1356. Transplanting Trees, Effects of Frost, &c. 455 



the love of the artificial which is now so prevalent. It will tame i\iQ 

 restlessness of that ambition which is ever seeking the chief good iu 

 external blandishments— in wealth, in political distinction," in the 

 gratification of the still lower and more groveling passions of a cor- 

 rupt heart. 



Manuring at the time of transplanting, ploughing, manuring 

 stimulating, and forcing the growth of trees afterwards, may all 

 be well enough on the hill sides of i\ew England, and on the sandy 

 plains further south; but in We West, the man that pursues such a 

 course does it at the imminent danger of losing his orchard by win- 

 ter killing. I know this to be true, for I have tried it on one or- 

 chard and lost thirty out of one hundred as fine apple trees as I ever 

 looked at, in one winter, by being winter killed; and thousands be- 

 sides^ have tried like experiments with the same disastrous results. 

 With us the question is not, how shall we make our trees grow 

 faster, but how shall we keep them in a healthy condition without 

 letting them grow too fast. After an orchard is set out, crops that 

 require cultivation may be grown on it with safety for four or five 

 years; after that, it should be kept in clover, and if the clover dies 

 out, it should be ploughed and harrowed in the flill after the trees 

 are done growing, and clover again sown in February or March fol- 

 lowing. 



If it becomes indispensable to cultivate an orchard to extirpate 

 foul weeds, it should always be done when the trees are well loaded 

 with fruit; then all the energy of the tree is directed to the maturing of 

 fruit, and there is no danger of an inordinate fall growth or winder 

 killing. When an orchard is ploughed and the ground put in good 

 order m the f-ill, it induces an early vigorous growth of the trees the 

 next season; and if the trees make a large early growth, they make 

 a small late one ; and vice versa. 



If an orchard is ploughed in the spring and cultivated in some 

 crop till harvest, the mutilation of the fibrous roots, and spongioles 

 retards the early growth of the trees, and induces a late growth, 

 placing the trees in the best possible condition to be killed; provide 

 ed the fall and winter favor such a result. 



