The Portland daily press., 1876-04-27
THE FARM AND HOUSEHOLD.
Plant am Apple Orc hard This Spring

Plant an Apple Orc hard This Spring.
We want more apple orchards in all the
older states. The old :rees, once so bounti.
full, are bearing less and dying every year.
On many farms no successors are provided
for. We have occasionally surplus of ap-
pies, as in 1874, when the orchard does not
pay much. But there is compensation to
the fruit grower, even in these years of excep-
tional abundance. The cheapness of apples
introduces them into many families where
they are generally used as a luxury. They
are so wholesome and enjoyable that they
become a necessity and are more largely pur-
chased in subsequent years, when they bring
double prices. In 1874 apples sold for 81 50
per barrel. In 1876 they sold for 81 barrel.
We know of case in which family laid in,
in 1874, sixteen barrels; in 1875, the price
bling so much higher, the same sum being al
lowed for apples, the supply was but six bar
res. Ii apples can be raised at dollar a
barrel and pay expenses, the farmer who fur
nished this family made So in his trade of
1874, and $18 the past season. Thrifty fami-
lies soon become accustomed to apples. and
they take their place with flour, meat and
butter among the necessary family supplies,
and the whole crop is taken, even in abudant
years, at prices that pay something. This is
what the fruit grower wants, steady paying
price for all that he can raise every year,
iasnoi euau cAtIdVdSdnt Prouls, WHICH Will
induce everybody to rush into his speciality.
Apples are, on the whole, as likely to be prof
liable as any fruit farmer can invest in at
the preset time, with the prospect of making
money out of them for the next thirty years.
They keep better than almost any other fruit,
and in all the northern half of the country
they can be had, in the fresh state, with very
little difficulty, every day in the year. Our
soil and climate are admirably adapted to
this fruit. 1t grows in the greatest beauty
and perfection, and American apples COM
mand very high prices in English markets.
They are already profitable article of ex-
port, and this business has as substantial
bais for increase as the export of American
cheese to European markets. The idea that
our climate has changed, is fiction.
Apples gorw in our old states in as great
perfection as they ever did, if the orchards
are properly cared for. They will not grow
so well on worn-out pastures as on virgin soil.
But we find, to-day, on soils that are fed and
cultivated, apple trees SO vigorous and fruit
full that nothing more can be asked. Nor do
we take any stock in the idea that the old
varieties are running out. The Roxbury
Russet has been in the country from very near
its first settlement, and in the east the trees
are as vigorous and hardy and the fruit as
perfect as they ever were. As a bookkeeping,
standard variety, there is no better selection
for this region. Plant an orchard this spring.
Plant only standard varieties that are known
to do well in your neighborhood, and let the
varieties be few and nine tenths of them the
long keepers. Late winter apples can be sold
either month in the year. They almost al
ways bring extra prices in the spring. We
know of farmers who have never lost faith in
this crop, and are reaping golden harvests
from orchards planted twenty years ago.
First plant an orchard; second, take care of
it.-Cor. american Agriculturist.