The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1851-03-22
, ORCHARDS IN NEW ENGLAND.
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How strange il is that no more attention II
palu IN New, Egianu ~ rs.isi-- n si,, -,
ular source OF profit An incident Of Yam
koe shrcwduess has recently come up TO my
knowledge, which well illustrates the adyau-
tagcs Of knowing something ON this subject
In the spring Of 1876, Mr. w. was en-
gagged in grating apple trees in various parts
OF Rockingham county; and with the rest,
grated enough 10 amount to twelve dollars,
for Mr. r., Of Brentwood, upon an old
orchard Of natural fruit, consisting of about
one hundred trees Mr. ft--thVuyht ~ rather
cxtravagunt to cNpcnd so much in an expert
ment so hopeless; and finally w. proposed
that he would go on in subsequent years, aud
graft as many Of the old trees as he chose, do
tire necessary eFs'aia nd receive for his pay
one-half the fruit that should grow on, his
gratis during the next twelve years-and r.
should cultivate the land among them for his
tprofit.- III his was considered s-very- liberal
proposition, and at once accepted and the
contract was reduced 10 writing and exeeut-
cd
happened TO be at Brentwood during the
past autumn just after w, had called for his
share ofthe fruit; and scions set in 1886, for
setting which he had charged twelve dollars,
produced sirfeen barrels of marketable bald
win apples, worth tweny-four dollars. Mr.
II. had come so far convinced of his mistake,
that he offered w. one hundred dollars to re-
lease his interest in the orchard, which w.
promptly declined. I soon Afterwards met
w. and conyerscd with him on the subject,
and he said TINT so far from releasing his in
terest in the contract for that sum, he would
not sell his share of the fruit for one year for
that amount, and. allow the purchaser "a
choose out Of the term.
He has now grated most Of the trees with
the baldwin apple, and thinks he shall get
more than hundred dollars in each Of the
epen years of the last half of the tcrm-( the
everi year is as you we'll know, the bearing
year for the baldwin apple throughout New
England.) Mr. w. further informs me that
he has made many similar contracts in the
about one thousand trees that his share of
apples grown on land of other people, the
past fall, was ninety ibarrels-and that none
OF the scions which produced were ct prior
10 ls45; that he grated one tree in ls46,
which produced in 1850 six barrels Of fruit
and that he knows fifty trees which produced
last year ten barrels each, worth in orchard
seven hundred and fifty dollars.
Now there are scattered all overNew Eng
land, orchards Of natural fruit which is either
fed to swine or made into cider. AZ food for
swine sour apples are little better than moth
ing. have given hundreds of bushels to my
swine, which seemed to find at least ration
al amusement in eating them. Indeed for
store pigs, they do tolerably WELL but for fat
tesiag animals, should adopt the principle
laid down in the good woman's receipt for
making sawdust bread; "the less sawdust the
bettcr the bread" Sweet apples are worth,
perhaps,o one sixth as much per bushel ,ns food
for animals, as Indian corn, and this will
just about pay for gathering them.
As 70 cider we eFtima'o that eight bushels
OF apples Will mako one rieiierTr-