THE CANADIAN IK^KTICULTUKIST. S% 



the best mode of culture, and after this to buy their trees, and use 

 tlieir utmost endeavors to care for and protect them. 



I advise you to be careful of wliorii you buy, for if you depend on 

 the judgment of others to make your selections you will find that the 

 men who can be fully relied on are scarce. Nurserymen are anxious 

 to sell, and some will recommend a new variety for the sake 

 of selling it without knowing whether it is suitable ; the tree agents 

 are wholly irresponsible, and are seeking only to make as many and 

 large sales as possible. Last fall I met a man selling fruit trees, and 

 notwithstanding the fact th.it tha well informed fruit growers and the 

 State Horticultural Society have repeatedly recommended for general 

 cultivation nothing but the Duchess of Oldenburg and Wealthy in 

 standard apples, and a few of the best crabs, still that man had orders 

 for trees that he knew would not be successful in that rigorous climate, 

 I solemnly looked him in the face and said, "You have a fearful 

 amount of cheek to sell these trees to farmers ?" " Well," he said, " I 

 have the trees, and the only way to get out is to sell them." 



I advise you whether you plant many or few trees, wdiether your 

 soil and location be favorable or unfavorable, whether you bought the 

 trees because you wanted them or to get rid of the agent, whenever 

 you plant trees don't forget to mulch them the first season, and every 

 season thereafter. They will be more certain to live and grow and 

 to bear fruit, and you will be the l)etter satisfied with the result. 



I advise you, after taking all this pains, to see to it that cattle and 

 horses and sheep are not turned in to destroy them. This is practised 

 too much, and then the failure charged to climate and other causes. 



I advise you to set young trees, for they will root more readily, 

 gi-ow more thriftily and bear earlier than older trees. Much has been 

 lost, and many have become discouraged by planting five and six year 

 old trees, for they never recovered from the shock received by trans- 

 planting. I have abundant evidence of this in my own orchard, and 

 know whereof I write. 



I advise you to avoid cheap trees for several reasons ; first, they 

 are likely to be poor stock, and second, if you get them for a small 

 price you will not take as good care of them. High-priced horses, 

 cattle and hogs always get the best care. A farmer last fall asked me 

 what I thought of a trade he had made, he had traded an old fanning- 

 miil that he had not been able to give away, for fifty apple trees, after 



