1850. 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
237 
tardiness is altogether unnecessary. Peach trees 
as far north as forty-three degrees, have been made 
to yield the third summer from transplanting, three 
peeks of peaches, and apple trees the fifth summer 
one bushel, each. An eminent pomologists now liv¬ 
ing in western New-York, set out a large fruit gar¬ 
den after long years had silvered his head with white¬ 
ness; yet for the past twenty years he has annually 
enjoyed a profusion of fruit from this identical fruit 
garden. The secret consisted simply in treating his 
trees as well as every good farmer treats his corn 
and cabbages. 
“ But we cannot afford to give so much attention 
to our trees—the rich man only can do this,” says 
the laboring farmer. What! not afford to be econo¬ 
mical? The man of small means is the very person 
to save his trees after he has paid for them; he is 
the very man who should not spend his coin to have 
feeble and fruitless orchards. Let him buy half the 
number, and apply the other half of the purchase 
money in taking care of what he has, and he will 
soon become the gainer by the operation. It is how¬ 
ever a great mistake to suppose that much expense 
is needed. Enriching the land is largely paid for 
by the heavy crops of potatoes, carrots and ruta¬ 
bagas which grow between the rows while the trees 
are small, and by the equally heavy and more valu¬ 
able loads of ripe fruit profusely yielded afterwards. 
The expense of plowing once a year, and harrowing 
four times, is perhaps not half the first cost of the 
orchard, to say nothing of the annual crops afforded ; 
while it soon renders it quadruple the value of the 
neglected plantation. Why do not farmers apply the 
same wit and wisdom to the management of their or¬ 
chards that they do to their corn and clover crops? 
Why should they not, when many who fortunately 
have already full grown orchards, get more in monied 
value from them than from all their farms besides? 
The difficulty is rendered greater in most cases by 
the very inconvenient machinery used for plowing 
near the rows. A plow drawn with a two-horse 
team, with double whiffle-trees, cannot safely ap¬ 
proach nearer than three feet to a tree, and every 
plowman dreads a task which is commonly attended 
with mutilated bark on one hand, and wide grassy 
11 balks,” on the other. A great improvement is 
made by placing one horse ahead of the other, 
with short single whiffle trees, especially if the 
draught traces of the hinder horse are conside¬ 
rably lengthened to allow running to right or left. 
A wide error is committed in cultivating orchards 
by those who forget that roots extend far beyond 
the circle measured by the branches. The whole 
surface of the ground is covered by the net-work of 
roots, where full-grown trees stand 20 or 30 feet 
apart. The larger and more obvious roots, it 
is true, are near the base of the trunk; but all the 
finer ones, which so largely contribute nourishment, 
are spread at great distances. Hence all orchards 
which have made some years of growth, should 
have the whole surface cultivated and kepi mellow, 
and not narrow strips or small circles just at the 
foot of the trees. 
Profits of Fruit Culture. 
The following facts, exhibiting the large profits 
which may be derived from the skilful culture of 
fruits, are furnished by S. W. Cole, of Boston, who 
is a remarkable fact-gatherer, and who remarks, 
‘‘ we give some extreme cases, and others which 
common skill may compass. The cultivator will do 
well with medial success. Yet it is well to have a 
standard of extraordinary attainment, or the perfec¬ 
tion of excellence, as a goal for those who inscribe 
on their banner * excelsior.’ ” 
“ Mr. Moses Jones, of Brookline, in this vicinity, 
a most skilful cultivator, set 112 apple trees 2 rods 
apart, and peach trees between, both ways. The 
eighth year he had 228 barrels of apples, and in a 
few years from setting the trees, $400 w'orth of 
peaches in one year; and the best part of the story 
is, that large crops of vegetables were raised on the 
same land, nearly paying for the manure and labor. 
The tenth year from setting, many of the apple 
trees produced 4 or 5 barrels each, the land still 
yielding good crops of vegetables, the peach trees 
having mostly gone by old age. Mr. J. grafted a 
tolerably large pear tree to the Bartlett, and the 
third year it produced $30 worth. 
“ Mr. S. Dudley, a very successful cultivator in 
Roxbury, an adjoining city, sold the crop of cur¬ 
rants from one-eighth of an acre, for $108, the next 
year for $125, and he had good crops for several 
years. He picked 500 quart boxes from one-eighth 
of an acre the next season after setting the bushes 
in the fall. He had $25 worth of cherries from one 
Mazzard tree. 
“We saw, in Natick, Ms., on the banks of the 
'classic Charles,’ on the farm of M. Eames, Esq., 
an apple tree grafted to the Porter when 75 years 
old; it soon bore, and the seventh year it produced 
15 barrels, which sold at $30. The original Hurl- 
but apple tree produced 40 bushels in one year and 
20 the next. The original Bars apple yielded 60 
bushels in one year. N. Wyeth, Esq., Cambridge, 
in this region, had from a Harvard pear tree 9 bar¬ 
rels of fruit, which sold for $45. 
‘A farmer would not plant an orchard, thinking 
he should not live to eat the fruit; his son had the 
same view's; but the grandson planted for posterity, 
yet his predecessors shared in the fruit also, for the 
grandfather drank hogsheads of the cider. 
“Hovey states that a Dix pear tree, in Cambridge, 
produced $46 worth of fruit at one crop. We saw in 
Orange, N. Jersey, 100 bushels of apples on a Har¬ 
rison tree, which would make ten barrels of cider, 
then selling at $10 a barrel in N. York. 
“Downing says that the original Dubois Early 
Golden Apricot, produced $45 worth in 1844, $50 in 
1845, $90 in 1846. A correspondent of the Horti¬ 
culturist says that Mr. Hill Pennell, Darby, Pa., 
has a grape vine that has produced 75 bushels year¬ 
ly which sell at $1 a bushel. James Laws, Phila¬ 
delphia, has a Washington plum that yields 6 bush¬ 
els a year that w T ould sell for $60. Judge Linn, 
Carlisle, Pa., has 2 apricot trees that yielded 5 
bushels each, worth $120. Mr. Hugh Hatch, of 
Camden, N. J. has 4 apple trees that produced 140 
bushels, 90 bushels of which sold at $1 each. In 
1844, a tree of the Lady Apple, at Fishkill Landing, 
N. Y., yielded 15 barrels that sold for $45. 
THE HORTICULTURIST. 
This excellent periodical, which for the amount 
and value of its matter, and pre-eminently for its 
practical utility, stands without a rival, loses none 
of its interest with the appearance of each successive 
number. We cannot, probably, better acquaint 
such of our readers as do not see it, with the nature 
of its character and contents, than to give a few' 
condensed extracts from the single number for the 
past month, (May,) at the same time they will ob¬ 
tain much valuable matter. 
Raising New Pears. 
An excellent article from the pen of Samuel 
Walker, President of the Massachusetts Horticul- 
