I860.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



643 



these local catalogues, and from the present 

 catalogue of our Society, full lists of all the 

 fruits therein named, properly classified and 

 arranged, with due regard to nomenclature 

 and terminology, and shall submit the same 

 at the next biennial session for its consider- 

 ation and action. This labor, well per- 

 formed, will redound to the honor of Ameri- 

 can Pomology. 



These recommendations are not intended 

 to preclude a discussion of the merits or de 

 merits of any variety now on our catalogue. 

 On the contrary, they call for a full and free 

 expression of opinions in respect to any de- 

 partment of the same, as this may aid the 

 labors of the several committees. Neither 

 are they intended to preclude the addition 

 of varieties to the list which promise well. 



If this association had rendered no other 

 service except to give to the world its 

 present catalogue of fruits, it would have 

 fulfilled an important mission ; but it has 

 done more; it has encouraged and originated 

 many kindred associations, has brought to- 

 gether experienced cultivators, and made 

 them teachers of each other. 



By this action and reaction of mind on 

 mind, many of the first principles of judici- 

 ous cultivation are now fully settled and 

 well understood. Among these are the fol- 

 lowing, to which I will now only briefly 

 allude, as they have been more fully con- 

 sidered in former addresses: 



CULTURE OF TREES. 



1. The healthful development of fruit 

 trees, as of other living substances, depends 

 on the regular reception of a certain quantity 

 of appropriate food. This food, whether 

 derived from the earth, air, water, or other 

 natural elements, is conveyed through the 

 medium of the atmosphere and the soil. 

 While we have only an indirect and imper- 

 fect control of the atmosphere and other 

 meteorological agents, the Great Arbiter of 

 Nature has committed the soil directly to 

 our care and treatment. 



2. To this I may add the general senti- 

 ment in favor of thorough and perfect drain- 

 age, beneficial to all cultivators, but indis- 

 pensable to the fruit-grower. 



3. Not less uniform is the experience 

 of the salutary effects of a proper prepara- 

 tion of the soil for fruit-trees, both in the 

 nursery and in the orchard. 



These principles are settled in the minds 

 of all intelligent fruit-growers j but they 



need to be often promulgated and enforced. 

 It should be equally well understood that 

 success depends upon the adaptation of the 

 habits of the tree to the constituents of the 

 soil, the location, and aspect or exposure. A 

 disregard of this principle, and the fickle- 

 ness of seasons, are among the most com- 

 mon causes of failure, not only among in- 

 experienced cultivators, but among professed 

 pomologists. 



More attention should be given not only 

 to the location, but especially the aspect of 

 trees. A common error is to disregard the 

 time of ripening. We plant our early fruits 

 in the warmest and most genial locations. 

 These should be assigned to our latest 

 varieties. For instance, we, at the north, 

 have too often placed our late fall and winter 

 pears, like Easter Beurre, or Beurre d'Arem- 

 berg, in northern aspects and exposed po- 

 sitions, where they are liable to injury by 

 the gales and frosts of autumn, whereas we 

 should have given them a southern aspect, 

 and our most fertile soils, to bring them to 

 perfection. The most favorable locations 

 are not so indispensable to our summer fruits, 

 which mature early under the more direct 

 rays of the sun, and in a much higher 

 temperature. This rule may require modi- 

 fication, and. even reversion, to adapt it to 

 the south or southwest portion of our county. 

 And here I cannot refrain from expressing 

 the earnest hope that our local catalogues 

 may be framed with a wise reference to this 

 principle, and that the day may not be dis- 

 tant when the Society's Catalogue shall de- 

 signate the particular locality, aspect, and 

 soil, adapted to each variety of fruit. 



But however important these considera- 

 tions may be, the subsequent cultivation of 

 trees must receive a passing notice, even at 

 the risk of repeating some opinions of my- 

 self and others, which are already before 

 the public. 



The sentiments contained in the commu- 

 nication of Mr. J. J. Thomas, at our last 

 session, ^gainst the growth of any other 

 crop in orchards, especially against relying 

 upon small circles dug around trees in grass 

 ground, as a method of culture, deserves to 

 be held in perpetual remembrance. Equally 

 injurious, in my own opinion, is the habit of 

 deep digging or ploughing among fruit 

 trees, thereby cutting off the roots, and de- 

 stroying the fibrous feeders, which frequently 

 extend beyond the sweep of the branches. 

 However necessary the practice may be of 



