viii INTRODUCTION. 



When I came to a thinking aRc, I became anxious to know 

 why those refuse trees never made stiorig, vigoroun shoots 

 like those growing in their immeiliutc- neighborhood, and yet 

 nearly always bore good crops of fruit. Many years elapsed 

 before I saw "the reason why," and long afterwards I wa.s 

 advised by a friend, a F.ll. S., to write a crude, short paper on 

 the subject, and send it to be read at a meeting of the Horti- 

 cultural Society: this paper is published in tlieir "Transac- 

 tions.'' I had then practised it several years ; so that I may 

 now claim a little more attention, if the old adage that " prac- 

 tice makes perfect " be worthy of notice. 



This little work is not designed for the gardens and gardeners 

 of the wealthy and great, but for tliose who take a personal 

 interest in fruit tree culture, and who look on their gardens as 

 a never-failing source of anmsement. In some few favored 

 districts, fruit trees, without any extra care in planting and 

 after-management, will bear good crops, and remain healthy 

 for many years. It is not so in gai-dens with unfavorable soils ; 

 and they are greatly in the majority. It is to those possessing 

 such, and more particularly to the possessors of small {r:irdtns. 

 that the directions here given may prove of valne. The object 

 constantly liad in view is, to jnake fruit trees healthy and fruit- 

 ful by keeping their roots near the surface. The root-pruning 

 and biennial removal so earnestly recommended are the proper 

 means to bring about these results, as they place tlio n'ois 

 within the influence of the sun and air. The iironnd over the 

 roots of garden trees, as generally cultivated, is diiLr uiica or 

 twice a year, so that every surface-tibro is destroyed and the 

 larger roots driven downwards : thoy, ooiisoqnently, imbibe 

 crude watery sap, which loads to much nppart^nt hixurianco in 

 the tiees. This in the end is fatal to their « ell-doini;, tor the 

 vi;,'or(Piis shoots niiido annually are seldom or never ripcnoil siif- 

 ficicutly to I'oriu blossom-buds. Canker then ooines on, and 

 although the trees do not die they rarely give fruit, and ia a 



