STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 95 



I have also used superphosphate, porgy chum and bone dust. I 

 used some porgy chum last spring, which I think proved very 

 satisfactory. 



Hon. Hannibal Belcher, of Farmington. I must confess that I 

 have paid less attention to this matter of fruit-raising than I have 

 to some other branches of farming. But it is a very important 

 interest in our county. We have been very successful in raising 

 certain varieties of fruit. I am told by farmers there, that orchards 

 which have been well taken care of and have been in suitable loca- 

 tions, have been the most successful and profitable parts of their 

 farming operations. From observation and what information I 

 have received from books and farmers, my idea is that it wili not 

 do to depend entirely upon ashes or lime alone, for many years, 

 for our orchards. We must have some animal manures, and this 

 matter of the cultivation of beets to feed to cattle, I regard as a 

 very important thing to consider. I believe, from what experi- 

 ence I have had, that there is no crop which can be so successfully 

 raised and with so much certainty, and where you can gain so 

 much manure, as you can by raising and feeding beets. I think a 

 thousand bushels of beets may be raised to an acre ; and one 

 advantage in raising beets is, that you can raise them for quite a 

 number of years upon the same ground. They do not seem to 

 exhaust the soil as the grain crops. Last year, from 125 beets iu 

 number, I had eight bushels. They leave the ground in a very 

 good condition, and in many parts of the State, I have no doubt 

 it is one of the best crops that can be raised. 



In order to put our lands in a good condition of cultivation, and 

 keep them so, it will be found necessary after a series of years, to 

 use more or less of animal manures and not depend entirely upon 

 lime and ashes. I think that the turning of sheep into orchards, 

 is frequently of great advantage, especially if the trees are guarded 

 SDnievvhat with stakes about them, and laths nailed upon the 

 stakes, to keep the sheep from destroying the body of the tree. 

 Some of the most thrifty orchards in our county have been thus 

 restored to and kept in a thrifty condition. 



VV^e should devote our attention to bringing up our soil in every 

 way, and in order to do so, we must resort to animal manures to 

 a certain extent. I do not believe that one kind or one class of 

 special manures, put on year after year, for a long series of years, 

 will ever be successful. We must have something difierent, and 

 I think that has been the experience of the best orchardists in the 



