29^ 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER 



Aivn HORTICULTURAL RKGISTF.R. 



Edited by Joseph Breck. 



Boston, Wednesday, March 13, 1844. 



NINTH AGRICULTURAL MEETING AT THE 

 STATE HOUSE. 

 (Continued from page 290.) 

 Mr Allpn, of Walpole, said he found there was an in- 

 creasing interest manifpsled in the cullure of fruit trees 

 generally — it wms true in his town. He liad had some 

 experience in raising Peach trees. A neighbor of iiis 

 had an orcliard of 800 tree's and others had more or less, 

 and he has half an acre filled with them, all of which 

 Were in an open field without proiec'ion. It was believ- 

 ed by some that the peach was short lived, and it was 

 generally thought that 8 or 10 years would wind Ihein 

 up ; but he planted an orchard 17 years since : in two 

 years the trees began to bear, and have born every year 

 since, and are siill vigorous. He thought ihey would 

 last more than 20 years, if well taken care of. It has 

 been thought impossible to tel! what the variety would 

 be when planted from the stone. In regard to that, lie 

 would say, that he had raised 4 oi 5000 trees, and scat- 

 tered ihcni in every diieciion among his neighbors and 

 the towns about, and lij had not heard from a tree that 

 did not pioduce fruit like the original tree. [Tlie stones 

 were from natural fruit, and all, as we understood, from 

 a variety grown by itself, and away from any other.] 

 As to the Plum, the tree would grow well in his 

 neighborhood, and blossom full ; but the insects would 

 destroy all the young fruit in June. He had strewed 

 salt around the trees, but without any beneficial result. 

 lie made an ejperiment last spring, by wa^hing the 

 leaves and even dipping the limbs in a strung brine : it 

 killed the leaves, hut not the plums. This was in the 

 morning : in the evening, he discovered the insects at 

 woik on the fruit, notwithstanding the plums were 

 white rt'ith salt. They make an inpision in the skin of 

 the fruit, similar lo that made when punctured by the 

 finger nail— of a semi-circular shape— and there deposit 

 their eggs. By taking a knife, or any other sharp instru- 

 ment, and pressing on the skin, the eggs may be heard 

 to cniok, but if undisturbed, ihey produce the worm, 

 which invariably causes the fruit to fall. 



Mr A. alluded to a paragraph which is going the 

 rouniis of the papers, headed " No Peaches this Year." 

 He said, it was also asserted that when the thermometer 

 tell 22 deg. below zero, the peaches would always be 

 destroyed. He did not know how low the thermome- 

 ter had fallen during the winter at his place, but he had 

 examined his trees, and found they were not injured. 

 Howitwns generally, ho did not know, or whether 

 there was any truth in the assertion or not, he could 

 not tell. 



Mr .Mien, of Pembroke, inquired whether the Gentle- 

 man's peach trees did not have shelter, either from 

 woods, or buildings, or by hills. The answer was, they 

 were not sheltered in any way ; but were planted on 

 all sides of a hill and fully exposed. He Ihouoht Ins 

 aoil was very favorable for the peach, and was as sure of 

 getting a crop of them as he was of corn, or any thin» 

 else. His fruit is all natural, but he is now turning his 

 attention to budding other varieties, that he may have n 

 euccession of fruit for the market. He suffers the trees 

 to grow without much pruning, and the limbs bram h 

 off near the ground. He plants the trees very thick to- 

 gether, but not so near as to prevent a horse passing 

 througli jeach way with the cultivator, to keep down 

 the weeds. 



Mr Merri.im, of Auburn, considered the cultivation of 

 the apple, pear, peach and quince as worthy the atten- 

 tion of the farmer ; but as this part of the subject had 

 been ably discussed, he would speak of setting out 

 trees. He thought ihcre Was not generally sufKcient 

 alteniion paid lo this important operation. His mode 

 was, t.. dig a pit 2 to 2 1-2 feet deep by 4 in diameter, 

 and fill it nearly full with meadow mud, which he 

 thought preserved moisture. He is very particular not 

 to injure the small fibres, but carefully arranges them 

 with his hands, so that they bo spread out naturally. He 

 has been very succe.ssful, his trees living and growing 

 lujcurinntly. 



Mr Hobbs, of Weston, agreed that raising of fruit was 

 an interesting employment. In regard to the peach, he 

 believed tlial it was a fact that stones from natural fruit 

 would produce the like, and he thought the tree more 

 hardy and longer lived, and that it would be for our in- 

 terest to secure natural fruit for our peach orchards. 



Mr H. stated that a neighbor of his had taken $1000 

 in a single year for his peaches. His trees are on a 

 rocky hill-side : to ensure success, he thought a peach 

 orchard should have a warm southerly exposure. He 

 set out an orchard of natural fruit 13 years since, on the 

 north side of a hill— the trees flourished well, but he 

 never had a peck of peaches from his trees : the flower- 

 buds were always winter-killed, with the exception of 

 one mild winter ; in the spring following which, the 

 trees were covered with blossoms ; but a late frost cut 

 ofl" his crop that year. He came to the conclusion that 

 a northern exposure was bad, though he had often 

 heard it recommended. A branch of one of his trees 

 was one winter buried beneath the snow : this produced 

 an abundant crop, while all the rest were unproductive. 

 In budding peach trees, he thought it best to leave the 

 wood in the bud ; he makes the cross incision in the 

 stock at the bottom. 



In grafting cherries, there is some difliculty, and he 

 had seen many that had failed. He had not always 

 been successful : thinks the scion in grafting, should 

 not be whittled thin, because the stock is not apt to 

 hold it fast. The present is the most suitable time for 

 grafting the cherry. 



