FRUITS. 



517 



only by having it in excess that the circulation of the sap of 

 plants is carried on, and the exhalation of a medium-sized apple 

 tree, on a hot summer's day, is truly astonishing. It is quite 

 evident, then, that water is a very necessary article to have and 

 to husband, by every owner of an apple orchard. In seasons 

 when showers come frequently and regularly, there is moisture 

 enough, with fair care, for the trees to mature good crops of 

 apples. It is only in protracted droughts that irrigation or til- 

 lage becomes imperative. By tillage it is not meant that any 

 moisture is added to the soil ; it only prevents it from evapo- 

 rating too suddenly, and thereby husbands it to be drawn on by 

 the plant when needed. 



Cultivation. There continues to be considerable difference 

 of opinion whether fruit orchards should be cultivated or not, 

 after they are four or five years old. All are agreed that they 

 should receive the best tillage up to that time. Standard pear 

 trees seem to do decidedly better in grass, after arriving at a 

 stage where they are able to take care of themselves. Instances 

 can be given where such trees, believed to be one hundred and 

 fifty years old, standing in sod which has not been disturbed in 

 fifty years, produce abundant crops of fine fruit, and the trees 

 are yet in a thrifty condition. But as to dwarf pear and apple 

 trees, the treatment should be quite different. Such orchards 

 should be as well cultivated as our corn fields, or any portion of 

 our vegetable garden. I cannot believe, however, that tillage 

 is all ; that we can obtain good fruit by this means alone, any 

 more than we can good butter and beef from wind and water 

 in other words, something for nothing ; although farmers come 

 as near doing this in the management of their orchards as is 

 done in any other business that I know of. Trees must be fed, 

 and if the food is not already in the soil, it must be put there. 

 A large crop of apples taken from an orchard draws immensely 

 on the plant food in the soil, and if the practice of taking from 

 and never giving back is continued, the soil will become ex- 

 hausted, the trees refuse to bear, and finally die of starvation. 

 We must not cheat the soil out of any portion belonging to it, 

 if we expect fine orchards and fine fruit. I know of nothing 

 better for an apple orchard than good stable manure, spread 

 evenly over the entire surface. It is better that this manure 



