286 ILLINOIS STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



themselves were ; for as a rule this seems to be a provision of nature to 

 perpetuate the various races and species in both these kingdoms, and is 

 not antagonistic to the general law of hereditary descent. Yet "the 

 mills of the gods grind slowly;" and although seedlings grown from 

 seed of an isolated Rambo may be a little better fitted to endure the sud- 

 den changes and great extremes of our northern climate than the parent, 

 it would take, perhaps, scores of generations of such trees to develop a 

 class of trees as hardy as the Siberian apples. Duchess of Oldenburg, 

 Tetofsky, etc. ; and the practical orchardist is seldom inclined to experi- 

 ment in directions like this, where his success is at best very remote, par- 

 tial or doubtful ; he prefers, and wisely too, to take such varieties, and 

 plant in such situations, and protect from the extremes of climate in such 

 manner, as give most promise of success. And it is always safer to predi- 

 cate success upon the history of past experiences and observations, than 

 upon untried hypotheses, however reasonable they may appear to be. 

 Hence it is the practice, and I think a good one, too, for orchardists 

 within the bounds of this Society to select seedlings of the so-called 

 "iron clad" varieties, for stocks upon which to graft, rather than take 

 promiscuous seedlings ; and to engraft varieties upon them which are 

 known to be hardy, rather than take the chances of success with those 

 whose record for hardiness is not so clear. 



Fourth — Pruning. Some hints have already been given, which, if 

 heeded, would lead to correct conclusions in reference to pruning. Nature 

 always provides for the shading of the trunks of trees ; when they grow 

 from the seeds in isolated places they are furnished with side branches 

 from the ground up, when not destroyed by animals ; but when they 

 grow, as they usually do, in groups or groves, these side branches drop 

 off, as they are not needed for the protection of the trunks, or become 

 smothered by over-topping branches; and this provision gives timber for 

 the use of man, but not the abundance of fruit which is produced upon 

 the bushy, isolated trees. We plant orchards for fruit, and not for saw- 

 logs; and the rule holds good, in the main, that where apple trees are 

 pruned, from their youth, to tall bodies, the owner gets less fruit, though 

 he may secure a better rail cut or saw-log than if the side branches had 

 not been pruned off. 



Pruning induces the multiplication of "water sprouts; " hence, if a 

 system of orchard pruning is commenced, it must be continued indefi- 

 nitely, or the result would be an impenetrable thicket in the tree head. 

 There are but few varieties, such as Willow Twig, which, if left to them- 

 selves, will form heads so dense as to prevent gathering the fruit. Such, 

 and only such, require an occasional opening of passage ways for the 

 fruit gatherer. The plea of thinning out the middle of the head to let in 

 the sunshine upon the fruit and limbs contains more moonshine than 

 sunshine, for the truth is, we want a good crop of foliage, and so distrib- 

 uted that the sun may shine upon it, in order to have the best fruitage ; 

 and nature usually attends to this distribution when man does not inter- 

 fere. 



