68 
April, 1891. 
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ORCH FVR DgjGftRD E N \ 
as usual, well into July. These freezes 
were in still air, or with little wind; but a 
dozen years ago, or more, we had. about the 
same time of the year, much colder weath- 
er. attended by a wild gale. The apples 
were frozed “ as hard as bricks," and blown 
from the trees. They thawed out as they 
lay. but I did not consider them of much 
value: — yet such as were gathered up seem- 
ed unimpaired in quality, and kept about 
as usual. In New Hampshire, some twenty 
years ago. a number of headed barrels of 
Baldwin apples were left in the cellar of a 
house where a small pox patient had died, 
and the family moved away the first of the 
winter. There was no fire afterwards in the 
house, and there can be no doubt that these 
apples were solidly frozen. — yet they opened 
in prime order in the spring. Apples keep 
excellently in cold water. A few years ago 
a boat-load of Fameuse was sunk in the 
canal at Montreal, too late to be raised be- 
fore spring. The Fameuse, even in Canada, 
does not usually keep later than Christmas; 
but when the boat was raised, in April, the 
cargo was in perfect order. It is doubtful, 
perhaps, as to whether these apples froze, 
or not, but if not, the ice-cold water acted 
perfectly as a preservative. 
LONGEVITY OF ORCHARDS. 
As orcharding is extended over the con- 
tinent, complaints begin to come in of the 
short life of orchards, compared with those 
planted in earlier times. Some seem en- 
tirely to forget the great differences be- 
tween now and then, in regard to the cir- 
cumstances. In the old times seedlings 
were planted exclusively; and but a few, if 
any of them, were grafted. Of course, only 
the thriftiest and most vigorous were set 
out. Orchards were planted mostly for 
cider, and only a small per cent, of the trees 
were expected to yield fruit fit for anything 
else. If nothing better than cider apples 
appeared, a little grafting would be done. 
There was almost no .market for the fruit, 
for cities were small and few, and transpor- 
tation limited, while the people of villages 
grew enough for themselves and neighbors 
in their yards and gardens. My grandfather 
had an orchard of ten acres, in Maine, with 
which I was familiar between 1830 and 1850. 
I never knew of his selling an apple, except 
for cider-making. The land was new then, 
and these orchards rooted deeply, grew 
vigorously, and survived long, except when 
destroyed, as many were in the early Wash- 
ingtonian temperance days. This destruc- 
tion of apple trees shows that they were not 
valued, except as a source of intoxicating 
drjnks, — cider and brandy. 
The modern orchards are on a different 
principle. The trees are all grafted or bud- 
ed, mostly near the ground, with sorts se- 
lected, chiefly, not for the vigor of the tree, 
but for the salable quality of the fruit. 
These choice sorts are gathered from a wide 
extent of country, and consequently contain 
kinds quite unsuited to any single locality. 
Do not these facts indicate the true reasons 
why our orchards are shorter lived than 
those of former times? 
CLOSE PLANTING OF FRUIT TREES. 
We are, I think, rather fonder of laying 
down broad rules than is for our own good, 
in both agricultural and horticultural mat- 
ters. Circumstances certainly alter cases; 
and as they change, we must change with 
them, if we are to succeed. If I were set- 
ting an orchard distant from maiket, on 
cheap land, I would put ray trees forty feet 
each way, and keep the land between the 
rows in low hoed crops until the ground 
was too much shaded,— which would be a 
long time. But if I were handy to town. I 
would select popular, early-bearing varie- 
ties, and set them twenty feet each way, — 
giving me four rimes as many trees. These 
I would cultivate, train and manure well, 
and expect to market a large quantity of 
very choice apples from them before they 
began to be harmed by contiguity. Then I 
would take out every other row; — and could 
go on ten years more, still manuring well, 
and keeping the ground clean. When 
cixrwding again threatened thrift, I would 
take out every alternate tree in each row, — 
leaving, then, just as many trees as I should 
have had at first on the forty feet plan, — 
and I would have got, during that time, 
from two to four times as much fruit from 
the same area of land. I am told that this 
is bad advice, because so few will remove 
their trees as proposed. I have been told 
that I myself would not do it; but I have 
done it; — and it seems to me that any man 
with enough sense to properly care for a 
young orchard could not lack enough to thin 
it out as carefully as he would his onion bed, 
when it became needful. — T. H. Hoskins. 
