FRUIT-CULTURE. 97 



shallow, the ledges often coming to the surface. Borers, 

 caterpillars and canker-worms destroy the beauty of most 

 orchards in this neighborhood. I dig out the borers with a 

 sharp knife, or probe for them with a piece of small-sized 

 wire, partly hooked at the end, whenever I see any signs of 

 them. Caterpillars are quickest destroyed by gathering their 

 eggs after the leaves have fallen ; as they are usually on the 

 ends of the branches they are easily detected, and after I 

 gather them I burn them up. 



The canker-worm is the worst pest to deal with. She 

 must be kept down from the trees, for she will deposit her 

 eggs under the loose scales of bark, either on the body or 

 limbs of the tree, and so many of them that it is impossible 

 to destroy them. I have tried several methods to keep the 

 grubs from going up, and I think that a strip of tarred paper 

 tacked around the body of the tree, and the preparation called 

 printers' ink, thinned with petroleum, put on with a brush, if 

 attended to, will destroy as many grubs, and with less damage 

 to the tree, than any other mode. 



In pruning trees, I take off a limb at any season of the 

 year when I see a chance to improve the shape of the tree, 

 or when one limb interferes with another. If trees have not 

 been pruned gradually, as they have grown, and want much 

 wood removed at once, I usually take the month of March, as 

 the dry winds at that time will dry the cut wood, causing it 

 to shrink, and affording a good chance to heal over. Our 

 wormy windfalls we grind and turn to vinegar, or throw them 

 to the hogs. 



I consider Tompkins County King, Baldwin, Rhode Island 

 Greening, Hubbardston Nonsuch, Roxbury Russet, Danvers 

 Sweet, Tolmau's Sweet, Gravenstein, Red Astrachan, Will- 

 iams Favorite and the Gillyflower, eleven excellent varie- 

 ties, both as good bearers and fine fruit. As a late winter 

 apple, Tompkins County King stands in advance for the table ; 

 as a late fall, Hubbardston Nonsuch and Tolman's Sweet ; as 

 an early fall, Williams Favorite or Gravenstein; and for an 

 early apple, Gillyflower or Red Astrachan. The Gravenstein, 

 in this section, when grafted on a young stock, is apt to be a 

 short-lived tree, and on the other hand, when grafted on 



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