THE COUNTRY HOME [chapter 



tree, neatly trimmed and never neglected, is a 

 sight the owner may be proud of; but an orchard 

 of any sort left to shift for itself is a disgrace. 



I have spoken of shaping fruit trees; you must 

 not, however, be fooled by pictures of ideal trees. 

 The fact is that no two varieties of pear trees have 

 the same ideal ; and no two varieties of apples form 

 exactly the same shaped head. A Seckel pear is 

 ideal when the head is nearly round; an Anjou is 

 ideal when very nearly a pyramid; and a Buff am 

 has for its ideal a column much like a Lombardy 

 poplar. You must study varieties, and adjust 

 your trimming to each sort. A Spitzenburg apple 

 droops its limbs over till they touch the ground; 

 a Northern Spy apple seeks to become round- 

 headed, and must be controlled about limbing out 

 at one spot; an Astrachan is also round-headed, 

 and retains that shape through life ; a Russet throws 

 its limbs out nearly horizontal ; and so you may go 

 through your whole orchard and find a strong in- 

 dividuality everywhere. 



I shall have more to say about bees in another 

 chapter, but here let me tell you that you will find 

 a large share of your fruit blossoms cannot perfect- 

 ly poUenize themselves — a fact that repeats itself 



[152] 



