52 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



If the trees are seedlings, do not graft till they have reached 

 such size that the cleft graft can be introduced. This is the best 

 form for the Baldwins. Some trees do not shape well until you 

 remove the tops. Good barn manures may be used in small 

 amounts for fertilizer after the first year. Leaves, leaf mould, 

 muck, and other material lying around on many farms could be 

 used. Straw, leaves, brakes and water grasses used as bedding 

 under horses, and worked over by the pig, make one of the very 

 best and cheapest of plant foods. If we touch upon varieties, the 

 Baldwin, Hubbardston, Spy, and Ben Davis, make a very full list, 

 unless we may wish for the Fall Harvey, which sells for a good 

 price, or in an over abundant j^ear is one of the best for evapora- 

 ting or canning. Of these kinds, let the Baldwin and Spy form 

 eight- tenths of your orchard. 



The borers come first in the list of hurtful insects, and they are 

 very persistent. The trees should be looked over in May and 

 October. No better way is known of ridding the orchard of these 

 pests tlian to dig the imps out with penknife and wire. The knife 

 is all that is required the first year, but some will be overlooked, 

 and then a wire is needed. For mice, poisoned barley scattered 

 along the stone walls is good feed. Laths cut in two and placed 

 around the tree, making a complete box, fastened with No 32 steel 

 wire, is the very best shield. The bark louse infests many Maine 

 grown trees. Hard wood ashes thrown into the tree on a misty 

 day, just prior to its leaving out, will destroy them, and is an easy 

 remedy. We are spraying some for the coddling moth, and are 

 very well satisfied with the result. 



