562 
STATE HOETICULTUEAL SOCIETY. 
take means for the introduction of a greater variety of apples, and also of 
pears, plums, and cherries ? In some appropriate way, may not the attention 
of the Commissioner of Agriculture at Washington be called to the necessi¬ 
ties of the great North-west, that while collecting seeds and cuttings from 
Europe, he may place within our reach, some of those Russian fruits ? 
We have already quite a variety of apples, well adapted to our climate, and 
the fact of there being scattered throughout our State fine, healthy orchards, 
annually producing their returns of the fairest and finest of fruit, demon¬ 
strates beyond all doubt, that apples can be grown here, and in great abun¬ 
dance. True, many do not succeed. Some from peculiarities of soil^ or 
location, but far more from gross neglect, and want of proper cultivation. , 
It is estimated that seventy-five per cent, of all trees planted in portions 
of our country, favorable to fruit-growing, are destroyed by improper man¬ 
agement, or neglect. The truth is, a very large class of those who plant, 
look upon their work as done, when they have made an excavation in the 
soil, into which the roots can be crowded, and have thrown sufficient earth 
about them to hold the trees in an upright position. They expect it to 
thrive, and vie with the oak in hardiness, while at the same time more ex¬ 
posed to depredations from cattle, and injuries from other causes. Such 
will continue to divide their maledictions between the climate and the nur¬ 
seryman, all uncon cious of any fault on their part, while it is very evident 
that they would not have succeeded even in the Garden of Eden, for it 
seems to have been the employment of that first distinguished fruit-grower, 
to dress and keep the garden. As a successful cultivation of fruit is more 
difficult, and the adverse influences, against which we have to contend, are 
increased, there is reason for closer observation into the causes of failure, 
that we may be enabled to use such means as lie within our reach to prevent 
injury, and save from disaster. 
It has been well said, that “Horticulture is not altogether an artit is a 
progressive science. The wisest of us have to be continually unlearning 
things in which we once implicitly believed, and learning new facts, as the 
science develops itself This is eminently true of us here ; all along our path¬ 
way lie the scattered remains of favorite theories. Theories so plausible 
as to receive, for the time, the sanction of the most intelligent cultivators, 
which unsupported by subsequently developed facts, have been swept away, 
or materially changed. After the first trial of grafted sorts had resulted so 
disastrously, it was thought that by planting the seed we might obtain a 
class of seedlings, of fair quality, and of a degree of hardiness, sufficient to 
withstand our climate. The trial was made, over, and over again, with no 
better results than the early trial of grafted sorts. 
Various have been the causes assigned for the injury and destruction of 
our orchards, prominent among them that of late growth. It was main¬ 
tained that the sure road to success was to chose those varieties which finished 
their growth early. Perfect maturity of wood is always desirable, and'to 
insure the safety of some varieties, absolutely necessary. Still there are others 
