Columbia Democrat and Bloomsburg general advertiser. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1850-1866, 1865-03-04
Farmers Department.
Management of Orchards
BY JUDGE FRENCH.


good orchard Of grated fruit which was
kept in grass the first ten years OF its life.
It isa point settled beyond controversy,
that orchards, to be healthy and product
i've, must bo cultivated most Of the time. /
There is such thing as over cultivation.
The mistake often made, l til ink, Of late
years, is forcing young trees too much,
thereby giving them too luxurious growth,
and increasing their liability to injury by
the frosts. Land, rich enough for crop
of Indian corn, is in good condition for
the healthful growth Of apple trees. Even
after trees are grown to large size ma
nuring so as to maintain vigorous growth
often renders the tree unfruitlul.
The theory is, that whom dame Nature,
along in summer and early Autumn, is
laying her plans for next years Opera
tions, she forms buds without at first de-
Gliding whether they shall be for leaves or
fruit, and that We, her servants, may help
to determined their character by urging
or checking the circulation Of the sap
vigorous circulation and full suply dcvel-
oping the buds into leaves and wood, and
diminished circulation developing fruit
buds. A tree which the pow has injured,
or which has been bent down by the wind,
often is in full bloom, while its thriftiOr
neighbors are expanding their Dimensions
with 10 atempt at fruitlulness. We prunc
the roots or bend down the branches to
Induce fruitfullness. On the same prn-
ciplc, if your beautiful orchard, at eight or
ten years of age, grows rapidly but does
not bear by lying it TO grass year or two,
check will bo given to its growth and
blossom, and fruit will appear in due sea-
son. 1t is not uncommon to hear man
complain that certain tree is apparently
dying, and regret it because it was a tree
that always bore full mot knowing that the
partial loss Of vitality had turned all its
wings to fIuit spurs.
1 know of no substitute for plowing or.
chards, unless it be mulchiDg. There is
practical difficulty that all experience, in
raising apple orchards ; undoubtedly, low
branched trees are most healthy most pro-
ductive, most convenient in all respects
except in cultivation. But low branching
trees will not admit horses to pass under
them; and oxen, though not SO high head
ed as horses, have great many more
horns,which is very inconvenicnt in young
orchards After iowheadcd trees have
borne two or three full crops, their
branches often touch tie ground, giving
convenience in picking the fruit, but utter
ly preventing the passage Of a plow-Neam.
lkuow orchards of this character which
have been long kept very productive by
muIching the whole ground with hay or
straw. They were near the sea, and the
mulch ives the coarse grass Of the fats.--
Where any mulch can be cheaply obtain.
ed, think trees may be planted abou,
twenty-five feet apart, allowed to form low
heads, and SO cover the ground, and the
orcI4rd kept free from grass and weeds
by thus covering The surface. The crops
derived from cultivation under the trees
seldom pay the cost, and in many locali-
ties mulching would be cheaper than cul
,ivation, land answer all the purpose. We
should then have our trees 10 their beauti.
!ul, natural proportions, instead CT un,
gainly, lopglegged monsters, marred and
Scared, and exposed in the alterations
OF heat and cold, and retarded years in
their productvencss. Probably it might
not be wise to continue the mulch upon the
ground through the whole season although
l am not aware that injury is caused by
SO doing. The tendancy Of thus covering
the ground no doubt would be to bring tho
roots toward the surface but perhaps this
would produce no injury. Where mice
and moles abound, either the mulch or
grass growing in the orchard would afford
them Winter quarters, and thus endanger
the trees.