28o A Pattern Pcar-Orc/iard. 



and thus he secures the conditions of an insular climate to a great degree, 

 as is manifested by the absence of frost, which has already checked vegeta- 

 tion in other parts of the State. 



The subsoil is a heavy and retentive clay. This Las been pierced by the 

 ditching-spade at intervals of thirty feet, and the ten-acre lot is thoroughly 

 underdrained. Upon this the pear trees are set at intervals of twenty feet ; 

 so that two rows will stand within five feet of a drain, and the third will be 

 situated midway between two drains, each fifteen feet distant. This prep- 

 aration of the soil was the greatest expense to be incurred, and amounted 

 to about sixty dollars an acre ; but as the surface is quite flat, and only a 

 few feet above the surrounding water and morass, and as the soil rests upon 

 a tenacious clay, this draining was essential. It has produced very good 

 effects in changing the character of the soil, and in giving increased facility 

 of working it. These results are highly satisfactory to the owner, and 

 encouraging to others who occupy similar lands. 



The trees — pyramids on free stocks — are now six years old, ^•igorous, 

 healthy, and beginning to bear fruit. The orchard is one of the most 

 beautiful collections of pear-trees to be found in many a day's ride. True, 

 they have been well cultivated, and well cared for. They show their keep- 

 ing, and are the more beautiful in responding to the constant care that has 

 been bestowed upon them. They have been judiciously pruned into shape, 

 though the natural habit of the variety has been consulted in each case ; 

 and the result is an abundant crop of fruit-spurs, and already a portion of 

 fruit, that has sold for a nice sum, besides that which was reserved for com- 

 petition at the State Fair, where it received honorable premiums. 



The land between the young trees has not been idle, but h^s yielded 

 annual crops of vegetables until planted with small fruits that are now occu- 

 pying a considerable portion of the orchard. In some of the spaces, a row 

 of grape-vines has been planted midway between the trees. Of these, the 

 noble Concord. has given the most satisfactor)^ results. The Delaware 

 and some others have suffered from leaf-mildew. On either side of the 

 grapes were potatoes or other vegetables ; and in the tree-rows were straw- 

 berries, that Mr. Fahnestock finds more profitable than weeds. 



In other spaces were rows of raspberries and blackberries, both of which 

 had been subjected to an early pinching of the shoots, that caused a fine 



