ABOUT PLANTING ORCHARDS. 121 



it was years ago, when they had a better soil, and grew more 

 vigorously. 1 know an orchard in the State of Vermont, ex- 

 posed to all the north-west winds that blow from the Adirondack 

 Mountains across Lake Champlain. The trees are planted upon 

 land that has been thoroughly drained, and filled with an abun- 

 dance of various kinds of mineral manure, and they are so 

 close together that I doubt if the sun ever penetrates those 

 branches; and yet, the best fruit I ever saw in the State of 

 Vermont grows on that orchard. So I say it is proper selection 

 of soil and careful cultivation of the trees that will enable us to 

 raise fruit properly and profitably. 



I say this, because I agree with Col. Wilder, that the cultiva- 

 tion of fruit is one of the most interesting, most profitable and 

 most useful branches of culture known among gardeners and 

 horticulturists ; and more than all that, because I desire in 

 every way possible to avoid the odium which is gradually coming 

 upon the business of planting orchards. There is no question 

 that in the eastern part of this State the farmers have become 

 tired of the business, and they are removing their old trees 

 without planting new ones. And that feeling is increasing. 

 One of the best farmers in the southern section of this State, 

 near the Connecticut River, came to see me in regard to planting 

 a large orchard of a thousand apple-trees, and when we had got 

 through discussing the matter, he said : " I know this seems 

 like boy's play ; I know it looks as if there was no money in it. 

 I shall have an orchard of a thousand trees, and nothing will 

 come of it for twenty years." He was going to do it as a matter 

 of custom, and yet he knew he was defying wind and weather. 

 It is on this account that I so strongly urge the abandonment of 

 the wholesale planting of orchards, the removal of old trees, 

 and the putting of new ones in soil particularly adapted to them, 

 avoiding the excessive use of barnyard and nitrogenous ma- 

 nures, which increase the growth of wood without stimulating 

 the production of fruit, and of devoting ourselves to the growth 

 of apples and pears in the best way that can possibly be con- 

 ceived of, as a matter of horticulture, and not of agriculture. 

 I am glad that the remarks which have been made sustain me in 

 that position, and I make this public statement here because I 

 desire that those members of the Board of Agriculture who may 

 possibly have seen the reflections cast upon my statement here- 



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