THE COUNTRY HOME [CHAPTER 
tree, neatly trimmed and never neglected, is a 
sight the owner may be proud of; but an orchard 
of any sort left to shift for itself is a disgrace. 
I have spoken of shaping fruit trees; you must 
not, however, be fooled by pictures of ideal trees. 
The fact is that no two varieties of pear trees have 
the same ideal; and no two varieties of apples form 
exactly the same shaped head. A Seckel pear is 
ideal when the head is nearly round; an Anjou is 
ideal when very nearly a pyramid; and a Buffam 
has for its ideal a column much like a Lombardy 
poplar. You must study varieties, and adjust 
your trimming to each sort. A Spitzenburg apple 
droops its limbs over till they touch the ground; 
a Northern Spy apple seeks to become round- 
headed, and must be controlled about limbing out 
at one spot; an Astrachan is also round-headed, 
and retains that shape through life; a Russet throws 
its limbs out nearly horizontal; and so you may go 
through your whole orchard and find a strong in- 
dividuality everywhere. 
I shall have more to say about bees in another 
chapter, but here let me tell you that you will find 
a large share of your fruit blossoms cannot perfect- 
ly pollenize themselves — a fact that repeats itself 
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