xiii.] EXPERIMENTAL FARMS 129 



CHAPTER XIII 



GROWING FRUIT AND PRUNING TREES 



ONE of th~ first necessities for fruit-growing is that the 

 ground should be thoroughly drained and trenched. With- 

 out this it is impossible there should be any adequate 

 return for one's labour, but this being granted, there are 

 still a good many matters to be considered, and it is with 

 a view to be helpful to those who are as yet without 

 personal experience that I propose to give the results of 

 many years both of success and failure, for these are alike 

 precious to a thoughtful amateur. 



And, at the outset, let me suggest that all should 

 endeavour to ascertain what fruits will and what will not 

 thrive in their district. A marked feature of modern 

 farming and gardening, both in Canada and in the States, is 

 the establishment in the several provinces, of Experimental 

 Farms, presided over by capable experts, who make it 

 their business to ascertain, by actual experiment, the 

 sorts of farm crops and fruits best fitted for that particular 

 soil and climate. Each year practical and helpful reports 

 are drawn up and circulated, so that the farmers for whose 

 benefit all this is done have only themselves to blame if 

 they come short of success. 



If we have not the advantage of such valuable 

 institutions, we may, at least, find individuals amongst 

 our acquaintance on whose intelligence we may depend, 



I 



