71 



grains among them, and allow them to ripen among them. It 

 is very injurious, especially when they are young, rye in par- 

 ticular. I had an orchard that I Avanted to lay doAvn to grass, 

 and I sowed oats, calculating to cut green for fodder. It so 

 happened that I did not cut them until ripe ; the trees were 

 not very large; the bark on the south side was sun-scalded, 

 so that it killed a good many, and the rest were not good for 

 much. 



As to grafting, I have had considerable experience, both 

 for myself and others, and I find that sour apple grafts put 

 into sweet stocks, are not apt to do so well as those of a 

 sweet or a milder flavor. I think it best to only take those 

 limbs you want to graft, so as to make a well-balanced head, 

 and leave the rest on the tree till another year. I think it 

 best uot to take off too much at once. 



STATEMENT OF JOHN H. SEARS, OF DANVERS. 



I have two hundred and fifty apple-trees. under cultivation, 

 and fifty more (most of which are grafted) in pasture land, 

 (fifteen varieties.) Our soil is from six to fifteen inches 

 dark loam, underlaid by yellow loam of from one to four 

 feet in depth. The next lower deposit is a very hard loamy 

 gravel. This soil may be considered as the general form of 

 that of North Danvers. Young trees, in my experience, 

 should be kept under cultivation for twelve or fifteen years, 

 for the plough will keep the surface roots thinned out, and 

 those directed down in the subsoil, which are its principal 

 source of nourishment during our seasons of drousfht, jjrow 

 deeper and stronger, giving a firmer support to resist the 

 power of the high winds, which will, if the roots are more 

 on the surface, so rock the tree as to displace the roots, and, 

 as is often the case, overturn it. For old trees, once in five 

 years is often enough to turn the sod over, and if it is well 

 cultivated the first year in corn, the second to potatoes, the 



