816 



stepped over the borders, and tlie whole field of 

 hybridizing lies widely spread before us ; its bound- 

 aries are lost in the horizon, and we shall find them 

 still receding as we advance." 



CHARACTERISTICS OF A GOOD TREE. 



Ever since the formation of this Society, we 

 have been discussing the best varieties of fruit, but 

 we have never settled what constitutes a good va- 

 riety. Let us give a moment to the consideration 

 of the question, What are the characteristics of a 

 good tree and a good fruity and what is their rela- 

 tive importance f 



I think we shall all agree that, to be desirable 

 for general cultivation, a tree must possess, first, 

 %ealth, or freedom from constitutional disease ; 

 second, hardiness, or the power of resisting the 

 extremes of heat, cold and drought; third, fer- 

 tility, or productiveness of fruit; fourth, persis- 

 tency of fruit, or power of adhering to the tree ; 

 fifth, vigor of growth, or productiveness of wood ; 

 sixth, persistency of foliage ; and, seventh, a good 

 habit of growth ; and that those which unite these 

 characteristics in the highest degree will be the 

 most valuable. They are arranged in what is 

 deemed the order of their relative value, though it 

 is not easy to do this where they are mutually in- 

 terwoven, and where all are necessary to some ex- 

 tent. 



"Health and hardiness are closely dependent upon 

 each other. A diseased tree will be sooner in- 

 jured or destroyed in an uncongenial climate than a 

 healthy one ; and, on the other hand, a tree can- 

 not long remain healthy when injured by heat or 

 cold; but health is placed first, because it is a 

 universal characteristic : that is, a tree may be 

 tender in one place, and perfectly hardy and of the 

 greatest value in another, while a variety constitu- 

 tionally diseased is valuable nowhere. 



A good constitution for a tree is as essential as a 

 good constitution for a man. Acclimation of a 

 tender tree or plant is impossible. He who em- 

 braces this fallacy is like one building his house 

 upon the sand, which will, sooner or later, be swept 

 away by the vicissitudes of climate. The million 

 cannot ,be educated to extraordinary care, there- 

 fore a primary object in the selection of a fruit- 

 tree should be entire hardiness for the locality in 

 which it is to be planted. Such a subject, although 

 itself not producing the best fruit, will furnish the 

 foundation upon which we may graft finer sorts, 

 and thus render them durable, 



" Like the oak that has braved the blast, 

 All the better for the trial." 



Closely connected with hardiness is adaptation to 

 soil. A variety which easily accommodates itself 

 to any soil is of far greater value than one which is 

 difficult in its choice, and therefore confined within 

 narrow limits. 



Productiveness is placed after health and hardi- 

 ness, because these are necessary to a fruitful tree, 

 and before vigor, because our object in planting be- 

 ing the fruit, productiveness of fruit takes pre- 

 cedence, in importance, of productiveness of wood. 

 But, while a tree should be fruitful, it is desirable 

 to avoid a habit of overbearing, which involves 

 either the work of thinning the fruit, or else a 

 large quantity of inferior fruit, and perhaps in- 

 jury to the tree by exhaustion. The Beurre 

 d'Anjou and Beurre Bosc Pears possess the valua- 

 ble property of bearing the greatest part of the 

 fruit singly and evenly distributed over the tree, 

 and hence we find very few imperfect and no worth- 

 less specimens of these kinds. A variety which 

 bears moderate annual crops is preferable to one 

 which, like the Baldwin Apple, produces a heavy 

 crop in alternate years. 



Persistency of fruit has not received the atten- 

 tion which its importance deserves; but it needs 

 no argument to prove that an abundant crop is 

 greatly lessened in value by its liability to fall from 

 the tree. This may arise from two causes : first, 

 premature ripening, owing to disease, and so far 

 connected with our first characteristic ; or to heat, 

 drought or insects, to resist which its power de- 

 pends on its hardiness. Second, from violence, as 

 in the Columbia Pear, which is more subject to 

 have its stem broken and to be blown off than 

 most other Pears. Trees with flexuose shoots will 

 often retain their fruit when it is blown from those 

 whose more rigid limbs offer a greater resistance to 

 the wind ; and a large fruit is not only more likely 

 to be blown off than a small one, but to receive 

 greater injury in falling. 



Vigor of growth, or productiveness of wood, is, 

 to some extent, antagonistic to productiveness of 

 fruit, and, like that, it may be excessive. Espe- 

 cially in the vine is a moderate, compact, short- 

 jointed growth, better than rampant over-luxuri- 

 ance. 



Persistency of foliage is closely dependent upon 

 our first characteristic ; for one of the surest indi- 

 cations of a strong and healthy constitution is 

 abundant, deep-colored foliage, remaining upon the 

 tree until frost. 



The habit of growth may be upright, spreading 

 or drooping, sym.metrical or unsymmetrical. 



