The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1882-11-16
Agricultural.
n. cai,ar. Of Trait Trss..

VI F1tt
Mr. 7. Whittier Of Farmington Falls.
Maine. Is an crpcnonooa and successful
archAraisi, and ne take pleasure in repro.
ducing extracts. from an article lby him
upon the above subject from the Hon, sa,i
Farm N any Of ny readers believes the
bees, way 10 raise an animal Is TO siarve Il,
and expose Il 20 all the inelemcnoy Of the
weather, va A. 10 harden and tougher II
when Young. Il viii be a.hoPeless task 10
make good orchardist Of him. for be is
the one 10 sci trees IN poor grass land and
let them take caro- Of themselves
The firs, and most essential object 10
be kept in view is 10 have a continuous.
mot occasional supply Of plant food Availa.
bic all The time for the trees according 10
their need; heavily bearing tree needing
more for that season than one not bearing,
Any one acquainted with the habits Of his
trees eau generally Judge when one is like.
y 10 bear much and il on cultivated land
an extra amount OF manure is worked in
within reach Of the roots early lin the
spring or the fall before, the fruit will be
better and the tree will come out health
er and stronger the spring after bearing,
whereas, il they are not so served they
are liable TO be so injured Is 10 be worth.
less ever after II they stand in grass land
a good mulehing OF manure. straw or even
loan. 80 as TO kill or decidedly check the
grass for rod or more from the trees nc.
cording TO size. is the best and most con.
yenient way TO treat them, According TO
my observation. 1.-THE very worst way TO
serve an orchard, old or young. is to mel.
ther NOV nor pasture 1t but let the grass
and weeds remain and die naturally. worse
even than moving and taking off.
MANY practice moving their orchards
without top-dressing until the trees begin
to decay and the grass to fail, but still
leaving o heavy, compact sod, then they
pillow deep and manure and give the trees
quite start for year or two and then
seed down and leave to starve again, then
they complain that their trees are short
lived andlunproftable. No wonder. Let
them try feeding their cows and other
farm stock in that way and see If il would
prove profitable. A steady and continu-
Gus supply Of food is necessary in both
cases.
"a bearing orchard in field should
either be plowed often and shallowly, and
MANFRED we'll, or if left to grass it should
be heavily top dressed with manure. A
good way to keep up such an orchard is
to mulch the whole surface with straw,
brakes, muck and almost anything that
will keep the grass down, unless one cares
more to get grass than he does apples /
look upon grass as troublesome pest in
an orchard, and when do not care to cul-
tivate it | do not seed with grass or grain,
but let 1t stay out as long as possible
The less hay | get out of, and the
more manure I get into an orchard the
better of l am financially. 1. pillow but q
small portion OF my orchard, but depend
almost wholly upon manure, brakes and
weeds from pastures, etc, for what trees !
have in my fields and for those in my pas.
lures that ale quite young. ] have about
twenty acres OF orchard on the upper end
Of my pasture, aid fenced off so that only
sheep can get into it, and they stay there
q good part of the time. This consider
to be the cheapest and best way to raise
good fruit, aud keep the trees in a good,
healthy condition.
"After all that has or can be said in re-
ton to the special treatment of trees for
diseases aud enemies, the best remedy and
preventive above all others is to keep the
trees in good condition by supplying
sufficient quantity of available plant food
for them, not once in while, but all the
time, for one fruitful source of disease is
alternate liberal feed and starvation. Food
i, not available if placed and Immediately
snatched away by something else Please
remember this when you are feeding your
fruit trees