Wilmington daily gazette., 1873-02-11
Fruit Culture.

meeting at tho Experimental Farm was held
in Chester county on the sOth Of January. We
make the following extract from the discussion,
which we find in the West Chester Record
The question for discussion at this meeting,
rult growing BY farmers being next In order, Geo.
Balderston, Of Cecil county Md. remarked, that
too Little attention generally is paid by farmers to
Imt groWlng-either for market purposns or for
their own enjoyment. few stunted currant and
gooseberIy bushes, and little half starved straw
perry bed in one corner Of the garden, make up
the fruit department Of too many farmers. Far
mers appear to have a hereditary antipathy 20
working In q garden and should therefore grow
their slnall fruits In tho fields where they can
cultivate them by horse power The best place
for instance, for family strawberry patch is one
two or three rows of plants on one side of YOUR
corn held 1ou can cultivate them at the same
time you arc working your corn, and the next
year gather your crop, ,plow them down with your
oats stubble, after securing enough runners for a
succession. BY this method the additional labor
to secure good crop of strawberries every yeal
Is trhing, compared with their endowment by the
family. fears can be made u profitable crop 1t
takes about fifteen years for pear tree to reach
o good paying point, Peaches "Wont pay" in this
section OF the country. Apples could BE- made to
pay handsomely, but our farmers either don't
know how or won't take tho trouble TO handle
them properly for the market, consequently our
apples have no reputation like those fiom New
ork aud other states and will not sell at rcmun-
GRAZING prices in Philadelphia or Baltimore mar
kets. VIC send our apples to market in old bags
or old bUxes, and thongh the quality of tho fruit
Is actually superior to New York, yet through poor
handling and worse packing we cannot get half
price for 1t, We mast, therefore, get up our rep
utatiOn, II we wish to make our apples paying
crop. As an illustration of the Importance OF
reputation In the market, Mr. Baldston stated that
Cecil County hay invariably brought S5 per ton
more in Baltimore market than hay of an canal or
even better quality from Lancaster or Chester
countesl
EveraFd Conard in reply to a remark that ap-
pies were too uncertain a:Crop in Chester county
to make our orchards profitable stated that ND ia
tqgr years ago, he had no success with his apple
ercAqrdi While his tFees every Spring produced
Gbqndance of blossoms, they failed to bear the
qit, and the cause of this failure he attributed to
numerous small insects preying upon the germs
or embyro fruit -Four years ago however, was
Sloety winteF, tho trees were cpcased In ice for
week at time, and those insects, OF their eggs
were smOthcred or frozen by the sleet and his
trees have beel fruitful ever since.
Milton Conrad has less faith in a sleety winter
or other accidental causas, TO produce an apple
crop, than in feedi1g the trees. lie had an
orchard, through which sink gutter ran. One
cad of the orchard was comparatively uopro.
ductve, the other end through which the water
flowed the trees were healthy and fruitful The
key to the whole question of fprodnctive orchards
% to feed the trees ven. His ORCHARD has been
sNCSc1Stoa NuHh uia ueiAnUOF0a9s sIalle(i he Ieu
his orchard and his neiehbor didn'L a ID more
depends upon this thaR upon sleet o, any other
accidental cause.
Thomas G1wthrop believed in the necessity
Of feeding apple trees,be had an orchard, part Of
the trees too young to bear, several of them
began 70 look sickly, some Of them died. the
bark near the roots became ragged and peeled
of. He then pni good dressing ofhog manure
around the sick trees which acted like charm
-ihey made fine growth the first year after.
WafQS alia have made full crop ever since, He
had gray Romantic tree that had never borne
crop; he built hog pen close by the tree ant
it has produced good crop every year since.
Milton Conrad, to the question will apple
trees bear fEHit every year II properly treated
teplIod. that some varieties viii, and others viii
not. He had two orchards OF 100 treeG-they
alternate, the ROWanitss bear one year and moi
the next, the Smoke house every year, hut mus
feed them With suitable food He feeds with
rough manure, 4 cart load TO every two trees
which acts mechanically as we'll a. fertiliEel
upon tue soil, makes good mulch, keeps bacl
growth, &c.
The Discussion was continued till the hour O
adjournment. Charles IL Moore was appoinle,
Essayist for the next meeting the subieo
FFOoklpg t0od Tor C4rie$'