INTRODUCTION. 15 



When I hear of trees standing near a wood-pile, in the cor- 

 ner of a fence, near the barn, or the hog-pen, or the kitchen- 

 door, I am prepared for a big yield. The great majority 

 of our apple-trees are either starved or go very hungry. 

 A free application of barn-yard manure is indispensable to 

 the continued growth and productiveness of our orchards. 

 Ashes, lime, plaster, and perhaps other mineral fertilizers, 

 may be used to great advantage. It should be remembered 

 that the apple-tree is subject to the general laws of vegeta- 

 ble growth. You can not have large and fair fruit if the 

 soil is poor, hard, and dry. The earth should be mellow, to 

 secure suitable moisture in hot, dry weather, and to impart 

 needed nourishment. Begging pardon of the Pomological 

 Society, a tree knows better where to put its roots than any 

 man can tell it ; and the apparently stupid roots understand 

 far better than any of our reputedly wise chemists what 

 elements are essential for the production of a bountiful crop 

 of fine fruit." 



A Succession of choice Apples. Every family that is in 

 possession of only a few roods of good ground even if 

 much of the surface be rocky and comparatively untillable 

 should have a succession of crude apples, suited to every 

 season of the year, adapted to different tastes and to various 

 household uses. If a person has the land, there can be no 

 possible excuse for not having a bountiful supply of supe- 

 rior fruit in six to ten years, unless we accept the shallow 

 pretext so often advanced, " a want of time " to cultivate 

 the trees. Every man fritters away every season, to no sat- 

 isfactory purpose, far more time than would be required to 

 plant an orchard and take proper care of the number of 

 trees requisite to supply his family with crude apples dur- 

 ing the entire year. The apple is quite different from per- 

 ishable pears, peaches, plums, and other kinds of fruit, 

 which must be consumed to-day, or they will be worthless 



