88 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



season ; and this is the time to thin out branches and reduce 

 the top. Now is the time when the greatest quantity of sap- 

 wood is made, and of course wounds heal sooner than at any- 

 other season of the year; yet I avoid excessive trimming at 

 any one time, and choose to lop off some of the branches annually. 

 A number of my trees are bearing fruit, though this is but 

 the third year of their standing in the orchard. Many of the 

 trees have not yet ceased to put out leaves, though the summer 

 has been excessively dry, and many of the trees have lost some 

 of their leaves. Cultivation alone has kept the soil moist 

 enough, for no artificial watering has been resorted to. 



Framingham, September 5, 1854. 



Statement of Hiram Woodis. 



My orchard contains two acres of land, with one hundred 

 and three apple trees, all Baldwins except ten or twelve trees, 

 which are different kinds of fruit. They are set two rods apart, 

 with peach trees between part of them, and were set in the spring 

 of 1851. In shaping the trees I have taken off the centre stalk, 

 and trimmed them in such a manner that they resemble each 

 other, and the limbs are high enough to be ploughed under 

 with ease. The land is good, and has been kept in a good 

 state of cultivation, raising corn and potatoes, and this year is 

 covered with onions, cabbages, and sage. I make it a rule to 

 trim my trees every May or June ; of the two months, I prefer 

 June. I manure my crops liberally, and throw it about the 

 roots of the trees. The manure used is composed of muck and 

 barn manure, mixed together. I have never been troubled 

 with borers, and seldom with insects of any kind. 



South Reading, August, 185-1. 



Statement of George M. Barrett. 



My apple trees, numbering about one hundred and seventy- 

 five, which I offer for premium, were raised by myself, and set 

 out when two years from the bud, in the spring of 1849, on a 

 piece of land containing about four acres of a sandy and grav- 



