158 WHAT I KNOW OF FARMING. 



own family. In a majority of cases, a multiplicity 

 of cares and labors precludes his giving to his 

 Peaches and Grapes,, his Plums and Quinces, the 

 seasonable and persistent attention which they abso- 

 lutely require. Quite commonly, a farmer visits 

 a grand nursery, sees with admiration its trees 

 and vines loaded with the most luscious Fruits, 

 and rashly infers that he has only to buy a good 

 stock of like Trees and Yines to insure himself 

 an abundance of delicious fruit. So he buys and 

 sets; but with no such preparation of the soil, and 

 no such care to keep it mellow and free from weeds, 

 or to baffle and destroy predatory insects, as the 

 nurseryman employs. Hence the utter disappoint- 

 ment of his hopes ; borers, slugs, caterpillars, and 

 every known or unknown species of insect enemies, 

 prey upon his neglected favorites. At intervals, 

 some domestic animal or animals get among them, 

 and break down a dozen in an hour. So, the far 

 greater number come to grief, without having had 

 one fair chance to show what they could do, and the 

 farmer jumps to the conclusion that the nurseryman 

 was a swindler, and the trees he sells scarcely relat- 

 ed to those whose abundant and excellent fruits 

 tempted him to buy. I counsel every farmer to con- 

 sider thoughtfully the treatment absolutely required 

 for the production of the finer Fruits before he 

 allows a nurseryman to make a bill against him, and 

 not expect to grow Duchesse Pears as easily as 

 Blackberries, or lonas and Catawbas as readily as he 



