The Portland daily press., 1883-09-25
Fall Work in the Orchard.

During these chilly nights many farmer
sits close to the kitchen stove and draws a
sigh OF relief as he thinks: "Apples will
soon be picked, and then the orchard is done
for this year; no more insects nor need of
watchfulness.'
When warm days come next Spring, and
the snow is melted by the smile of the north
marching sun, the same farmers wander into
the orchard full Of hope for the seasons bar
vest. Their faces lengthen, however, as they
see here tree Knawed by rabbits, there one
broken and wrecked by ice, another girded
by mice, and half dozen black, scorched
and, apparently, dead. Such a farmer then
reasserts. as he has many Springs before,
that the fates are against him, and that, be
as careful and watcbful as you may, the enc
mics of the farmer will triumph. And no
doubt many Springs more will come before
he learns that due precautions exercised in
the Fall will avert much of the mischief of
Winter.
He should know that rabbits delight in
brush piles, and in rubbishy, long-neglected
fence-rows; that mice harbor in similar
places, and in leaf-flled burrows, and in the
tall grass bent under the sheltering snow.
This much learned, he will see that all rub
bish is removed from the orchard. This can
be the work of the cherries days after the
crops are harvested and one hardly knows
what to do as nature fingers between Au-
tumn and Winter. Especial care should be
exercised thai the bases of the trees are not
surrounded by grass, chunks of wood, stones
or shocks of corn-fodder. The brush piles
should be burned. With wagon, hay-rake
and brOad-tined fork, he should clean out
the hallow places and the fence-rows where
the leaves ana grasses have been left by the
winds. These materials, put upon the COM
post heap, or in large piles where they may
hn liant u,niSt will mo 10 fha va w Of
manures. Leaf-mould is muck, and muck
is wealth.
So much done, precaution should be taken
to avert the mischief which may be wrought
by the weather itself. The crown of the
roots where they lose themselves in the
trunk should not be exposed A neat little
heap of earth, few inches high above the
base of the tree, is an admirable protection.
Be especially careful that no surface water
remains over Winter. Inspect the outlets
of drains, and if necessary give surface
draining. IF the orchard is exposed to
sweeping winds, and your locality is north
err, it will de desirable to provide traps for
the snow that it may shelter the trees.
Many put low, cheap, light, movable fences
through the orchard at intervals at right
angles to the prevailing winds. A cheap
and easy method is to drive three or four
stakes about each exposed tree at a distance
of two or three feet from the trunk, and to
nail strips of boards on them. If corn has
been raised in the orchard and it has been
cut high, the stubble will often hold the
snow; but care must be exercised that loose
fodder and husks do not lie about the trees.
All this done the grower should stroll
through the orchard on the lookout for weak
crotches and split or cracked limbs, which
are apt to occur on heavily-bearing trees. A
split in a crotch is proof enough that mis-
chief will be done by ice before Spring.
Such limbs should be removed or securely
tied up.-Boston Cultivator.