THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



experience with tliem in Eastern Bucks coun- 

 ty, thirty miles nortli of Philadelphia, for the 

 benefit of the readers. 



The varieties which possess superior merit 

 and have been very profitable, can be counted 

 on the fingers, I would name Beune Giftard, 

 BufEum, Bartlett, Sheldon and Rutter, as 

 being the most profitable. And as the second 

 five. Early Catherine, Doyenne D'Ete, Abbott, 

 Seckle, Natural or Choke. 



I have always found a good market for 

 fruit near home, in Trenton, N. J., and sell 

 whatever grows on the trees : large and small, 

 good, fair and indifterent. Where fruit can 

 be disposed of in this way, without much ex- 

 pense for the freight, commission, etc., almost 

 any kind of fruit trees (if not totally barren) 

 will be profitable ; that is, they will more 

 than pay for the land which they occupy, but 

 the pears which are really valuable for the 

 majority of the planters are very few. 



The first and most essential requisite for a 

 tree to be valuable, is productiveness ; second 

 size and appearance of fruit ; third, time of 

 ripening ; very early and very late fruit bring- 

 ing the highest price ; fourth, quality of fruit. 

 Fine looking fruit will command a fair price, 

 even in a glutted market, regardless of its 

 quality, when small or unattractive stock al- 

 though of the finest flavor, will go begging for 

 a market or not. 



Nearly every variety named in this list has 

 been affected, more or less, with blight at 

 some period. Those which have suffered 

 least from it are Beurre Giffard, Buflom, Shel- 

 don, Rutter, Chinese Sand and natural fruit. 



Those which have suffered most are Beurre 

 D'Anjou, Lawrence and Vicar of "Wakefield. 



The only remedy that I know for blight is 

 to remove the injured branch and burn it ; 

 keep the tree growing vigorously and let it re- 

 pair the loss. If a tree dies plant another, 

 but don't grub out an old pear root while 

 there is life in it. It will send up a sucker 

 that will soon commence bearing or form an 

 excellent stock for grafting. 



Pear trees seldom need trimming after they 

 get to bearing, except cutting out dead wood, 

 if there is any. Beurre Giffard and Manning's 

 Elizabeth, two of the best pears and some 

 others, are feeble growers while young, requir- 

 ing several years to come into bearing ; but 

 are vigorous and soon become productive if 

 worked into the top of a thrifty large tree. 



I believe the best condition for a pear or- 

 chard is to keep the land in sod and never 

 plow it, but not allow the grass to grow with- 

 in two or three feet of the trunks of the trees : 

 keep the circle mulched with manure, leaves 

 or stones. Manure the land liberally once in 

 three or four years. Allow hogs to root in the 

 orchard and devour all the defective fruit. 

 Seckle pears especially are large, fairer, and 

 higher colored when grown in sod than in cul- 

 tivated land.— i^arwi Journal. 



GRAPE CULTURE. 



The best vines are those grown from cut- 

 tings having two eyes, in which a single 

 system of roots radiate from the lower eye 

 like the spokes of a wheel, and the vine grows 

 out of the top bud. One-year old vines are 

 to be preferred in all cases, if first-class, even 

 if two years old, root pruned and transplanted 

 vines should be offered at the same price. 



In planting vines, the single tier of roots 

 should be set as low in the ground as may be 

 and keep the upi)er node, from which the 

 vine has started, out of the ground, so that 

 new roots will not grow from it. Unless this 

 precaution i.s taken, a new upper tier of roots, 

 thus encouraged to grow, will, after a time, 

 usurp and displace the others, and the action 

 of frost in claj'ey soil will gradually, and 

 sometimes in a single winter, throw the vine 

 out of ground and expose these upper roots 

 in an injurious way, and this condition re- 

 mains permanent. The best time of the year 

 is that which occurs first, always promising 

 that the soil should be mellow and friable, 

 and if in autumn, a shovelful of loam should 

 be used so as to completely bury the two or 

 three buds only that are left upon the vine 

 above the surface. The earlier in autumn or 

 spring that the work is done, the better, pro- 

 viding the conditions are as stated. 



The distance at which vines should be set 

 will depend somewhat upon the strength of 

 the soil and the mode of training adopted. 

 If in all "respects as above advised, the best 

 distance is believed to be primarily, in rows 

 eight feet apart with the vines six feet apart 

 in the rows which perfectly run north and 

 south. It will be a matter of great conven- 

 ience to have the row.s consist of but twenty- 

 five vines, thus occupying 144 feet in length ; 

 then by omitting one vine, a space of twelve 

 feet will be left for access between two vine- 

 yards. If circumstances favor, or rather if 

 they seem to require, as the vines get age and 

 strength, each alternate vine, including the 

 two end ones in each row, may be removed, 

 thus leaving twelve vines in each that will 

 stand eight by twelve feet apart. 



