204 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



outside of the tree so that nearly all the fruit receives an equal share 

 of sunshine and air. An orchard situated as this one is cannot 

 have clean cultivation for unless some sod was left the soil would 

 wash badly and injure the trees, so a strip between the trees is kept 

 cultivated and here where the feeding roots of the trees are the ferti- 

 lizers are applied in the form of wood ashes and manure. 



Another orchard nearer Boston represents a different form of 

 commercial orcharding, for while the first named orchard being far 

 from a market grows an apple that can be shipped or stored, this 

 orchard produces only those fall varieties of the best quality which 

 have to be placed on the market soon after being picked, such as 

 Mcintosh, Rolfe, Gravenstein, and Wealthy. 



Here again the trees are in excellent condition, due largely to a 

 scientific knowledge of tree culture by the owner, and demonstrates 

 successfully what a careful man can accomplish with this form of 

 fruit growing. This orchard is in sod and is fertilized by heavy 

 applications of manure and wood ashes. The grass which grows 

 in the orchard is cut in the summer and allowed to decay around 

 the trees thus making a mulch that is very beneficial to fruit growth 

 and especially so in a dry season. Spraying, pruning, and thinning 

 of the fruit are practised so that in form, color, and flavor the 

 product of this orchard surpasses that of the western orchards 

 and the prices realized are better. 



The third orchard which is located near the sea represents the 

 amateur type of fruit growing and here a business man of Boston, 

 himself an enthusiastic fruit grower, spends his spare time delight- 

 ing in this pleasant avocation, and demonstrating in the most ap- 

 proved manner the fact that INIassachusetts can produce as good 

 apples as the far-famed Hood River Valley. The trees here are 

 in sod and are treated much in the same way as the orchard last 

 described; pruning and spraying the trees and thinning the fruit 

 are large factors in the production of these fine apples. 



The fourth orchard represents what can be done by the renovat- 

 ing of old apple trees. This orchard of about fifteen acres is situ- 

 ated within fifteen miles of Boston. Four years ago it fell into the 

 hands of a young man who has entirely made over the trees and 

 from a condition chaotic in the extreme has brought order and 

 reward that would be hard to equal. The ground under the trees 



