42 HAMPSHIRE, FRANKLIN AND 



upon apple trees, having an orchard of 20,000 bearing Newtown 

 Pippins. Three years ago, I scraped all the rough bark off 

 from several thousand apple trees, washed the trunks and 

 limbs, as high as I could reach, with soft soap, in the month of 

 April ; early in June, I trimmed out the branches that crossed 

 each other, and, with a sharp knife, split open the bark by run- 

 ning it from the ground to the first limbs; this was also done 

 in June. In July, I placed one peck of oyster-shell lime around 

 each tree, and, in November, dug it in thoroughly. The follow- 

 ing year. I collected, from these trees, 1,700 barrels of apples, 

 which sold in New York for $4 a barrel, and in London for $9 

 a barrel. After gathering the fruit in October, I manured the 

 same with common stable manure. Strange as it may seem, 

 the next year the same trees literally bent to the ground with 

 the finest fruit I ever saw. The other trees in my orchard, not 

 treated as above, were barren." 



Mr. Pell thinks highly of charcoal dust as a manure for fruit 

 trees, flowering shrubs, and plants. He has found that plum 

 trees, treated with lime and charcoal, are made to bear abun- 

 dantly, which had been barren for a dozen years before. The 

 efficacy of lime, charcoal, ashes, and compost, for apples, pears, 

 and plums, is well established. Salt is beneficial to plums and 

 quinces, and iron is said to be useful for pears. 



The fruit, presented this year, especially the apples, was of 

 better quality and greater variety than ever before exhibited 

 here. There were 180 plates of apples, each plate containing 

 not less than 5 specimens. There were a few autumnal, but 

 mostly winter, varieties. Of these, — 



Hon. William Clark presented 16 varieties : — Winter Sweet, 

 or Mother apple, Westfield Seek-no-further, Late Golden Sweet- 

 ing, Ribstone Pippin, Flushing Spitzenberg, Rhode Island 

 Greening, Jewett's Fine Red, Fall Pippin, Baldwin, Fameuse, 

 Roxbury Russet, Lady apple, Newtown Pippin, Red Cheek Rus- 

 set, Wine apple, and one seedling. 



Ilarvey Judd, of South Hadley, presented 15 varieties : — 

 Roxbury Russet, Rhode Island Greening, Silver Sweeting, 

 Blue Pearmain, Red Check Russet, Late Golden Sweeting, 

 Baldwin, Fall Greening, Red Pearmain or iEsopus Spitzen- 



