St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1885-10-29
,tIbonf hr farm and Garden.
From the Northampton Herald.
ACRES OF APPLES.

&Ams and his son-in-law, +. G.. Rich
.fds is bearing "A rich harvest and hal
.reen visited 10y many people. Cover
1Dg as it does 90 acres, il is a sight o
life time and can only he compared
10 the immense orange groves of South
I'm California and Florida. Situated
bout two miles north least of the vii
#age of Williamsburg, after ascending
nmerOus hills, your reporter with
nut difficulty found the orchard
id was introduced to the superin.
<endent, Mr.. Porter, who has had
barge of the picking for several years.
tA,ing introduced to Mr.. Williams who
b made apple culture his life work
NJ were at once escorted around the
M pnderful field of trees.
I'm 1888, this farm was what would
ne rated 10y the farmers as third-class
nm, and the acres which are now
no ming with the choicest varieties OF
apples were then hardly considered as
&oOd pasturage. just before the war,
b. Williams tried to raise some rye on
@ kmall plot of land near his house, but
III crop was Il failure. In the spring
X '64 he plOughed the land, fertilized
# with manure, lime ana ashes and set
Id a large lot of apple trees. The re-
/ of this experiment was more than
ii. Williams had ever anticipated, and
Ii origin of this famous orchard was
/em that small beginning. Four years
z&gD, from the orchard which was set
Ia ia ~, there were harvested 2S4
prels of apples.
1'hrrc are now about 1900 trees in
.5IfSc orchards. and the varieties are
81 REPRESENTED as follows: Congress, 30 ;
E bbardston, 30 King of TOmpkins,
Ii; Lady Swectings, 10; Northern
IN, 80; Rhode Island Greetings, 90 !;
ssetS. 30, and Baldwins abont 900.
81 The Baldwins," said Mr.. Williams,
tand ut the head of all apples. They
q the thrlltIcst and most fruitful and
fir flavor is superior to any other"
oroughly believing this, in what Mr..
lliams calls his eastern orchard, are
20 trees, the majority of them Bald
b.
# a u of the trees are raised either by
gliding o. grating the desired fruit
to shoot which has been raised
Dm the seed. OF course when apples
h raised from seed there is no
ttcial variety produced. Why this is
ne is a fact which no person can eX
Bin. The following Is what is called
n budding process Shoots are start
from the seed and are allowed one
AsOn's growth. These are then tax
up, and after their roots and branch
are trimmed they are kept i'll the
llar during the following winter, and
e next season they are transplanted.
bud from Baldwin tree, for in
ince, is cut Oft and tied close to the
Its of the transPlanted tree, and the
ter Is very soon cut away and the
ddcd stock ut once commences its
2pwth.
a budded tree will often attain a
Dwth of over five feet the first year.
le following year it is set out and
PONIES then part OF the orchard.
lifting is essentially the same pro-
Is, and the most common method
" used is saddle grating. Trees
is grated or budded will begin to
b. fruit about their twelfth year.
a II through the orchard the trees are
out with mathematical precision,
% at whatever angle one views them,
f perfect line will always be seen. The
es are set 10 feet apart and the dis
zee between the rows il % feet. The
rs on the alternate rows are not OPP
|*is Bite, hut set half way between the
rs on the other rows, so that four
ss,s dO not make a square, but Il dia-
Ind. Mr.. Williams says il he were
Bet them out again he would have
BIZ - feet apart, as in years when
crop is as abundant rs it is this
~ the distance between the trees is
y slight.
|l'hc apples are all picked by hand,
"a 1 any apples which drop to the
pund are usually thrown out as tit
y for cider. The apples are divided
20 three classes and are very careful
assorted. All above ~ inches in di-
eter that are without blemish are
k ed us tirst-class. ANY below this
that are not less than / / inches in
meter rank as second class. Many
pple prefer the second class, as the
pies are the same in quality. some
AT cheaper and much more suitable
children The third class consists
. small apples and those which have
n bruised by falling, and find their
IN into the cider mill. One reason
being 50 particular in the assert
- NAlsAA Allt pay u SNoA
n ct 40 cents barrel to have the APP
j. kept in cold rooms until they are
IDLY for delivery, and they can afford
pay for the hest fruit.
Il am not equal To the occasion,
d MI. Williams, ''whcn | see such
orchard as have this year" One
!. of Congress variety las probably
barrels of apples on it. Other trees
Ne 1T least ID barrels of apples. Most
the trees have To be prOpped up
ne at the trees containing as many
twenty props. Various cIrcumstan-
have com bined To make this Il fruit
year. Early in the spring Nh. vii
bus applied manure to the trees anC
nwed it mp with over 1900 pounds
phosphate. The latter Is sometimes
6irr.Ibie ~ il works quicker aud il
r. easily pTOcurabie III large quaint
than manure. In large orchard
third of the apples are generally
amy, but here worIuy apples are few
d far hetween. With good care there
i tile feat eft wormy apples, and Mr.
flliams has proved this rule by prac
The yield of apples last year wa
barrels, and this was the larges
sAd he ever had. Ii any one had tolt
l. Williams last year that his mex
op would Ice over 300 barrels IL,
Duld have been laughed at. 1t is i'm
ssible To tell how many barrels viii
harvested but 2OOO barrels is tin
west estimate and there may b,
arly 1000 barrels.
The whole crop has already beer
ld to one firm, Messrs. Inland, Chess
A. LII
n. This Is the first time that thes
rites have bought from this orchar,
d the apple will soon lind their wa,
over the country.
Last year 1910 barrels of cider wer