THE GENESEE FAPwMER. 



315 



NEGLECT OF ORCHARDS -THE PRESENT FRUIT 

 SEASON. 



Eds. Gen. Fakmer: — Rending your article in the 

 September number of your journal on the subject 

 of "Neglect of Fruit Trees," I .im constrained to 

 add a few lines upon that important matter. 



I daily pass by an old orchard of Baldwijis, 

 Greenings and liiissets, which must have been 

 planted as much as thirty years, containing fifty or 

 sixty trees — some of them being of guod size, but 

 most of them not six inclies in diameter, perfectly 

 grass-bound, covered with moss, with very little 

 top, and that fast coming to nothing! It is true 

 the man who set it does not now own it, but some- 

 body else has since had possession of it, and might 

 have made it yield well, as it is favorably situated. 

 Room for house lots, however, will soon finish it. 



Another orchard near by has been set by a gen- 

 tleman within ten years past; but as lie attends to 

 jyolitics more than to his trees, he will not aid the 

 glut of the market, probably, for some years to 

 come ! Ilis tree-; are set in cold, low grass-land, 

 are not dug around, are covered with lichens, and 

 have not yet attained two inches in diameter. 



About fonr years ago, thirty or forty apple trees 

 were set on the borders of the Boston and Lowell 

 Railroad. The second year, they were suffered to 

 become grass-bound. A dam was soon built which 

 overfiowed many of them with water, and as 1 

 daily pass I now discover only a few remaining 



ti'icl'S. 



I might extend this picture, but it is not agreea- 

 ble. Setting an orchard is not a difficult thing, 

 iieiilier is the growth of the trees, if the soil be 

 kept Uj) and well cultivated. Under such circum- 

 stances, the trees will require little or no manure 

 (>r lliemselves. But the owner must take an inter- 

 fsr in his fruit raising; he must have liis pet and 

 choice kinds; he must love them almost as he does 

 Ills children, and he will no sooner neglect them. 

 I have seen an orchard do very well on grass laud, 

 but then a radius of four feet was kept open and 

 well diij; and manured every year, or two years at 

 least. When 1 first began to cultivate trees, I read 

 tliat n'anure should not be put into the hole at 

 planting. I tliought that was very convenient; so 

 planted some in new pasture without any, but soon 

 discovered my mistake. It is well to put some well 

 r</tied manure into ihe hole, and rather more upon 

 the surface in the fall, if the setting is done at this 

 season. Privy .^losh is excellent, [loiired u[)on the 

 surface. 



The present season is very prolific in fruit, both 

 pears and apples; hut of the winter fruits, shipping 

 will take ott' a great quantity. Farmers can not 

 get so good a price for it as in some ])revious years, 

 yet they have more of it. Besides, one of the great 

 objects of fruit-cidture is obtained, viz. : fruit plen- 

 tiful for the nuiss of the peoiile. Aslruchan, 

 William'')! iuid Grarenstein apples are and have been 

 very ahundant, and are the leading apples of the 

 season. The Red Astrachan lias rotted badly on 

 the trees, owing to the damp weather and to the 

 fact that they usually grow in clusters so as to touch 

 each other. Very large specimens of apples have 

 been exhibited at the Mass. Hort. Society. For 

 instance, a dish of Porters^ whose specimens must 

 have been four inches in diameter, and the Williams I 



of equal size! Belle Luoratives as large as good 

 sized Beurre Biels, and splendid Mushingum pears. 

 [Somebody attends to their trees!] Summer and 

 autumn apples are at the present season bidding 

 defiance to the world. But fruit brings only alnmt 

 half the usual i)rice, i? is coming in so bountifully. 

 A dealer in Quincy Market, Boston, told me a few 

 days ago that he could buy excellent autumn apples 

 at. §1.25 ])er barrel. He .showed me some very 

 large Williams^ however, for which he asked $1.7.5 

 ])er bushel — but poorer specimens range from $1 to 

 §1.25. A retail dealer sliowed me a bushel of very 

 fair and eatable pears, for which he gave $1. He 

 said a year ago he would have given $3. Fine 

 Bartletts can be bouglit for §3, which quality has 

 formerly brought from $4 to $5 jier bushel. 



Congratulating the progress of horticulture, and 

 believing that the country is not yet unbalanced 

 for the want of cultivators, I remain yours, etc., 



Wtst Medford, Mass. D. W. L 



SHELTER FOR AN EARLY GARDEN PLOT. 



CoBBETT, in the American Gardener.^ describes 

 his method of making a screen of broom-corn stalks 

 for a small plot in the garden where he wished to 

 raised early vegetables, or to keep the cold winds 

 from his hot-beds. 



"Put some locust-posts along at eight or ten feet 

 apart. Let these posts be ten feet high, and squared 

 to three inches by three inches. Lay a bed of 

 bricks, or smooth stones, along the ground from 

 post to post, and let this bed be about seven or 

 eight inches wide. This bed is for the bottoms of 

 the broom-corn stalks to stand on. Go ou one side 

 of the row of posts, and nail three rows of strips, 

 or laths (best of locust,) to the posts. The first 

 row at a foot and a half from the ground ; the sec- 

 ond row at six feet from tlie ground ; and tliird 

 I'ow within six inches of tlie top of the posts. Then 

 do the same on the other side of the jiosts. Thus 

 you will have a space of three inclies wide, all the 

 way along, between these opposite rows of strips. 

 Then take fine, long, straight broom-corn stalks, 

 and fill up this space witli them, full and tight> — 

 putting them, of course, bottoms downward, and 

 ]»lacing these bottoms upon the bricks. AVhen the 

 whole is nicely filled, strain a line from top of post 

 to top of post, and according to that line, cut otF 

 the tops of the broom-corn stalks; and, while the 

 fence will look very handsome, it will be a shelter 

 much more ett'ectual than pales or a wall ; and, in 

 my opinion, will last as long as tlie former, unless 

 the former be made wholly of locust. Stalks, 

 rushes, reeds, straw, twigs, boughs — anything of 

 this kind, formed into a fence, or put up as shelter, 

 is preferable to any thing smooth and solid. Grass 

 will shoot earlier under a 5ws/i, than under a wall, 

 (u- even a house. A wall will not save your ears 

 from the sharp winds so etiectuady as even a thin 

 hedge. The American farmer knows well the 

 warmth that waUs of corn-stalks afford." 



A screen five or six feet high would afford suffi- 

 cient protection for most purposes ; and this might 

 be made of corn-stalks where broom-corn stalks can 

 not be obtained. 



