112 THE HOME ACRE. 



fruit I shall give the experience of Mr. T. S. Force, 

 of Newburgh, who exhibited seventy varieties at 

 the last annual Orange County fair. 

 . His plum-orchard is a large poultry-yard, con- 

 taining half an acre, of which the ground is a good 

 loam, resting on a heavy clay subsoil. He bought 

 trees but one year from the bud, set them out in 

 autumn, and cut them back so that they began to 

 form their heads at two feet from the ground. 

 He prefers starting with strong young plants of 

 this age, and he did not permit them to bear for 

 the first three years, his primal aim being to de- 

 velop a healthy, vigorous tree with a round, sym- 

 metrical head. During this period the ground 

 about them was kept mellow by good cultivation, 

 and, being rich enough to start with, received no 

 fertilizers. It is his belief that over-fertilization 

 tends to cause the disease so well known as the 

 " black knot," which has destroyed many orchards 

 in this vicinity. If the garden has been enriched 

 as I have directed, the soil will probably need 

 little, if anything, from the stables, and certainly 

 will not if the trees are grown in a poultry-yard. 

 During this growing and forming period Mr. 

 Force gave careful attention to pruning. Budded 

 trees are not even symmetrical growers, but tend to 

 send up a few very strong shoots that rob the rest 

 of the tree of sustenance. Of course these must 



