62 



THE GENESEE FAEMER. 



Mr. AiNswoETH.— Tlie net profits of apple crop 

 will average five times as much per year as a wlieat 

 crop. Pears bear regularly every year. You can 

 set one hundred and sixty standard pear trees to 

 the acre, and only forty apple trees. Standards 

 bear as early as apples, and bring four dollars per 

 bushel, while apples only bring about one dollar. 

 Certainly, the pear crop, at present prices and pros- 

 pect of i)rices, is six to eight times as profitable per 

 acre as tlie apple. The great secret of success is 

 good tillage and proper pruning. 



Mr. Baruy. — It was folly to suppose that all the 

 land in Western New York was going to be devoted 

 to pear culture. Pears need suitable soil and 

 skilful culture. Not a farm in Western New York 

 of whicli lialf was adapted to pear culture. Pear 

 culture will not start up as if by magic ; but farmers 

 will one by one go into it as fast as they get the 

 requisite information. 



WHAT IS THE BEST MANNER OF PREPARING GROUND FOR 

 ORCHARDS? 



Mr. SMrrn. — 1st. Thorough underdrainiug, espe- 

 cially if strong soil. 



2d. Subs?oil at least twenty inches deep. 



8d. Make it rich enough to be suitable for corn. 



Mr. Yeomans. — Underdrainiug is one of the best 

 investments which a man can make before planting 

 his orchard. Befiu-e you plant the trees, cut otY all 

 the branches. Tlie tree will iorin new and strong 

 branches, and the wind meanwhile will sway it 

 less. Apples should be pruned so as to leave no 

 branches lower than five feet from the ground. 



Mr. Fish spoke of planting an orchard ; part of 

 the trees he cut off" the whole top eighteen inches 

 above ground, and the rest only cut ofi" part of the 

 top. Those from which he cut ofi' the entire top 

 made the most rapid growth and the handsomest 

 trees altogether. 



Mr. Peck had tried all the ways of pruning, but 

 never saw trees as fine as Mr. Yeomans'; fancied 

 Mr. Yeomans' five feet pruning better than any 

 other plan. 



Mr. Langworthy strongly advised against plow- 

 ing in an orchard. Never plowed among trees but 

 he heard the roots crack. Nothing heavier than a 

 cultivatt)r should be used in stirring the ground, 



WHAT IS THE MOST SUITABLE AGE FOR PLANTING FRUIT 

 TREES? 



Mr. Hodge. — Peach trees should not be more 

 than one year from the bud, and then the borer is 

 not brouglit witli the trees. 



Oiierry trees, two years from bud, and four to 

 six feet high. 



Dwarf pear, two years from bud. Standard 

 pear, fmir t(t six feet high. 



Apple, three or four years from graft ; about six 

 feet high — not to exceed seven feet high. 



Mr. Glen, of the firm of H. E. Hooker & Co., 

 "was loudly called for, and agreed with Mr. Hodge. 

 With small trees we get all the spongioles — ^all the 

 fibres — all the small roots, which really do the 

 nourishing of the tree. 



We have not given anything like a full report of 

 the very interesting remarks of the gentlemen, nor 

 have our limits permitted us to even mention all 

 the subjects discussed. 



A Committee reported appropriate preamble and 

 resolutions relative to the recent death of David 

 Thomas, the distinguished horticulturist, the emi- 

 nent botanist, and the Christian gentleman. 



The thanks of the Society were voted to the ofli- 

 cers for their gratuitous services, and to the exhib- 

 itors of fruits — who, by showing about sixty sorts 

 of pears, and over sixty varieties of apples, on our 

 tables, shared with us their experience, and encour- 

 aged all in the good work. 



The next meeting of the Society will be held at 

 Bufl:alo. 



mJUEY TO APPLE TKEES AT THE WEST, 



Eds. Genesee Farmer : — I noticed in the Septem- 

 ber No. of the Oenesee Farmer^ for 1859, a commu- 

 nication from Abraham Baek, Jr., of Pipestown, 

 Berrien Co., Michigan, on the destruction of apple 

 trees in Ohio and Indiana. He observes that, as 

 far as he had traveled in those States, orchards 

 were on the decline, that many trees were already 

 dead, and most of thena were then in a diseased 

 state; indeed, he saw but few liealthy trees wher- 

 ever he went. This is a melancholy fact ; but he 

 does not fully describe the disease by which the 

 trees were being destroyed. 



He states that the attack is always made on the 

 southwest side of the tree. This is is generally 

 the ease. A dead spot will appear near the ground, 

 extending one-third, one-half, and even two-thirds 

 of the way around the tree, and more or less up 

 and down the body. The bark will finally come 

 ofl:", and one miglit suppose that it had been peeled 

 or rubbed ofi". Tlie tree may still live sevei-al years 

 and bear fruit; even until the dead spot becomes 

 sufficiently decayed to admit of its being broken 

 by the wind. The branches are sometimes similarly 

 artected. 



Mr. Baer states " that bad culture, or no culture 

 rather, has much to do with such cases." He must 

 allow me to dissent from him here. I would, reluc- 

 tantly however, advocate bad culture even of the 

 api)le tree, and even in the central part of northera 

 Indiana, where, it is presumed, this mortality is the 

 most alarming, as it is the opinion of many that the 

 best cultivated trees — trees of the most excited, 

 vigorous growth — are the most liable to this injury. 

 Injury I must call it, for it is thought by some 

 that it is produced by freezing; but this can not be 

 etiected until the tree has been partially invigor- 

 ated, the sap started, and the bark loosened by the 

 warm rays of the sun, which probably takes place 

 in February or the fore part of March. If this 

 idea is correct (and it appears plausible to me), it 

 would probably suggest the preventive of placing a 

 shade before them. I have, I think, preserved my 

 trees to some extent by merely placing a board up 

 by each one, and tying it to the body ; but I am not 

 fully satisfied on the subject, as I have not been 

 persevering in the experiment. Some have pro- 

 posed to wrap them with straw, or some other 

 suitable substance. This would probably answer a 

 good purpose, but I have not known of anything 

 being done in the way of protection, save my own ' 

 feeble efforts. I have heard the boys talk about 



