CHAPTER VII. 



CULTIVATION OF THE SOIL. 



. 



IN passing through the country, and visiting the grounds of fruit- 

 growers, and examining the exhibitions of pomological societies, a 

 marked difference is observed in the same variety as grown on 

 different grounds. In one case it is small and poor flavored ; in 

 another it is large, beautiful, rich, and excellent. The owner of the 

 poor fruit is much disappointed in what he expected to see, and consi- 

 ders himself as "badly humbugged" by the nurseryman who sold him 

 the trees. The successful cultivator takes his specimens to a fair, 

 and sweeps off the premiums by their delicious quality and excellent 

 appearance. Now, this question at once arises : What is the cause 

 of this difference ? And it is just such questions as we like to hear 

 asked. 



The first, and perhaps the most prominent cause, is cultivation. 

 Place a tree in grass-land, or give it no cultivation let the surface 

 become baked hard, like flagging, or allow weeds to cover the sur- 

 face an d the tree will have a feeble growth, and the fruit, as a 

 necessary consequence, will partake of the condition of the tree. 

 A feeble tree will, of course, bear small fruit. Hence, one reason 

 why young trees often produce larger and finer specimens than old 

 and stunted trees. Cultivation alone has often changed both size 

 and quality in a surprising degree. Some years ago a few trees of 

 the Seckel pear were observed to bear very small fruit they .were 

 then standing in grass. Subsequently the whole surface was sub- 

 jected to good cultivation. The next crop had pears at least triple 

 the size of the former. A St. Ghislain tree, on another place, bore 

 at first when standing in grass-land, and disappointment was felt by 

 the owner at the small size and poor quality of the fruit. A herd 

 of swine accidentally rooted up the grass and reduced the ground to 

 a mellow surface. The pears that year were greatly increased in 

 size, and so much improved in flavor that they would not have been 

 recognised as the same sort. The Duchess Angouleme, when 



