123 



For lack of these, perhaps nearly one half 

 of the trees annually taken from our nurse- 

 ries, are consigned to the wood-pile, within 

 five years after they are set out ; and the dis- 

 appointed purchaser curses the nursery-man, 

 his soil, the climate, and even the stars of 

 heaven, when, in truth, only himself is at 

 fault. What Horace said of things in gene- 

 ral, applies with the strongest force to the 

 orcharding business: "Life gives nothing to 

 man, but at the price of great labor."* 



Yet, if a New England farmer's son shall 

 have been trained to habits of industry, and 

 to a taste for these pursuits, and there shall 

 descend to him an inheritance of a few pater- 

 nal acres of thriving fruit trees, let him thank 

 God that he was not bom heir-apparent to a 

 European Throne. 



* * * * Nil sine magno 



Vita labore dedit mortalibus * * * 



Lib, I: Sal. 9, 





