Old and New Methods. 137 
where receives the least attention. The presumption 
is at once raised, therefore, that this sod and neg- 
lect are in some vital way associated with the de- 
clining productiveness of apple trees. In order to 
put ourselves right upon the question, we must first 
of all ascertain, if we can, why the apple is of all 
fruits the most neglected. 
My older readers will recall the fact that until 
recent years the effort of the farmer has been di- 
rected to the growing of hay, grain and_ stock. 
Previous to this generation, the growing of fruit 
has been a matter of secondary or even incidental 
importance. <A bit of rocky or waste land, or an 
odd corner about the buildings, was generally given 
over to the apple orchard, and if the trees received 
any attention whatever it was after all other de- 
mands of the farm had been satisfied. All this was 
particularly true of the farming previous to the 
second third of this century, and the apple and 
standard pear orchards of the country still record 
the old method. It has required at least a genera- 
tion of men in which to thoroughly establish any 
new agricultural system, and the time is not yet 
fully arrived for the passing out of the old orchards 
and the coming in of the new. In other fruits than 
apples and standard pears, the generations of trees 
are comparatively short-lived, and those fruits sooner 
feel the effect of new agricultural teachings. Vine- 
yards, and orchards of plums, dwarf pears, apricots, 
cherries and quinces, have mostly come into exist- 
ence along with the transition movement from the 
