Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1869-03-19
DelaWaTo County Farmer Club,

IN. 7. Ep1ngettst
Delaware County Farmers Club.
At the meeting, March 9Th the topic
81 Planting and Care of Fruit Trees"
was taken mp. Mr.. n. p. McAEasters
read the following interesting and val
uabls essay on the subject:
Fellow members of the Delaware
County Agricultural Club Having re-
ceived a notice from our President that
YOU desired me to write an article to
be read at this meeting On the planting
and culture of fruit trees, and selecting
varieties for an orchard for farm and
market purposes, I have endeavored to
do so to the best of my ability.
The planting of fruit trees and the
profits therefrom should be brought
before the public with greater force
than they have been. Let us look Dack
q few years. When my father. was
bov, living on the banks of the Ohio
River. it was said to be a good busi-
ness raising and shipping apples down
the river, but that it would not do to
plant then for that purpose, because
the business would break by the time
the trees produced large crops of fruit.
Now look and see how it is to-day.
Are there any as fearful about plant
ing now as thew were at that day If
there are. let them examine existing
conditions and that fear viii pass
away.
terprising people to become rich a Sc
rious hindrance to fruit raising; with
them the first questions being, in re-
gard tOsall propositions will it pay
and how long will it take?
Second, The diet of our people is
changing many using less meat and
Third. Another item of vast import
ance is the rapid increase of population
in our country, and taking the fact that
this increase is almost entirely con-
fined to towns and cities, who can
doubt the Importance of planting hu1t
trees.
the task assigned me, trust that you
Will indulge me in presenting few of
the moral and spiritual influences con-
nected with fruit-growing.
The love and culture of fruits cause
us to more vividly recognize the wis
dom and bemevOlence of our Creator.
What a close sympathy exists be-
tween ones own self and the tree
which we train up Gin the way it
What deep emotions are awakened
bv the sight of '' The Old Apple Tree y
of our early life!
It gave shade and fruit, comfort,
health and enjoyment to those who
once moved in the full vlgor OF life,
and whose love cherished and INSTRUCT
| ed our dawning intellect.
Go, view the plants of the strawberry
and notice the large clusters of the de-
| liciOus berries, glowing with their
highly painted colors.
Go forth to the briar patch and note
the large clustering berries In their
/ \ II sn,n1- 1FNC1nI
peach-tree bending under its load OF
choicest ripe fruit, painted with the
| softest mingling of cOlors that the eye
| ever beheld. Note the long rows OF
apple trees, heavily laden with various
attractive forms of fruit, their coats
/ tinted with the most magnificent hueS,
and glistening in the sun more bril-
| IiantlY than precious gems.
Having glanced at all these, then, Il
you please, portray to your mind the
| FEELINGS of that soul who has drank II
these scenes of loveliness, as he de-
| voutly and gratefully cOmmunes with
the Author of his being, ana meo1taCe5
upon the magnificence around him ano
the events of his past life. Oh, who can
portray the nearness of that soul tt
/ God as his silent but glowing Thoughts
| exclaim, "My God and myself
through his loving guidance, have dont
this. The power and wisdom OF Goa
4 =
immutable law, have done all this
4 God and myself are cO-labores."
Il o tell me, thoughtful man, are therl
anv sermons preached by human kind
that can bring the soul so near to Goo
as this, the Culture Of Fruits:
will now proceed to speak OF the 10
] lation of an orchard.
LOCATION.
| MI. ,4=,,, ~ ~, ,-ot,o,-,5 sbo1,Jd h
on elevated rolling land and dry by ma
ture -as the subsOil will be much bet
ter for fruit trees. But if it IS not g
naturally, to make it so by under
draining is the next best thing you ca
do, Because, although the ground ma
be rich, so as to promote arapid groWt
| in the trees while they are young, an
the roots near the surface, YET as the
become older, and the roots require
greater depth, they penetrate the sur
soil and become imbedded in the Wate
: during a greater portion of the yea
b and, in consequence, about the tlIn
: you expect to gather large crops {
2, fruit, YOUR trees will have become Of
I and serubby and unfit to bear goo
fruit.
Another object in securing an elevs
ted site for your orchard, is to plaC
your trees in the most favorable sltu'
: ton with reference to extremes OF hei
and cold; since experience has prove
?. that many orchards in valleys have loi
= their fruits by severe frOsts, Wh1
those on elevations were not 1nJure'
These cold, still mornings of winter al
the times of danger to the fruit crop
Then the mercury often sinks three (
four degrees lower in the valley th9
on the elevation, injuring trees IN Il
former situation, while leaving the
unharmed in the latter.
And we often find that during sue
seasons of extreme cold, the peat
\. buds in the valley are 50 comP4eIe
- killed that not n blossom opens IN u
n spring, whilst on adjacent e1eVat1ol
R, the trees are loaded with bloom, sU
% ceeded with crops of lpxuriant Hult'
y QUALITY OF SOIL.
~ This should be good, such as W
" " bring good crops of grain or corn; If
'N be not so at the time of planting, ma
n it good by subsequent treatment, a.
keep it so. If OAd ground, 1t shou
have deep plowing, better II 90
=. | with q double moldboard ploWs unle
.sG the soil is too shallow. If your soil
k new it is better without. Plowin
lul merely cultivating around the Il
lne by hand, or applying coarse litter
~ keep the weeds and grass down.
III. In digging the holes for the trees
dry ground, 1 would not go over nIte
Dig three or four feet in diamet
. throwing the soil in one place and
subsoil in another. In wetttsh lan'
would dig less deeply; while If co
IRE PEELED to select very nat wet locatl
ny would set my trees on
ne of the ground, hauling from dista1
M, the soil to set out with, sufficient
on form a mound for each tree one f
high and three or four feet in diamet
In planting on dryer land, / WOI