74 BOARD OF AGRICtlLTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



and bone, with 2,000 pounds of lime applied per acre as 

 often as the gi'owth and condition of the trees indicate their 

 need. 



Land has been so abundant and cheap in our country that 

 we have gone on producing from large areas without giving 

 much thought or attention to keeping up the productivity 

 of the soil, or applying careful methods for its improvement 

 and the restoration of the loss caused by continuous produc- 

 tion. AVe know little of the possibilities of an acre of land, 

 and the dwarf trees, calling for a much higher degree of 

 culture, will be a means of leading up to more intensive 

 methods. 



During the past season we succeeded in carrying over a 

 large peach crop through a most serious drought by very 

 frequent tillage. The land was planted to apples, with 

 peaches between ; but 1 do not recommend to you this sort 

 of planting. Let ns plant apples on blocks of apples ; let 

 us plant peaches only on blocks where peaches are to stand ; 

 and so with all other fruits. If we attempt to spray full- 

 strength Bordeaux mixture on apple trees with a row of 

 peach trees running between them, we shall ruin the peach 

 foliage, and hence it is not a wise plan to follow. 



But both of these were carrying large crops. A drought 

 started in when the fruit was not half grown, and it con- 

 tinued until after the peaches were picked. As the fruit 

 began to approach maturity during the prolonged dry 

 weather, the soil was harrowed lightly every day, this being 

 done even while the fruit was being picked. We had no 

 rain to wet the soil from the time the fruit set until the 

 cro}) was picked. The result was that the entire crop was 

 brought through and sold for prices much above the general 

 market quotations. The market had last year a vast num- 

 ber of peaches, of which one dealer said to me in Boston, in 

 describing the fruit that came on the market, " There arc 

 so many of them that are composed of nothing but pit, skin 

 and fuzz." 



The soil around this orchard had been well supj)Iied with 

 humus from several years of clover cover-crops, which were 

 a great aid in addition to tillage in conserving moisture. 

 To test the possil)le advantage of adding nitrogen to aid in 



