358 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



old trees in a healthy, productive condition would have been found now in ten- 

 fold numbers. Many of our old trees have for thirty or forty years been left 

 at commons, or allov^ed to grow as they might, in neglect, partly from the fact 

 that better fruit had been introduced, and that it would be cheaper to raise a 

 new tree than to graft an old one. It is my deliberate opinion that, with such 

 care as we now give to our orchards, these trees at 100 years of age would have 

 been as productive as at any time of their life. How much of this vitality is to 

 be ascribed to the soil and how much to the quality of the fruit, it is not in my 

 province to determine. But while it is doubtless true that their longevity is 

 not to be ascribed to the soil alone (though it is largely due to that, as I shall 

 suggest hereafter), much of it should be charged to constitutional vitality : 

 and it may be that our modern improved kinds will not make such a good 

 record of life. 



Our imported fruit may have a value more from the very name, — like that of 

 the leg of the Irish captain mentioned by General Sherman in his Memoirs. 

 The gallant captain had been so badly wounded that the surgeons talked seri- 

 ously of amputation. Against this the captain protested loudly, for the reason 

 that it would be a shame to cut off the leg; that it was a very valuable leg, 

 heing an imported one. So our fruit in these days may have an tinported ^aYor, 

 but at the expense of a shattered constitution. 



THE FOKCIXG PROCESS. 



A motto of the olden time was to plant an orchard for your children to 

 enjoy, not expecting to gather much yourself. In our times the generation of 

 our fruit tree rarely exceeds that of man. Is it true that the forcing process 

 of our times conflicts with the natural laws of life ? Is fast growth in a tree, 

 like fast living in a man, the sure prelude to early decrepitude ? Is it true 

 that the choicest flavor is acquired at the sacrifice of the life of the tree? 

 How is it, that often in an orchard you see, on the last decaying branch, an 

 apple, the last gift of expiring nature, that rivals the renowned golden apples 

 of the Hesperides, as beautiful and as fleeting as the hectic glow on the cheek 

 of dying beauty ? As I have said before, is it not possible that we are getting 

 quality at the expense of constitution ? But I leave that question to be settled 

 by those of you who are better fitted to discuss the subject than myself. 



GOOD COKSTITUTIOXS. 



Of this, at least, I am assured ; the old apple trees and pear trees of the 

 Eaisin had good constitutions. AYhether it was because they came from good, 

 long-lived, hardy stock, or because they have stood, grown, and drawn their 

 life from the rich, deep soil of the Eaisin valley, I seek not to solve. I am 

 assured that their longevity and vigor is to be credited largely to the generous 

 fostering of a generous soil ; and a few remarks as to its characteristics may 

 not come amiss. 



CENTRAL MICHIGAN". 



My home to manhood was in the central part of the State. I know full well, 

 as a farmer's boy, what the soil of the geologic drift period is. I know full well 

 what can be j)roduccd by the gravel and boulders that came down from the north 

 in those huge glaciers, which rolled and pounded the rocks they had torn up 

 as they started on their southern mission, till they dropped them, all polished 

 and rounded, from their icy embrace. I have seen how their mighty waters 

 winnowed out the earthen harvest, leaving here the boulder, there the gravel, 

 and there the sand. I have seen where the turbid elements, charged with 



