176 THE CONNECTICUT POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



ignorance, always in the way, and nonproductive, and let in the 

 sunlight of knowledge to fructify, beautify and adorn the mind. 



These principles we cannot appropriate in their intricacies, 

 but we can and should at least have a rudimental knowledge 

 that we may apply understandingly if we would be successful 

 in the culture of fruit. The fruitful mind must be the success- 

 ful horticulturist ; we must grasp mere ideas, and be on the 

 alert for every lurking foe. A healthy mind must be fed with 

 useful knowledge : it strengthens, beautifies and adorns, and 

 will fructify in a truer enjoyment, a higher conception of the 

 beauty, harmony, and economy of God's eternal laws. 



This intellectually answers the question how to make our 

 apple orchards productive : the same principles, cultivation, 

 pruning and fertilization, practically applied, are the requisites 

 of success. 



Cultivation should be practiced until the trees are fifteen or 

 twenty years old and then should be cultivated, two years out 

 of three, the remainder of their life, which in Connecticut is 

 about eighty years. 



Reciprocity then is a fixed principle in the laws of nature. 



Thinning of fruit is necessary if you wish annual fruitage. 

 Fruit buds form in August ; if then they are loaded with fruit, 

 all the energies of the tree are required to perfect the fruits, 

 when if half the apples had been picked ofif in June, the trees 

 would perfect the fruit and also form buds for the next year's 

 crop. 



The law of reproduction is nature's ow'n law : if w'e aid 

 nature and work in harmony with her, success will crown our 

 efforts. As well might you expect an ignorant boy to address 

 an audience with entrancing eloquence, as to expect a neglected 

 tree to produce luscious fruits. 



God helps those who help themselves. That is also God's 

 law. 



The foliage should at all times be of a dark, healthy green 

 color, and the trees should annually make a growth of 10 to 15 

 inches. A too vigorous growth is sometimes at the expense of 

 fruitage. If the ground is plowed once and then harrowed 

 occasionally with a spring tooth or disk harrow several times 

 before July, it can then be left till the following spring. Prun- 

 ing is also a necessary adjunct to success. It is the sunlight 



