The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1877-12-12
FARM AND HOUSEHOLD.


Our exchanges continue to publish inter-
esting statements of experiments in the culti-
Walton OF orchards, most of which prove the
value of a clean and mellow surface bet ween
the trees, but some indicate better success
when the land is laid down to grass. In all
or nearly all. these narrated instances, no men.
ton is made of the character or condition OF
the soil as to the degree of fertility, or Of the
growth of the annual shoots as indicative OF
the needs of stimulating on the one hand, or
checking on the other. The statements are
consequently of less value to orchardists
In unlike localities, then if these essential
particulars were given. Some of them, how
ever, are so decided in their results that we
can Judge to some extent. of the condi-
tions OF the soil and thriftiness of the trees.
Among others, a correspondent of the Practi-
cal Farmer in Beaver County, Pa, states
that he kept his apple orchard in grass for
years after becoming the owner, and never
applied any manure. 1t was about thirty
years old, and TOR fifteen years had been in
grass, without manure. The trees then
ceased to bear, and many of them had the
appearance of dying. Four years ago he
gave the ground shallow blowing, taking
care not to iDjure the roots, and then added a
good dressing of MANURE with one.fifth part
leached ashes, blowing and narrowing well
to intermix the ingredients with the soil. He
uScS noo give SnO 4uauIi1y dpPuou per acre,
or to each tree. The next year about twice
as many leached ashes were added as at first.
The result was highly satisfactory, the trees
began a new growth, and for the two
past year have borne more fruit than
any other orchard in the neighborhood.
Two other cases were mentioned, in one of
which the owner alternately raised hoed or
grain crops. and seeded to grass biennially.
The other kept his trees constantly in grass.
Both stated that they had thrifty orchards
but the standard of thriftiness or the degree
OF vigor, as indicated by the length of annual
growth, were not given, leaving us quite in
in the dark in this respect, and in none of
these cases was the character of the soil
mentioned. 1t is obvious however that in
the first instance, the soil was deficient in
fertility, as was shown by the failure of the
trees till it was enriched and cultivated, and
by the great productiveness OF the trees after
wards.
There are very few apple orchards, either
IN poor soils at the East, or on the rich lands
OF the West, that are not benefited by cult
walton Or by manure, and in some soils both
are necessary. In young orchards, it is bet
ter and cheaper to rely chiefly on cultivation !;
in old bearing orchards, top-dressing with
manure has given satisfactory results, the
manure apparently promoting the growth of
frult, and increasing productiveness to a
greater degree than mere stirring of the soil.
This has been found out by farmers who
make tie most money from their old orch
ards.
There is perhaps no locality in the country
where seeding peach orchards to grass does
not result in small growth and inferior fruit,
and it may be laid down as a nearly universal
rule. to keep the soil of peach orchards clean
and mellow as long as they produce crops,
taking care to discontinue the cultivation
soon after midsummer, to favor the cessation
of growth and the ripening of the wood. In
some OF the reported instances of peach trees
bearing more uniformly and suffering less
from the severity of the winters, the cultiva-
ton was kept up, and the growth of the
shoots continued to remain green and succu-
lent, till the cold of winter came on them and
Injured or destroyed them.
Since the WIDE prevalence of the blight in
the pear, large number of instances are re-
ported of greater immunity from this disease
IN trees growing in grass, while in rarer cases
the reverse has been observed. The evil
dence, however, preponderates in favor of
pear orchards in grass-this remark applying
to standard trees.-Country Gentleman.