90 TEAN8ACTION3. 



for a distance fifteen or twenty feet in diameter. But the evil is not 

 avoided in this way. The smaller roots, which are the most impor- 

 tant, are certain to be broken, and the tree will sustain an irreparable 

 injury. The addition of some ferruginous substance to the ashes, if 

 the soil is not well supplied with iron, would do well. A quantity 

 of cinders from the blacksmith's shop, such as fly from the hot iron 

 when beaten, (oxyde of iron) has been suggested by Prof. Nash. 

 The soil in which my orchard stands is well supplied with iron, and 

 for that reason 1 applied none. The application of compost manure, 

 to be spread under the trees, as far as their roots extend, is also 

 necessary on sandy, gravelly soils, that do not contain much organic 

 matter or loam. A compost of equal parts of chip, barn and hog- 

 yard manures, will make one of the best applications of the kind. 1 

 would also recommend the grafting of those trees, that send up new 

 and vigorous limbs, and which do not already bear good varieties of 

 fruit. I have grafted several and they are in a flourishing condition, 

 although the scions are not yet old enough to produce much. 



David Rice. 

 Leverett, September 27, 1853. 



FEACH OBCHABD. 

 STATEMENT OF J. E. & A. C. MARSHALL. 



Our peach orchard consists of eighty-five trees, and contains thirty 

 varieties. Nearly all of the trees bore fruit the present season. A 

 part of the land is a rich gravelly soil, and the remainder, loamy. It 

 was plowed and planted, two years in succession ; then sowed with 

 oats, and seeded, previous to 1847, when we commenced setting our 

 trees. We have continued to add new varieties. When we set our 

 trees, we put three or four shovelsful of well rotted compost manure 

 into each hole, and mixed well with the soil. We have not since 

 used manure around the trees or upon the land ; but we hoe, the first 

 season, and keep the ground clean and free from grass, for a sj^ace 

 of two and a half feet in diameter. We have put some lime and 

 ashes mixed together, around the trees, once or twice. We have lost 

 no trees by the borers, nor have Ave been troubled with them at all. 

 Our hens and chickens have had free access, which we think may 

 have been a preventive. We have cultivated five hundred nursery 

 trees between the standard trees, on a part of the land. The remain- 

 der has been mowed, and two crops of hay taken off, annually. We 

 estimate the entire cost of setting and taking care of the trees at 

 twenty-five dollars. We have raised fruit enough in past years to 

 pay nearly that amount. The fruit raised the present season was not 

 all measured, but we estimated it at sixty bushels, worth one dollar 

 per bushel. 



J. E. & A. C. Makshall. 



Amherst, Oct. 26, 1853. 



