222 THE APPLE CULTURIST. 



proper selection of the apple-seeds to the final operation in 

 the management of the bearing trees. Bad selection of va- 

 rieties has been a frequent source of failure in attempts to 

 establish Western orchards. It was most natural for men 

 to desire, in their new homes, the same fruits to which they 

 had been accustomed in their old ones. Hence, they intro- 

 duced chiefly the varieties of New England, many of which 

 have proved worthless on the prairies ; and, strange to say, 

 some of those which have suffered most from winter-killing 

 originated in the Eastern States ; while some of the most 

 hardy varieties have come from the South. The labors of 

 "Western pomologists have at length enabled us to select 

 lists of hardy varieties that have withstood the severe or- 

 deals of such winters as those of 1856 and 1863. 



The want of suitable preparation of the soil has been a 

 too common explanation of the failures complained of, par- 

 ticularly the want of drainage in low and flat lands, with a 

 retentive subsoil. This is a matter which can be soon 

 overcome with the progress of agriculture. The opening 

 of the country, the introduction of thorough drainage, and 

 the perfecting of the surface-drainage, will enable farmers 

 to grow orchards where they have previously failed. Peo- 

 ple must learn that the ground must be well prepared for 

 the orchard, as for any other farm crop ; that the trees 

 need cultivation, especially while they are young ; and when 

 older, that they require the sole occupancy of the ground. 

 At the same time, it will be generally understood that Na- 

 ture should be aided and directed in the formation of the 

 trees by judicious training and pruning. Trees planted out 

 in the open prairies, exposed to the winds, sunshine, and 

 storms, without any protection, must be expected to suffer 

 in the change from the sheltered nursery-plat on which they 

 were produced, and that, perhaps, in a different soil and cli- 

 mate, certainly under very different conditions from those 



