PROCEEDINGS OF THE FARMERS' CLUB. 389 



Limbs nearly dead sent out shoots two or three feet in length. 

 Baldwins, which usually bear only every other year, had been 

 loaded with fruit three years in succession. This treatment not 

 only benefited the orchard, but the land as well, and grass was 

 gradually taking the place of the brakes that formerly grew 

 there. The mulching process also protects the trees from drought 

 and from sudden changes in the atmosphere. This is the way 

 that nature, in forests, prepares the soil for the growth of trees. 

 If any of the soil is left uncovered it should be near the trunk, 

 while it is well to mulch fifteen feet from the tree. A ton of 

 straw was worth more than five dollars to put into an orchard. 



Mr. Carpenter said he had always been an advocate for mulch- 

 ing trees, and had j^racticed it with great satisfaction. He had 

 used barnyard manure and straw, preferring the former. He had 

 not found that it increased the insects in the ground at all. 



Dr. Waterbury believed that if an orchard was on ground that 

 could be cultivated, it was the better way to do it. As for the 

 manure, the roots of the trees needed something to make wood 

 of, so he put on ashes. There must also be carbonic acid gas in 

 the soil. Any kind of wood plowed into the land would decom- 

 pose and generate this. The best article to use for the purpose 

 is shavings ; first plow a furrow nine inches deep, throw in the 

 Bhavings, and then plow another furrow to cover them, and they 

 are ready to renovate the orchard. Then instead of losing the 

 soil you have got the use of it. You can put on a crop of pota- 

 toes, and take it off, with little or any injury to the trees, while 

 the working of the soil will be an advantage. In an old orchard 

 it is necessary to cut many of the limbs from the top, and these, 

 after lying in a pile by themselves, will be sufficiently decayed to 

 put upon the ground again. 



Mr. Smith of Connecticut, said that he had an orchard which 

 he could not very well till, and he had it grafted for two succes- 

 sive years, and he had left the branches on the land. He also 

 put on ashes and guano. The brush would catch the leaves as 

 they fell, and the mass lying on the ground renders it light and 

 mellow. This method saves the trouble and expense of carting. 



Mr. Quinn thought that no one could afford to mulch trees with 

 barnyard manure, and that a cheaper material would do as well. 

 He had used charcoal, cinders and salt hay. He covered a space 

 about the size of the top of the tree. In the renovation O'f tree& 



