Year: 1868




the eastern base of the Blue Ridge noun
tains in the States of Virginia and of North
| Carolina, we believe (if you will allow us
space in your widely circulated paper that
we can pen some plain, practical informa-
ton upon the cultivation of fruits which
| will be useful to those who may desire to
engage in this most pleasant and profitable
business. The apple, pear, peach, cherry,
and grape are the great fruits naturally
adapted to the soil and climate Of this sec
tion of country, and are most profitable to
the cultivator, and so easily Of cultivation
that every farmer should have choice and
yell-sclected collection of them. The farm
that has not growing thereon a large and
well selected orchard is not place fit for
| man to live at and We say most emphati-
| cally to every farmer who has not good
| orchard, 20 to work at once and supply the
greatest deficiency on your farm. Plant
and cultivate fruits for market and for home
consumution. The wife can have prepared
for the table many a tart and savory dish
in which fruit will constitute the main in.
gredicnt. The children will fairly dance
over q basket of ripe, ruddy fruit. The
horses, the COWS, the pigs, and the fowls.
are all fond Of the product of the orchard,
and it is good and wholesome for all. Dc
not say that you are too old now to plant an
orchard. 1t would be a splendid legacy to
bcuueath to those who are dear to you. Do
not say that you expect to sell out your
farm, and therefore would not get the bene-


fiji thereof; but if you do really wish to sell
out, then 90 to work at once and plant out
large orchard, and make yours place fit to
live at, and if you still desire to sell out
(which we doubt if you do), you will not
only find q purchaser, but realize hand
some profit on the investment. Do not say
that you have not the money to spare to buy
the plants to start the orchards, but sell Il
horse or cow or two, or even corner o.
your large domains, to make the invest


ment. Do not say that it will be too lout
10 wait before these young plants will fruit
in the orchard. Your Seeding trees, that
have accidentally sprung up about your
farm, will give you no idea how soon You
NAV obtain fruits from fine cultivated vari
| etics and look around you and see if some
/ neighbor did not plant few trees just be-
fore the war, and if he has given them pro-


per attention, hear him now talk about the
golden fruit, and ask what he would tax,
10 nave tlUSC IluIt-lICCS lCulusSN IioII
farm. In fine, make no excuses whatever
but determine that the orchard shall be set
in the approaching season, and if you have
made no choice collection of varieties OF
fruits yourselves, and are not skilled in
the propagation Of these plants, then send
your orders at once 70 some reliable nursery
man. The apple is the great fruit Of all
fruits in the temperate zone. BY n judi
cious selection Of kinds to ripen in success
sion it may be had in perfection the whole
year round and as our space is limited, We
will make the apple a speciality in this arti-
Gle: In order to grow an orchard of fine,
thrifty apple-trees, which will produce an
abundance of fine fruit, after obtaining the
necessary kinds to ripen in succession-oi
which We will speak more fully hereafter
we must commence with the starting of the
Young plants, and inquire what kind of ma
terial has been used by the propagator,
what mode has been practiced in the propa
CATION, and whether or not this material
has been collected in favorable OF an unfa-
vorable fruit-growing locality. The stock
and the graft are the material, and the
mode is to insert the graft into the stock
either above or below the surface where
the union is to take place. Now, if the ma
terial to start these plants has been collect
ed and cultivated in an unfayorable locali-
ty for the apple, we cannot hope for high
perfection, but feeble trees, imperfect fruit
and even death itself at no distant day,
must inevitably be the result. If the gratis
have been cut from water-sprouts, or the
. lower branches of the parent tree, that il
also Objectionable, even in favorable locali-
ties because the water-sprouts are too long
in fruiting, though fine growers. The lower
branches make poor, crooked-growing trees,
although the first to fruit. The mode OF
grating, in common Seeding stocks, above
the surface is bad one, because some
kinds OF apples are much more vigorous
than other kinds are, and when it happens
10 be the case (which occurs as often as
otherwise) that q graft of rapid growth is
inserted above the surface into stock OF
small and uncertain growth, the stock Ii
not vigorous enough FOR the head, it is an
i'll. assorted union, and will never do well
But if we wish 10 grow fine trees that will
produce the best fruits, we must choose for
the parent tree fine, thrifty, young bear
ing tree, in favorable locality, and cut
from it the main leaders, only for the
scions, and insert them into healthy seed
ling stocks about four inches below the sur
race, where the soil is deep and loamy, and
new roots will spring ont of the scion itself
above the union OF the stock. Graft in this
way, and If there be great inequality in the
growth of the stock and graft, the graft will
maintain itself from its own roots. When
the plants have been nicely cultivated in
the nursery rows two years. they are ready
for transplanting into the orchard. They
will then be from four to six feet high,
which is the best size to transplant; for
-,nall-size plants, with an even balance Of
Gbrous roots, which they should have, are
trausplanted with much lees labor than
large ones They take u deep and firm hold
in the ground, are not shaken and careened
by high winds when clothed with foliage III
summer time, rs large-sizcd newly-trans-
planted trees are; and lastly, the small
sized trees will often push up rapidly, soon
overtake and shoot far ahead of the large
ones if the large ones are not well attended
to. Every side branch should be removed
at transplanting, and the main stem cut
hack to three or three and half feet from
the roots, the topmoSt buds, two or three,
as it may be, will push out rapidly, and
soon the head will be formed. If only one
bud (which is not often the case) starts out,
it should be piuched off to three buds on
the new growth. But we are getting along
too fast, not having given due Importance
to the preparation of the borders and the
transplanting. We prefer thorough pre-
paration of the whole soil in the plat by
the plow and sub-soiler, if the soil is not ma
a. l., hnla