GENERAL MANAGEMENT OF ORCHARDS. 157 



turned upward to the toes. One of these roots formed a 

 slight crook at the knee, which made the whole bear close 

 resemblance to a human form. There were the graves, 

 emptied of every particle of human dust. . Not a trace of 

 any thing was left. There stood the guilty " apple-tree," 

 as it was said at the time, caught in the very act of " rob- 

 bing the grave." The fact proved conclusively that bones, 

 even of human beings, are an excellent fertilizer for fruit- 

 trees ; and the fact must be admitted that the organic mat- 

 ter of Roger Williams had been transmitted into the apple- 

 tree ; it had passed into the woody fibre, and was capable 

 of propelling a steam-engine ; it had bloomed in the apple- 

 blossoms, and had become pleasant to the eye ; and more, 

 it had gone into the fruit from year to year, so that the 

 question might be asked, Who ate Roger Williams ? 



It is known to chemists that all flesh, and the gelatinous 

 matter giving consistency to the bones, are resolved into 

 carbonic acid gas, water, and air, during decomposition, 

 while the solid lime-dust usually remains. But in this case, 

 even the phosphate of lime of the bones of both the graves 

 was all gone. In the same manner, all kinds of bones, 

 when buried near growing vines and trees, will be literal- 

 ly devoured by the hungry roots ; and the once beautiful 

 forms that lived and moved will be transformed into lus- 

 cious food, to maintain others who may exist hereafter. 



Scraping the Bodies of Apple-trees. This practice is re- 

 peatedly recommended as an important means of producing 

 a fine crop of fruit. But we can conceive of no practical 

 advantage in scraping old trees so thoroughly as to remove 

 all the shaggy and dead bark, except to destroy insects, 

 their eggs, and their refuges. The rough and shaggy bark 

 of an apple-tree will be found advantageous to the health 

 and productiveness of a tree, as the covering is provided by 

 nature for their protection against the adverse influences of 



