Old and New Methods. 137 



where receives the least attention. The presumption 

 is at once raised, therefore, that this sod and neg- 

 lect are in some vital way associated with the de- 

 clining productiveness of apple trees. In order to 

 put ourselves right upon the question, we must first 

 of all ascertain, if we can, why the apple is of all 

 fruits the most neglected. 



My older readers will recall the fact that until 

 recent years the effort of the farmer has been di- 

 rected to the growing of hay, grain and stock. 

 Previous to this generation, the growing of fruit 

 has been a matter of secondary or even incidental 

 importance. A bit of rocky or waste land, or an 

 odd corner about the buildings, was generally given 

 over to the apple orchard, and if the trees received 

 any attention whatever it was after all other de- 

 mands of the farm had been satisfied. All this was 

 particularly true of the farming previous to the 

 second third of this century, and the apple and 

 standard pear orchards of the country still record 

 the old method. . It has required at least a genera- 

 tion of men in which to thoroughly establish any 

 new agricultural system, and the time is not yet 

 fully arrived for the passing out of the old orchards 

 and the coming in of the new. In other fruits than 

 apples and standard pears, the generations of trees 

 are comparatively short-lived, and those fruits sooner 

 feel the effect of new agricultural teachings. Vine- 

 yards, and orchards of plums, dwarf pears, apricots, 

 cherries and quinces, have mostly come into exist- 

 ence along with the transition movement from the 



