TWENTY THIRD ANNUAL MEETING. 57 



recognized led it to be desseminated from beds which had borne an enor- 

 mous and exhaustive crop. With ordinary treatment, its fruiting vigor 

 will never be restored. No matter how many runners are made, they take 

 with them the weakness of the parent plant. 



I have found it very profitable to spend much time in the study of the 

 character of my plants, their adaptability to the different soils, of which I 

 have a great variety. We must learn to economize by throwing away, by 

 culling out, this inferior stock. We can not succeed with a sort not 

 adapted to our soil and location, and just what is best for us can only be 

 learned by experimenting, and practicing the law of the survival of the 

 fittest. Of course, we all understand the safest way is for beginners to 

 confine themselves to those sorts which succeed over a wide area of coun- 

 try, but it is econony to do a good deal of testing. If strong fruiting 

 vigor is to be maintained, we must have a separate propagating bed and 

 stock it with buds and cuttings taken from ideal plants, so that weak and 

 sickly plants shall not be permitted to multiply, but discard them as fast 

 as they appear, and that without regard to the cause that made them so. 



NOT A WASTE TO THIN FRUIT. 



People seem to regard the thinning of fruit a great waste. They do 

 not get the correct idea of it. It means more quarts and bushels each 

 year, and an increase in fruiting power of the plant, as well as higher 

 quality and better remuneration. Markets are glutted with poor fruit 

 only. If we have an enormous crop of small berries one year we shall 

 have a succession of eight crops to follow, but we may have an equal 

 number of quarts of very large berries year after year. The reason of 

 this is that the exhaustive process lies in perfecting the seeds. The pulp 

 or fruit is only the receptacle for the seeds to grow in, and is not exhaust- 

 ive. A small berry contains as many, and nearly as large, seeds as the 

 large berry. All florists understand that, if the flowers are not picked 

 from perpetual bloomers, as soon as seeds begin to form they will cease 

 to get new flowers. The same is true of cucumbers, if a number of fruits 

 are allowed to go to seed. The raspberry, blackberry, and grape should 

 always be gone over after the fruit is set, and all limbs or branches should 

 be either pruned or thinned till they contain only such an amount of fruit 

 as can be brought to the greatest perfection and perfect its wood for the 

 coming year, especially if the wood is to be used for propagating purposes. 



I have not the slightest doubt that herein lies the secret of the decline 

 of our apple, pear, and peach orchards. 



A breeding animal, under the care of its owner, is carefully guarded in 

 this respect; but the plant or tree is allowed full play of all its energies 

 in this direction, until complete exhaustion ensues. My experiments con- 

 firm all my preconceived theories on this subject, that the greatest of all 

 waste comes from this source, and that it must be corrected at once if the 

 value of our favorite varieties is to be preserved. 



HAVE NO LOST MOTION. 



There is another thing that should claim more of the attention of fruit- 

 growers, and that is economy of motion; we make too many motions to 

 accomplish a given piece of work. When I enlisted in the army I was 

 put into camp and drilled for months. I was taught to load and fire a 

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