THE GARDENER AND HIS GARDEN 



misconceptions have contributed a great deal 

 to this failure: the notion that vigorous plants 

 winterkill easily; and the idea that growth 

 is opposed to fruit production. Each has some 

 foundation in experience but both are decid- 

 edly overridden by the fact that the most pro- 

 ductive plants and those most resistant, both 

 to climatic extremes and to pests, are plants 

 in normal vigor. 



It is a matter of common observation that 

 plants in a half starved state, neglected, 

 crowded, and choked by weeds, are beset by 

 all the ills to which the plantation is exposed. 

 It is equally true, on the other hand, that 

 plants which are overfed, which make a ram- 

 pant growth and are soft and ill conditioned 

 when a trying winter comes, grow more leaves 

 than fruit and are likely to be seriously dam- 

 aged by low temperatures. 



These extremes are to be avoided, of course, 

 but growth and fruitfulness are both entirely 

 in accord with nature. Within limits at all 

 reasonable, increased growth is followed by 

 larger crops of better fruit and by a greater 

 resistance to troubles of all kinds. There is 

 a middle ground, easily attained, in which 

 growth contributes to fruitfulness and to the 

 well-being of the plant. The greatest success 

 depends upon the maintenance of this opti- 



13 



