168 3 ANNUAL REPORT. " 
have been used to bring about the results so gratifying to us, it 
becomes the province of man to assist nature in producing such 
results as shall be deemed most profitable and useful. Those who 
would leave their trees to take care of themselves after havin 
placed them in an artificial position, will find that nature will neither 
respect their ignorance nor reward their indolence. The cultivator 
must not expect that nature will undo what he has poorly done, or 
presume that after a tree has received an unnatural and immature © 
growth, it will pass through the winter as safely as a tree grown 
entirely by nature. It appears to be an established fact that the 
safety of a tree through the winter depends, to a great extent, upon 
its condition in the autumn preceding; and it cannot be too firmly 
impressed upon the mind of the cultivator, that the ripening of the 
seasons growth is of the greatest importance, to enable us to bring 
our trees safely through our extremely cold and changeable winters. 
A few words from a celebrated writer will throw some light on this 
subject: ‘‘ The mechanical action of frost may, however, undoubt- 
edly be guarded against to a great extent. It is well known that 
the same plant growing in a dry climate, or in a dry soil, or ina 
situation thoroughly drained from water during the winter, will 
resist much more cold than if cultivated in a damp climate, or in a 
place affected by water in winter. Whatever tends to render tissue 
moist will increase the power of conducting heat, and consequently 
augment the susceptibility of plants to the action of frost, and 
whatever tends to diminish the humidity will also diminish their 
conducting power, and with it their susceptibility. This is an in- 
variable law, and must consequently be regarded as a fundamental 
principle in horticulture, upon which success in the adaptation of 
plants to a climate less warm than all their own will essentially de- 
pend. The destructive effects of frosts upon the succulent parts of 
plants may thus be accounted for independently of the mechanical 
expansion of their parts; indeed, it is chiefly to that circumstance 
that the evil effects of cold in spring may be ascribed, for it has 
been found that trees contain nearly eight per cent. more of aqueous 
matter in March than at the end of January, and all experience 
shows that the cultivation of plants in situations where they are 
liable to be stimulated into growth, and consequently to be filled 
with fluid by the warmth and brightness of a mild protracted autumn, 
exposes them to the same bad consequences as growing them in 
damp places, where the wood does not ripen. The ripening process 
consists in the slow but gradual and complete removal of watery 
matter, and the conversion of fluid organizable materials into the 
more solid substances which are necessary to form woody fibre, and 
its effects are seen not only in the power conferred of resisting cold, 
but also in providing the secretions necessary to sustain the growth 
of the following spring. 
Having thus clearly shown a great fundamental principle of 
horticulture, we must cause the operative details to harmonize with 
it. It is, however, unnecessary to give a minute description of the 
manner of cultivation to attain the object. A few general rules 
will suggest to us all the details necessary. First, we prefer to lay 
the ground off into lands 12 feet wide, and backfurrow it twice or 
