THF, WISCONSIN FARMER.



more general cultivation in these days. The
blossoms are very various as to color, and are
so profuse as to almost hide the plant. Grow-
ing in a bed they are but a little behind the1
Hyacinth for beauty and attractiveness.

        Orchard Culture in the West.

  At the last meeting of the American Pomo-
logical Society, held in Boston last fall, Dr. J.
A. Warder, of Cincinnati, read a paper on or-
chard culture in the West.  From our own
observation, we can bear testimony to the cor-
reotness of one or two points touched in the
following remarks copied from the Doctor's
Essay. We have reference to the pasturing of
hogs in the orchard, planting low headed trees,
and near together so as to shade the ground.
We are familiar with an orchard near Dubuque,
some fifteen years old, and of about two acres
in extent. In that orchard the trees have at-
tained a large size, and stand so near together
that in many cases the tops nearly, if not quite,
interlace their branches.  The orchard has
been in grass ever since we knew it-a period
of some six years, and during that time, we
believe, it has never failed to produce a fair
crop of fruit. The ground is so completely
shaded that the grass crop amounts to little or
nothing. Upon the south side of the orchard,
some of the outer trees show the effects of sun
and wind by their inclination to the northeast
and blackened decay upon the sunny side of
the stem. Dr. W. says:
   "' When the orchard has acquired a sufficient
growth, and assumes its condition of maturity
and fruit-bearing, it no longer so imperatively
requires to be cultivated, and is somewhat bet-
ter if let alone; having been laid down to clo-
ver, or clover and orchard grass, it should be
made use of as a hog walk. No other stock
should ever be permitted to set hoof upon the
soil appropriated to the orchard. The swine
alone should be allowed to pasture it, and to
consume the fallen fruit, thus destroying im-
mense numbers of insects, they will keep these
pests in check.  They will distribute their
droppings over the surface, and they may even
be allowed to root in the soil, to some extent,
with their snouts. Should weeds make their
appearance, they may be mowed and left upon
the ground, or thrown about the trees as a
mulch; but with the close planting that is now
generally recommended, and sometimes prac.
ticed, and with the low headed trees that are
so very much preferred by all who have had
an opportunity of observing their advantages,
there is really little space left for any crol
among the trees, except grass, and this wil
scarcely grow beneath them, in the thick shade
of their depending boughs.
    "Shall an old orchard ever be plowed? ism
 question often asked by those who have neg
 leeted their trees, or who have fallen heirs ti



orchards of the old style, with tall trunks and
ong. naked branches, furnished only with a
)rush of decrepit spray at their extremities,
chile their roots are starved beneath an old
sod that has been tramped and pastured for
rears. Under these circumstances, the trees
prodncing an excess of blossoms and fit uit,
having ceased to make any thrifty wood growth,
nay need a thorough cultivation, as well as
severe pruning. to invite a reproduction of
iealthy wood and foliage. The damage that
ensues from breaking the roots is more than
)verbalanced by the renewed vigor that ensues.
k thorough pruning, removing the dead limbs,
md thinning out those that are too close, scar-
ify ing the bark, and washing the stems with
an alkaline solution, will ensdre the rejuvenes-
cence of the trees, which are then able to push
rorth new roots where the plow had broken the
)ld ones, and with these adjuvants, and with
the application of lime, the breaking up and
after cultivation of the soil will be of the
greatest advantage to the old orchard. Still,
it is a question whether it be not better to
avoid the necessity for this treatment; and it
is believed that by a suitable course this neces-
sity may be obviated. The proper cultivation
of the young trees does not materially injure
the roots, and it preserves the soil in a condi-
tion most favorable for their renewah In an
orchard that has been thus cultivated, there
will always be a system of roots at a depth be-
low the influence of the plow; these are per-
manent. If, on the contrary, by mulching or
otherwise, the roots have been brought very
near the surface, the thorough plowtng may
seriously injure the trees by too much break-
ing of these important organs; here, as in
other cases, the less of two evils must be chos-
en, nor can there be any question as to the
propriety of plowing in the condition supposed
above, that of an orchard showing signs of de-
crepitude from neglect of pruning, and of pro-
per care of trees,, with a grass-bound surface
of the soil beneath them, and hard, mossy
bark, so that they are well styled hide-bound.
The condition of a thickly planted and well
grown orchard, with low heads, shading the
ground, and mulched with the decaying grass
and leaves, is more like that of the primeval
forest, and such trees may be allowed to con-
tinue for many years without plowing; indeed
it may be doubted whether, if occasionally
limed, they be not really better without this
disturbance of their roots."-Iowa iHomaestead.


            Seeding down Orchards.
  MR. EDITOR:-In relation te seeding or-



chards, my experience is against it, particu-
larly with clover. I tried it and thought to
keep up the fertility by top-dressing.  I got
great crops of bay, but injured my orchard



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