Cultivating Fruit Orchards

There continuo to be considerable differronce of opinión as to whetker fruiorchards 6hould be cultivated er not. We think tho opinión of ïnaay. oxperieneed cultivators, which have hvays beou our own aud which. i'roui time to time has boon given in onr colatans, ought tohave weight. Wt tUink tliat jroapg aapfe or pear orchanis can bo cultivuted wffch eafety tor three or i'our years, after setting out ainong tho most of the least cxlmusting vegetables, especially lettuce, beets, cabbage, cneranbers, tomatoes, canteloupes, squaslies etc, until tlie trees reaoh . from two and a half' to three inehes in diaujedjr, when tho ground should be put in moadovr grass and remain untouched. by the plow eirer after, all the nmnnreroquired being a good top-dressing every other yoar. We are firmly of the opinión that whero fruit trees arrivo at a stage ■whero they are able to takO care of theniBelves, they do decidedly better in gras than in anything else, and tliis grass roturns a heavier erop of hay than timothy or clover, and is also excellent for pasture for both cattle and swine. We havo seen lmndreds of pear and applo trees of choico varieties so situated, anuually loadod with fruit and the trees in a liealthy condition. We havo still upon our preñases six pear trees, believed to be over a hundred years old, standing in sod tvhich has been disturbad only once in fifty years, as tvo arn informcd, being in our possession over twenty-five years - that annually produco heavy crops, and three of tin-in are still in a thrifty condition, each of which wcre yielding good crops of choieo pears from grafts inserted in fruit-bearing braache seven or eight years ago ! This would to bo pretty strong evidenco in favor of the non-cultivation of standard pears. As to dwarf pear and applfi trees the tri' tincnt should be quite different. We cultívate the soil about the samo as any portion of tbe gardu for vegetables, applying every fa)l good top-dressing of stable manure. If any of our trees grow too rapidly and are disposed to become larger tbah we wish them, they are rootpruned - that is, the spadfi is sunk down as deeply as it will go from two and a half to three feet from the stem, and this should be done every Spricg1, rf necessary. If they spread too rapidly we prune them to bring tlu-m into shape and proper si zo, and havo vet to see the first