Almost any hoed crop may be grown in the 

 vineyard for one or two years if an equivalent 

 amount of fertilization be given, but after 

 this time grape vines only. Many and various 

 are the implements that have been tried for 

 cultivation and discarded. The plow is here 

 inadmissible. Cultivation should be shallow, 

 perhaps two inches is ample, and this should 

 be done in a way that will not disturb the 

 larger roots, the great body of which lie from 

 three to six inches deep. The last summer's 

 experience has proved the one-horse " Acme " 

 harrow to be exactly the thing. It is is an im- 

 plement that disturbs the soil from oue to five 

 inches deep, at the will of the driver, or in 

 hard grouud the rider, and never cuts off the 

 larger roots even if lying at the surface. Cul- 

 tivation should begin each year as soon as the 

 ground will pulverize in the spring and be re- 

 newed after every packing rain, or in the 

 absence of rain, before a crop of weeds has 

 time to show the third leaf. — Farm Journal. 



SETTING OUT FRUIT IN THE FALL. 



One of the principal advantages in setting 

 out fruit in the foil is that there is more leis- 

 ure and the work can be done better without 

 interfering too much with other work. iSpring 

 work is always pressing, and it is often diffi- 

 cult to get the soil in a suitable condition and 

 find time to properly set out the trees. You 

 cannot expect the best results with fruit of 

 any kind unless you are willing to take con- 

 siderable pains to properly take care of it. 



After having selected the soil or plot it 

 should be well plowed in the fall ; plow deep 



and well ; if the soil is rich no manure is 

 necessary, but if it is not it will be economy 

 to make it .so from the start by giving a good 

 application of well rotted stable manure, and 

 work thoroughly into the soil. I am aware 

 that the old custom was to dig a hole for the 

 tree and put the manure in this, but experi- 

 ence has shown that the feeding roots soon 

 get beyond this and fail to receive as much 

 benefit as they should. Surface manure well 

 worked into the soil furnishes the food in the 

 best condition for the largest number of feed- 

 ing roots to reach and be benefited by it. 

 Make out some time ahead a list of what you 

 want; get good varieties, and do not let a 

 mistaken notion of economy induce you to 

 select poor varieties simply because they cost 

 a few cents less on the tree. Good trees of 

 good varieties cannot be raised for nothing 

 and it always pays to give a little more and 

 get the best. 



Secure a selection that will give you fruit 

 all the year around. This can be done if you 

 are careful in selecting your varieties of fruit. 

 There are so many claimants for the best, and 

 such close competition among dealers, that it 

 would hardly be proper in a newspaper arti- 

 cle to give a list of what we might consider 

 the best; then again, what we might consider 

 th': best in this section and in one kind of 

 soil, would not pass as among the best in an- 

 other section on a different soil. Hence in 

 securing a variety it is best to have some 

 knowledge of what has done the best .in your 

 immediate neighborhood, if possible. 



Do not set your trees too thick — thirty feet 

 each way is plenty clo.«e for apples, and six- 

 teen by twenty for peaches, cherries, crabs, 

 apricots and quinces. It does not pay to 

 crowd too closely. In setting out take some 

 pains to have the trees in as straight a line as 

 possible. The best device to aid in doing this 

 work is the easiest way is to have a board six 

 inches wide, oue inch thick and four feet 

 long. Cut a notch in the center, and equal 

 distance from this in each end bore a good 

 sized hole ; have two pins that will fit these 

 holes, easily reach into the ground deep 

 enough to hold it steady. Mark off the places 

 where the trees are too stand, put the notch 

 exactly where the tree is to stand, fasten with 

 one pin and turn the plank around out of the 

 way, dig the hole the proper depth and put in 

 the tree, bring back the plank and fasten in 

 the original holes, put the tree in the notch 

 and you will make no mistake or get the tree 

 out of line. 



In setting out the trees do not set too deep. 

 There is as much danger of smothering a tree 

 by setting too deep as of injuring the roots by 

 setting too shallow. My plan is to set in as 

 deep as the tree stood in the nursery. If the 

 roots are in any way dry wet them thorough- 

 ly before setting out; take pains to spread 

 out the roots as evenly as possible. In filling 

 up the hole see that the space between the 

 roots is well filled with soil ; have the soil 

 ratlier hollowing about the stem so as to re- 

 tain moisture. Later on, before severe cold 

 weather comes on, mulch well around the 

 roots. I have also found that it pays, when 

 setting out trees in the fall, to wrap well with 

 old rags or tarred paper too keep off the rab- 

 bits and mice; they seem to especially like the 

 bark of the young, newly-set trees, and by 



