HINTS F0£ BEQIKNEUS. 



plant ami make fruitful and Lcautiful our liumble half acre ?" By no means do wt; 

 wish to discourage you, or magnify the obstacles that lie in the way of your success. 

 Neither do we ask you to serve an apprenticeship to any great master. What we 

 wich to do, is merely to point out, according to the best of our humble judgment, the 

 true path for beginners to pursue, if they would escape the rock on which so many 

 hopes are shipwrecked. 



We caution you against falling into the error which Mr. A committed, to wit, resolv- 

 ing to eclipse, in his first season, all that his neighbors had accomplished in years. 

 This is a fatal sort of ambition, and one which we can not approve of, although we 

 admire higli aims in general. If you are totally destitute of experience, consult some 

 friend or neighbor who is competent to advise you, and with his assistance lay some 

 plan. Don't make a single move without some fixed plan ; and let it be as simple as 

 it possibly can be, so that a very moderate amount of skill, and care, and expense, 

 can carry it out successfully. If your aim be to cultivate fruits, choose a small list of 

 such as are noted in your district for their thorough adaptation to its soil, climate, Arc. 

 (Eschew new sorts, no matter how imposing the name or how tempting the description.) 

 The management of these for a year or two, if you observe closely and avail yourself 

 of all sources of information, will enlighten you greatly upon the culture of fruits in 

 general ; you will be able to appreciate what you have and what you need, and you 

 may safely extend the field of your culture and experiment. To cultivate fruits suc- 

 cessfully and pleasantly, one needs possess a great variety of information, both general 

 and special : the nature of soils and manures, and their influence upon the various 

 species of fruits ; the nature and influence of stocks which are grafted or budded 

 upon ; the mode of growth and bearing of the various fruits. Then, especially, the 

 kind of soil and degree of fertility required or best adapted to each ; the hardiness, 

 growth, and productiveness of varieties ; the sort of pruning and training best adapted 

 to them ; and how and when to gather the fruit, and the best mode of ripening and 

 preserving it. On all these points much may be gathered from books ; but, after all, 

 we must study our own trees, in our grounds, before we have knowledge applicable 

 to our peculiar wants and circumstances. We know this by experience. What might 

 be judicious and proper at Boston, would very likely require considerable modification 

 to adapt it to Cincinnati or St. Louis ; and even more than this, the same practice 

 would not, in a multitude of cases, be applicable in adjoining gardens. By far the 

 most intelligent and successful amateur fruit growers within our acquaintance are 

 men who commenced with a few well-tested, easily-grown sorts, and added other and 

 newer ones only as their knowledge of cultivation increased. Their whole practice 

 has been successful, and encouraging to themselves and others. 



In ornamental culture we would recommend precisely the same principles, and here 

 indeed it is, if possible, more important than in fruit culture, inasmuch as the objects 

 grown are more varied, and involve a greater variety of detail in their management. 



It is a great mistake which many people seem to labor under, that to have a fine 

 en they must needs have a great variety of plants. We admit that variety 

 rable feature in the embellishment of a garden ; but there can be, and there 



