ORCHARDS. 195 



means of fertilizing them, could grow large quantities of fruit, 

 and in rich varieties. It will pay. We have a ready and exten- 

 sive market for early fruit, growing up in our very midst. And 

 besides the idea of sales, good fruit is so promotive of health 

 that we should not, as one has well suggested, have fruit for our 

 own use in stinted quantities, as though it were such a luxury 

 that we could illy afford to partake of it ; but we should eat of 

 it freely — place it upon our tables as a wholesome and ordinary 

 diet. 



But it may be alleged that to raise fruit will require much 

 labor, and we have so much to do on our farms that we cannot 

 spare the time for this. Why not for this as well as for other 

 things, if, as we have seen, this can be made as remunerative 

 as almost any other kind of farm produce ; and if, besides our 

 sales, we and our families can enjoy to satiety the precious 

 products ? 



It is well and truly said, in one of the late reports of the 

 Commissioner of Agriculture, printed in Washington, that " no 

 one should attempt to raise an orchard until he is ready to give 

 his trees such care as is requisite for the production of a crop of 

 corn or potatoes, as the apple-tree must have care in all its 

 stages, from the seed to the mature tree." 



From what was said as to the shortening of the lives of fruit 

 trees, it is apparent that it has become a necessity not only to do 

 what we can to reinvigorate old trees, but oftener than formerly 

 to set out young ones and form new orchards. And it seems to 

 your committee that in doing this it is wisdom in every farmer 

 to make his own nursery, to plant his own seeds, and to do his 

 own grafting and transplanting. For besides the saving in 

 money, it is said that apple-trees grown near the spot where 

 they are to be set out, are worth more than those brought from 

 a distance, which have in most cases but a small supply of roots, 

 and those very likely so long from the native bed that they have 

 nearly or quite dried up, so that the life of them is fast becoming 

 extinct. And this remark applies to other species of fruit trees 

 as well as to the apple. But if we buy any from abroad, we 

 should watch against imposition. Dollars in no stinted numbers 

 have been thrown away, or rather paid for what proved to be 

 worthless. We should secure trees with good roots, a plenty of 



