62 THE APPLE. 



first show good crops, allowing it to remain only in the alter 

 nate seasoi.s which we wish to make the bearing year.* 



PRUNING. The apple in orchards requires very little pruning 

 if the trees, while the orchard is young, are carefully in- 

 spected every year, a little before midsummer, and all crossing 

 branches taken out while they are small. When the heads are 

 once properly adjusted and well balanced, the less the pruning 

 saw and knife are used the better, and the cutting out of dead 

 limbs, and removal of such as may interfere with others, or too 

 greatly crowd up the head of the tree, is all that an orchard will 

 usually require. But wherever a limb is pruned away, the sur- 

 face of the wound should be neatly smoothed, and if it exceeds 

 an inch in diameter, it should be covered with the liquid shellac 

 previously noticed, or brushed over with common white lead, 

 taking care with the latter, not to paint the bark also. 



INSECTS. There are three or four insects that in some parts 

 of the country, are very destructive or injurious to thfs tree ; a 

 knowledge of the habits of which, is therefore very important to 



* One of the finest orchards in America is that of Pelham farm, at 

 Esopus, on the Hudson. It is no less remarkable for the beauty and high 

 flavour of its fruit, than the constant productiveness of trees. The pro- 

 prietor, R. L. Pell, Esq., has kindly furnished us with some notes of his ex- 

 periments on fruit trees, and we subjoin the following highly interesting 

 one on the Apple. 



"For several years past I have been experimenting on the apple, having 

 an orchard of 2,000 bearing Newtown Pippin trees. I found it very un- 

 profitable to wait for what is termed the 'bearing year,' and it has been 

 my aim to assist nature, so as to enable the trees to bear every year. I 

 have noticed that from the excessive productiveness of this tree, it. requires 

 the intermediate year to recover itself- to extract from the earth and the 

 atmosphere the materials to enable it to produce again. This it is not able 

 to do, unassisted by art, while it is loaded with fruit, and the intervening 

 year is lost ; if, however, the tree is supplied with proper food it will bear 

 every year ; at least such has been the result of my experiments. Three 

 years ago, in April, I scraped all the rough bark from the stems of several 

 thousand trees in in}'- orchards, and washed all the trunks and limbs within 

 reach with soft soap ; trimmed out all the branches that crossed each other, 

 early in June, and painted the wounded part with white lead, to exclude 

 moisture and prevent decay. I then, in the latter part of the same month, 

 slit the back by running a sharp pointed knife from the ground to the first 

 set of limbs which prevents the tree from becoming bark bound, and gives 

 the young wood an opportunity of expanding. In July I placed one peck 

 of oyster shell lime under each tree, and left it piled about the trunk until 

 November, during which time the drought was excessive. In November 

 the lime was dug in thoroughly. The following year I collected from these 

 trees 1700 barrels of fruit, part of which was sold in New-York for four, 

 and others in London for nine dollars per barrel. The cider made from the 

 refuse, delivered at the mill two days after its manufacture, I sold for three 

 dollars and three quarters per barrel of 32 gallons, exclusive of the barrel. 

 In October I manured these trees with stable manure in which the ammo- 

 nia had been fixed, and covered this immediately with earth. The suc- 

 ceeding autumn they were literal^ bending to the ground with the finest 

 fruit I ever saw, while the other trees in my orchard not so treated are 

 quite barren, the last season having been their bearing. I am now placing 



