54 STATEMENT OF J ABES FISHER. 



all of the hay, and they are fed freely with grain, by which means 

 through the butter made and the increase in the value of the ani- 

 mals, I can realize about $20.00 per ton for the hay while retain- 

 ing the manure. At the present time, the probable price for hay 

 looks more promising than the price for butter, and this may 

 change my plans for the coming winter. The purchase of grain to 

 be fed on the farm is very much more likely to increase the pro- 

 ductiveness of the soil, than the growing of the same grain in 

 preference to grass ; at the present prices of labor, I can produce 

 the price of a bushel of corn upon my land easier than I can pro- 

 duce the bushel of corn. 



My experience with fruit has been very instructive, if not in all 

 cases profitable pecuniarily. Of tlie 196 apple trees originally 

 set, 132 have this fall been rooted out. They were 16 years old, 

 set thirty feet apart, many of the branches meeting, and the trunks 

 14 inches in diameter, and less. In growth they have been ex- 

 tremely satisfactory, but in productiveness, much less so. The 

 fact that the canker worm has secured a lodgment makes the 

 sacrilege less felt. The land thus cleared is to be planted with 

 grapes. Of about 600 standard pear trees set, something like 

 fifteen per cent, have died and been replaced by others. Two- 

 thirds of the whole number have grown satisfactorily and look 

 well for the future. Of about 800 pears on quince roots, nine- 

 tenths have seen their day, and taken as a whole, they have not 

 paid their cost. Nearly all have either blighted, died, thrown out 

 pear roots, or have been removed, leaving the standards to occupy 

 the ground. Three hundred peach trees survived from ten to 

 twelve years and produced four very fine crops in that time. 

 Eighty cherry trees stood ten years, grew very finely, but never 

 produced a bushel of fruit for sale, and were then removed. Fifty 

 plum trees stood the same length of time with the same results. 



Strawberries were grown in quantity a number of years and 

 always at a handsome profit. 



The Concord Grape I began to set in 1856 and have increased 

 the amount until I have an acre and two-thirds, and propose to 

 add upwards of two acres where the 132 apple trees have just 

 been removed. This fruit has been an eminently satisfactory pro- 

 duct with me, yielding in good years a very large profit, and in the 

 worst seasons giving a better return than anything else grown. 



In winter I find sufficient employment in the management of a 

 forcing house used for growing cucumbers for the New York 

 market; two horses are kept and about 50 hens are wintered. 



