Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1880-08-27
Apples from Newly.set Trees.

In old times, and not so very long ago
either, 1t was regarded ~ almost the
work of life time to set an orchard and
wait for It to yield fruit, so that in time
the saying passed into a proverb that
"he who planted an orchard planted for
his heirs.n Well, we do not wonder that
such an idea prevailed when we con-
slider the obstacles which the trees had
to encounter, the want of care against
which they had to contend and tho gem
orally limited information regarding
their insect depredators which was
prevalent thirty and forty years ago.
II the starved and stunted Seeding
trees which grew in weed-choked and
grass-entangled corner of the orchard,
when transplanted where they were to
grow, survived all the neglect, outlived
the ravages of borers and bark lice and
in the course of twenty or thirty years
began to bear fruit, it was well and
good. The trees were literally left to
shift for themselves; they were never
fertilized; never mulched; never washed
or scraped or dug into to prevent the
ravages of the bOrer and were seldom
or never trimmed, except when the
trees were mutilated by the old-time
method of grafting-a process of sur
gerry which they did not recover from
for years. Under such conditions, sup
porting double the quantity of wood
which was necessary, and subsisting in
spite of care, the trees managed to bear
some fruit possibly in the lives of those
old men who set them out And this is
a fair outline of the history of the old
orchards throughout New England.
But times have changed. We do
things differently now and cannot afford
to wait so long for results as did our
| fathers before us. We better understand
the nature of many things and have
found out much by study and observa-
| ton. The conditions under which trees
are found to succeed best are better
known than formerly, while our knowl-
edge of their insect foes and the means
of destroying them is more positive.
With a knowledge of these things we
are able to compass time and win re-
suits in advance of what might have
been previously called the natural course
of things. In five years from setting,"
remarked am enthusiastic orchardist to
us recently, Il am gong to have a good
crop from those trees.n We had ac-
companied our friend over his orchards,
young and old, and had come to about
thirty trees which had been set the last
spring as a " home orchard" In five
years! Without doubt-but look at the
conditions. The soil was the best
orchard land we have ever seen, strong,
deep, well drained. 1t was fenced so
that no cattle could ever break into it.
The trees were young, straight, thrifty,
grated in the nursery, with just the
right shaped top, and with no unneces-
sary wood; the soil had been made rich
by abundant manuring and deep and
clean by thorough culture; the trees
were mulched and were to be forced by
top-dressing, mulching and the cutting
away of superfuous wood. Well, we
shall see. In five years those trees, says
our friend, will yield good crop. If
so, other trees, growing under like con-
ditions, will do the same. But whether
in five or eight years, we are sure of
this much: the above conditions are
such that fruit will be realized in very
few years from planting, compared with
| the old method, and in these days of
rapid results it is important to know
the conditions to be observed to yield
fruit in the least possible time from
planting out the trees.-NeU England
Farmer.