210 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



Mr. Carpenter said that the pork crop of Westchester county- 

 would be largely increased by the great apple crop, and if the 

 pigs were fed on corn, to finish off with, the pork would be solid 

 and sweet. 



WINTER PEARS. 



Mr. Carpenter exhibited the Glout Morceau, the Columbia, the 

 Redding, JEaster Buerre, Charmontel, Vicar of Winkfield, and 

 several other varieties, good for cooking and eating. He thinks 

 there is no difficulty in any farmer in Westchester county pro- 

 ducing fine crops of these winter pears, with no more trouble 

 than growing winter apples. 



OLD-STYLE APPLES. 



Mr. Lawton showed fruit from an apple tree 120 years old, 

 very large, sound, and healthy. It is called the " Grandfather 

 apple.'"' 



He also showed Vandevere apples from trees sixty years old. 

 Also, apples resembling the Newtown pippin from trees of the 

 same age. These trees have produced fruit every year for ten 

 years. 



FRUIT TREES ON PRAIRIES WINTER PROTECTION. 



Solon Robinson said upon this subject : We advocated the plan 

 25 years ago of planting orchard trees on the surface, hauling up 

 a sufficient quantity of earth to cover and support the roots, 

 instead of putting them below the natural level of the earth, 

 where, in many sites that we have seen orchards planted upon, 

 the water would stand for weeks, so as to completely cover every 

 fiber of roots. This is not alone the case upon flat prairies, but 

 frequently where it is quite rolling, the soil being of such a 

 nature that it retained water almost as well as a sponge. 



Had the plan been generally followed by those who have 

 planted orchards upon rich loamy, prairie soil, there would have 

 been now many more thousands of apple trees alive in Michigan, 

 Indiana, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Missouri, in all of which states 

 we hear annual meanings over winter-killed fruit trees. If all 

 orchards were planted and tended like the one mentioned in the 

 following extract from a letter in the Prairie Farmer, we should 

 cease to hear anything about winter killing. We advise all 

 prairie orchard owners to put the plow at work before the ground 

 freezes. The letter alluded to says : 



