AGRICULTURAL MUSEUM 1G9 



from wood, so that no branch shall ever cross another, 

 but all the extreme ends point outwards. 



The best compliment your neighbour can make is, that 

 your trees arc handsome, but tv-o thin of wood: be it so; 

 and you may say, "True, farmer; but I have the best 

 price at market, and that will always be the sure test of 

 perfection.'^ 



. My tenant, Mr. Boulding, planted an orchard in 1772: 

 being on a rich soil, it throve surprisingly. That vigo- 

 rous growth occasioned the after decay of the trees ; 

 for the wind, having gn^at power over them, split them 

 down ; the ladders, in gathering, broke; the wood being 

 soft, many causes concured to injure them ; and the 

 injudicious manner in which the lacerations were 

 taken oft" added to the evil ; for, there generally fol- 

 lows gum from a wound, which being sweet in fruit- 

 bearing trees, the wound becomes filled with vermin, 

 whieli obstruct the healing by their constantly eating 

 and fretting the young bark 



Being informed of the situation the orchard was in, T 

 went down in the spring of 1790, and found tlie branches 

 so intermixed and entangled together, that in many 

 placesthey had cut each other nearly half through, causing 

 wounds and blotches ; which, on the return of the sap 

 in the spring, always affect the leaves, by inclining them 

 to curl, and is a proof that the sap is vitiated. 



Having examined the circumstances, I told the tenant 

 I would come down in the autumn, when proper persons 

 must be found to execute the business, and we would 

 reinstate the orchard, and bring it to its former splendor ; 

 for, it should be observed, the orchard used to be 

 much admired. Accordingly, I went the first Tuesday 

 in November, and for two hours walked over the ground 

 with the men, instructing them what I would have done, 

 that we might begin the next morning, work with spirit, 

 and lose no time. We had saws, bills, and knives, pre- 

 pared on purpose ; and, though 1 am a good hand myself, 

 I soon perceived neither of us could cut true enough with 



