82 THE FAT OF THE LAND 



There is little question as to the wisdom of 

 planting trees of kinds known to have done well 

 in your neighborhood. They are just as likely 

 to do well by you as by your neighbor. If the 

 fruit be to your liking, you can safely plant, for 

 it is no longer an experiment ; some one else has 

 broken that ground for you. 



In casting about for a reliable nurseryman to 

 whom to trust the very important business of 

 supplying me with young trees, I could not long 

 keep my attention diverted from Rochester, New 

 York. Perhaps the reason was that as a child I 

 had frequently ridden over the plank road from 

 Henrietta to Rochester, and my memory recalled 

 distinctly but three objects on that road, the 

 house of Frederick Douglass, Mount Hope Ceme- 

 tery, and a nursery of young trees. Everything 

 else was obscure. I fancy that in fifty years the 

 Douglass house has disappeared, but Mount Hope 

 Cemetery and the tree nursery seem to mock at 

 time. The soil and climate near Rochester are 

 especially favorable to the growing of young 

 trees, and my order went to one of the many 

 reliable firms engaged in this business. The 

 order was for thirty-four hundred trees, 

 twenty-seven hundred for the forty-acre orchard 

 and seven hundred for the ten acres farthest to 

 the south on the home lot. Polly had consented 

 to this invasion of her domain, for reasons. She 

 said : 



"It is a long way off, rather flat and unin- 



