46 



rocky, — ploughed deep, well drained, and kept in higli cultivation 

 for several years. The most thrifty wc have seen are in very 

 rocky land that had been used for a long time as pasture. Our 

 experienced fruit-growers recommend large holes for the young 

 trees, filled with fine compost and rich soil, but never with rank 

 and green manure. A common error is to set the trees too near 

 to each other. In favorable circumstances they spread rapidly, 

 and if placed nearer than thirty feet of each other, will in a few 

 years interfere. A mulching of leaves or straw is advisable in 

 dry seasons. Too much care cannot be taken that the land be 

 well drained, for the cold water stagnating about the roots is pecu- 

 liarly injurious. 



Nothing is more fatal to an orchard than the slovenly pruning 

 we often see practised by inexperienced hands, — large branches 

 hacked off, long stumps left to imbibe moisture, and cartloads of 

 limbs carried off at once. It would seem to be the dictate of com- 

 mon sense that trees should be pruned moderately every year, to 

 remove decayed limbs or an undergrowth of sprouts, and to admit 

 the sun and air into the tops. In our hot and dry climate, how- 

 ever, this last purpose may easily be cari-ied too far. The details 

 of this process, as well as the fit time for the operation, may best 

 be learned in the school of some experienced nursery man or fruit 

 grower, of whom no county has more or better than ours. 



The attractive exhibition of pears, for Avhich our fair is so cele- 

 brated, provoked the question. Why do we find so few pears in 

 most of our towns ? Nearly all are raised in three or four towns, 

 while in the others scarcely a pear tree is to be seen. Not be- 

 cause this fine fruit is not appreciated, but from an apprehension 

 of some pecuhar difficulty or risk in its culture, or from the sup- 

 position that pear trees recpiire many years to produce a full crop, or 

 from a failure that may have followed poorly conducted experiments. 

 Nursery men raise their trees on the best land, deeply spaded, 

 and thoroughly manured. The mistake which buyers make is to 

 plant their trees on a poor soil, half manured, and to neglect prun- 

 ing and heading in. In two or three years the trees die, or live 

 a miserable and stunted existence, and the farmer complains that 

 they did not correspond with the nurseryman's statement. How 

 could trees so managed be expected to prosper ? Separate trea- 

 tises on the culture of this excellent fruit may be found in books 

 specially devoted to pomology, with catalogues of the various 

 kinds best adapted to our soil and climate. 



In some towns, Foxborough, Franklin, Medfield, Needham, ami 

 a few others, enterprising men have done something towards 

 adorning their respective villages and road-sides by planting shade 

 trees. During the present year many fine trees have been plant- 

 ed. A report from Grantville Avill be found in another part of 

 this volume. We have overcome the difficulties incident to a new 



