Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1851-06-17
81 farmer.
from tie american Agrtculluf1s{. /
Orchards Cultivation Planting.

ih'the oept. number OF the Agri
9 IlturlStt IS an editorial notice Of nv
/ raciice in mulching fruit trees; but
i ; there are two or three errors o.
i yet in the notice, proceed to cor.
/ ;ct them d nd detail further al
ifngth the benefits of such treat.
4 bent. You say @the trees were sci
III u hardy clay soil, and had made
Il tile or no growth for four OF five
years past" Not so. The soil is a
rich clay loan, with the clay subsoil
at the distance Of a foot to eighteen
inches below the. surface. The trees
have been set about five years-were
a scrqbby lot of natural stocks from
an old nursery, which, by the way,
n ever ought to have planted; for al.
though | got them for half the price
Of good, thrifty-worked trees, it was
a decidedly bad bargain, as the lat
ter kind Of trees, set three years af-
terward, are now quite equal to them
ih growth.
] As soon as the trees we're planted,
which was in the month of April,
they were grated at about branch
high with good kinds, and most Of
the gratis took and grew well. The
land was the n in hoed crops and oats.
But as l 70 ind it very difficult to
keep teams from vexing and tearing
the trees, laid it down the second
y ear to grass, since which it has been
moved. Every spring since it was
So laid down, the trees have been
well dug around the trunk for two or
three feet each way, making a soft,
cultivated bed of four to six feet in
diameter. Still the trees did not
make the growth they should have
done, which I attributed mainly to
the excessively dry summers we had
for three years past; and the roots
were exposed to drought, from the
flct of the bare surface of the earth
immediately over them.
In Stay, lS49, I dug a circular
ditch, a spade deep and wide, and
about three feet from the trunk Of
every tree, and filled that with barn
yard dung, laying the excavated
edrth partly over it, and threw the
remaining soil around the stem of
each tree. An excessively dry sum
mer followed, and no sensible benefit
Vas perceived. A few apples, how
yer, were produced. Last April, /
determined to try the virtues Of
npulching, and for that purpose took
several loads Of old buck-wheat
5 raw, and fresh marsh hay, and with
aIpitchfork distributed liberal fork
fill arouh I'D the trunk Of every tree,
making a covering of five or six feet
i'd diameter. The effect was as you
observed, and, although the summer
VI as nearly as dry as the year pre-
yfous, the growth and bearing have
ID cen remarkable. Several times du-
ring the dryest weather, when the
adjoining earth was parched and
cracked, lifted the mulch and found
t be earth beneath cool, soft, and
I'd hoist; and in addition to this benefit
ID keeps down every weed and suck
Ct from the roots.
So decidedly serviceable have ]
found this proof that have prepared
n atelials for mulehing all the fruit
t ees on the far N next year, some
fur or five thousand in number, of
all kinds, in plowed land as well as in
grass, satisfied that in no other way
they can be SO rapidly and cheaply
q cultivated. For this purpose, scarce
~ any deeemposable vegetation
cbnies amiss. Straw of all kinds,
chip manure, spent tanners bark,
hundreds Of loads of which are left
to decay about the tannaries, rotten
wood, leaves of trees, SC, all are use
fll, both in giving shade and protec-
ton to the ground, as well as in their
d ecomposition, furnishing the requi-
site food for the most suceulent and
Il rifty growth Of the tree. To all
Of any of these, in an old, WORKOUT
s. bill, / would add a thorough dress
i Ipg of lime and ashes. These ar
tIcles, together with phosphate of
Ii me (bOnes,) furnish the principal
i gredients of the apple and pear,
a bid large per centage Of the wood
OK other fruit trees, as well as being |
those constituents Of the soil most
rapidly dawn out by excessive crop
Ding. By this plain and simple pro-
dess. / have little doubt, orchards can
lie well grown when in permanent
brass and. the destruction avoided, /
Do constantly occurring in plowed
lands by the carelessness of plow-
1nen. who all bear de adly hatred to a