The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1878-06-01
Farmers and Fruit Growing.

A writer in one Of our exchanges expresses
the opinion that farmers ought not 10 under
take to manage an orchard and raise fruit. lie
thinks that iruitgrowing should be made
specially, and not part of general or mlNeo
farming Farmers apples he says, even whel
ii farmer raises any, are generally poor u,,ihei
charitable trash, because the farmer VIII ho
give his orchard the necessary care ana ut
tentiOn to raise good fruit.
This is doubtless fruit speculatlsts view ol
the subject, but there Is too much foundation
for much he saws about the little care bestowed
by the average farmer upon his irult. lhere
is no doubt that If a farmer would give us
much, or half as much, OF quarter as much
care and attention to n fifty dollar orchard
saw n hundred and fifty trecs-as he would
Willingly give to IL fifty dollar colt, the orchard
would prove by far the more profitable venture
of the two. -,
In the course of a large experience in the
business Of growing fruit and fruit trees, We
have been astonishcd, until we have lost all
power of being astoniShed in that direction, to
see how utterly negligent of the most ordinary
care and precaution man will be with a
Young orchard The neglect begins from the
moment the trees are received from tile nursery
Setting out will often be delayed for days
the trees, either packed or unpacked, mean
time losing in vitality at least ten per cent. a
day. When setting is begun, every rule OF
proper management is omitted. The holes
are not properly dug; neither the root nor the
branches receive the necessary trimming, al
though the nurseryman may have given the
most careful verbal or printed directions; the
soil is shovelcd roughly and hastily into the
holes, instead of being carefully ana 1lrmiy
placed around every root; no water is used
when the ground is dry, and no mulch is put
4 Al, l. tVnlh al in
IN any succeeding dry time The trees are Of
ten SET out in grass ground and the weeds and
grass so rob the soil that even if the tree lives
itmakes no growth but becomes black stunted,
and so worthless that when the cattle break or
browse it down they destroy no value, for the
value is already gone out OF it.
Even in the most favorable fruit regions sue
cess with an orchard requires that it should be
properly set out, cared for and titled at least
until the tee comes to bearing. The land
should be MANFRED so as to keep up II growth
of at least one foot in the length Of the branches
every season. Nothing but low hocd crops
ought to be grown in young orchard; crop
of small grain 50 often stolen" from an orch
ard, steals twice the profit on the grain from
the progress Of the trees.
Every tree ought to be looked over once Il
week, to observe if insects are attacking it, and
when they are seen they should be destroyed
at once In the fall the trunks of the trees
ought to be protected from the attacks of mice
and rabbits by tying laths baTel-stavcs, or
tarred paper around item. The early spring,
pleasant days in March, should be taken for
seeing what branches are likely to cross or
interfere, removing them before they gctlargc.
but | could never take so much pains as that"
says reader Then we say, don't try to have
an orchard, or set more than few trees you
can attend TO- say near the house or in the gar
den But the fact is, there is not 1.-THE of the
work in attending an orchard Of II hundred
trees that there is in rearing colt, breeding
him and fitting him for use in market. And
hundred trees, brought into full bearing will
yield an annual income greater than the price
of two average horses. Now that we have so
many excellent kinds Of apples that have
proved entirely hardy in the coolest sections
of Vermont, any farmer may have an orchard
if he really wants one enough to give, say Il
weeks work annually to IA hundred trees.