The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1880-11-04
agricultural.


srRGa xREE.
apple ,roea 90 ne, seem 10 aourssh m
% nss'st 81 car nasrew neuutain valley.
Sometimes. iaaco1. fhsy make ,ssafou
grosth fof fev years. tui ouly IL cfal.
aad lev u the hsrslscsi Buss4aa vasielo
can withstand the Sudden and s1tnmI
changes e teasI,eruiur agring oae - "a
sessEesl winters
] 10 o0ptegaease q thsa hoi mAuy VI to-
river farmers planted orchards st an earl,
day Ia sliuatiaus sssaslar 70 that IL mine
No doub, j, is tetler 70 have a orchard
bear a. hand, but they rightly judged lhal
q voald be better % hase one where il
would grow rather than nono ~ all
For whiie these orchards. 81 phen lie
land Vas hes, furnished 81 abundance q
apples, hui n time the soil became "a.
haasted by the removal Of the apples. aud
frequently other crops, year hy year, and
the old orchard ceased 10 produce much
fruit, and what it did bear was small ana
almost worthless. Honce the question
arises, wha, shall te done with tile ola
orchardY Shall We abandon Il entirely
and attempt 20 raise some Of the new har-
dy varieties near our buildingsp
ln reply / will say that even five try
the plan 81 new orchard ] believe the
old one may have little iudicious care
bestowed npon il that vail f,av we'll
| can see nov how that great mistakes
were made in the care Of our orchard. and
shall speak Of these as well as the success.
es.
As long ago as can remember the grass
was mown and hay drawn from the land !;
but the soil was strong, and We used to
get good supply Of apples, part Of
them being grated fruit About thirty
years ago my father plowed the orchard
thinking that the land was too rough, and
that perhaps the trees might be benefited
by it, A crop Of potatoes and oats was taken
off rtttom manure. Then il was re-seeded
to grass and moved as before. The result
was what might have been expected. al.
though some pains was taken TO enrich
the soil around some of the best trees. etc.
In few years the crop ofapples dwindled
down to almost nothing, and the few thai
did grow were small and poor.
Then another course was followed for
few years: A few sheep were pastured in
II, and ii was not long before there was a
change for the better Some Of the old
trees that seemed nearly dead revived up
and bore fruit as Of old, and the average
promotion of few years during this pc
nod was certainly two or three times that
II the years proceeding it.
But We were moi. quite satisfied to stop |
With doing wei, and thought we would |
et some Young trees to fill mp the vacan-
les; but Of course the sheep could not be
ct IN to destroy. them, and we thought it
would 10 to NOW and cart off the grass for
! few years, till the small trees were
yrown larger, so that it could be pastured
gain. Dut this was not success, and
We soon got few more apples than before;
md the young trees did not thrive well /
hen made up my mind that / would be
satisfied il could give up the grass crop
md thereby get n crop of apples. So the
yrass was moved, and when dry it was
aked up around the trees for mulch.
This course / have now followed Tor five
ears and the improvement is very marked.
The apples are much larger, and there are
more of them, and we have set out and
,rafted good many young trees that are
making vigorous growth, and some Of
hem are just beginning to bear, 50
hat we hope before long to have much
nore fruit than at present. In this way
ach tree gets mulching every year with
ut little labor The ground under the q
luleh seems soft and loose, and the apples
hat fall off are much less likely to be
ruised; and finally, the crop Of grass is
early donble what it was five years ago.
! would not advocate using good hay for
lulch in orchards near the buildings,
here it can be conveniently secured and
omething else used to supply its place in
he orchard but ! believe there are many
tuations in which the best and cheapest
hing to be done is to use what grass
rows among the trees to mulch them;
nd il you plan to do this you will not be :
alf as likely TO neglect it as you will if n
on intend to supply the wants Of the trees 4
some other WAY. 4. p. il Freeman.