MY FARM OF EDGEWOOD 



a fruit tree— with the exception of one lordly- 

 sugar maple at the foot of the declivity, and 

 standing within one of the unoccupied belts. 

 Its stately, compact head, shading a full half 

 acre of ground, still crowns the view. I am 

 aware that it is an agricultural enormity. The 

 mowers complain that the broken limbs, torn 

 down by ice storms, are a pest ; the tenant com- 

 plains of its deep shade; one or two neighbor- 

 ing sawyers have made enticing propositions 

 for its stalwart bole, yet I cannot forego my 

 respect for its united age and grace. 



With this exception, I made full clearance, 

 and turned under, by careful ploughing, all 

 the wild sod. I dressed the whole field heavily 

 with such fertilizers as could be brought to- 

 gether, from home resources and from town 

 stables, with certain addenda of lime and phos- 

 phates. I removed all trees in a dying condi- 

 tion, of which there were at least twenty per 

 cent, of the gross number; I pruned away all 

 dead limbs, all interlacing boughs, and swamps 

 of shoots from the roots. The mosses, cocoons, 

 and scales of old bark were carefully scraped 

 from the trunks and larger limbs, which were 

 then washed thoroughly with a strong solution 

 of potash. Even at this stage of the proceed- 

 ings, I felt almost repaid by the air of neatness 



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