ABOUT FRUITS, fLOWEES A^D FAEinXG. 231 



bud, to the sale of the tree. But independently of this, 

 few nurser^Tuen know, accurately, the nature of the plants 

 which they cultivate, and still less the habits of each 

 variety. Why should they, when learned pomologists are 

 content to know as little as they ? The trees are highly 

 cultivated and closely side-pruned. The vigor of a tree, 

 i. e. the rapidity with which it will grow, determines its 

 favor. Sorts which take time, and require a longer treat- 

 ment, are regarded with disfavor. Everything is sacrificed 

 to rapid growth and early maturity. 



Next, and proceeding in the same evil direction, comes 

 the orchard cultivation. From what quarter have we, 

 mostly, derived our opinions and practices in fruit cultiva- 

 tion ? From French, English, and Xew England writers. 

 But is the system which they pursue fit for us ? There is 

 an opposite extreme to high cultivation ; there are evils 

 besetting low-cultivation. In cold, wet, stifi", barren soils, 

 and in a cool, or humid, or cloudy atmosphere, trees 

 require stimulants. The soil needs drying, warming, 

 manuiing; and the tree requires pruning. But such a 

 system is ruinous, where the soil is full of fiery activity, 

 bursting out with an iiTcpressible fertility and a superabun- 

 dant vegetation ; where the long summer days are intensely 

 brilliant, and the air warm enough to ripen fruit even in 

 the densest shade of an unpruned tree. 



A traveller in Lapland would require the most bracing 

 and stimulating food ; but in New Orleans it would produce 

 fevcT and death. A region, subject to all the diseases and 

 evils of vegetable plethora, has adopted the practice of 

 regions subject to the opposite evils. While receiving with 

 gratitude, at the hands of eminent foreign physiologists 

 and cultivators, the principles, we must establish the art 

 of horticulture, by a practice conformable to our own cir- 

 cumstances. A treatment which in England would only pro- 

 duce healthful growth, in this country would pamper a tree 

 to a luxurious fullness. Let us not be deluded by the falla- 



