120 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



according to the strength of the vines for fruiting the following 

 season, and were allowed to lie on the ground through the win- 

 ter. In the spring of 1868 these vines were partly trained to 

 trellises made of old telegraph wire, nailed to cedar posts, set 

 about twelve feet apart, three or four lines of wire on each row 

 of posts, the posts from 5 to 6^ feet above ground ; the balance 

 of the vines were wound around cedar posts 6-|- feet long, two 

 posts to each vine. This being the third year set, the vines were 

 allowed to bear a few bunches each, according to the strength 

 and size of the vines ; the product was between $90 and $100 

 worth sold, which, for an unfavorable season, and the age of 

 the vines, was a good crop. I prune in the fall, after the leaves 

 fall, or in early winter, as I find leisure, on the spur system, 

 leaving about two buds on each spur, which are allowed to grow 

 the following summer to the second or third leaf beyond the 

 last bunch of fruit, when they are pinched off; if they make 

 large growth through the summer, I pinch two or three times. 

 I have not applied any manure to the land since the summer of 

 1865 (only as above stated, for early potatoes, &c., when planted 

 between the rows,) except fifty bushels of ashes, made from 

 pine-wood saw-dust and shavings, under a steam boiler, which 

 would be about one-half peck per vine. 

 Concord, Oct. 2, 1869. 



Statement of Edwin Wlieeler. 



The fruit and vegetable garden that I offer for your inspec- 

 tion, contains about one and one-half acres of land, and three 

 hundred and seventy-six pear-trees ; eighty-eight are on pear 

 stocks, the balance on quince ; eighty-four were set in the 

 spring of 1853 and 1854, by digging holes about four feet in 

 diameter and one and one-half feet deep, using mud and com- 

 post about them. The rows are seventeen feet apart, and the 

 trees ten feet apart in the rows, on pear and quince, alternately. 



In the fall of 1863 and spring of 1864, 1 set eighty-four trees ; 

 they were planted at the same distance as the first lot, and on 

 pear and quince stocks. In the spring of 1865, I planted two 

 hundred and eight trees, all on quince stocks, arranged twelve 

 feet by ten. I have some twenty-five varieties, which, I think, 

 is quite to many. I prune in April or May, in pyramid form, 

 before the leaves are fully developed, heading them in one-half 



