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been planted in a congenial soil, have been properly trimmed, 

 and in most cases cultivated, and above all have been protected 

 from the canlier -worms, where the scourge has visited them. 



Many of the pomological writers of the present day are re- 

 gretting the failure of the apple crop, attributing it to a lack 

 of phospliates, lime, or some other ingredient in the soil ; they 

 say, and with much truth, that the apple tree requires a new 

 or virgin soil ; and that apple culture is being abandoned for 

 that of the pear, etc. It is our opinion that apples will again 

 do well ; that they are more valuable and more generally use- 

 ful than any other fruit in our climate, and as profitable as any 

 other farm crop. 



It will be remembered — at least in the northern part of the 

 county — that the canker-worms in 1864 and 1865 were more 

 numerous and destructive than at any other period ; and 

 the long protracted droughts of those years, especially of 

 1865, when the limbs, entirely stripped of leaves, remained 

 through the summer and fall exposed to the sun, and the 

 ground so dry that many of the surface roots actually perished. 

 This we think will explain why there are so many dead and 

 decaying limbs upon the trees, and why the fruit failed to 

 **set" the next spring, although there was a good bloom. 

 This season and the last having been favorable to the growth 

 and recovery of the trees, we predict a good crop next year, 

 where the trees are in bearing order. 



We would advise then to cut down all trees that are past 

 recovery — thin out where they stand too thick, and gradually 

 cut off all dead and decaying branches Shallow ploughing, 

 especially in the fall, is beneficial ; in fact the soil in an or- 

 chard should always be kept loose and broken. Above all, 

 protect your trees from the canker-worm. Our most intelli- 

 gent farmers now — having tried the various " patent protec- 

 tors " — use generally the printers' ink, or the old-fashioned 

 article, tar. One enterprising farmer who has a large crop of 

 apples the present season, uses print 3rs' ink reduced somewhat 

 with rosin oil — put on with a paint brush, upon strips of tar- 



