THE GENESEE FAEMER. 



255 



'omona! of all the soar apples I ever ate, this 

 apped the climax. It was worse than verjuice, or 

 our plnms, or unripe persimmons. After I had 

 egained my composure, I ventured to ask what 

 aight be Tiis name for this invaluable fruit. Where- 

 pon, with a sort of satirical smile stealing over 

 is otherwise sober features, he replied: 'Wal 

 00 w, stranger, that's the most useful apple on my 

 ull farm. I call it the Yankee apple, 'cause it 

 •on't be beat : it looks so good, and yet is so 'tarnal 

 our, that I use it only to graff on all the lower 

 mbs of my apple trees standing near the road, 

 'he upper limbs I put to Greenings, Swaars, and 

 ch like good apples. Neow, the boys seein sich 

 ood lookin apples handy, jump the fence, seize 

 le fust fair one they can reach, take a bite, — but, 

 swow, after one bite, they never wait to take 

 lother, but run right off as fast as legs can carry 

 lem to Deacon Simmons' orchai'd, to get one of 

 9 good Baldwins to take the sour out of their 

 ouths. My orchard sartainly has an orful repu- 

 tion with the risin generation, and so I save my 

 uit. Neow, if this ere is not a very useful apple, 

 d like to know what is ?' " It would not perhaps 

 ', a bad idea to have the Yankee apple placed on 

 te next fruit list of the Pomological Society as 

 worthy of general cultivation." 



PLANTING AND CULTIVATION .OF APPLES. 



TiTE distance at which the trees should be planted 

 1 an orchard, depends upon the mode in which 

 ley are to be treated. When it is desired finally 

 ) cover and devote the whole ground to the trees, 

 lirty feet apart is the proper interval, but where 

 le farmer wishes to keep the land between the 

 ees in grain and grass, flfty feet is not too great a 

 stance in strong soils. Forty feet apart, however, 

 the usual distance at which the trees are planted 

 . orchards. 



Before transplanting, the ground should be well 

 repared for the trees, and vigorous healthy young 

 ees should be selected from the nurseries. As 

 lere is a gi-eat diiference in the natural growth, 

 lape, and size of the various sorts of apple trees, 

 lose of the same kinds should be planted in the 

 )ws together, or near each other; this will not 

 ily facilitate culture and gathering the fruit, but 

 ill add to the neatness and orderly appearance 

 the orchard. 



It is an indispensable requisite^ in all young 

 •cliards, to keep the ground melloio and loose by 

 dtivation; at least for the first few years, until 

 ie irees are well established. Indeed, of two 

 ^joining orchards, one planted and kept in grass, 

 ad the other plowed for the first five years, there 

 iill be an incredible difl'erence in favor of the 

 :tter. Not only will tliese trees show rich dark 

 ixuriant foliage, and clean smooth stems, while 

 lose neglected will have a starved and sickly look, 

 at the size of the trees in the cultivated orchard 

 ill be treble that of the others at the end of this 



time, and a tree in one will be ready to bear an 

 abundant crop, before the other has commenced 

 yielding a [)eck of good fruit. Fallow crops are 

 the best for orchards — potatoes, beets, carrots, bush 

 beans, and the like ; but whatever crops may be 

 grown it should constantly be borne in mind that 

 the roots of the tree require the sole occupancy of 

 the ground so tar as they extend, and therefore 

 that an area of more than the diameter of the 

 head of tlie tree should be kept clean of crops, 

 weeds, and grass. 



GAxnEEixo AND KEEPING THE FETJiT. — In Order 

 to secure soundness and preservation, it is indispen- 

 sably necessary that tlie fruit should be gathered 

 by hand. For winter fruit the gathering is delayed 

 as long as possible, avoiding severe frosts, and the 

 most successful practice with our extensive orcbard- 

 ists is to place the good fruit directly, in a careful 

 manner, in new, tight flour barrels as soon as gath- 

 ered from the tree. These barrels should be gently 

 shaken while filling, and the head closely pressed in ; 

 they are then placed in a cool sliady exposure under 

 a shed open to the air, or on the north side of a 

 building, protected by covering of boards over the 

 top, where they remain for a fortnight, or until the 

 cold becomes too severe, wlien they are carefully 

 transferred to a cool, dry cellar, in which air can 

 be admitted occasionally in brisk weather. 



A cellar, for this purpose, should be dug in dry, 

 gravelly, or sandy soil, with, if possible, a slope to 

 the north ; or, at any rate, with openings on the 

 north side for the admission of air very rarely in 

 weather not excessively cold. Here the barrels 

 should be placed on tiers on their sides^ and the 

 cellar should be kept as dark as possible. In such 

 a cellar, one of the largest apple growers in Dutchess 

 county is able to keep the Greening apple, which, 

 in the fruit room, usually decays in January, until 

 the 1st of April, in the freshest and finest condi- 

 tion. Some persons ])lace a layer of clean rye 

 straw between every layer of apples, when packing 

 them in bai'rels. — Downing^s Fruits of America. 



PEARS. 



The best soil for this fruit tree, is a strong loam 

 of moderate depth, on a dry subsoil. The pear 

 will, indeed, adapt itself to as great a variety of 

 soils as any fruit tree, but, in unfavorable soils, it 

 is more liable to suifer from disease than any other. 

 Soils that are damp during any considerable por- 

 tion of the year, are entirely unfit for the pear 

 tree; and soils that are over-rich and deep, like 

 some of the western all u vials, force the tree into 

 such over luxuriant growth, that its wood does not 

 ripen well, and is liable to be killed by winter 

 blight. The remedy, in this case, consists in jjlant- 

 ing the trees on slightly raised hillocks — say eight 

 inches above the level of the surface, and usinsj 

 lime as a manure. Soils that are too light, on the 

 other hand, may be improved by trenching, if the 

 subsoil is heavier, or by top dressing with heavy 

 muck and river mud, if it is not. 



In a climate rather cold for the pear, or on a 

 cold soil, it is advantageous to plant on a southern 

 slope, but in the middle States, in warm soils, we 

 do not consider a decidedly southern exposure so 

 good as other rather cooler ones. 



