336 ILLINOIS STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



If for fruit, our trees need space, in order to secure air and sunlight ; if 

 for beauty as well as fruit, to develop the just symmetry of their forms. 



The man that plants cannot realize, when his trees are young, that it 

 will require but few years — say from fifteen to twenty — for them to cover 

 more than their alloted space. The proper distance for planting depends 

 to a very great extent on the kind and character of the tree, to be deter- 

 mined by the judgment of the planter. I have found twenty-four feet as 

 close as a profitable planting could be made. Much valuable time, and 

 many excellent trees, have been lost by a too close planting. In years 

 past, for experiment, I have planted some trees at a distance of sixteen 

 feet, but always at a loss. There is another serious objection to close 

 planting. If crowded when young, you fix a habit that is not easily 

 changed. 



A long, slender stem, is a tree of beauty in the forest, but is illy 

 calculated to stand alone to brave the winds and storms, much less to 

 reward the cultivator with its harvest of fruit. We assume, then, that 

 when the proper space and cultivation are given, we shall find the sturdy 

 tree firmly rooted, defying the storms and winds, and giving its fruit in 

 due season. I have said that we need air and sunlight. The sun's rays 

 are as potent for good, in perfecting our fruits and in the destruction of 

 fungoid life, as they are efficient in the home of man, in removing the 

 mildew and foul gases that too often lie concealed in his dark abodes. We 

 too little estimate, I fear, the essential matter and the life-giving power 

 imparted by the sun, for the reason that it seems to us so common. It 

 would appear that the richest portions of our fruits, and the most valuable 

 part of our grains, are those parts placed by nature, having the fullest ex- 

 posure to the sunlight. 



In all new countries, men are deceived. They will tell you that their 

 trees bear abundantly, and that the fruit is fair. On a new soil, these con- 

 ditions will generally exist. This will not always last. With all our efforts, 

 many of our best fruits are gradually losing their early value, and our trees 

 their former productiveness. This condition may arise from various causes 

 — one, the gradual loss of the appropriate matter in the soil, necessary to 

 maintain the healthy functions of tree life. As one means to restore this 

 loss, and to furnish the requisite elements to the soil, I would suggest that 

 the ashes both of wood and coal be utilized as a fertilizer. Our towns 

 and cities furnish a large amount that would go far toward restoring the 

 annual loss caused by the production of large crops of fruit, and the waste 

 caused from tree growth. The silent power of vital force, that can select 

 atom by atom the particles of inert matter, and convert into living tissues, 

 should be better understood. I do not pretend to say that this vital force 

 has the power — shall I call it instinct ? — to select such matter, even if 

 furnished, that will at all times secure a healthy fruit — free from rot or scab 

 (fungi.) That form known as rot, either in the apple, peach, or grape, 

 we conceive must propagate itself, as has been expressed by others, by the 

 introduction of the mycelia of this fungoid growth, entering the tissues 

 either of tlie tree or fruit, which give rise to the reproductive bodies at 

 once. When the normal condition of the tree or plant is such that it can 



