THE GENESEE FAEMEK. 



155 



only one row of carrots in the space — the ground, too, was kept clean all summer, and 

 yet we lost the season's growth of the trees, and got a poor crop of carrots. Other 

 trees of the same age, in the same soil, without caiTots, were twice as large in the 

 autumn. That ended our carrot culture among trees. When an orchard is cropped, 

 the greatest care should be taken to give the tree ample room. If the nutriment be 

 drained from around the roots by the rapid growth of annual crops, or if the tops be 

 excluded from the free circulation of the air and Mfcj^A&ed to the sun, the result will be 

 a feeble, sickly growth. 



A multitude of planters do not seem to appreciate the value of a tree. We know 

 men who raise fine field crops, who would, indeed, be ashamed of a poor one, and who 

 would no more be seen riding behind a lean, long haired, filthy horse, than they would 

 be caught picking pockets, and yet their trees are as disgraceful to them as the leanest 

 horse would be. A tree is a living body, requiring food and care as much as an animal, 

 and even more, for it has not the advantage of locomotion. It is confined to a narrow 

 spot, and if its food is not found, then it cannot seek it elsewhere, and it must perish. 

 We have at hand a very sensible communication touching this subject, which we append 

 to these remarks, and we beg the special attention of tree planters to its contents : 



"Permit me to say a few words iipon a subject in relation to -which farmers, in general, seem to be 

 either strangely careless or willfully ignorant and blind : I allude to the very common practice of 

 " scedinr/ down" orcliards to clover. 



My attention was first called to this subject by an experienced farmer and orchardist, some twenty 

 years since, while examining the defects of my own orchard, on a farm then recently pnrcliased in 

 Genesee county. Tlie orchard, thougli young and grafted, was at the time exhibiting strong symptoms 

 of decay. Tlie trees had been " set out" some eight or ten years previously, on a strong loamy soil 

 — had been manured some two or tlii'ce times from the barnyard, and by the process of grafting nfier 

 setting had been pretty well trimmed ; yet the trunks and limbs of the trees bad nearly all become 

 very rough and scabby, and nearly encased in a covering of " tree lice ;" the leaves were small and 

 yellow, and constantly falling during all tlie summer, and there were scarcely apples enough even at 

 that time grown, to furnish a sample to each tree ; and all that were grown, were much under size, 

 knotty and scabby, and quite deficient in flavor. 



On inquiring the cause, I was told by my friend, that beyond a doubt, all these defects had been 

 the result of " seeding" the orchard down to clover, which had been done by my predecessor some 

 few years previous ; the roots of the clover plants striking deep into the earth, having deprived the 

 trees of that nutriment which they required to promote a healthy and vigorous growth. 



The " remedy" pi'escribed was, to plow the ground thoroughly, though not deep, manure and till 

 the soil constantly, and under the tops and spreading branches to throw a liberal dressincf every 

 year or two of leached ashes, lime and chips, or dooryard manure — then scraping and scouring the 

 trunks and branches asfiir as practicable, and washing with a strong lye of wood ashes, and then adding 

 a good coat of whitewash, composed of lime and wood ashes, laid on either with brush or broom, or 

 by any other convenient method. 



This process then, and subsequently practiced in many other cases under my own personal direc- 

 tion and observation, produced a result entirely satisfactory and highly gratifying — restoring the 

 trees to a healthy, vigorous growth, full, and, generally, to uniform bcarinq of perfect fruit ; and 

 my most sanguine desires in relation to this subject will have been fully gratified if those, or a por- 

 tion only, possessing fruit orchards, will but put this theoiy to a practical test by but one well con- 

 ducted experiment. 



Did time and space permit, while upon this subject, I would gladly call the attention of every 

 man possessing energj' and enterprise to set out a single fruit tree, to the importance of a liberal -use 

 of lime as a manure or stimulant, when applied directly to the roots of 7nosl kinds of the apple (near, 

 though not in immediate contact with the body — say two feet distant,) and well worked into the 

 soil, either by the hoe or light plowing, thereby producing not only larger and much more peifeet 

 fruit, but in many instances, (contrary to the apparently natural habits of the variety,) inducing 

 uniform annual bearing. 



A renewal of the dressing of lime once in four to six years, and from four to eight quarts of lime 

 to each tree, will probably be found sufficient in most cases, especially on light and warm soils. 

 A HoosiER." 



A Pbacticai, Treatise ok the CtrLTirEE and TREATMEira of tiie Gkapb Vine. By J. Fisk Allen. 



The third edition of this work, enlarged and revised, has just been issued by 0. M. Saxton, 

 of New York, the well known, enterprising agricultural book publisher. It is a useful and 

 much needed book, and especially at this time, when Grape culture is attracting so mmch 



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