THE QUARTER ACRE LOT OR ORCHARD. 



^HE quarter acre lot and orchard, I 

 think, is a fit subject for my paper, 

 as in towns and also a large area 

 of the cities we either own or rent 

 a house with a quarter or half acre of land ; 

 therefore, I think this paper should demand 

 a considerable amount of discussion. But 

 before I enter into the quarter acre lot and 

 orchard, I would say to the young men of 

 both city and town that there could not be 

 any nicer or better, or, perhaps, any more 

 profitable study than the orchard. Let a 

 schoolboy in his early 'teens take the seed of 

 the apple, pear or plum ; let him sow them, 

 and what a delight it will be to him when he 

 will first see the tiny little leaflets peep 

 through the soil. Then he becomes inter- 

 ested as he watches the growth, until the 

 time comes for to graft or bud that stock 

 with his favorite fruit, and there he does 

 assist nature in her grand design ; and still 

 he watches its advancement, and before he 

 is through with his study he receives his re- 

 ward, for the tiny little leaves that he first 

 watched coming through the soil is now a 

 large tree loaded with delicious fruit. Oh, 

 what a happy thought and what pleasure for 

 that young man when he grows to be an old 

 man to think that he assisted nature to some 

 degree ! But I fear I have lost sight of my 

 quarter acre lot and orchard. And now, 

 by way of illustration, say a quarter acre 

 of land contains, as most lots are laid 

 out, 112 X 56 feet. Now, take the site of 

 our house and yard ; of the quarter acre, 

 what is left for the orchard ? The house 

 will be 15 feet from the street line, house 

 and shed 40 feet, which will leave about 57 

 X 56 feet, on which can be planted 10 fruit 

 trees — i early apple, 2 late apple, 2 plum 

 trees, 2 pear trees, i cherry and 2 winter 

 apple trees ; and beside these say 6 goose- 

 berry, 6 currant, a few raspberry bushes and 



some grape vines and a small bed of straw- 

 berries, and yet there will be room for a few 

 rows of early potatoes and other vegetables. 

 Certainly as the trees grow in size the 

 ground will be covered by them, and it will 

 not be fit for vegetables. And if we only 

 knew the benefit of good ripe fruit to our 

 health, we would use more of it. But, sir, 

 we are told that when they are got from the 

 store the fruits are half ripe and wilted after 

 lying in the shop window for several days, 

 and I do believe that is one reason why the 

 people do not use more fruit. But the 

 quarter acre orchard will get over all that. 

 What nicer amusement can the merchant 

 wish for, after being all day in his store, or 

 the mechanic after leaving his work ; it may 

 be some dusty workshop. Yes, and even 

 the hard-toiling laborer will find pleasure in 

 going into his little garden and spend a short 

 time among his fruit trees and vegetable 

 beds. It is much better than loafing at 

 some street corner or tavern door. In his 

 garden he will reap his reward, for early in 

 the season when the good wife goes into the 

 garden and gathers in the nice fresh vege- 

 tables, which we all long for at this particu- 

 lar time of the year, we can truly say it is 

 the reward of his labor. And when the 

 fruit season has come, and again she takes a 

 trip into the garden and plucks the first 

 plate of strawberries or raspberries, and, 

 how tempting, those few lovely apples, 

 plums for preserve, or those nice cherries 

 for the little children. And of a winter's 

 evening, after supper, the wife brings up a 

 nice plate of apples from the cellar, will not 

 the husband and children be delighted ? And 

 all this from the quarter acre lot ! 



T. CONOLLV. 



A paper read before the Lindsay HorticuL 

 tural Society. 



