1871. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



113 



TREES. 



Ornamental and Fruit,— their Cultivation,— How they 

 Enemies, and Uses. 



DMiRERS and lov- 

 ers of trees are 

 not confined we 

 presume to civ- 

 ilized nations ; 

 but in all civil- 

 ized communi- 

 ties tliey are 

 certain!}' found, 

 and by their 

 zeal arid wastes 

 have become 

 fruitful places, 

 purling waters 

 chase their way 

 down hill-sides 

 that had long 

 been dry, and make meadows 

 green and fertile, as they go on 

 their way to larger streams. In 

 some instances, villages that appeared as 

 barren and unattractive as a desert, have been 

 changed into beautiful parks, giving to the 

 dwellings a charm and attractiveness which no 

 style of architecture and no gloss of paint could 

 have imparted. Such an example may be 

 found in the town of Northfield, IVIass., where 

 a young lawyer stimulated the citizens to join 

 him in planting four rows of forest trees 

 through the broad main street of that now 

 beautiful village. How many sit under their 

 shade, enjoy their music, admire their beauty, 

 and bless the memory of Thomas Power ! 



The greatly increased consumption of wood 

 as fuel, and of all sorts of timber in the arts of 

 various kinds, has at length aroused our 

 people to energetic action in planting both 

 forest and fruit trees. Another thing has con- 

 tributed much to these new efforts, — the belief 

 now generally entertained, that trees were not 

 made merely to afford us fuel and timber, 

 fruit and shade, but for the essential influences 

 which they have upon the soil and crops. 

 Various portions of the earth's surface have 

 become barren lands, or baked clays, in con- 

 sequence of taking off the trees from wide 

 reaches of land. Addison found this the case 

 during his travels in Italy, and referred to it 

 in one of his poems : — 



"Sometimes misguided by the tuneful throng, 

 I looli for streams im^mortalized iu song, 



That lost in silence and oblivion lie, — 



Dumb are their fountains and their channels dry." 



Fortunately, the scarcity of timber, the high 

 prices of fuel, and these iiew views of the of- 

 fices which trees are designed to perform,, 

 have arrested so much attention that tens of 

 thousands of trees, both forest and fruit, have 

 been set out within a few years past. Nurse- 

 ries of them have been established In every 

 direction. New varieties of trees are being 

 imported from foreign countries, and ex- 

 changed from State to State within our own 

 extended territories. New varieties of fruits 

 are constantly introduced, their mez'Its tested, 

 and efforts made to learn what varieties are 

 best adapted to particular soils and sections 

 of the country. 



Another point of importance is the attention 

 paid to obtaining a succession of fruits, which 

 shall ripen at such seasons that the market 

 and our tables may be supplied with fruit at 

 all seasons of the year. As an illustration, 

 we may cite the peculiar properties of the 



River Apple, 

 which originated in Massachusetts. Instead 

 of being called the "River," its name would 

 more appropriately be Tlie Poor MaiVs Apple ; 

 for it is, emphatically, the fruit of all others 

 which should grow near the poor man's door. 

 Some say the tree is a poor bearer. It is not 

 so according to our experience. Give it 

 plenty of room, on a good soil, and no such 

 complaint will be made of it. When properly 

 trained, the tree will throw out limbs near the 

 ground, spread them in circular form, and 

 give a large and showy head that is beautiful. 

 The fruit is generally of medium size, but in 

 some cases quite large. It is flattish ; yellow, 

 much red in stripes; tender, juicy ; pleasant, 

 slightly acid. It is a fine cooldng and eating 

 apple. 



The peculiar and valuable quality of this 

 apple, however, is its property of ripening 

 gradually through a period of several weeks. 

 Our attention has been repeatedly called to 

 trees near our own doors, and especially so ta 

 several trees in the neighborhood in the sum- 

 mer and autumn of 1861, which were loadted! 

 with fine fruit, and when there Avas nearly a 

 total failure of apples generally. The applet 

 on these trees began to drop during i/le- last 

 days in July, and were in excellent eonditi'oa 

 for cooking or for eating without preparation.. 

 They continued to ripen and drop^ a few eacii 



