16 ephraim Graham's statement. 



done with four oxen, and about twenty-five loads of manure 

 spread to the acre and planted with potatoes. 



In 1862 the stones were removed and the field well 

 plowed. 



The ground was then staked off into rows thirty-two feet 

 distant each way, and the holes dug about twenty inches 

 deep and from five to six feet in diameter and filled with 

 compost prepared the year previous, composed of loam, 

 leaves, decayed wood, leached ashes and a small quantity of 

 barn manure. The object of preparing the borders so large 

 is to give a rich and fertile soil for the small roots to pene- 

 trate during the first two years after transplanting. The 

 trees were selected from two nurseries, twenty-five of which 

 were four years from the bud, and upon an average one and 

 a quarter inches diameter, and are at this time, September 

 20, from three to three and a half inches ; the remainder of 

 the trees were two years from the bud and from five-eighths 

 to seven-eighths inches in diameter and are now from two to 

 two and a half inches. The field was sowed with oats, with 

 the exception of one square rod around each tree, in order 

 to make it an object to hoe and cultivate around the trees. 

 I would here mention that during the month of May, 

 1862, the weather was quite dry, so much so that many 

 of the trees showed no signs of foliage, and the lives of 

 some of them were almost despaired of for a time; in 

 the course of the season, however, many of the trees made 

 very respectable growth, throwing out shoots from eight 

 to ten inches, others showing no indications of shoots, simply 

 foliage, the younger and smaller trees making the greater 

 number of shoots. 



In 1863 the stones were removed and the field plowed 

 and planted with stover corn and potatoes, a small quantity 

 of manure spread to each tree. 



In 1864 the field was again planted with potatoes and 

 beans, spreading around the trees as in the year previous ; 

 during this year the growth, notwithstanding the dry season 



