APPLE ORCHARDS. 57 



My reclaimed swamp, wliicli you saw, has produced two excel- 

 lent crops of corn last year and this, with comparatively little 

 manure, and I think, is susceptible of producing many more crops 

 with very little labor ; as it is well drained, and has a deep vegeta- 

 ble mold, that will wear like the prairies of the West ; and which 

 was, when I commenced, a desolate wilderness. 



My wood lot furnishes me with fuel and lumber by its annual 

 growth, sufficient for our consumption and use ; and, I occasionally 

 sell some. 



I have one and three-fourths acres of wheat on the ground, and 

 two acres of rye ; and have sold this fall to the butcher, one 

 beef creature, and I have three more fattening which will be ready 

 soon for the shambles. 



My earnings off the farm go a good way to pay my hired help 

 on it. 



You have visited my place, and that fact renders it unnecessary 

 for me to say more. 



Yours, with high consideration, 



CYRUS KILBURN. 



APPLE ORCHARDS. 



The committee on Apple Orchards regret to say that during 

 the last four years, only one orchard has been entered to com- 

 pete for the society's premium, and that by Mr. Timothy Clark, of 

 South Royalston. 



The committee examined this orchard last October, and found it 

 transplanted in good soil and well adapted to the growth of fruit 

 trees; yet, Mr. Clark, like many others, made mistakes in the 

 transplanting and cultivation. 



The orchard is upon the summit of his farm, which slopes to the 

 south-west and to the east, whereas, had it been set out farther to 

 the east and south, it would have been much less exposed to the 

 west wind which always gives an unsightly appearance to an 

 orchard as well as a feeble growth. Again, when the trees were 

 set they were only second class trees ; and by his statement, all 

 due care was exercised in transplanting and cultivation for the two 

 first years, after which time " it was turned out to grass," and as 



