Tolland County press., 1883-01-25
CONNECTICUT OLD TIMES AND NEW.

The neglected old apple orchards or Connecticut, while they are sad reminders of the neglect and poverty into winch so many of our farms have fallen, need not remain so unproduotive These old, mos- sed, lichened, and decaying trees, sad contrast to the thrifty and productive or chards of fifty years ago, could at least be replaced by younger and better ones. Most of these neglected old orchards pro- duce nothing unless it be soft places for woodpeckers nests. They could be made to bear great deal of fruit, and some of them, probably, could be made profitable, by thorough blowing up of the half dead old sward and the application of fer tilizers, These two steps greatly help such orchards-if the trees are not too far gone. The old days of Connecticut or- chards and cider-mills seem to have pass ed away the railroads now bring apples from Michigan, and from western New York, which are supposed to be better than anything now produced in the shape of Connecticut fruit, and much cheaper and more abundant. The truth is, there is change in the population of the old state, as well as in the character of it's fruit-and in some respects it can hardly be called change for the better. The "boys" of the farmers family, for the last forty or fifty years, have more and more tended to ''go west" and seek their for tunes in newer country. The old fami- lies are thus in numerous instances prac- tically ended the old life and sparkle has gone; the old homestead, the orchard, add the farm, all fall into neglect, for tke want of the proper care, and the chances are that new-comers-oftentim perhaps some thrifty descendant of the ''onld sod'' or the German Fatherland-hav bought the old place at an almost nominal price, and such a purchaser will be found farm ing 1t in his own way. His, most likely, IS not an unthrifty way but it is not the old Connecticut way, the way of forty or fifty years ago, with it's ample husbandry, it's generous methods, its abundance, good cheer, and hospitality. The old-time overfiowing crops of corn, hay, grain, ap- pies, pumpkins, potatoes, cider, are not seen now on these impoverished looking farms nor is there the old-fashioned show of stock. It is like some other state.
 'rhere's change ia the things love, Ben Bot change from the old to the new
 but change does not necessarily imply a lapse into something worse. Change is necessary to human progress. But the change which has come over the rural homes of old Connecticut seems not to be
 
 longer the large families of children, and indeed there is no longer more than par tial showing of the old Connecticut stock the old families have largely disappeared But the old hills and valleys remain !; the soil--never deep or rich, but often strong, and producing fruits of such havors and qualities as no western fruit can boast-is still here, and wise system of farming can make 1t, if not profitable, at least means of self-sllbsistence. Here and there some native, man of means made in some distant city, returning to his native state, shows what can be done with these old hills and wales by the intelligent use of money and good taste ill improvements. Such places are more tastefully attractive than any of the old ones ever were !; and no pleasanter spot can be found anywhere.
 On such places the old orchards, of course, have disappeared, and new ones perhaps have taken their places but these are never so large or inviting as the Gold fashioned" ones, and not nearly so productive. The peach tree, once almost as universal and prolific in Connecticut as the apple tree-has since 1850 become al- most extinct. It is found, howver, that { the mysterious disease which assailled it no longer necessarily and inevitably at oaChS dll uAo hOW PCoSh tAOCS ahu II these are duly kept back, by planting them in cold, more exposed places, or keeping pile of frozen ashes around the roots to prevent too early start in spring, good crops of excellent peaches can still be produced. It is the March sun, more than anything else-or March and April that kills off the peach crop in Connecti- cut, by giving the sap too early start There are 8 good many of these little matters which could be so managed, on @ thousand Connecticut farms, as to restore, with respect to them, better than the old state of things. But the fashion of large families, with all the varied summer and winter life and fun they gave to the young, making even the memory of child hood and early life the brightest of life's after-possessions, seems to have forever departed, together with the corn-husk- ings, the old cider-nill, the ''fish-fries," and some of the other old fashions. There are those, to-day, who, remembering the hearty strte of things, in "old Jackson's time" for example, are ready to exclaim that the young folks of to-day don't half live. e.-Hartord Times.