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CHAPTER XIV. 
CULTIVATION OF FRUIT TREES AND FRUITS. 
This elegant, as well as important department of husbandry, has engaged but a few intelligent 
men, compared with the great mass who have successfully pursued the cultivation of grains 
and grasses, and the raising of stock. An impulse, however, has been given to the rearing of 
fruit trees within the last ten years. Formerly it appeared that the great object of an orchard 
was to furnish a beverage for common or every day consumption, and for the production of 
brandy, for harvesting and other important occasions. The temperance reformation, however, 
laid the axe at the root of thousands of apple trees, in New-England and New-York. The 
orchards, however, were mostly those which produced an inferior natural fruit; and hence, is 
not so much to be regretted ; yet, the interest in fruit culture, of all kinds, was greatly di¬ 
minished, and the business was at a stand still for many years. It is now discovered that fruit 
can be applied to more purposes than one, and that the business recommends itself on the score 
of profit, as well as pleasure. The former inducement, however, is the only one which can 
operate upon the majority of farmers. 
It is not my design to go minutely into a description of the mode of rearing trees, and of the 
special management of the different species of fruit. I shall only recur to a few of the general 
principles which lie at the foundation of this kind of business. 
1. Setting Trees. The common faults, with most persons, in setting trees, are, that in re¬ 
moving them from the nursery they injure the roots, by bruising, breaking and destroying a 
very large proportion of the fine roots, with their spongioles, or their fimbriated extremities. 
If they live, or survive their transplantation, they require a year to recover from the injuries 
they have received. 
2. When taken up, all roots should be moistened sufficiently to receive a coating of clay or 
stiff loam, which will serve to protect the tender fibrils, and give the power of transportation, 
or of enduring the drying effects of winds, to which they must be more or less exposed, before 
they can be reset. 
3. When about to be planted, moisten again the roots, and sprinkle dirt on them, placing 
them carefully in the hole prepared for them, which should be large to receive considerable 
