STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY . 85 



To sum up in short, it would seem that the farmer need neither 

 to want manures for the orchards, nor to scant the supply for 

 the ordinary routine of the farm, in order to enrich the orchard, 

 so long as sheep and swine, and unfatted cattle, and corn, and oil 

 meal can be obtained. Other methods, available in some cas6s, 

 must be omitted for want of time. 



Profits of the Apple Orchard under High Culture. 



To the end that it may be seen whether the promise of reward 

 is suflScient to induce extensive planting" and elaborate and high 

 culture, it remains to take a rapid glance at the cash product to be 

 expected. As to this we must do as all men are obliged to do in 

 all other pursuits of business. We must be guided by the teach- 

 ings of the past. 



As orchards are usually treated, it not unfrequently happens 

 that a small orchard yields a greater profit than all the rest of the 

 farm. But the orchard under slip-shod culture, or no culture, 

 affords no rule by which we can even approximate results. We 

 are now pleading for well cultivated orchards, for the attainment 

 of the highest practicable development of the productive capacity 

 of the trees. For market and all manufactured products of the 

 apple for commerce, none but constant bearers should be tolerated. 

 Productive, showy and mainly long-keeping kicds, with less re- 

 gard to intrinsic excellence than to popular favor, should be chosen 

 for the commercial orchard. 



We have seen what trees well reared and well fed can do, and 

 do actually perform. The examples of individual trees cited give 

 average crops of the different trees, ranging from eight to fourteen 

 barrels. And Downing tells us of a tree in Duxbury, Mass., not 

 before mentioned, which was more than four feet in diameter, and 

 which bore one year 121| bushels of apples. This would give a 

 probable average from year to year of twenty barrels of merchant- 

 able fruit. It is to be remembered that these large trees cover 

 large spaces. But if the same product can be obtained from a 

 a number of trees occupying the same space, we come to a similar 

 result. 



What is the value of an apple orchard by the acre under the 

 culture heretofore advocated, on its approach to a condition of 

 medium bearing? Let us try the question by the test of Mr. 

 Woods' tree in Wilton. He has refused $200 for that tree. He 

 would have made a bad bargain at that price. For taking the 



