The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1881-05-12
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Frai, and rrui, Trees.

bali II the frui, trees that have been sei
ont In Massachusetts, daring The last City
years have produced anything like profit
h the ownen
IN The FIRST place, the ground is DOT suit
able ior ihe growth and production q
irni, Al land which has ior 10 subsoil
Sand or loose gravel is not NJ for the
growth q the apple or pear Il may he
4 good grass 81 lawn laad, but it lacks the
essential element necessary 10 the produc.
ton q this fruit II needs hard pau or
clay subeoil
yonr orchard is to be on field land,
cultivate II tao years before setting out
the trees, and keep il under cultivation
Tor six years. seeding It down no oftener
than is necessary 10 kill weeds.
n Ttimmiaq tires After experimenting
for number Of wears aud trimming every
month in the year to ascertain when the
wound would heal best. have come 20
the conclusion that. hom the twenty 9Th
Of May to the twenty. iiith Of Jane was the
proper time. Then is the full dow of sap
aud the wound begins TO heal immediate
diaicly. The two worst months ~ the
whole wear are March and April, aud yet,
you may see GA nuy bright day now, the
farmers ia their orchards busy trimming
they had mnul better be in the house
reading some good agricultural or horti.
cultural paper.
Another point is this. Let "a boy go
over your apple trees in the middle of
August aud, with his hands, pull off the
young sprouts that have just begun to
grow. He will do more with his hands
than five men can do with their saws the
next spring. The benefit derived from
this mode of treatment is two-fold the
wound heals at once and no sprouts start
the following spring, but if left number
Of sprouts will start where otherwise there
would be but one
Success means doing everything just at
the right time
Twenty six years ago ! sold my farm to
Henry II. Peters, and have the vanity to
believe that left him the best orchard OF
two thousand trees in Worcester county.
Where are they to-day? 0nehalf Of them
are cut down or dug up after being ruined
by canker worms and i'll care, and the 9TH
er half is worth but very little.
On my present farm | have an orchard
of two acres Seventy five trees have been
set out twenty-five years. The canker
worm visited my neighbors orchard about
eight years ago. All told me l should be
unable to avoid them. The first year when
the ends of the limbs were little red |
took warning and prepared for battle. /
put strips of paper about eight inches
wide around them, and in the fall begun
putting on the tree ink. | caught a few
slugs that fall The next spring | meant
business and believe got it, too. Slugs
lay around the trunks of the trees in
ridges three inches deep. After falling
from the ink they were unable to crawl
So thoroughly caught them, that the
next year did not catch from the seventy
five trees, one slug to a tree.
was going to let my papers remain
around the trunks Of the trees for the next
spring, but in taking of one of them in
August, / found number of borers just
penetrating the bark. They were just the
size of small maggots. took the papers
off and found hundreds of them concealed
in the bark
As have travelled over the state during
the last fifty years, and have seen trees in
grass lands which have stood for years
without any cultivation, without growth
untrimmed, eaten by worms, | have come
to the conclusion land you would do the
same) that not one-half OF the trees that
have been set out during the past fifty
years have yielded anything like profit to
the owners.