94 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



Statement of Nathaniel Smith. 



My orchard, which I offer for a premium, has over seventy-five 

 trees. About twenty of them are thirty years old; but the re- 

 mainder are young trees, some of which are in bearing this 

 year. The old trees were grafted after they were set out. 

 The soil is sandy loam, deep and rich. The old part is in 

 grass ; broom corn is cultivated on the other part. The manure 

 used is common compost; and the quantity of apples is proba- 

 bly about one hundred and fifty bushels, valued this year from 

 forty-five to fifty dollars. The value of the fruit was much re- 

 duced by the hail storm in September. My varieties are, Early 

 Harvest, Porter, Congress, Greenings, two kinds of Russets, 

 Baldwins, Seek-no-farthers, Bellflowers, Little Core, Swaar, 

 Gravenstein, xEsopus Spitzenburg, Crows' Eggs, Golden Sweets, 

 and other varieties too numerous to mention. 



I came in possession of the place last spring, and, therefore, 

 am not able to state the cost of the orchard. 



Sunderland, October 17, 1854. 



Statement of Avery D. Hubbard. 



The land on which my orchard stands is sandy and light. I 

 have twenty-five trees which have been reclaimed. Their ages 

 vary from forty to more than a hundred years. Twenty years 

 ago they were almost worthless — grown up with sprouts and 

 dead limbs — not having been trimmed for many years — bear- 

 ing only a few " cider apples " — none of them having been 

 grafted or budded. The trees were thoroughly trimmed and 

 all the dead limbs cut off. We were careful to shape them 

 well and have handsome tops. The trees were scraped with a 

 hoe till all the old and loose bark and moss were removed, 

 and a compost of swamp muck, ashes, plaster, and lime, was 

 spread under the trees, and thoroughly mixed with the soil by 

 ploughing. Most of them stood on ploughed land. 



In a few years a thrifty set of shoots came out, which were 

 grafted with Baldwins, Greenings, Spitxcnburgs, Seck-no-far- 

 thers, Roxbury Russets, Nonesuch, Boston Russets, Pippins, 



