Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1880-05-28


FAMOUS FGUGr ORCHARD NEAR THE BANKS OF
THE HUDSON RIvER-THREE HUNDRED ACRES
or oRCHARDING THREE THOUSAND
TREEs-CULTURE, TREATMENT AND RESULTS.
The orchard in question is situated in the
pleasant town of GreenpOrt, Columbia coun-
ty, n. Y, three or four miles south of the
city of Hudson, and is the property of Mr..
r. McKinstry, who has owned and cared for
it twenty-three years, during which it has
grown to its present unequaled dimensions
from very modest beginnings.
The orchard comprises little less than
800 acres. On this area there are no less
than 33, 900 trees, and finer lot, We may
safely say can nowhere be seen on either
side of the Atlantic They have been select
ed and trained with thorough scientific care.
Strong and vigorous, their branches reach
ont broadly and symmetrically. No dead
wood or superhuous shoots can anywhere be
seen. and the bark is uniformly clean and
sound. Twenty-siX thousand of these trees
are apples, the main standby. Over 1000
are cherries, the pears number 2OOO, plums
/ 100, peaches 200 crab apples of various
improved kinds POO, and chestnuts $50. Be
sides these, there are $500 currant bushes
1000 grape vines and strawberries raspber-
ries and blackberries innumerable. If all of
these $4,000 trees were planted in single
row twenty feet apart they would reach from
Albany to New York.
Among the apples, all the old standard va
rieties may he found. There are 1000 Green
ing trees, GOOO Baldwins 1000 of Tompkins
County King, 1000 Red Astrachans. 1000
Northern Spys, 100 of the Duchess of Oldens-
burg, and other varieties Of 100 to 400 trees
each. literally too numerous TO mention" in
detail; for there is not less than hundred
all told. These latter varieties, however,
which are represented by comparatively few
trees each, are or have been, cultivated more
as an experiment than rs permanent addi-
tons to the orchard, for Mr.. McKinstry, with
the majority of experienced fruit growers,
does not believe that too many different
kinds are an advantage from the business
stand point. A dozen standard varieties
whose habits and needs are thoroughly un-
derstoOd can be made far more profitable
| than two or three hundred that are imper-
| fectly understood, and therefore imperfectly
cared for.
The bearing capacity of each tree is the
| all-important matter to be constantly kept in
mind. The modern fruit tree has become, so
| far as the growers interest in it is concerned,
a complex organic machine, and his aim
| should be to treat it in such manner as TO
| get the greatest product from it with least
waste of force. Some of Mr.. McKinstry's
trees were set out when he began his great
undertaking twenty-three years ago. The
| best of these he now looks to for ten barrels
| of very choice fruit Other trees have been
set each succeeding year, and some have not
yet come into bearing, so that taking them
all together Mr.. McKnstry finds that the ay-
erage yield per tree throughout the orchard
does not exceed two bushels. Ultimately, he
thinks, the orchard may be relied on for co.
900 to 50, 900 barrels per year.
But such results are not accomplished with
] out a great deal of hard work. skillfully ap.
piled The ground is kept thoroughly work
| ed. Every year the pillow is busy in some por-
ton of the plantation back furrowing" be-
| tween the rows of trees, so that presently the
surface becomes a series of broad hillocks,
the earth being thrown up against the trees,
| with saucer like hollows between. The cult
walton must be done with discrimination,
| however 1t is found, for instance that too
much of it will not do for cherry trees. 1t
forces too rapid growth, and nature gets her
revenge by bursting the bark and killing the
trees. Apples, on the other hand, Mr.. Nc
! kinstry firmly believes, require a great deal
| of digging about 10 secure the best results
As soon as they are much grown he gives
them the full benefit of the ground they oc-
| cupy, and makes no effort to secure a secon-
| dairy crop. Other trees require cultivation
in differing degrees, most of them more than
cherries anu less lnhn apples. Experience
and constant watchfulness are the only
guides.
The variations of soil, temperature, drain
age, etc, have also to be studied with the
greatest care. Mr.. McKinstry finds that on
his 300 acres he has almost every variety of
soil-eompositon and adaptveness Here the
soil is heavy with clay, and damp there it is
sandy, on the knoll beyond it is gravelly, and
almost stony, while these broad stretches of
gentle slope are deep rich loan. Not only
is one soil well suited to the apple, while un-
fit for the peach, or the cherry, and worth
less for the grape, but for each variety of
each kind of fruit should the minutest partic-
ulars be studied. One apple is found to do
well where another is total failure, and so
of other fruits. With certain fruits varia-
ton of few degrees in temperature is of the
utmost importance, and such variations some
times exist where one would least expect to
find them. Mr. McKinstry says that he has
frequently detected difference of ten de
grees between points in his orchard but a few
rods apart.
In the matter of shallow or deep planting
he believes that no general rule can be laid
down. In light loan, into which the air
and chemical rays from the sun can easily
penetrate he usually plants deep, but ON a
stiff, wet soil he would have the roots as