280 



THE GEKESEE FARMER. 



this season in great, demand for these purposes. Its 

 weight, size, solidity, flavor, and color, render it 

 popular for this use. It is, moreover, eminently 

 productive, and highly profitable as a market fruit." 



With so much testimony as we constantly hear 

 to the value and profitableness of this Strawberry, 

 we cannot think that it is to be rejected and thrown 

 out of cultivation as summarily as the action of the 

 Massachusetts Horticultural Society might lead us 

 to conclude. 



At the meeting of the American Pomological 

 Society, this month, this question will no doubt be 

 thoroughly handled, and the merits of the fruit re- 

 ported upon, by delegates from all parts of the 

 Union. 



THE NEGLECT OF FRUIT TREES. 



In traveling about the country this summer, we 

 have been painfully impressed with the fact that 

 the majority of farmers sadly neglect their fruit 

 orchards. Where one orchard is properly man- 

 aged, ten are shamefully neglected. Bad culture is 

 the rule; good culture the exception. "Bad cul- 

 ture," did we say ? Ko-eulture would be nearer 

 the truth. Look at that orchard of young trees set 

 out six or seven years since. There is not a thrifty, 

 healthy looking tree among them ! Many are dead, 

 some are dying,' and all are sickly and unproduct- 

 ive. It is a sad siglit. " Were the trees unhealthy 

 when set out, or are they poor varieties, or is the 

 climate too severe?" ISTot at all. Other orchards 

 in the neighborhood are healthy, productive, and a 

 source of profit to their owners. It is bad man- 

 agement; the entire absence of good culture. The 

 trees were stuck out in small holes dug in a wheat 

 field, and left to live or die, as it might chance. 

 Since then the field lias been in grass or grain; the 

 orchard has received less culture tiiau almost any 

 other part of the farnj, from the idea i)robably that 

 the trees would take cai-e uf tlieitiselves. This man 

 is a subscriber to the Genesee Farmei\ but. we are 

 a-hamed of him. We hope none of his neighbors 

 s-e'- liir.i take the paper out of the post-office. Can't 

 we I'lersuade you. Fi:iend FnTTiTLEss, to do some- 

 thing with tliat orchard? We should prefer to see 

 it cut up, root and br.-.nch ; but if this is asking too 

 much, do cut out all the dead and dying limbs ; put 

 the plow into the soil this fall and give it a good 

 summer-fallowing next season. You have little 

 manure to spare, (we may be mistaken on this point, 

 inasmuch as the dark pools in the barn-yard indi- 

 cate that it is not very carefully preserved) but if 

 you could spare a little, it would do the trees no 



harm. Suppose you try a little? At all events, dO' 

 something for that orchard. Your corn looks well. 

 It has been properly cultivated. You plowed the 

 land well and deep, and the horse-hoe has been 

 freely used, keeping the soil clean and snellow^ The 

 crop will be good, aed does you credit, Yoa cul- 

 tivated your potatoes well; the land is very clean, 

 and you have a good crop. You put in your wheat 

 last fall on a good summer-fallow. You provided 

 what TuLL calls a good "pasture " for the roots to* 

 feed in, and your heart gladdened as the crop grew 

 and flourished, and produced a bountiful harvest. 

 Can not you take a hint from these results? Cul- 

 tivate your trees half as well as you cultivate your 

 corn, and your orchard would be a credit to you. 



Fruit trees are set out by millions every year. 

 The nurserymen of this city alone send out each 

 year a million dollars' worth of fvuiti trees and 

 other nursery stock. As a rule, the trees sent out 

 are healthy and good ; and yet how small a propor- 

 tion ever live to bear fruit, or make profitable orch- 

 ards! The principal cause of this is the want of 

 previous j^vepai-ation of the ground. Farmers will 

 take pains to prepare their laud for wheat and other 

 grain crops ; but fi-uit trees, intended for a perma- 

 nent orchard, and involving considerable expense 

 in their purchase, are set out, with little thought or 

 care, on land which has received no adeqiiate prep- 

 aration. Subsequent culture may do something 

 towards correcting this first and grand mistake; 

 but it requires far less labor to prepare the laud 

 right in the fii'st place than to do so after the trees 

 are set out. 



Let all our readers, then, who ijitend to set oufc 

 trees this fall, get the ground ready now. Not a 

 day should be lost. If the site intended for the 

 orchard is not entirely free from stagnant water, it 

 must be underdrained. To determine this, dig a 

 hole three feet deep, and if water remains in it, it 

 needs draining. If fall can be got, let the drains 

 be cut four feet deep. Then i)low the laud deep 

 and well, and if subsoiled all the better. This cul- 

 tivation of the whole surface will be better tlian 

 digging even the largest holes, and v/ill save mucli 

 time in planting. 



If the soil is not rich enough, it is better to man- 

 ure now than to apply the manure in the hole at 

 the time of planting. This, in fact, should never 

 be done. 



For the first few years after the trees are planted, 

 cultivate nothing but hoed crops. The use of the 

 plow and cultivator will keep the soil mellow and 

 moist. The difference in the appearance of tree* 



