88 THE NEW HORTICULTURE. 



crush the opposition of the so-called horticultural scientists 

 by three experimental demonstrations on a scale large enough 

 to convince the most skeptical who were honestly looking for 

 the truth. Of course, I knew that there were thousands so 

 joined to their idol of cultivation that they would not be con- 

 vinced, even though Charles Downing himself should rise 

 from the dead and denounce it. With this view I set out an 

 orchard here, and then cast about for my northern experi- 

 ment station and a man to conduct it fairly. I wanted to 

 enlist some journal, and finally selected the editor of The 

 Rural New Yorker; and in order to interest him by the novelty 

 of the thing, and indemnify him if the venture proved a 

 failure, I offered to give him outright the plates and copy- 

 right of the New Horticulture and one thousand copies of the 

 book, on condition that he set out one thousand fruit trees 

 in crowbar holes, on his poorest unbroken land, mulching 

 and fertilizing around each tree and mowing the ground in- 

 stead of cultivating it. He accepted the offer, though utterly 

 incredulous of success, for, when he received a model tree, he 

 wanted to know if I "really expected a straight stick like 

 that to grow." But he faithfully did his part, giving occa- 

 sional reports in the paper on the successful behavior of the 

 little "sticks." At this, certain of the horticultural scribes 

 and Pharisees began to hint that he had "an axe to grind" 

 in the sale of the books ; so he promptly turned them and the 

 New Horticulture over to The Rural New Yorker. After they 

 were sold, that journal decided not to publish another edi- 

 tion and returned the plates, etc., to me. Finding from con- 

 tinued inquiries that there is a growing interest in the New 

 Horticulture, and feeling, like The Rural New Yorker editor, 

 that any future articles I may write would look as if I also 

 "had an axe to grind," I offered Farm and Ranch the sole use 

 of the plates free, so long as they keep the book in print. They 

 accepted my offer in the interest of progress, but, never hav- 

 ing experimented, leave it to stand strictly on its merits. 



With this explanation, I will now return to the New York 

 experimental orchard, planted largely in apples and peaches, 

 which has been such a signal success and excited such general 



