The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1872-03-05
agricultural department.
CONDUCTED BY ALBERT CHAPMAN.
Methods and Aims of Fruit Growing In
the Champlain Valley.

Methods and AIMS of Fruit Growing In
the Champiain valley.
IA paper read before the meeting Of the State
Board Of Agriculture, Mining and Manufactures
at Middebury, by C. @. Prindle, ESQ.,. Of Char.
lotte, Vt,l
Continued from last week.
Whether the planter employs an old
orchard site or selects new one, the
most thorough preparation Of tho soil he
can make, will be found the very cheap
est plan he can pursue in the end. When
perfect drainage is secured, the most i'm.
portant part of this preparation is deep
working Of the soil. BY long periods of
cropping the vegetable matter in the sur
face, soil has become greatly diminished.
As result the surface soil is made heav.
Ter and tougher. The mechanical opera.
tons, carried on above, have beaten down
the subsoil, sometimes forming hard-pan
almost impenetrable to the roots Of plants,
and impervious to the air, and which
seals over the stores of mineral wealth
reserved for the use of plants below.
Deep blowing and subsoiling, by loosen
ing up this hard substratum and permit
thug the air to circulate deep, by bring
ing up to belweathcred on the surface and
made available for plant-food, these fresh
supplies of mineral matters by carrying
down and mingling with the lower soil
the well weathered surface, and by incor.
porating with the whole the cost Of ma
nure applied to the surface at the start,
secures just such condition Of the soil,
as will enable fruit trees to make q Wig
orous growth while young, and to yield
good crops when older, enduring the sum-
mer droughts and winter frosts. There
are certain sandy soils and deposits Of
light drift and alluvium, that may not
require such deep working; but such
soils are exceptional here. Our best
fruit lands are strong, gravelly loans,
clay loams and slaty soils
When the whole field has been thus
worked to tho depth of twelve, fifteen, or
even eighteen inches, las may be done by
the double Michigan, the Holbrook sod
and sub.soil, or the Iowa deep.working
plows,) there is no need of digging large
holes to receive the trees. A hole large
enough to admit all the roots without
bending is sufficient, | would insist up.
on mulch Of a busbcl Of corn or hay
manure, spread about the tree just be-
meath the surface. Tho covering of an
inch or two of soil keeps it in place. and
assists it to retain its moisture during
dry weather. With the mulct the tree
may make shoots Of twelve or eighteen
inches the first season without it it will
barely survive.
AS important as mulching is cultira.
ton, frequent stirring of the soil the FIRST
year and every year. Plow your orch
ards; not deep, but shallow, each year
as the roots fill the soil. Let not the ad
vocates of grass and cultivation of orch
ards IA method which may succeed il
the west, where there is an object in re-
ducing somewhat an over-rich soil,) leaC
you to remit cultivation here. Plow
twice year; in the fall turn the burrows
against the trees, and in the spring back
furrow and turn them away. By mean!
Of short whiffle.trecs the pillow may be rur
within two feet Of the tree at first. Leave
the narrow strip, on which the row o
trees stand, unoccupied by crops, ant
keep it light and clear of winds by mean
of the horseshoe.
Most farmers will insist on croppins
their young orchards. If they only pu
on hard crops,-corn, potatoes, beans anc
roots, and manure freely, they will still
succeed quite we'll with their orchard
But. if they undertake to grow grain
they will hardly do SO.
But, after the orchard comes into bear
ing, undoubtedly the most pro6tabl
course is to allow the trees full possession
of the soil. A crop which half succeed
in the shade of an orchard must be yer,
valuable one to compensate for the los
the fruit crop suffers therefrcm With
Shaw's harrow or Carhart cultivator lie
the soil be stirred to the depth of fey
inches several times during the summer
adding dressing Of manure after cacl
heavy crop. Mulching promotes tn
keeping quality of fruit, and no mulch j
better, perhaps, than wcl-stirred sur
face.
Not only do insects damage the lrui
in amount and character, but they injur
the keeping quality. They may be he'll
in check by no means more efficient tina
few swine. Allowed the range of tn
orchard, they make pork by fall with Iii
tie extra care or cost,-the crop of a fe'
trees of sweet, fall apples and it'll
corn at the end of the season.
The right time for gathering fruit I
ensure its keeping, requires attention.
is well known by observing horticultul
lists, that winter fruit may become ovcl
ripe, while yet hanging on the tree, s
that its season is advanced. Such wa
the case during the very warm and LAT
fall Of 1870; and the following winte
there was q complaint all through tn
country, that fruit could not be kept. l
some places it was gone before New Yea
There is time in the life of fruit, whe
its growth is complete.-when it will re
ceive nothing further from the tree.
is then tree-ripe. Shortly after begr
after-ripening, chemical change, where
by the starch, abundant in the unripe c
green fruit, is transformed into sugar. A
the completion of this saccharind chang
the fruit is in the best condition for u.s.
But almost Immediately putrefaction Bel
in, frst dissipating the volatile arom
and destroying the delicate flavor, an
finally converting the grateful sugar int
an unwholesome acid and consuming th
very tissues of the fruit. Though 10
temperature and dry atmosphere ma
somewhat retard this last change, yet (
easy and rapid is its progress, that e
forts to preserve the fruit after it has b,
come ripe for use are of little avail. b.
the progress Of the first change, the afte
ripening, may be so delayed as to requil
several months for its Accomplishment
IA Al :. n II