22 MIDDLESEX SOCIETY. 



composed of 7 lbs. of potash, | peck of lime, and | bushel of 

 cow dung, mixed in a barrel of water. After examining, by- 

 scraping and digging out the borers, I have put coal and wood- 

 ashes mixed, around most of my peach trees, every spring. 



From Leander Crosby. Billerica. — My apple trees were set 

 in the spring of 1842, in rows, two rods distant from each other. 

 In setting, we used no manure, but filled the holes with the soil 

 which was taken out. We were very careful to have the trees 

 set deep and the dirt trodden compactly around the roots, in 

 order to be more sure of their living. This, I think, was a 

 great error, from the fact that the trees made a very small 

 growth for the first two years, and have since thrown out roots 

 near the surface of the ground, two or three inches above the 

 older roots. We used no stakes to support them, except in a 

 few instances, where the tree was much inclined to grow 

 crooked, and have not pruned them very close, always leaving 

 some small twigs to be taken off the next year. 



The ground was kept up two years, and then laid down to 

 oats and grass. In two years more, it was ploughed again, and 

 planted with potatoes. These were dug while the tops were 

 green, and the tops were placed between the rows and cov- 

 ered, as we dug the potatoes. They were completely rotted by 

 the next spring, so as not to be in the way of the plough. This 

 made the ground more light and lively than it had been before, 

 or has since been, and was, I think, an advantage to the trees, 

 for, in a small part of the field, there was an earlier kind 

 planted, which were dug without the tops being covered, and 

 we could perceive a difference in the ground and trees. The 

 potato crop has been succeeded by a crop of cucumbers, which, 

 we think, draws less from the soil than corn, or any root crop. 



While the trees were in grass, they were manured late in 

 November, with manure from the barn cellar, three shovels full 

 put to each tree, and dug in, the next spring, over a surface of 

 about three feet from the body of the tree. They were washed, 

 each of these successive years, in June, with potash water, 

 strong enough to bear an egg. g^ 



For the premium on cranberries, there was but one applicant. 

 The plantation that was exhibited, did not, by any means, sat- 



