32 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



has been growing in place five or six years. Under proper treat- 

 ment, by this time the tree will be of good size, the roots well 

 established, and the branches strong and capable of carrying a 

 crop without injury. 



"Another and productive source of exhaustion results from 

 planting trees too far apart and devoting the intervening spaces to 

 grass. When apple trees, for instance, are set forty feet apart each 

 way, and pear trees twenty-five feet, it will take at least a quarter 

 of a century, under the highest culture, for the trees to shade, and 

 occupy the whole ground ; hence the temptation and common 

 practice often is to sow such an orchard down to grass, and on 

 account of the inconvenience of plowing among trees, and the 

 uncertainty of getting hoed crops to grow well in the shade, the 

 sod is left unbroken five, ten or twenty years. The trees are con- 

 sequently starved, become unfruitful and prematurely perish." 

 This is the fate of hundreds of orchards or at the best they only 

 " live at a poor dying rate." 



To make fruit culture pay the greatest profit, the author of the 

 essay recommends close planting and low heading, so that when 

 they reach the bearing age, the ground shall be given up to the 

 trees. Manure should be applied regularly and the surface kept 

 under the plow, running this implement among bearing trees not 

 deeper than two or three inches. 



A Noble Apple Orchard. 



Probably the largest and most successful apple orchard in 

 America is that belonging to Mr. Robert L. Pell, at Pelhara, on 

 the Hudson. The reputation of these apples has found its way 

 to London, and they bring such prices that about the entire crop 

 is shipped and marketed there. A pleasant history of this orchard 

 is given by a correspondent of a Troy paper, who visited it per- 

 sonally : 



"Mr. Pell's father, who was noted for his good judgment in 

 agricultural matters, stopping many years ago in the little village 

 of Newtown (Long Island), observed two pippin trees of English 

 origin, whose fruit was much sought for. The one produced an 

 apple tinted with yellow and red, and the other of a green hue, 

 the difference in color being solely caused by the difference in soil. 

 He was so much pleased with the fruit that he determined to 

 create an extensive orchard of a similar kind. The cuttings were 

 obtained from time to time, trees were planted and grafted, and 

 after many years of perseverance and labor the grand orchard was 

 in existence. 



Mr. Pell then could show two hundred acres planted with the 

 Newtown pippin alone, and containing 21.000 trees. He then re- 

 marked, that if each tree should yield his son one dollar a year it 

 would be a handsome income. His expectation, however, was 



