STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 49 



afflicted? And may not this rapid and disastrous deteriora- 

 tion of the orchard be attributable, in great measure, at least, 

 to an entirely different manner of treatment, whereby the 

 land was seeded down and no after cultivation or replenish- 

 ing done for several years ? 



Of the orchard once owned by Dr. Weld (originall}' owned 

 and planted by Mr. Carr, I suppose), not much can be said. 

 Of about sixty trees left standing, forty of them certainly 

 ought to be pulled out root and branch. I think it has been 

 plowed and cultivated considerably at long intervals. 



It would not be worth while to make mention of the 

 orchard formerly owned by Mr. Joseph Wingate, were it not 

 for two or three facts worthy of note. The majority of the 

 orchard is planted upon the side of a hill, the entire slope of 

 which faces the east, and consequently not exposed to the 

 coldest winds. The oldest trees have outlived the j^oungest, 

 which were planted on the top of the hill. A portion of the 

 orchard has not been plowed at all, or at least but seldom, 

 and it is in better condition to-day than that which has been 

 plowed and cultivated. The reason of this probably lies in 

 the fact that the land is richer and contains more moisture, 

 and that it receives the wash of the higher land and in some 

 parts the w^ash from the barn-yard. 



I now come to the farm once owned by Major Haines. He 

 distinctly remembers that his grandfather came on to the 

 place in about 1765. He said the first orchard set out was 

 in a field of about three acres, a little northwest of the build- 

 ings. It must have contained once from 150 to 200 trees. 

 Only about twenty are left standing. We cut down a num- 

 ber of them ourselves long before they were dead, because 

 the fruit wrs worthless. But the Major, in conversation, 

 has often referred to the orchard as being one of the most 

 flourishing and productive in the neighborhood. He said 

 they used to make eighty barrels of cider from that one 

 orchard. Some of the trees must have lived to be more than 

 a century old. • 

 4 



