THE FAILURE OF ORCHARDS, AND ITS REMEDY. 195 



- the variety does not deteriorate. If old trees cease to 

 bear, and die, the variety of fruit does not fail, if cions from 

 the branches be set in young stocks. If a piece of ground 

 be cleared of the forest, by burning every thing to ashes on 

 the land, as farms used to be cleared, and heavy bodies of 

 growing timber be left standing, to protect the young or- 

 chard, there will be no complaint of failure of fine fruit. 

 The trouble is in the culture and treatment of the growing 

 trees. The young orchards that ought now to be yielding 

 bountiful crops of fine fruit have been produced and culti- 

 vated in the most perfunctory manner. And then, because 

 it is impossible for trees to bear under such circumstances, 

 pomologists have assumed that there is " something in the 

 air some pernicious east wind that blasts the embryotic 

 fruit, or the varieties are running out !" 



1. Now then, let us sift the evidence, point by point, and 

 take an honest view of the subject, by comparing the past 

 with the present. Four- score years ago, the stocks into 

 which cions were set were produced from more hardy va- 

 rieties than the stocks of the present day. JVow, nursery- 

 men plant the seed of any kind of fruit. It can not be 

 denied that the stock exerts a wonderful influence on the 

 productiveness of the bearing tree. 



2. Four-score years ago, fruit-trees were set in a virgin 

 soil which, in most instances, had been top-dressed bounti- 

 fully with unleached ashes, which are an almost indispens- 

 able requisite in the production of fine fruit. But now 

 inferior trees are planted in an inferior soil, without wood 

 ashes and other fertilizing materials, which growing fruit- 

 trees must have before they can produce a bountiful crop. 



3. Four score years ago, almost every orchard was shield- 

 ed by a belt of forest-trees. But now, cold and fierce winds 

 sweep over the country for a long distance, raking young 

 orchards in a fearful manner. 



