274 HAMPSHIRE SOCIETY. 



never borne any fruit, as they are but twelve or thirteen years 

 old, from the seed. It is all engrafted fruit, and choice varie- 

 ties, consisting of greenings, pound royals, Baldwins, Newtown 

 pippins, seeknofnrthers, Roxbury russets, winter sweet, Hub- 

 bardston nonsuch, minister apple, yellow harvest, sops of wine, 

 and some other choice kinds which I cannot find names for. 

 The method of cultivation is to plough the land once in two 

 years, and keep the soil loose and light close to the trees, and 

 manure them with compost manure every fall, have them 

 washed with a solution of potash water the last of May or first 

 of June, one pound of potash to two gallons water ; also trim 

 all the small limbs which rub or touch each other. The land 

 on which this orchard stands, is a coarse gravelly loam and not 

 under a very high state of cultivation. 

 Amherst, Oct.^ 1851, 



Alfred Baker^s Statement. 

 My trees were all engrafted in the nursery, at or near the 

 ground ; they were transplanted in the fall of 1838, late in the 

 month of November. The soil in which they were set, was 

 poor, dry, and very stony. My manner of setting them was in 

 the first place to dig a hole sufficiently large to admit the 

 longest roots, and a few inches deeper than 1 wished to have 

 them stand. Before setting, I threw in a few shovels of rich 

 loam, procured for the purpose, and continued to mix the same 

 with the earth thrown out, in filling up around the trees. 

 They were set from four to six inches deeper than they stood 

 in the nursery. I have kept the land ploughed, taking a crop 

 for the same every year, ripplying no manure except in the hill 

 when planted and a small quantity from the compost heap 

 around the trees, as often. I have once in a year (with one or 

 two exceptions) washed my trees with weak ley, taken from 

 the leach after making soap, which I think has been of essen- 

 tial service to them. The healthy and thrifty condition of my 

 trees has been particularly noticed by all who have seen them, 

 and. I think it a little remarkable that of the 115 or 120 trees 

 set, I have not lost one. My trees stand just two rods distant 

 *rom each other, which in my opinion is full near enough. 



