ORCHARDS. 103 



be both great and ^ood. As a sonrce of pccnniary profit, we 

 are persuaded that the labor of the farmer in tliis county can- 

 not be turned to better account than by the cultivation of fruit ; 

 only he must be content " to labor and to wait." Something 

 more will be required than to set out his trees ; they need cul- 

 tivation as much as the field of corn. Every month of the 

 year they need something to be done, and which cannot be 

 neglected. Labor and care are the conditions of success here 

 as well as every where else. 



We do not propose to write an essay upon the raising of 

 fruit trees, but a few thouglfts have been suggested by our 

 visits to the orchards of the county, wliich we beg leave to 

 offer. We think more pains should have been taken than has 

 usually been the case, in the selection of the young trees from 

 the nursery. A tree can be forced into proper shape after it 

 is transplanted into the orchard ; but it is far better that it 

 should grow into proper shape in the nursery. It is the busi- 

 ness of the tree raiser to furnish you with a straight, healthy, 

 well-balanced, well-rooted tree, a model, on a small scale, of 

 what you want in a full grown tree. If he has not done this, 

 he has not done his work well. Why should you patronize 

 him more than any other bungler, and oblige yourself to do his 

 work over for him ? There are trees to be had whose branches 

 are neither too many nor too few j they are the right height 

 from the ground, and are regularly distributed about the trunk. 

 Such trees are the most profitable to set out. Too much pains 

 cannot be taken to have a straight trunk and a well-balanced 

 top. The former can be obtained either by tying it to a stake 

 driven into the ground, or by a stake lashed to the body of 

 the tree. The latter can be secured by judicious pruning, or, 

 in some cases, by cutting oif the ends of the growing shoots 

 on the heaviest side, and thus throwing the growth on to the 

 weaker side. A tree which divides into two branches near the 

 ground, can be made a useful tree only by cutting off one 

 branch, even if it takes half of the tree ; the other half is better 

 than the whole would be. If the tree is not well shaped, the 

 fault is in the orchardist ; he has no one to blame but his own 

 want of care or skill. 



We have noticed, with regret, that some of the gentlemen 



