86 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



I was a younger man, a relative of mine, in what is now the 

 city of Lynn, liad about twenty acres of land, and liad but two 

 or three apple-trees upon it. When he was forty years old he 

 purchased a hundred trees, and planted them on about an acre 

 of good land on the south part of the Common of Lynn. 

 While he was setting those trees, one of the Friends or Quakers 

 of Lynn, who was passing by, asked him if he ever expected to 

 derive any benefit himself from the trees he was setting out, at 

 his age. He replied that if he did not somebody else would. 

 He planted those trees, and lived to sell hundreds of barrels of 

 apples from them in bearing years, and supplied this very 

 Quaker with some of the fruit. If any young man is disposed 

 to cultivate the apple or any other fruit, if he will select good 

 trees and cultivate them well, there is no doubt in the world 

 that he will derive benefit from them ; and, if he lives to the 

 common age of man, derive benefit from them for many years 

 after they come into bearing. 



There is one thing in relation to setting out apple-trees. 

 You want to get good thrifty trees, and those that are grafted 

 upon seedling stock. A few years since I wanted a few varie- 

 ties of apples that I had never tried, and I sent to Western New 

 York and obtained ten trees. I planted them on good soil, but 

 the trees made very little growth. The next year I had occa- 

 sion to obtain some trees from Parsons & Co., Long Island, and, 

 talking with Mr. Parsons about those trees, I mentioned the fact 

 that they had not grown well, and he said the reason, in hia 

 opinion, was that they were grafted upon root-cuttings, the nur- 

 serymen not knowing any better. He said his trees were all 

 grafted upon seedlings raised in the nursery and grafted on the 

 best stocks. This was ten years ago, and now one of the trees 

 that I had from Parsons & Co. would weigh down six of the 

 others, which were, as I have since ascertained, grafted upon 

 pieces of root six inches in length. That practice ought never 

 to be followed, and I would advise any young man who is going 

 to plant an orchard to be sure, if he purchases trees from a 

 nursery, to get those grafted upon seedling stocks instead of 

 upon pieces of root. 



After all, this talk about waiting for trees is a mere fallacy. 

 If a young man j)lants good trees when he is five and twenty 

 years old, if he lives to the common age of man, he will find 



