150 TEANSACTIONS OF THE HORTICULTUEAL 



We as horticulturists, have found out that, as in feeding of ani- 

 mals, we must give plants not merely a single food, but a diversity 

 of food. The finer fruits that we get to-day are the result of not 

 only high fertilization, but of high cultivation, and it is the special 

 province of the progressive horticulturist that he not only feed well, 

 and prune well but to get the best results, he must thin well and 

 thin early. We have learned that in our clitnate^we must not prune 

 to the old-fashioned umbrella shape. Unlike the old idea in England 

 to let in the sun — which now in England they have much modified 

 — we simply seek to prune so that each leaf surface may get a fair 

 modicum of light, but at the same time protect not only the fruits 

 from the glare of the sun, but the body and branches as well. Let 

 this suffice for this phase of the subject. It is too broad to under- 

 take in a single lecture, or a series of them, let alone a simple talk. 



We know a great deal more now about the effect of the climate 

 on plants than we used to know. We are now pretty well convinced 

 that it is not the absolute cold of winter that kills, so much as the 

 drying out of the substance of trees and plants by our arid and 

 sweeping winter winds; that the effect of a winter's sun under cer- 

 tain conditions of plant life is inimical. I must let these two illus- 

 trations suffice in this direction. 



We are coming to understand that in the application of manure 

 to promote the best possible growth, the soil must have more food 

 than the plants can consume. As we know that in the feeding of 

 animals there must be apparent large waste where animals are to be 

 made very fat, in the case of manure the earth holds the excess, if 

 of clay or loam. We have come to understand pretty thoroughly 

 the value of mulch as a conservator of moisture, and more than all 

 the fact that there is no better summer mulch than the tilth held on 

 the surface of the soil by cultivation, as soon as the earth is in work- 

 ing condition after the rain. It forms a most perfect cushion to 

 prevent evaporation at the surface. We have learned that we need 

 not wait for rain in transplanting delicate plants, but leaving a 

 slight depression to be filled with water, when settled away and then 

 drawing the dry earth over, the plants will grow right along without 

 suffering. 



We now understand fairly well the true economy of nature in 

 the matter of birds and insects in connection with horticulture; that 

 nature works not for one thing alone; that nature is most conserva- 

 tive in her prodigality. 



Thus, what is apparently lost in one way is consumed in another. 

 For instance, plants consume carbonic acid; animals give it off. We 

 now know that horticulture must be a painstaking process; that we 

 must study all science, if we be successful in our business. Thus, a 

 knowledge of chemistry, geology, ornithology, entomology and the 

 other sciences clustering around agriculture, are a great help to the 



