Care Of The Orchard

The following is the paper on tn ( above topic read at the State Porno . logical Society by Mr. Nathan Shot well, of Eaton county : There is no better time for pruning the orchard, than during the months of February and March, and that important business should not be neglected. Though orchardists to some extent disagree in regard to the yery best time for pruning, some prefering the month of June, and others even later in the season ; nearly all agree that February and March is a good time, if not the best ; and as it can be attended to at this season of the year without interfering with other important duties of the farm, that important duty should be attended to at once. The business should be at least overseen by the farmer himself, or one somewhat accustomed to the business, and not lef t to ignorant hired men, who of ten do more damage than good to the orchard. The removai or iarge uianwies should be avoided as much as possible ; the center of the top kept quite open, though not suificient to allow the sun's rays to strike any of the bare branches, and such a geneial thinning should be accomplished as will let in light, and allow the circiüation of air Fruit never matures well in a thick shade. It is better to go through the orchard annually, cutting out the sap sprouts, and thinning here and there as is necessary, than to allow the top to get heavy and bushy and do all the cutting in one year. Trees that have lately been graf ted should be yearly pruned without fail, until the old top is wholly removed and the new cions have taken its place. Much money is worse than thrown away in gratting on account of such needless neglect. Young grafts that are neglected and not pruned for four or five years after setting, lose their vitality and thrift ; the center of the stock in which they are set more or less dies and decays, and the cions become so diseased that no treatment will afterwards make them of much value. Thousands of dollars are yearly expended for grafting in this State that never pay a dollar to the employer, for no other cause but that of af ter-neglect. It is useless to graf t an orchard unless pruning is afterwards promptly attended to; but if proper care is afterwards bestowed, an orchard bearing worthless fruit, and even if the trees are old but the bodies sound, can be made one of the most profitable portions of the farm. It is not so much the age as it is the sounc1ness of the trees that should govern ühe judgment in determining whether the trees are worth grafting, The writer has grafted orchards of 30 and 40 year's standing when grafted that are now bearing as profusely as the younger ochards in their vicinity. Orchards should be well mulched and thoroughly pastured with sheep and hogs, or else eultivated without cropping. The mulching (coarse, half-rotten manure is the best) should not be piled against the bodies of the trees, as is often done, but should be spread evenly over the roots, as much to destroy the sod as to furnish nourishment to the trees. If the soil has been exhausted by cropping, richer manure will be needed. Ashes, lime, muck, old leaves, etc, are al ways valuable. If the orchard is young, and just planted out, a few years of thorough cultivationisvery important. Corn, potatoes or other hoed crops may be planted with profit if the soil is rich as the soil of a young orchard should be, but wheat. oats, barley or meadow should be very decidedly avoided. Such crops are such absorbers of the moisture of the soil that young trees will seldom thrive while growing in connection with Inein. One of the greatest losses that the fruit grower sustains in the raising of fruit for market purposes is an injudi cious selection of varieties. This is a very important subject, and a subject, too, that even those who have devoted some attention, and have had more or less experience in the cultivation of fruit, unfortunately, to some considerable extent, disagree. A committee appointed by the Grand River Valley Ilorticultural Society, as reported in the Pomological Report for 1876, report a list of seven varieties in a list of one hundred trees for winter market fruit, among which is neither a Baldwin nor a Russet, but thirty Canada Reds, ten Wageners, twenty Peck's Pleasants, ten Ben Davis, etc, while I E. Ilgenfrits of the Monroe Nursery recommends twenty Baldwins, three Wageners.flve Canada Reds, two Peck's Pleasants, three Golden Russets, etc. An orchard of one hundred trees of winter apples without a Baldwin or a Russet, in my opinión, would be very deficiënt. There is no variety of winter fruit that will bear more bushels of markutable apples than that of the Baldwin, and their color and size usually make them command the highest price. The Golden Russet, too, is one of the hardiest of trees, a prof use bearer, and the fruit can be kept until it wiU bring a good market price in any season. So, too, is the Iloxbury Russet, one of the very best of our long-keeping varieties. lts size, riehness of ilavor, excelling for cooking and eider, reviders it hardly totoe excelled. But the tree is somewhat tender, and the fruit quite subject to injury by the codling moth. Yet with all its failings it should occupy a place in every orchard. In fact a good list of the old varieties still stand niirly at the head of the best list of fruit. The Russet, the Greening, the Baldwin, the Talman Sweeting, the Wine. the Ladieï' Blush, the Astracán, the Sweet Bow, the Sour Bow, the Golden Sweet, etc, their places can hardly be fllled.