THE YOUNG ORCHARD 229 
without making a reasonable return, will say 
that I am too conservative, — that a well-placed, 
well-cared-for, well-selected, and well-marketed 
orchard will do much better than my prophecy. 
Nature is a good husbandman so far as she goes, 
but her scheme contemplates only the perpetua- 
tion of the tree, by seeds or by other means. 
Nature’s plan is togiveto each specimen a nutritive 
ration. Anything beyond this is thrown away on 
the individual, and had better be used for the mul- 
tiplying of specimens. When man comes to ask 
something more than germinating seeds from a 
plant, he must remove it from the crowded clump, 
give it more light and air, and feed it for product. 
In other words, he must give it more nitrogen, 
phosphoric acid, and potash than it can use for 
simple growth and maintenance, and thus make 
it burst forth into flower- or fruit-product. Na- 
ture produces the apple tree, but man must cul- 
tivate it and feed it if he would be fed and 
comforted by it. People who neglect their or- 
chards can get neither pleasure nor profit from 
them, and such persons are not competent to sit 
in judgment upon the value of an apple tree. 
Only those who love, nourish, and profit by their 
orchards may come into the apple court and 
speak with authority. 