Seasonable Advice. 
This is a busy month with the orchardist 
in preparing his ground and setting out the 
trees. Every thing should be done to facil- 
itate the work in view of the short season. 
The most important is the selection of vari- 
ties suitable to each and every district, for 
if a mistake is made here it will take almost 
a lifetime to repair it. We have often stated 
that there is no safe method, except that of 
being governed by our most experienced 
and successful neighbors. Now remember 
that there are no winter Russian apples 
adapted to Kansas or any other place where 
the mean temperature is about the same. 
These can only be recommended for the 
North where American sorts or crab apples 
do not succeed. Some of them, however, 
may be valuable here, or any where else, for 
hardy stocks to graft with other more desi- 
rable varieties. For commercial orchards 
the Ben Davis is perhaps the most valuable. 
It is safe to plant it by the quantity. The 
Winesap and York Imperial are also good. 
These our arg best winter shipping apples, 
Maiden’s Blush and Orange Pippin are our 
best early fall, and Jonathan and Hoover 
for late fall shipping. For home use we 
should plant a few of Early Joe,Jefferis and 
Fall Pippin; and for extra early sorts, Early 
Harvest and Early Ripe. 
Now is the time to prepare for spraying 
trees in due season. Set out grafts. Top- 
graft trees to better varieties. We top-graft 
the apple just as we graft the grape, except 
that we use wax to exclude the air. 
Friend Miller says, “Why is it that a tree 
left standing where it first comes up will out 
last any root piece graft?” And , “if a flat stone 
under the roots is good for a tree, one would 
suppose that trees would flourish on soil 
where the rocks come close to the surface?” 
In reply we say that trees are never trans- 
planted to make them grow better than 
where they originally grew, and if they re- 
ceived the same care and attention there, 
would of course make better trees than if 
transplanted. That is not the question dis- 
cussed. Will a graft with a whole f eedling 
root (which averages about eighteen inches 
long) make a better tree than one with a 
part of the tap root cut off? Ic makes no 
difference how little is cut off; if any the 
whole theory of tap root is destroyed, for 
surface roots start out from where the tap 
root is cut off. If so, will grape vines with 
roots three to four feet long grow and do 
better set out with their whole roots than if 
they are cut off to about a foot in length. 
A flat stone placed under a tree in good soil 
is very different from placing trees on rocks 
without sufficient soil. The first we know 
will do well but the latter will not. We 
never advocated placing rocks or flat stones 
under trees; we simply gave the facts of our 
observation as well as that of others. 
We have seen many trees, plants and 
vines taken up from ten to fifteen years old, 
possessing nearly all their original tap roots, 
that had made no growth comparatively, 
while the suaface roots were in every direc- 
tion ten to twenty feet long. If these tap 
roots were so important to them, why did 
they not grow ? — J. Stayman. 
Nut Culture. 
“Nut culture is an industry that until of 
late has received but little attention, ’’recent- 
ly observed an old agriculturist. But even 
this is not new under the sun, for Solomon 
himself was a nut grower, since in Eccles- 
iastes he says, “I went down into the gar- 
den of nuts to see the fruits of the valley.” 
The presents carried by the elder sons of 
Jacob, to the dreaded ruler of Egypt, were 
“spices, honey, nuts and almonds.” The 
nuts referred to as distinct from almonds 
were probably the Persian walnuts- which 
form one of the staple commodities of the 
East. 
Learned men of the present day are much 
exercised about the kind of food necessary 
to produce the greatest amount of muscular 
health and strength, and nuts of all kinds 
have been pronounced by them par excel- 
lence, as an article of diet. Besides the 
beauty and gastromomic utility of nut trees, 
they are rapidly making fortunes for those 
who grow them. 
