74 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



had a striio:gIe for a passage through the shade trees. Just whj' it 

 was my father after spending his earlier life in sunshine, so much 

 desired the shade, I never knew. 



Had it been in these later da3-s I should think possibly he had been 

 reading Dr. Loring's addresses on forestrj-, or studying the reports 

 of the Agricultural Bureau upon the same subject. Here for twenty 

 years or more I lived in perfect content. It was home to me and a 

 good one, too, but as the 3'ears rolled on I became a husband and 

 father. Feeble health of wife and child led to the formation of new 

 plans ; vacant lots were examined and the one upon which the sun 

 shines from his rising in the morning till his setting behind the hills 

 was selected as the site for our future home. Well, the next spring 

 we were settled in a new house on a lot anything but promising for 

 a fruit garden, and here, in the spring of 1879, properly begins the 

 narrative of fruit culture I am about to offer for your consideration. 

 I have given you this much in detail as a preface to my remarks, 

 because in thinking over what I have accomplished in these few j'ears 

 ray mind invariably goes back to the beginning and the causes which 

 led to it. You will pardon me in the frequent use of the ego in this 

 paper. It is so closely connected with all the work done I cannot 

 help it, and because of this fact, it is mj' hope that to some, at least, 

 this paper ma}' prove the more helpful, for "What man hath done, 

 man may do." 



THE BEGINNING. 



The acre of land of which I am to speak is on a hill-side overlook- 

 ing the village and a beautiful river valley. To the north of it is a 

 fine grove of deciduous and evergreen trees, while the general surface 

 slopes gentlv with a southerly exposure. The soil for the most part 

 is a rocky loam, but along the southerly edge it is boggy and wet. 

 For half a century it had been a mowing field, half cleared of stones, 

 and not to my knowledge had it been dressed for years. The grass- 

 hopper year, as we call it, a man attempted to cultivate a portion of 

 it and gave it up in disgust. It produced little grass, in fact was 

 run out. The ground was very stony and to this day I have not 

 succeeded in clearing the soil so as to run a plow or even a hoe 

 without frequently hitting stones. 



The situation was this, in short, the upper portion was stony and 

 dr}', the lower portion was mucky and wet. Upon this land, years 

 before, some one had set a few apple trees which had been browsed 



