THE OECHARD A RECREATION AND A PROFIT 47 

 COMMON NEGLECT OF THE HOME ORCHARD. 



I am well within the bounds of truth, perhaps, when 

 I say that the manuring of an orchard tree is an un- 

 usual activity of an ordinary farmer. Too often the 

 orchard is planted on a hillside unsuited for cultivation, 

 and the. trees are allowed to grow au naturelle from the 

 time of planting until their final decay. I have heen 

 through orchard after orchard on many farms where 

 the trees are kept only for home use, in which I found 

 neither cultivation, fertilization, pruning nor spraying. 

 The tree is left absolutely to grow wild and abandoned 

 to its own whims. Such fruit trees as these are un- 

 profitable. They usually simply take up space and 

 yield no crop. In many cases, however, these trees 

 yield moderate crops. I gathered from one of them an 

 apple fifteen inches in circumference and weighing one 

 pound and a half. 



If, however, the tree is of good variety, it is not 

 advisable to cut it down, even if it be many years of 

 age. The sharp pruning hook in a skilled hand in a 

 few years will change this savage tree into a civilized 

 product. It will look as different as a man whose hair 

 and beard have not been cut for years who submits him- 

 self to the skill of the tonsorial artist. Proper cultiva- 

 tion and the application of food will do the rest, and 

 out of the abandoned old orchard a new and vigorous 

 orchard is easily produced. 



CULTIVATION OF THE LOVE OF THE BEAUTIFUL. 



There is another most excellent reason why the small 

 farmer should have a few trees of his own. To care 

 for a tree is in itself a higher education. It appeals 

 not only to the intellectual faculties and to the skill of 



