ORCHAED8 



39 



ting off either old limbs, or thinning out grafts, till 

 1858 and '59, when in June '59 the trees were wholly 

 bereft of their old limbs and as many of the new ones 

 as necessary ; the tops are now in a healthy condition. 

 These trees have grown two very good growths of fruit 

 of good quality, one in '56 the other in 58, and give 

 promise of future usefulness. 



W. G. WYMAN'S STATEMENT. 



RECLAIMED APPLE ORCHARD. 



The reclaimed apple orchard which I offer for a pre^- 

 mium consists of one hundred and seventy-five trees of 

 various ages, from twenty to eighty years or more, all 

 of nature's own planting; scattered over my fields and 

 pastures, mostly the latter. 



A very few of the trees in the fields were grafted 

 when they came into my possession in the spring of 1853, 

 but most of them, and all in the pastures produced only 

 almost worthless varieties of fruit. The trees had no 

 appearance of having ever been trimmed or pruned 

 except by the cattle ; w^ere very croocked and scrubby, 

 and densly filled with sprouts, thorns and dead limbs. 



I commenced grafting a few trees in the fields in 

 1853 and 1854, and in 1855 took hold of the main 

 orchard in earnest, selecting the best trees out of over 

 three hundred, the others furnished good fire wood; 

 and grafting about one-third of the tree, usually at a 

 time, commencing with the top, and so continued for 

 three successive years. The suckers have been care- 

 fully pruned out every year, after the season's growth 

 Df wood was made. 



