62 
THE APPLE. 
first show good crops, allowing it to remain only in the alter 
nate seaso; s which we wish to make the bearing year.* 
Pruning. The apple in orchards requires very Kttle pruning 
if the trees, while the orchard is young, are carefully in- 
spected every year, a little before midsummer, and all crossing 
branches taken out while they are small. When the heads are 
once properly adjusted and well balanced, the less the pruning 
saw and knife are used the better, and the cutting out of dead 
limbs, and removal of such as may interfere with others, or too 
greatly crowd up the head of the tree, is all that an orchard will 
usually require. But wherever a limb is pruned away, the sur- 
face of the wound should be neatly smoothed, and if it exceeds 
an inch in diameter, it should be covered with the liquid shellac 
previously noticed, or brushed over with common white lead, 
taking care with the latter, not to paint the bark also. 
Insects. There are three or four insects that in some parts 
of the countr} T , are very destructive or injurious to this tree ; a 
knowledge of the habits of which, is therefore very important to 
* One of the finest orchards in America is that of Pelham farm, at 
Esopus, on the Hudson. Tt is no less remarkable for the beauty and high 
flavour of its fruit, than the constant productiveness of trees. The pro- 
prietor, R. L. Pell, Esq., has kindly furnished us with some notes of his ex- 
periments on fruit trees, and we subjoin the following highly interesting 
one on the Apple. 
“For several years past I have been experimenting on the apple, having 
an orchard of 2,000 bearing Newtown Pippin trees. I found it very un- 
profitable to wait for what is termed the ‘bearing year,’ and it has been 
my aim to assist nature, so as to enable the trees to bear every year. I 
have noticed that from the excessive productiveness of this tree, it requires 
the intermediate year to recover itself 1 — to extract from the earth and the 
atmosphere the materials to enable it to produce again. This it is not able 
to do, unassisted by art, while it is loaded with fruit, and the intervening 
year is lost ; if, however, the tree is supplied with proper food it will bear 
every year ; at least such has been the result of my experiments. Three 
years ago, in April, I scraped all the rough bark from the stems of several 
thousand trees in my orchards, and washed all the trunks and limbs within 
reach with soft soap ; trimmed out all the branches that crossed each other, 
early in June, and painted the wounded part with white lead, to exclude 
moisture and prevent decay. I then, in the latter part of the same month, 
slit the back by running a sharp pointed knife from the ground to the first 
Bet of limbs which prevents the tree from becoming bark bound, and gives 
the young wood an opportunity of expanding. In July I placed one peck 
of oyster shell lime under each tree, and left it piled about the trunk until 
November, during which time the drought was excessive. In November 
the lime was dug in thoroughly. The following jmar I collected from these 
trees 1700 barrels of fruit, part of which was sold in New-York for four, 
and others in London for nine dollars per barrel. The cider made from the 
refuse, delivered at the mill two days after its manufacture, I sold for three 
dollars and three quarters per barrel of 32 gallons, exclusive of the barrel. 
In October I manured these trees with stable manure in which the ammo- 
nia had been fixed, and covered this immediately with earth. The suc- 
ceeding autumn they were literally bending to the ground with the finest 
fruit I ever saw, while the other trees in my orchard not so treated are 
quite barren, the last season having been their bearing. I am now placing 
