-J82 



NEW ENGLAND PARMER. 



March yo, 162;. " 



over your young plants iu the seed beds miil nur- 

 sery grounds, and will even continue to prey upon , 

 the trees till they are pretty old ; and though they ' 

 do not absolutely kill the trees when planted out, | 

 yet they hurt them greatly and retard their 

 growth. These snails, therefore, must ho grathor- 

 ed up every night as above mentioned a little after ; 

 sun-set, which is better than in the morning be- 

 cause the niiechief they occaaion is generally . 

 ■lone in the night ; and they must be burnt, or: 

 otherwise eft'ectually destroyed ; for if you do not 

 kill them they will find their way again to the 

 trees. 



The winter of 176.5 I passed at Montnuban in 

 <4.uercy, when the frost was so extremely severe 

 that it not only destroyed the greatest part of 

 their leguminous crops and almost the produce of 

 their kitchen garden, but also many of their vines, 

 jig and olive trees, and a great part of the orange 

 trees in their green houses ; yet that frost with 

 ill its severity, did not occasion the smiUest in- 

 jury to the mulberry trees, nor to the eggs of the 

 silk worm. This frost continued for two months 

 together, and was within two degrees and a half 

 of the great frost in 1769. But what is still more 

 remarkable I was assured from the most respecta- 

 ble authority, that even the frost of 17011 did not 

 '•ause the smallest injury to the mulberry trees, 

 though it destroyed many of their vines, and al- 

 most their whole fig and olive trees all over Prov- 

 ence and Languedoc. From whirh two instances 

 [ think it may be fairly inferred that we have no 

 reason to dread any danger to the mulberry trees 

 from the severity of our British climate. 

 (To be continued.) 



f'opy of a letter from fi'm. Coxe Esq of Burlinglon 

 JV. J. to G. H'. Jeffenj.s of JVortk Carolina. 



FRUIT TREES. 

 St p. — 1 have been favoured with a letter from 

 you of the 20th of May requesting some informa- 

 tion on the cultivation of apple orchards and other 

 kinds of fruit trees. It has ever been an object 

 particularly interesting to me, as a source of ra- 

 tional and pleasing occupation — and I have been 

 gratified by the improvements which have been 

 progressing rapidly in our country since I first 

 turned my attention to the subject I proceed to 

 inswer your queries as they respectively occur, 

 but in a very summary and condensed msnner ; — 

 and for more full information I refer you to a work 

 now publishing by Carey & Son of Philadelphia, 

 wherein T have treated at large the subject of fruit, 

 orchards, and cider, and have described and delin 

 eated by engravings of the full size and natural 

 formation, about 900 kinds of fruits cultivated in 

 'his state. 

 1. The soil best adapted for an orchard is a loam 

 ir Io;imy clay ; hut any joil which will produce 

 goorl wheat and red clover, will aeswer, a wet sub- 

 soil or quicksand excepted. 



2. Nurseries are best situated when on soils of 

 the foregoing description. The apple seeds from 

 the pumace of tlio latest ciders are scattered on 

 ground pieviously well cultivated and cleaned 

 from the seeds of weeds ; then covered and neat- 

 ly raked. They remain during the winter in this 

 :3tato. The next season they are thinned and 

 weeded. The following fall or spring, th^y are 

 planted in rows four feet apart, one foot distant; 

 well plouofhed and harrowed to promote their 

 growth. They are innoculated the next autumn, 

 W engrafted the next spring if the growth be vig- 



orous ; if not, they must remain a year longer. — 

 The buds are inserted about two inches from the 

 ground, and the grafts may be inserted just under 

 the surface, which is removed by a hoe for this 

 purpose, and then returned so as to cover the fis- 

 sure and lower ends of the scious, which require 

 no bandage or composition when carefully treated 

 in this mode. In every stage of a nursery, and 

 also of an orchard, the trees grow iu proportion to 

 the frequency and perfection of their cultivation. 

 In two or three years from engrafting, if well man- 

 aged, and when planted in good ground, they will 

 he large enough to plant out. Their stems should 

 be from 1 to 2 inches in diameter, a foot from tke 

 ground. Scions should be cut in February, from 

 the last year's growth of healthy bearing trees, 

 and kept till wanted on a cellar floor, or the lower 

 ends buried in cold situations to retard the flow of 

 sap. Trees of more than two inches diameter are 

 best engrafted in the limbs ; whether engrafted in 

 the nursery or orchard, must depend on conven- 

 ience alone, provided they are high enough to be 

 protected from cattle. 



.3. Trees should never be planted deep. One or 

 two inches lower than their growth in the nursery 

 is best. My rule is to dig two spits deep, « hole 

 large enough to hold the spade horizontally laid 

 down. The best earth should be laid round the 

 roots. Rich earth, or ameliorated ditch bank, is 

 better than dung, which attracts ground mice, and 

 is liable to be affected by the dry weather of our 

 summers. I prefer surface manuring to any other 

 mode of applying deng — ploughing it in — from 

 ! fifty to thirty feet is the distance I adopt, accord- 

 1 ing to the soil and natural size of the trees when 

 full grown. At thirty feet, forty-eight trees will 

 stand on an acre ; thirty-five trees at thirty-five 

 feet; twenty-seven at forty feet, and only eight- 

 een at fifty feet. I have 144 acres planted with 

 4000 apple trees, with these neveral differences, 

 from seven to twenty-two years old. Probably 

 forty feet is a good medium distance. 



