96 BRIGHT ON GRAPE CULTURE. 



heavy draft must be made upon the vitality of the tree, 

 by the grov*ing foliage, before the sap begins to ascend 

 with sufficient rapidity to meet this demand. Again, 

 in the fall, when the earth is warmer than the atmos- 

 phere, the roots will continue too long in an active state, 

 thus producing a succulent growth of wood late in the 

 season, long after the whole tree ought to be in a state 

 of repose, in order to ripen its wood. Leaf-blight in the 

 first case, and frozen sap blight in the other, must be 

 the inevitable consequence of such a condition of the 

 tree. This is a principle of the highest consequence in 

 the management of fruit trees, grape vines, &c. I plant 

 all fruit trees as shallow as possible, having due regard 

 to the natural requirements of the tree. 



Mr. Norton says he ^^ filled" the holes dug for his 

 trees with '^ carefully prepared compost, having all the 

 ingredients prescribed by experts." Now, the common 

 advice of the books on fruit culture is, to use for such 

 composts sod, loam, raw and ground bones, ashes, plaster, 

 slaughter-house offal, night-soil, stable manure, &c. Mr. 

 Norton writes like an intelligent man, and therefore we 

 will not suspect him of using a mass of strong rich nitro- 

 genous matter and alkalies, sufficient to kill any tree at 

 once; and, indeed, he declares that the compost was 

 <' not too rich." But if he placed under his trees <'all 

 the ingredients prescribed by experts," even in modera- 

 tion, in my opinion, he committed a grave error. A 

 transplanted fruit tree should never, I think, be placed 

 either in or u])on such a compost, or any other manur- 



