90 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



not our trees grow as well as did those of the fathers? Wh}- is there 

 not as much certainty' in this as in other farm pursuits? In reply, 

 I unhesitatingly express the opinion that, the conditions of success 

 being observed, there ma}' be as much certaint}' in the prosecution 

 of this as any other farm industry. I also believe that, as "dis- 

 tance lends enchantment to the view," the success of the early 

 settlers has been very much magnified and their practices lost sight 

 of in the fog, while the mistaken views thus obtained have con- 

 tributed largely to man}- a failure which might have been made a 

 success. 



The old orchard again affords an illustration. My anctestral 

 relative used in planting well grown, symmetrical trees. Not having 

 enough of that quality to complete the work, he used inferior trees 

 on about two acres. After finishing the job, he remarked, "he 

 supposed he should have been better off" if he had purchased better 

 trees at a cost of one dollar apiece." The result verified the wisdom 

 of the remark if not his practice. I well remember the whole 

 orchard as it appeared in my childhood. The first planting grew 

 into large, beautiful trees, loaded with an abundance of excellent 

 fruit. I often wondered at the marked contrast between that and 

 the other portion, where the trees, with some favorable exceptions, 

 were much dwarfed in size and unsightly in appearance, nor was 

 the fruit production nearly so satisfactory. Within a hundred rods 

 from that orchard I remember another which never grew to a large 

 size, and its fruit production was always small. Cause — poor soil, 

 poor care, starvation, and perhaps poou trees when planted. 



From these illustrations and other cases known to me, I deduce 

 the following propositions : First, when the fathers failed to observe 

 the conditions of success in orchard culture, they, like their descend- 

 ants, met with failure. Second, that essential couditious of success 

 are good soil, good trees, and good care. 



I can hardly refrain from considering here the question, what con- 

 stitutes a good tree. Evidently something is required besides a 

 large number of even fibrous roots, or well formed trunk and branches, 

 or both (toffibined. Within the last twenty years, I have had con- 

 siderable experience in the resetting and subsequent treatment of 

 trees. Have used all sorts of trees, practiced different methods of 

 after treatment, and obtained results ranging from absolute failure 

 to complete success. I have used trees growing spontaneously l»y 

 the roadside and other waste places, also nurser}' trees grown by 



