96 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.* 



very injurious, especially when they are young, rye in partic- 

 ular. I had an orchard that I wanted to lay down to grass, 

 and I sowed oats, calculating to cut green for fodder. It so 

 happened that I did not cut them until ripe ; the trees were 

 not very large ; the bark on the south side was sun-scalded, so 

 that it killed a good many, and the rest were not good for much. 

 As to grafting, I have had considerable experience, both 

 for myself and others, and I find that sour apple grafts put 

 into sweet stocks are not apt to do so well as those of a sweet 

 or a milder flavor. I think it best to take only those limbs 

 you want to graft, so as to make a well-balanced head, and 

 leave the rest on the tree till another year. I think it best 

 not to take off too much at once. 



Statement of John H. Sears of Danvers. 



I have two hundred and fifty apple-trees under cultivation, 

 and fifty more (most of which are grafted) in pasture land 

 (fifteen varieties). Our soil is from six to fifteen inches dark 

 loam, underlaid by yellow loam of from one to four feet in 

 depth. The next lower deposit is a very hard loamy gravel. 

 This soil may be considered as the general form of that of 

 North Danvers. Young trees, in my experience, should be 

 kept under cultivation for twelve or fifteen years, for the 

 plough will keep the surface roots thinned out, and those 

 directed down in the subsoil, which arc its principal source of 

 nourishment during our seasons of drought, grow deeper 

 and stronger, giving a firmer support to resist the power of 

 the high winds, which will, if the roots are more on the sur- 

 face, so rock the tree as to displace the roots, and, as is often 

 the case, overturn it. For old trees, once in five years is 

 often enough to turn the sod over, and if it is well cultivated 

 the first year to corn, the second to potatoes, the third to 

 Hungarian and grass-seed, which crops can in most orchards 

 be successfully cultivated, it will be in good condition, as far as 

 the roots are concerned, to reward the owner with good crops. 



Our trees are nearly all in bearing. One orchard of one 

 hundred trees, which, when planted, in May, 1858, were one 

 inch in diameter, New York trees, are now some of them 

 eight inches in diameter. The soil is rich loam, but very 



