46 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY, 



ness which we can liarrlly imagine can be overdone, as the proclncts 

 haA'c the whole world for a market. In addition to the above calls 

 for our apples, thousands of bushels arc used at our canning factories 

 annualh', and tliere is no good reason wh}' that business will not 

 continue if the apples can be procured. In view of all those facili- 

 ties for marketing our fruit, is there not great encouragement for 

 farmers to engage more extensivelv and more perseveringl}' in the 

 production of apples? 



There is an abundance of land upon the hill-sides in this count}- 

 peculiarly adapted to the late-keeping varieties of apples, and par- 

 ticularly the Baldwins, to enable us to increase the area of orchard- 

 ing to almost an unlimited extent. 



During our county fair, last autumn, I was in the Secretary's 

 office one day when a farmer of this town brought in a bushel of 

 Baldwins to be entered for a premium, and it was decidedly the 

 handsomest and best basket of Baldwins on exhibition. As the 

 Secretar}- handed him the tag he noticed the apples and made the 

 remark •' 1 suppose those grew upon trees in your garden, that are 

 highly cultivated ?" The answer was '' No, they grew upon trees on 

 a side-hill, half a mile from my garden, where the stones are so 

 thick you can hardly see the ground, and they receive no cultiva- 

 tion." Is there not a hint here worth heeding? There are hundreds 

 of acres of just such land in this county, too stony to cultivate 

 and not worth fencing for what feed it will produce as pasturing, 

 which, if planted to apple trees and given pi'oper care while young, 

 would in a few years take care of themselves and 3ield a large profit 



on the investment. 



Any farmer having a spot of high land sufficiently steep for nat- 

 ural drainage, and "chock full " of either granite or schistous rocks, 

 has the place to grow apples at a profit. If I were to set trees upon 

 such land I should set uatiA'e seedlings and graft them in the branches 

 when large enough, largely to Baldwins. The year they were 

 planted, I should mulch with coarse manure, and perhaps also the 

 second 3ear. Afterwards, for a few ^ears, mulch with an}- vegeta- 

 ble matter, and when the}' had got their roots well in among the 

 rocks should risk them to take care of themselves, and I have no 

 doubt they would do it, for there is that quality in such land that 

 exactly suits the apple tree, particularly the Baldwin, and the}- have 

 a way of appropriating it. 



