The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1885-07-24
A Famous Orchard.

Stte O american HtStOTU, u. i
Powell writes entertainingly of the
kirkland orchard, on College Hill,
Oneida Co, which takes its name from
Samauel Kirkland, or Dominic Kirk
land, as he was better known, TO whom
large tract of land, including the
site Of the orchard, was granted by
the Oneida tribe of Indians and the
state of New York, acting jointly, in
1888. II is supposed that the apple
trees were planted about the beginning
of the present century, the rings in
logs recently cut from the trees con-
tirming that date "The trees, having
attained suitable size, were transplant
ed to the hillside above, about half way
to the site of his school or academy for
Indian youth, now Hamilton College.
The selection of site for his school
showed Kirkland's admirable practic-
able good sense as well as aesthetic
taste. lie was equally at home in
horticulture, for more favorable loca-
ion for fruit does not exist in cen
tral New York. Opening just below
the college and running down with
ample spread into the valley is com
plexity of swales, fully to the south
east. Sheltered from both west and
north west winds, this vale opens to the
full morning sun. 1t is to-day the
home of such fruits as cannot be sue
cessfully grown and ripened at the
distance of half mile to the east or
half mile to the west. Besides,
there is in central New York no finer
outlook than over the broad Oriskany
Valley down into the Mohawk and
over the Trenton and Dearheld Hills
and the ranges that flank southwark
to Paris and Hanover To-day you
can stand under the Dominie's trees
and count the chimneys of New York
mills, the steeples of Utica, the fur.
mace stacks of the iron smelters, be-
sides half dozen thriving villages of
great beauty.
"The original orchard numbered
about 200 trees, covering four or five
acres. Another orchard further south
is probably to be traced to this little
nursery sowed at the foot of College
Hill. The fruit was as varied in quail
ity as is usual with Seeding. No
grating was done until Mrs. Robin
son, the daughter of kirkland, and her
husband, the Rev. DR.. Edward Robin.
son, decided portion of the land to
John Powell. Two men then lived on
College Hill whose tastes were pre-
eminently horticultural; one was
Jonas Noyes, Professor of Chemistry
in Hamilton College, and John Powell.
Both of these men put forth strenuous
efforts to introduce the best varieties
apples, pears, plums, ard whatever else
they could acclimatize. They grated
with enthusiasm. Powell went so far
as to graft the wild cherries in the
woods, for the birds he said. with a
mingling Of poetry and gentle good
nature. Owning large part of the
Kirkland orchard, he began to i'm
prove the fruit by grating. In the
middle of the century while the trees
were in full vigor, no finer autumn
sight could be seen than the Spitzenbures
and russets that clothed the branches. No
codling moths or curcuious had then
entered claim to our choicest fruits.
"Many Of the original fruits were,
however of such special value as to
preserve them from the grating saw.
1t was easy to trace the blood of the
stock back to English and French ap-
pies of fame over 100 years ago; nota-
bly, the Swaar, the English pippin and
belletluer. A good horticulturist will
thus detect the ancestry of almost any
wild fruit. OF the better seedlin gs
one alone has proved of such superior
quality IS to enable it to secure .
place among the market apples of to-
day. This shows bellhuer blood pre-
dominating, but as Patrick Barry
thinks was the result of a cross with
the Swaar. 1t bears the name of the
originator; and along side Hamilton
College think the Dominic would
now rejoice to see the Kirkland apple
growing in its luxuriance and beauty.
Certainly the college has been less
just to its founder in taking the name
of another patron, than the owners
of the orchard in giving his memory a
perpetual youth in the ever-propagated
and rejuvenated apple.
"The orchard retained its vigor un-
til about tie middle of the century.
When John Powell died, proper care
of the trees ceased. The professional
CRATER was allowed to cut at will. To
increase his pence no mans propensity
is so violently toward slaughter. The
trees were otherwise, for few years,
neglected. AS result most of them
are dead, and the rest bear the wounds
received in the era of professionalism.
A few are sure to fall each year,
and the hardest will hardly outlive
the century. But among The survivors
is the original Kirkland apple tree.
This will be carefully guarded, and at
last replaced by a root sucker that
will only repeat the same fruit and
stand as a memorial in the twentieth
century, or even twenty first, of the
man who taught the Onedans the arts
Of peace in the eighteenth. To make
it more sure of preservation, stone
will even be set up beside the tree: re-
cordnp its historical value