Country Places in Aulunm 233 



the demand for sustenance, made on the roots the first 

 summer after removal. 



This is not only the season to plant very hardy trees, it 

 is also the time to feed those which are already established 

 and are living on too scanty an income. And how many 

 trees are there upon lawns and in gardens -- shade trees 

 and fruit trees - - that are literally so poor that they are 

 starving to death! Perhaps they have once been luxuriant 

 and thrifty and have borne the finest fruit and blossoms 

 so that their owners have smiled and said pleasant words 

 in their praise as they passed beneath their boughs. Then 

 they had a good subsistence, the native strength of the 

 soil passed into their limbs and made them stretch out and 

 expand with all the vigor of a young Hercules. Now, alas, 

 they are mossy and decrepit, the leaves small, the blossoms 

 or fruit indifferent. And yet they are not old. Nay, they 

 are quite in the prime of life. If they could speak to their 

 master or mistress, they would say "First of all, give us 

 something to eat. Here are we, tied hand and foot to one 

 spot where we have been feeding this dozen or twenty 

 years until we are actually reduced to our last morsel. 

 What the gardener has occasionally given us in his scanty 

 top-dressing of manure has been as a mere crust thrown out 

 to a famished man. If you wish us to salute you next 

 year with a glorious drapery of green leaves - - the deepest, 

 richest green, and start into new forms of luxuriant growth 

 -feed us. Dig a trench around us, at the extremity of our 

 roots, throw away all the old worn-out soil you find there, 

 and replace it with some fresh soil from the lower corner of 

 some rich meadow where it has lain fallow for years growing 

 richer every day. Mingle this with some manure, some 

 chopped sods, anything that can allay our thirst and satisfy 

 our hunger for three or four years to come, and see what a 

 new leaf - - yes, what volumes of new leaves we will turn 

 over for you next year. We are fruit trees, perhaps, and 

 you wish us to bear fair and excellent fruit. Then you must 

 also feed us. The soil is thin, and contains little that we 

 can digest; or it is old, and 'sour' for the want of being 



