STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 81 



out all right. Instead of cancer-like affections that are contiuually 

 spreading broader and deeper, and over which nature has no healing 

 power, we have smooth, fresh w^ounds which nature will hasten to 

 heal. 



TWENTY YEARS EXPERIENCE AND WHAl' 1 HAVE 



LEARNED. 



B3' William P. Athehtox. 



From twenty years experience in the introJuction and propagation 

 of some of the newer varieties of apples, I have learned some things 

 that could not have been learned, perhaps, in an}' other way than bv 

 experimental knowledge and which may serve as a safe guide to 

 future operations in mv own orchard if thev are of no value to others. 



THREE LESSONS. 



First. Not to introduce into my orchard anv new^ variety on a large 

 scale until it has been thoroughly tested in a small way. This 

 statement implies that the besst descriptions and recommendations of 

 the very best authorities upon the subject of fruit-culture should be 

 taken with many grains of doubt, not as to their truthfulness or cor- 

 rectness in general, but onl}' as applied to one's own individual case ; 

 and it implies, furthermore, that the testimon}' even of those in your 

 own immediate neighborhood is not wholly reliable, because soil, if 

 not situation, has as much influence upon the productiveness or non- 

 pi oductiveness of a fruit as climate itself. 



As an illustration, take the King variety of apple. ^Yith my neigh- 

 bor it has succeeded admirably, in growth, in hardiness and in pro- 

 ductiveness ; with me the tree has been perfectly hardy, the growthi 

 of wood slower than that of man\' other varieties and the production, 

 of fruit almost contemptible. My climate is the same as that of my 

 neighbor's, the situation of my trees neither too exposed nor too shel- 

 tered, and I am, therefore, driven to the necessity of ascribing my 

 want of success in producing fruit of this varietv to difference in soil, 

 and this more particularly, because 1 have taken the same pains in 

 the matter of cultivation as with other varieties in my orchard. 

 Perhaps some element, still, is lacking to make them fruitful, but 

 alas I what is it? If a plentN' of barn-yard dressing and an abund- 

 ance of compost made up of muck, manure, ashes, lime and ground 

 bones and applied as a top-dressing every two or three years has 



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