The Planting of the Fruit-Farm 95 



trimming and are more subject to sun-scald. But 

 either tree should be trimmed with a knife rather 

 than with saw or ax, and the orchardist's chief 

 study should be to keep the tree low, well balanced, 

 and free from trimming scars. Doubtless the best 

 rule is, ''Do as little trimming as possible. '* 



The quince thrives in a rich, deep, moist, well- 

 drained soil. Of late years it has become rare in 

 some fruit valleys, having been quite eliminated 

 by insects and fungi. The fruit is never in great 

 demand. Some think that the disappearance of 

 forests, woods, and wind-breaks, as well as the 

 invasion of fungi and insects, accounts for the dis- 

 appearance of the quince. The tree at best is an 

 uncertain bearer and never very prolific. The 

 orange quince remains a standard variety. But 

 the orchardist, like the public at large, seems to 

 have lost the taste for quinces. Ashes are excel- 

 lent fertilizer for the tree, — unleached wood ashes. 

 Trimming consists largely in removing dead and 

 dying wood. The tree cannot be kept shapely 

 like a cherry or a peach tree. 



Grapevines, but not grapes, will grow almost 

 anywhere in America. The extremes are vines as 

 foliage plants and vines that fruit in fine quality 

 and great quantity. This means that the grape 

 areas of America, as elsewhere in the world, are 

 sharply defined by climate. Here the law is 

 "each after its kind.** In rather a loose way, 

 grapes may be described as raisin grapes and others, 

 — that is, grapes that will dry and cure and grapes 



