62 NUT GROWING 



tually make a fair start from the seed under wild 

 conditions finally survives. The affectionate gar- 

 dener who knows each tree by the sound of the 

 music in its leaves at night believes he can save nine- 

 teen out of twenty trees and he doubtless does so, 

 but he sets out his trees personally and gives them 

 loving care. The orchardist who gives his trees to 

 be cared for by employees will perhaps not succeed 

 in having more than one-half of the trees live. The 

 question of the proportion of nut trees which will 

 live becomes therefore a largely personal matter de- 

 pending upon the character and time of the man who 

 has assumed the responsibility for their guidance 

 through life. 



Most nut trees will do better than common fruit 

 trees under conditions of neglect after the third year 

 from transplanting. The reason is that fruit trees 

 for the most part have been developed under condi- 

 tions of cultivation during their youth like those of 

 highly bred animals or of people in the cities. A 

 caribou lies down for a comfortable nap in the snow 

 on a hill top where the wind is blowing forty miles 

 an hour at a temperature far below zero, but a prize 

 Jersey cow begins to sneeze if the wind comes 

 through a crack in the nice warm barn floor. Wild 

 trees and cultivated trees stand in something of this 

 sort of relation to each other. 



