6 On the Objects which the Society have in view. 



Every gardener is well acquainted with methods of apply- 

 ing manure, with success, to annual plants ; for these, as 

 Evelyn has justly observed, having but little time to fulfil 

 the intentions of nature, readily accept nutriment in almost 

 any form in which it can be offered them : but trees, being 

 formed for periods of longer duration, are frequently much 

 injured by the injudicious and excessive use of manure. The 

 gardener is often* ignorant of this circumstance ; and not 

 unfrequently forms a compost for his Wall trees, which for a 

 few years stimulating them to preternatural exertion, becomes 

 the source of disease, and early decay. 



It is also generally supposed that the same ingredients, 

 and in the same proportion to each other, which are best 

 calculated to bring one variety of any species of fruit to 

 perfection, are equally well adapted to every other variety 

 of that species : but experience does not justify this con- 

 clusion ; and the Peach in many soils acquires a high degree 

 of perfection, where its variety, the Nectarine, is compa- 

 ratively of little value ; and the Nectarine frequently pos- 

 sesses its full flavour in a soil, which does not well suit the 

 Peach. The same remark is also applicable to the Pear and 

 Apple ; and as defects of opposite kinds occur in the varieties 

 of every species of fruit, those qualities in the soil, which 

 are beneficial in some cases, will be found injurious in others. 

 In those districts where the Apple and Pear are cultivated for 

 Cyder and Perry, much of the success of the planter is found 

 to depend on his skill, or good fortune, in adapting his fruits 

 to the soil. 



The preceding remarks are applicable to a part only of the 

 objects which the Horticultural Society have in view ; but 



