14 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1892. 



except it be planted in a quicksand or a cold clay ; in such soils 

 no management can prevent an early decay " ; was the conclu- 

 sion of Coxe, in his "View of Fruit-trees." But whence 

 Cometh the manure ? groans Faint Heart, who sits on the fence 

 awaiting the straw wherewith he shall make his bricks. How- 

 soever it may have been of yore, does the invention of the silo 

 leave any sincere inquirer in doubt ! Milk is an excellent thing 

 in itself; but also because the constant demand for it incites to 

 the keeping of more stock and consequently to the production 

 of more manure. And that manure, put where it can do the 

 most good, will surely bring its own returns, after many days. 

 Why is this distrust of fruit-tree planting, and the value of 

 orchards, as compared with other out-door, more laborious occu- 

 pations? Is the incessant care, with watch and ward, of hot- 

 beds and green-house, less exacting? Is it easier to keep clean 

 the strawberry-bed and thereafter to 



Crook the pregnant hinges of the knee, 

 Where thrift may follow, 



likelier than not, a crick in the back ! Or, as we stoop pain- 

 fully o'er onion and turnip row, do we croon in a soft monotone, 



" On with the dance ! let joy be nnconfined " ! 



We select our best fields, enrich them copiously, sow them to 

 grass or grain, sparing no pains in their cultivation if the latter ; 

 and content ourselves, since we cannot help ourselves, with 

 what harvest we get. Why not apply similar philosophy to the 

 production of fruit? In tillage, no one expects to reap where 

 he has not sown. Why then expect from the orchard what you 

 do not from the furrow, — a return that is promised only to 

 earnest toil. You have heard, the veterans among you at least, 

 of Duncan C. Pell and his famous experiments with the New- 

 town Pippin. To emphasize and illustrate my contention that 

 what man has done other men may repeat, I quote the full state- 

 ment, by himself, of his method of treatment and the results. 

 Some memories may be refreshed by the re-publication ; while, 

 to the more youthful members of the Society, its weighty 

 lessons will be fraught with the charm of novelty. It should be 