4. Mud from meadows on sandy soils ; marl on 

 all soils, and barn yard manure on all soils ; ash- 

 es I use to a great extent. In general, the better 

 the farming and the richer the ground, the more 

 will trees grow. Fallow crops of all kinds, viz : 

 Indian corn, potatoes, pumpkins, &c. are prefera- 

 ble to culraiferous crrains. Buckwheat is a good 

 crop ; grass only is injurious in proportion as it 

 prevents cultivation, and hinders the beneficent 

 effects of lifcht. heat, and moisture to the roots, 

 which grow best when extended as much as pos- 

 sible in a horizontal direction. 



.5. Our climate does not require such close prun- 

 ing as the cold and moist one of England. I, 

 however, trim closer than my neighbors. Branch- 

 es should never cross each other ; they should ex- 

 tend as equally as possible from the centre, in in- 

 creasing distances, to admit light, heat and air 

 to every part. The lower limbs should he so high 

 as to permit the horses and plou.ghman to pass 

 under them. This opens the ground and its pro- 

 ducts to the rays of the sun. Trees should he 

 carefully kept free from suckers from both the 

 roots and branches. 



6. Moss is best destroyed by scraping in damp 

 weather v whitewash is highly useful ; but the 

 best preventive is good cultivation and rich ground. 

 Caterpillars are easily destroyed in the morning 

 and evening, when in their youthful stages, ani 

 in wet weather ; at all which times they remain 

 in their nests. I know little of the canker. I 



have iu the few instances in which I have obatt 

 ed it, found the best cure was to dig up the t 

 and replace it with anotlier. 



7. In light soils, fall planting is equallygiL 

 with that of spring. It is a season also of leita; 

 I have used both modes, as suited my cowe, 

 ience and the cultivation of ray grounds, with! 

 tie difference in the success of the operation, 

 crop of Indian corn, or any other fallow crop, i^ 

 good preparation — the previous loosening tlie» 

 by cultivation facilitates the operation of plantit 

 In light grounds, I generally throw the sect 

 spit some distance from the tree, supplying 

 place by the superior surface earth. jVIost f' 

 quently I plant in the fall ; immediately after,! 

 thro gh the whole of the winter, I cast rich dr. 

 bank earth or meadow mud, several loads arc: 

 each tree, spreading it wlien ameliorated byi 

 frost, five, six or seven feet from the tree, acco 

 ing to its richness and quantity. On one fjti 

 have used 5000 loads of mud around 1300 tre 

 on 40 acres of ground on o light sandi/ loam. T 

 rrrowth of the trees and the size of the fni! 

 thereby much promoted. I have particularlj 

 tended to this mode in the cultivation of the! 

 ginia or Ilewes' crab, of which I have about l: 

 trees on 50 acres. The smill si;.e of this appit 

 much improved, and its disposition to hang on 

 tree is increased by manure and cultivation, 

 have forwarded a catalogue of the fruits raise'! 

 this neighborhooJ. That of 1810, was the col; 

 tion owned by me, and cultivated by Mr Du 

 Smith. I found it a losing concern from thegr, 

 extent of the establishment, and from the war.i 



I hope to make up a very heavy loss by BiyiL; 

 charde, which are in the highest state of »!{■ 

 and perfection, on the banks of the Delavvgje.i ,| 

 have about 1.50 varieties of the apple, seler 

 cording to their quality — two thirds for cid^r,! 

 one third for the table, for the Philadelphim; 

 ket. I have obtained almost every valuable 1 

 that T know of, foreign or native. The apple 

 our own country are unquestionably superio^ 

 those of Europe, from whence I have impoB 

 and am now cultivating, most of the applel) ^ 

 h\f\i reputation. 



Peach stones from natural fruit, usually proo! 

 the same kinds. T'hose cultivated for I he ¥9 

 delphia and New York markets, are raised bjt 

 oculation from the finer European kindtj 

 which many exquisitely flavored varieties K 

 been imported. These will produce fruit t: 

 qualitv much improved, compared with the t 

 mon peaches of our country, although of diffelj 

 kinds from the original planted fruit. CkJ 

 stones from the natural black mazard ani^ 

 the morollo, will produce the same kinds ; buf 

 all the numerous varieties of the heart, dukef 

 other imported kinds, are raised by inoculatiini 

 entrraftin?- on the first mentioned two kind%t) 

 stones will produce cherries resembling the I 

 ent stock. The samo remark applies to all si' 

 fruits. Of the apple and pear, the seeds 

 never be relied on to produce any specific t 

 whether natural or engrafted. We alwayftrei 

 to inoculation or enrrrafting, when we are toil 

 of nossessing' any pnrticular kinds. 



I am. sir, respectfully, and with my best wii! 

 for vour success in your laudable plan of 

 men!. Your obed't serv't, 



Mr G. W. Jefferys. WM.. O 



From the American Farmer. 



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