146 
THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGHST. 
[ J ULY, 
a series of blunders to be ashamed of,—a Book of Acts to be shunned. I con¬ 
tend that it is nothing of the sort. It is a guide-book, which, studiously read by 
the light of the present, would be of value, and prove a substantial help to us in 
our present practice. No, no, the past is not a rotten ladder, to be kicked down 
as utterly useless, but rather a spring-board, with force and energy enough left in 
it to help us to better, higher things in the present and the future. 
All this is a propos to the subject of Food for Fruit-Trees. Our predecessors 
believed in that. Whatever else they did or undid, they fed their trees with no 
niggardly hand. “ Yes,” answers the tyro, triumphantly, “ and a rare mess they 
made of it. They sent the strength of their trees into fishing-rods, instead of 
luscious fruits ; do you wish to do likewise ?” That does not follow. Neither does 
it follow that they were wholly wrong in feeding their fruit-trees. True, they 
went to excess; but the food was good, and their reasons for giving it sound. 
They erred, as most of us do, by grasping only some, instead of all the facts. 
They saw one, and that a very important part of truth—this,—as we sow, we 
.•shall reap. Food in abundance is the forerunner of a heavy harvest. That was 
often delivered in bundles of wood, because they lacked the skill of converting 
the growing force of the tree into fruit. But was the strength borne of the 
manure therefore wrong, and fraught with mischief ? By no means. The strength 
was good ; like a young colt, it simply needed breaking-in, to make it run quietly 
in the ways of fertility. 
I fear we moderns, like unskilful trainers, have often broken the spirit and 
stamina of our trees in our rage for fertility. From the excessive over-feeding of 
fruit-trees, the modern mind horticultural has rebounded to no-feeding. The 
consequence is exhaustion, ending in crippled forms and premature deaths. 
Feeding is, in fact, of far more importance than ever. The trees have much 
more to do, as they begin fruit-bearing at a much earlier age. Men used to talk 
of planting fruit-trees for their children : now they expect to plant maiden plants 
one season, and eat .of them the next. This precocious fertility exhausts the 
youthful tree, and stops or stunts its growth. And as if this were not exhaustive 
enough, the tree can hardly make two leaves in succession without cruel pinching 
and reckless stopping. Or if it escapes the thumb-screw on its tender shoots, and 
ventures to make wood of medium size and strength, the spade or the knife is 
sent through its best roots in winter. All this results in a load of fruit, far 
beyond the vital powers of the tree. With many growers the more fruit the 
better. No matter how weak the wood, how small the leaves, they only see 
"those fruit,—every branch weighted, each twig filled, and every bud for next 
year almost a fat fruit-bud. 
All these manifestations delight the ends of the pomologist. And justly so. 
But each of them is a cry for food, as well as an earnest of present and coming 
harvests. Feed the roots well with partially decomposed manure as mulchings, 
liquid manure, and house sewage of all kinds. The tree needs it all to bear the 
strain which our artificial treatment has put upon it. No fear of such trees 
