410 [AssEMBLr 



Oa Saturday last a gentleman of the Institute informed me that 

 he had on several occasions stated to his friends tliat I could in- 

 duce an apple, or otlier fruit tree, to bear fruit every year, in- 

 stead of every other year, which is the habit of the apple par- 

 ticularly. Fruit, you all know, is the pistil or ovarium matured ; 

 every kind of fruit has two parts, viz: the seed andpericarpinm, 

 the former being found within the latter in various compartments 

 and divisions. The embryo apple-seed is soon converted into a 

 plant, and after exhausting nature's store of nourishment prepared 

 in the cotyledons, it puts forth its roots and spongioles seeking 

 food in the earth, and from the atmosphere by its leaves. 



The earth contains, in its composition, mixtures of organic and 

 earthy matters in many states of combination, both aqueous and 

 gaseous. The atmosphere is composed of nitrogen, oxygen and 

 carbonic acid gas, with a portion of aqueous vapor, part of which 

 are selected by tlie tree in certain proportions. Many conditions 

 are absolutely necessary for the life of a:i apple tree, and if by 

 accident a single one is wanting, the tree cannot bring its fruit 

 to maturity. The organs of the tree contain matter of entirely 

 ditferent kinds, consequently the fx)d wliich can produce all the 

 organs of the tree, must of necessity contain all its elements. 

 The elementary ingredients of the apple tree are hydrogen, car- 

 bon and oxygen in several proportions, and sundry modifications; 

 from these it makes its selection by the vital power of assimila- 

 tion with which nature has endowed it. Tlie food that the tree 

 derives from t!ie atmusphere is supplied very regularly, from the 

 fact that we know the gases are pretty equally distributed 

 throughout the globe ; consequently the aid of man is only re- 

 quirc'd in the m;inagemf^nt of the soil, wiiich becomes exhausted 

 of its fertilizing qualities, by the frequent crops of fruit brought 

 to perfection by the tree. There are various ways of improving 

 an orchard without directly adding animal manures; such for 

 instance, as draining, and thus ameliorating the soil by removing 

 superfluous moisture ; by subjecting the surface to the action of 

 fire, after it has been taken from the field, and returning the 

 residue in the shape of ashes ; by rotation of crops ; by repose, 

 which permits the surface to decay and increases the vegetable 

 mould. The soil is the principal source from whence tlie nour- 



