270 



NEW ENGLAND FAEMER. 



JONE 



individual can do, must by no means be neg- 

 lected. 



The causes of the present low condition of 

 the apple tree may be classified under three 

 heads : want of protection against climatic 

 changes ; of defence from insects, and poor 

 and injudicious culture. 



Protection from Climatic Changes. 



This is the first point to be aimed it, for if it 

 cannot be secured there is little probability of 

 success, however carefully the trees may oth- 

 erwise be treated. Florists may dwell upon 

 the advantages, nay, the necessity of jiroduc- 

 ing trees and plants adapted to the climate ; 

 and propagators of new varieties may claim 

 they have achieved that desirable end, yet 

 experience proves that without some protec- 

 tion, furnis^hed either by nature or art, there 

 is no certainty of a yield Avith any kind of 

 fruit. Varieties of limit that were once per- 

 fectly hardy, after a while fail to bear up under 

 the rigors of our climate. When all the con- 

 ditions of growth are perfect, I see no reason 

 why fruit trees should not bear moderately 

 every year. The very fact that fruit buds 

 form and blossoms appear, proves there is a 

 struggle to produce fruit ; yet frecjuently re- 

 curring fiilures show conclusively that there 

 is somethhig radically wrong in their culture. 



More than seventy years ago scientific men 

 noticed changes in our climate, which are gen- 

 erally ascribed to the destruction of our for- 

 ests. Their removal has opened the coun- 

 try to more intense action ot' the fiost, M'ind 

 and sun, causing more frequent changes 

 in the weather, and greater extremes. The 

 heat of sumuier extends i'urther into autumn, 

 which favors an untimely swelling of the fruit 

 buds; the weather of modern winters is more 

 inconstant than when the countr\- was more 

 densely wooded ; the winds being more varia- 

 ble, snow is less permanent, and the ground is 

 more exposed to the action of severe cold, — to 

 alternate freezing and thawing. These ex- 

 treme changes frequently kill the l)U(ls and 

 injure the trees themselves. The cold of win- 

 ter is prolonged later into the spring, and 

 hence cold storms and high winds often occur 

 while the trees are in blossom, and are, 1 

 think, the chief cause of failure of fruit in 

 seasons of abundant bloom. 



In Euroj)e the blighting ellucts arising from 

 the removal of the forests, and the benefits of 

 their restoration, upon tender vegetation, es- 

 pecially upon fruit trees, have l)een fully demon- 

 strated. When the wholesale destruction of 

 the primitive forests of this country shall cease, 

 or the waste places be again covered with trees 

 to a degree that will restore in part or wholly 

 the former eciuanimity of the climate, is a sub- 

 ject involving combined or governmental ac- 

 tion, and beyond the scope of this article. The 

 question now claiming our attention is, not 

 what the government, but what the iiulividual 

 can do to ameliorate the eiiects of the climate 



upon his trees ? It may be answered briefly, 

 plant all fruit trees not in single exposed rows, 

 but in large orchards, and surround them with 

 belts of evergreens. Whoever is aware of the 

 effect of forests in equalizing the temperature 

 and in breaking the force of the winds, will at 

 once see that the trees of a large orchard will 

 materially protect each other, and that the 

 benefits of two or three rows of evergreens 

 must far exceed the labor of planting them 

 and the land they occupy. In the cultivation 

 of trees, valuable hints may always be derived 

 from a close observation of nature. It is one 

 of her laws to protect the roots with a layer of 

 dead and decaying leaves, which tends to 

 equalize the temperature of the ground, keep- 

 ing it cool, moist and light in hot weather, and 

 warmer in winter. The amount of moisture 

 recjulred by a tree in full foliage and laden 

 with fruit, is immense. Can trees obtain their 

 full supply that are trained to grow high, with 

 nothijig upon the ground to check the evapo- 

 ration caused by the direct rays of the sun and 

 the dry, hot, parching winds? often, too, with 

 some cultivated crops drawing the nourishment 

 the trees should have. Is it a mysteiy tljat 

 the fruit of a tree thus situated withers and 

 falls, frequently ? that, while maturing one 

 crop, it cannot properly prepare for another ? 

 And as the foimdation of a fruit crop must be 

 laid the ^ear before, is it strange that its 

 efforts result in weak buds, that weak bud3 

 should produce feeble blossoms, and that fee- 

 ble blossoms blast, or develop inferior fruit ? 



Protection from Insects. 

 Without the aid of birds, the efforts of man 

 in protecting his trees from these pests are of 

 little avail. Trees collected in orchards pre- 

 sent greater inducements lor birds to build 

 their nests than when standing singly ; their 

 prey will always be near them, and they will 

 destroy more than if they traversed the whole 

 farm for it. If mischievous boys and lawless 

 gamesters were kept out, a numerous and cfh- 

 cient guard of these valuable allies might be 

 relied upon. The occupants of poultry houses 

 and coops located in the orchard will render 

 no little assistance in the great work of pi'o- 

 tection from insects. 



Good Culture. 



By having all the fruit trees in orchards, the 

 rest of the farm will be free to the mower, 

 horse-rake, plough, &c. — a consideration of 

 much importance in these days of farm ma- 

 chinery. Securely fenced, it will also be pre- 

 served from the browsing and other depreda- 

 tions of fiirm stock. Neither Avill one be 

 obliged to make the circuit of the farm to do 

 a little pruning, pick up the windfalls, or de- 

 stroy the caterpillars. The site of an orchard 

 need not be the smoothest and best part of the 

 farm, — a hill side or a rocky piece is full as de- 

 sirable a location. 



1 would have an orchard, when the trees are 

 fully grown, occupy all the ground ; yet not 



