CHAPTER XIV. 

 CULTIVATION OF FRUIT TREES AND FRUITS. 



This elegant, as well as important department of husbandry, has engaged but a few intelligent 

 men, compared with the great mass who have successfully pursued the cultivation of grains 

 and grasses, and the raising of stock. An impulse, however, has been given to the rearing of 

 fruit trees within the last ten years. Formerly it appeared that the great object of an orchard 

 was to furnish a beverage for common or every day consumption, and for the production of 

 brandy, for harvesting and other important occasions. The temperance reformation, however, 

 laid the axe at the root of thousands of apple trees, in New-England and New-York. The 

 orchards, however, were mostly those which produced an inferior natural fruit ; and hence, is 

 not so much to be regretted ; yet, the interest in fruit culture, of all kinds, was greatly di- 

 minished, and the business was at a stand still for many years. It is now discovered that fruit 

 can be applied to more purposes than one, and that the business recommends itself on the score 

 of profit, as well as pleasure. The former inducement, however, is the only one which can 

 operate upon the majority of farmers. 



It is not my design to go minutely into a description of the mode of rearing trees, and of the 

 special management of the different species of fruit. I shall only recur to a few of the general 

 principles which lie at the foundation of this kind of business. 



1. Setting Trees. The common faults, with most persons, in setting trees, are, that in re- 

 moving them from the nursery they injure the roots, by bruising, breaking and destroying a 

 Tcry large proportion of the fine roots, with their spongioles, or their fimbriated extremities. 

 If they live, or survive their transplantation, they require a year to recover from the injuries 

 they have received. 



2. When taken up, all roots should be moistened sufficiently to receive a coating of clay or 

 stiff loam, which will serve to protect the tender fibrils, and give the power of transportation, 

 or of enduring the drying effects of winds, to which they must be more or less exposed, before 

 they can be reset. 



3. When about to be planted, moisten again the roots, and sprinkle dirt on them, placing 

 them carefully in the hole prepared for them, which should be large to receive considerable 



