26 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



from the soil through the roots, and by absorption from the 

 atmosphere by the leaves, which also digest and prepare 

 the crude food thus taken up. The tree is a machine to trans- 

 form the elements of the soil and air into fruit : this machine 

 can do a certain amount of work, and not over-exert itself; 

 but, if it goes beyond this limit, the tree is over-taxed, and it 

 either dies, or is obliged to rest until it has made up for this 

 extra work. It is a fact worth remembering, that every fruit 

 a tree bears over a medium crop must be paid for from the 

 next season's fruit. 



Most of our apple-trees bear enormous crops the years they 

 do bear, and by so doing exhaust the tree, so that it is obliged 

 to rest a year before producing another crop. The season 

 the tree does not bear, all of the plant-food prepared goes to 

 form new growth, and develop fruit-buds. The tree is stored 

 full of nourishment, and bears another large crop the next 

 year; and it will continue in this manner if no outside influ- 

 ence is brought to bear upon it. If we can keep trees from 

 bearing the years they want to bear, which we can by pick- 

 ing off the blossoms, and, by manuring well these }'ears, cause 

 the trees to put on a good growth, they will naturally de- 

 velop fruit-buds, and bear the coming year. I do not say 

 that picking the blossoms off for a single season will abso- 

 lutely change the bearing years, so that it will not bear at all 

 the other years, as the tree has had two seasons in which to 

 store up food, and there may be sufficient to ripen a large 

 orop, and develop fruit-buds for the next year ; but, if one 

 will follow this up for two or three years, I fee no reason 

 why the bearing years of any tree cannot be changed. 



There are instances where trees have had their blossoms 

 picked off for a single year. This caused them to bear the 

 next year ; but, in some cases, they gradually worked back 

 to their regular bearing years, in others, they bore moderate 

 crops every year. If these trees had been made to fix their 

 bearing the odd year by picking off the blossoms for one 

 or two years more, they would, in all probability, have re- 

 mained permanently changed. Quite an interesting case of 

 the bearing year of a large apple-orchard being changed, 

 and permanently changed, in a single year, happened not far 

 from Worcester. The year referred to was the bearing year. 

 The trees blossomed full ; but the canker-worms were abun- 