Mr H. said it was a common remark that too many 

 were going into the business of raising fruit, and that it 

 would bo overdone ; but he thought there was no dan- 

 ger]; many who made a beginning, and set out the trees, 

 neglected them afterwards, and they do not amount to 

 much. There was much demand for winter fruit for 

 export. All places are not equally adapted for fruit. 



He thought Ur. Gardner need not regret having 

 plowed up his orchard. The soil should be loose about 

 the trees : he thought an orchard should be cultivated, 

 and not swarded. Forty feet he considered a proper 

 distance to plant apple trees He had not been success- 

 ful in budding on the wild cherry stock. 



Mr Breck said he had tried the experiment of budding 

 the cherry on the wild black or rum cherry, but it prov. 

 ed a failure in every instance. 



Mr Kiltredge said he had grafted the Blackheart cher- 

 ry on a wild stock, and it succeeded well. In answer 

 to an inquiry, he said he did not know what variety of 

 wild cherry it was, but that it was not the rum cherry : 

 [probably aMazzard. ] 



Mr Dodge said a farmer in West Newbury had set 

 peach trees quite thick together, and found they bore 

 belter than when farther apart. 



Mr Allen,of Walpole, said he had been in the prac 

 tire of setting his trees \ery thick— from 10 lo 12 feel 

 apart— and was satisfied they did belter by so dow. 



Mr Buckminster made a few observations on setting 

 trees. " He said all the speakers at the former meeting 



JtlAKCH 13,11 



agreed it was a bad practice to set trees deep i, 

 soil ; yet some complained that the dry weather in 

 them, and one gentleman recommended moss i 

 spread on the surface. But no other speaker had 

 how to prevent the drying of the earth. 



" He said It was not necessary, in anv good si 

 diir a deep hole, to sit a tree in; any land that is 

 ble hir raising corn is rich enough for apple trees 

 cautious and not set the tree deeper than it sto..,( i 

 nursery ; then place around ii hay or litter to obi 

 the cvaporalion Irom the soil, and it would be 

 enough through the summer. This litter will alsr 

 port the iree, ami if it is light, stones may be place 

 on It. 1 hus you support the tree, keep the ground 

 ami moist, and prevent the growth ol every thing : 

 It till late in auiumn, when you must remove the 

 lest the niioe make a harbor of it. 



'• Now if you set your trees in auiumn, it will n 

 sate to place any litter about them because of the ■ 

 and the trees must remain unstipporlerl Ibr six mo 

 He said tliey would stand better in the nursen 

 spring. 



"I he only argument that he had heard in fai 

 fall selling was, that the earth would become wel 

 tied down about the roots and they would bo rea 

 start on the opening of the spring. But for his pa 

 had been more troubled lo keep the ground li<rht 

 to make ii comp«c( about the roots of his trees as° w 

 of his corn and potatoes." 



Mr Dodge, of Essex, thought meadow mud wou 

 the very best article to set trees in, ns it would re 

 moist. He said Mr Co.x, of New Jersey, one of th, 

 wrilerson fruit trees, made some 20 experiment 

 which he used various sons of manure, and gave 

 tailed accouut of ihem with the results, and lb: 

 came to the conclusion that meadow mud was the 

 best thing that could be put lo trees. 



Air Breck said that he had set trees in the fall 

 spiing; he believed the best lime was when the fa 

 was ready to do ii, whether in the (all or spring 

 had as good success in the fall as in the si.rin.. 

 sooner they are set after the 20th of September The 

 ter. Ihey should be Iransplanted as soon as the h 

 are so affected by the frost that they readily fall by 

 louch The trees should he protected by litter ilfi 

 round them, and ihe mice will not injure them il 

 straw or liilcr does not come in contact with the 

 and a little earth be heaped about the slem, w 

 should be taken away in the spring. 'J he roots 

 send out fibres in the fall, ,f planted early. He ha, 

 peach trees in the fall with good success . He appr 

 of shortening the shoots of the tree in the snrin. 

 thought It best to get slones from our own peache 

 stocks, in preference to those from the South 



[Uiher gentlemen spoke on the subject, whos 

 murks we are obliged to defer.] 



MASS. HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



EXHIBITION OF FRUITS. 



Siilurday, March 2, 184 



Apples-from E. H. Ernst, Cincinnati, Ohio, coi 



ponding member. No. I Detroit, „ud No 2 Connah 



medium »ize, fine flavored, but rather p.nst ihcir pri 



BENJ. V. FRENCH, Chm' 



Saturday, March 9, 184 

 Froni the President of the Society-Prince's Gem 

 Pear— fine flavor. Two dishes Catillac do , verv hi 

 some. ' ■' 



From Capt. Macond'y-Pears : name unknown, 

 for the Committee, Jos. BRECl' 



ROBERT MERRY'S MUSEUM. 

 We have received the M;,ich number of this ir 

 esting work, edited by the Children's Friend, authc 

 " Peler Parley's Tales," S. C. Goodrich, Esq. It is 

 of the most attracting periodicals published for chilr 

 and youth, containiug much to interest and amuse ' 

 present number contains 10 handsome wood cuts, il 

 trating subjects in naluial history. The April nunfl 

 will contain the first of the series of Pictorial Leii 

 designs from the French, very beautiful. We comm 

 it lothe alteniion of all. 



IT-In answer lo an inquiiy, we would say thate' 

 Repor..H of the Stale Society will probably bo ^furnls 1 



us in fieason for our neii paper. 



