Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1888-06-07
MATURING ORCHARDS.
Comments and Suggestions Of an Exp<
Pieueed HOrttcultuFfst.

| MANURlN0 ORCHARDS.
Comments and Suggestions Of an Exps.
rienced H0rticultuFtst.
1t has often been asserted. and Is No
doubt true, that orchards to produce
the best results. should be MANFRED
the same as any other fields. That to
obtain the largest yield and finest quail
ity of fruit the orchard must have al
much manure as the grain field. The
proof. although convincing. has not
usually been overwhelming. If man
MANFRED his orchard and obtained an
unusually good crop that year, il
might be said that the season was more
favorable. and there would have been
large crop any way. If he MANFRED
q part and left part without manure.
it might be. that owing to dry season
or the coarsepess of the manure, that its
richness would not reach the roots OF
the trees in time to show its value that
year. and the experimenter come tc
the erroneous conclusion that manure
was of no value to an orchard.
Isold man half an acre of land for 8
building lot and garden. In running
it out the division line took -four
Baldwin apple trees from my
young orchard, and left fom
others of the same kind adjoining
them. Of the same aye, and equally as
large and thrifty. Very early in the
spring the man gave his lot where the
trees stood. and which part he intended
for his garden, a heavy coat of manure
and plowed it under. He made his
garden about May l. and gave it tol.
erably good cultivation. From the
time the trees leaved out in the spring
till late in the fall. could see a
marked difference between his trees
and mine. The leaves of his trees
were of darker, richer green, they
bloomed fuller. and bore crop of APP
pies a third larger than my trees. The
next year his trees showed the same
superiority. the effect of the manure
still being apparent and manifestine
itself n the deeper green foliage and
increased yield of fruit.
This experiment, which was not in.
tended for an experiment, convinced
me that. to obtain the best results
from an apple orchard, it must he
MANFRED.
In regard to pear trees. my OBJ
servation has been that the trees
heavily MANFRED were the most sub
ject to blight, as is we'll known to be
the case with potato vines.
had three pear trees. one of which
stood just below a hog-pen. where the
ground was very rich. Tne tree grew
fast. and. after it had borne two or
three years, about one-third OF the
limbs blighted at the time the pears
were about One-fOurth their full size.
The blighted limbs were promptly
sawed Oft. but the next year the re-
mainder of the limbs were struck with
blight. and the tree died. Another
tree standing below smoke-house.
where large quantity of wood-ashes
had made the soil rich. especially in
potash. was struck with blight at tho
same time with the other. The tree
had borne several years, and was APP
parently in very vigorous and
healthy condition. when. suddenly. as
if fire had been built under it, the
leaves wilted, the little green pears
withered, and the whole tree died.
The other tree stool about half way
hof fhneo <vv0 in ,,oornr c.,;l .,,,I
the tree had not grown SO fast, the
wood was better ripened. the bark
thicker. and was not affected ut all
with blight in the years when the other
two were killed. nor until several
years after. when sOms small, thrifty
limbs blighted. and were sawed off
without any apparent injury to the
tree, which last year bore good crop
of fine pears.
think it is not in accordance with
the opinion of those pomologists who
have made pear-blight a lifelong
study. but could not help thinking
that in the case of my trees the injury
was caused by the hot sun shining on
limbs with thin. smooth bark nearly
bursting with sap.
The blighted limbs when cut into
showed reddish hue in both the inner
bark and the wood. as if the sap had
been scalded. The bark, before it
withered and dried up. was loosenctl
from the wood, and there was red
dish sap between the bark and tho
wool. do not assert that too rank
growth and hot sun is the cause of
pear blight merely state the facts as
they appear to me.-Cor. Country Gen
t!em1n.
The Growth Of Pigs.