STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 6 



■equal, and the one that grows the best, is the one which has its full 

 quota of full healthy seeds. It will be held by some that the seed 

 itself has no effect whatever on the development of the fruit; that 

 weak or non-fertilization need not result in a poor development 

 of the fruit; that the sickly apple and weak seed may both result 

 from a common cause, and that the one is not the result of the 

 other. Absolute proof on this point it may be impossible to give, 

 but the circumstantial evidence is very much opposed to this view. 

 From the fact that apples will not grow without seeds, development 

 of the fruit is in proportion to the development of the seeds, as to 

 number and quality; that many apples drop that have no apparent 

 injury but ouly a lack of fertilized seed ; that in a developing apple 

 the presence of larva does not seem to affect the develoment until 

 the seed becomes involved; that trees that are under the best con- 

 dition for producing good seed are the trees that produce the 

 most good fruit ; we must conclude that good fruit is more or less 

 dependent on good seed. 



In the production of apple seeds, which are new beings, we should 

 remember that they are subject to the same laws of re-production 

 as are other beings ; that a proper diversity in the characteristics 

 of the parents is essential. This is best obtained by affording na- 

 ture the greatest opportunity for fertilization by the use of pollen 

 from different varieties. Trees so situated that they do not receive 

 pollen from other varieties, will not mature good fruit under con- 

 ditions as adverse as will trees that do receive pollen from others. 



HOW TO MAKE AN ORCHARD. 



BY S. G. MINKLER, OSWEGO. 



I am called upon to write on orchards. The Secretary did not 

 say what he wanted me to write about, whether location, how to 

 plant, or what to plant. 



It seems almost superfluous to write on orchards, since there has 

 so much been written, line upon line, here a little and there a little. 

 Now that I am not restricted, I will take my text: How to make 

 an orchard. 



First, Location. This should be contiguous to the dwelling; 

 but we cannot always have things just to our fancy, therefore we 

 have to take things as we find them. If the ground is not suitable 

 near the dwelling and you have better further off, choose that. 

 It should be dry, or made so by tiling. Bear in mind that fruit 

 trees will not stand wet feet. Exposure. Now, as I said before, 

 we have to take things as we find them, but would prefer northern 

 and eastern to southern exposure. 



Second, Preparing the Soil. If the soil is not in good tilth, 

 make it so, as if you wished to raise one hundred bushels of corn 

 to the acre. But this should be done one \ear previous to setting 



