SOME IMPORTANT POINTS 63 



trying season. While it is yet in the vigour of its youth it will 

 stand pruning, and, indeed, it is not the knife which hurts the cherry, 

 but the saw. Therefore it should be so formed when young that the 

 main branches may never become crowded and none have to be 

 sawn off. When it reaches full maturity and conditions are suitable 

 it is the most valuable of fruits. There is a large tree in a cottage 

 garden near by that pays the rent of the cottage, and, needless to say, 

 that cottage never wants a tenant. We, however, advise intending 

 planters not to plant cherries unless the district has been proved to 

 suit them. 



LITERATURE 



Practical fruit growing is never going to be learnt from the 

 reading of any one or any number of books, but there is a vast 

 amount of " specialized " knowledge only to be gathered from 

 reading the investigations and conclusions of experts, especially 

 where they have been directed to diseases, their origin and char- 

 acter, insect pests and their life history and habits, and to the 

 science of the soil. Such information as they can impart is of 

 inestimable value to the busy, practical man, and the books written 

 by competent authorities are among those which Bacon would tell 

 us " are to be digested." 



The man who stores his mind with all the latest and best informa- 

 tion brings a light to bear upon his daily path which he finds to be 

 more than helpful. To know the history and habits, for instance, 

 of the Codlin Moth and the Pear Midge is to know the best time 

 for, and the best methods of, dealing with them most effectively ; 

 to know the cause of Silver Leaf, of scab and canker, is to be armed 

 against them. Such things remain mysteries to him who does not 

 avail himself of the researches of those trained scientists whose 

 mission in life is to prosecute their researches entirely for our 

 common benefit ; and for such a man we can only feel a certain pity. 

 Yet it must be said there are those to-day who have a profound 

 contempt for what they call " theory," and are without sufficient 

 intelligence to discern that though practical knowledge is the right 

 hand, scientific knowledge (insufficiently classed as theory) is the 

 left hand. Surely it is better to have two hands than one ! 



There is already an extensive and rapidly increasing literature 



