27& FRUIT-TREES. 



FRtriT-TREEiS, 



To the Editor of the Boston Cultivator : 



The growing of good fruit has been much neglected 

 heretofore, and does not as yet receiv^e half the atten- 

 tion its importance demands. Many people are dis- 

 couraged from planting an orchard, because several 

 years must elapse before it comes into bearing, making 

 the remark we so often hear, " I shall never live to eat 

 the fruits of it ; '^ but how many men are there, with 

 a prospect of living many years, who regret that they 

 had not planted an orchard which might now have 

 been a source of pleasure as well as profit to them. 

 There are many young and thrifty orchards in the 

 country, and not a grafted tree among them ; and yet 

 grafting and inoculating are operations so simple that 

 they may be performed by almost any one, by giving 

 the subject a little attention. If these trees were 

 grafted with good varieties of winter fruit, they would 

 in a few years afford quite an income, with a compara- 

 tively small investment : winter apples will always pay 

 the expense of gathering, be they ever so plenty, while 

 the making of cider is often attended with loss, to say 

 nothing of the cold, disagreeable work. There is con- 

 siderable attention paid to quinces at the present day, 

 and a plantation of them in a bearing state is a very 

 profitable concern. One hundred quince-trees, full 

 grown, in a bearing year, will afford as much income 

 as a small farm : they are very easily raised, as they 

 grow from cuttings, and send up many suckers from 

 the roots, which may be taken up and planted out. 

 Forsyth says it improves the fruit both in quantity and 

 quality to graft the trees. The smaller fruits, such as 

 currants and gooseberries, may be cultivated with little 

 trouble : and one who has a garden, may have a good 

 row of currant-bushes : they grow readily from cuttings : 

 they do best in a shaded situation, or by a south fence ; 



