighbourhood of Baltimore, I have for some 

 years, been paying particular attention to 

 the subject, with a view to discover the 

 causep, and if possible, a remedy by which 

 this unfortunate state of things may be cor- 

 rected, and the result of it will give you 

 my own views upon the matter in question. 



The greatest enemy the apple tree has in 

 some districts of this country, is the borer — 

 a white worm about an inch long, with a 

 reddish head — this worm eats through the 

 bark of the tree, at a point between the sur- 

 face of the ground and where the roots start 

 from the trunk ; in a couple of seasons it 

 will girdle a tree, — though it may be as 

 large as twelve inches in diameter — and 

 thereby cause its death. 



To prevent the borer from attacking the 

 apple tree, the following plan will prove 

 efficacious. In setting out the young trees, 

 plant them so shallow that the main roots as 

 they branch from the trunk of the tree, may 

 be seen just above the surface ; the borer 

 very rarely effects a lodgement in any tree 

 that is planted in this shallow manner, as 

 they almost invariably select that portion of 

 the stem which is just below the surface of 

 the ground, and immediately above the roots; 

 preferring to work even from the commence- 

 ment, entirely concealed. 



To guard against the effects of drouglit 

 the first season after planting, to which the 

 roots being so near the surface, will be ex- 

 posed, strew a few inches of leaves or strawy 

 litter around the tree, a short distance be- 

 yond the extent of the roots. I was first led 

 to notice, that shallow planting will secure 

 the apple from the borer, from having two 

 rows of young trees in a nursery, one of 

 which had almost every tree perforated by 

 this grub, while the other, though but three 

 feet from the first, was entirely exempt 

 fi-om their visitations. On examining more 

 closely, I found that the first row were set 

 much deeper in the soil than the last ; the 

 latter, indeed, showing an inch of their 

 roots above the surface, supposed to have 

 been caused by the rains — as the two rows 

 were on sloping ground — washing the soil 

 from the shallow planted row, to that co- 

 vered more deeply. Some months after 

 making this discovery, an article was pub- 

 lished in the Orchardists' Companion, from 

 some gentleman in New Jersey, recom- 

 mending shallow planting for the apple, as 

 a preventive to the borer, thus confirming 

 my views upon the subject 



If the trees are planted too deeply, re- 

 move the soil quite down to the upper roots, 

 for the space of one foot or eighteen inches 

 around the tree ; be particular to keep the 

 space thus made, always open. 



The whale oil soap, so much praised at 

 the North, I consider of great service to the 

 apple tree, having tried it two seasons. It 

 not only acts as a preventive to the borer, 

 but adds to the general thriftiness of the 

 tree, and gives the trunk a handsome and 

 healthy appearance. This soap can be had 

 in Baltimore, and ought to be applied from 

 the middle to the end of April, every sea- 

 son; when the bark of the tree is rough, 

 scrape it thoroughly previously to applying 

 the soap. 



Scoring or dividing the bark, by inserting 

 the point of a knife in the upper part of the 

 stem of the tree, and drawing it down to 

 the bottom, is beneficial in preventing the 

 tree from becoming bark bound. 



Another cause of early decay and general 

 unthriftiness, is produced by suffering grass 

 crops to grow in the orchard, more than two 

 or three seasons without breaking up the 

 ground. I know a farmer in this county, 

 who has an orchard of five or six acres, pro- 

 ducing him a handsome income, the tlirifti- 

 ness of which he attributes entirely to hia 

 never letting the third season pass over, 

 without ploughing and cultivating the ground 

 in potatoes, corn, &c. 



I have seen a remarkable instance of the 

 effect of cultivation upon the growth of an 

 orchard. In the neighbourhood of the city 

 of Baltimore, an orchard was planted about 

 thirteen years since, in land only of medium 

 fertility. Ever since that period, the ground 

 occupied by this orchard, has also been em- 

 ployed as a nursery or planted with some 

 crop, that required constant stirring and pul- 

 verization of the soil ; such has been the ef- 

 fect, that these trees have been producing 

 finely for the past six or seven years, and 

 have attained an unusual size. Another 

 orchard was planted nineteen years since, 

 in strong ground, but which has ever since 

 been occupied by grass, without any culti- 

 vation except spading a circle four feet in 

 diameter, around each tree — and this omit- 

 ted some seasons. In this orchard many of 

 the trees have died, while those that remain 

 will not average half the size of those 

 planted six years after them, nor one third 

 their productiveness. 



As a general rule, after planting an or- 

 chard, keep the ground for the first eight or 

 ten years, in some cultivated crop, and after 

 that period, if grass crops are grown in it, 

 three seasons at the most, should not pass 

 over without putting the ground in potatoes, 



