Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1861-10-10
From the American Agricuiturist.
OCTOBER,


Surchargcd shall burst thy press with purcst Juice
Shall flow, which, in revolving years, may try
Thy feeble feet and bind thy flittering tongue.
Whoc'er expects his aboring trees should bend
With frutage, and kindly harvest yield,
BE this his first concerni to find a tract
Impervious 70 the winds, begirt with hills
That intercept the Ilyperborean blasts
Iempestuous, and cold EurHs' nipping force,
Noxous to feeble buds.'-PHtIIPs "CIDER."
Brown October is here with its bursting barns
and full garnaries, its falling leaves and fruit.
The season admonishes us to plant fruit trees,
as well as to gather in the fruit harvest. Why
is it, that so many farmers families are content
to go without fruit, in land whSe,so and eli
mate are so congenial to fruit that the humblest
efforts at horticulture are rewarded with sue
cess Intelligent pomologists, who have seen
the fruit shows of Europe tell us that they do
not excel our own, notwithstanding their larger
experience and skill. The apple groes almost
every where in our broad land, and most of the
large fruits have quite as wide range of soil
and climate, though they are much less abund-
ant. Apples have been most common, prob
ably because they were the most common fruit
of the father land, and were planted by the first
settlers of the country. They were found to
flourish much better here than there and the
seedlings which were soon originated upon
American soil, were improvements upon any
thing ever seen in England. In virgin soil,
the tree would grow anywhere with uxuriance,
and only needed to have clear field to yield
abundant fruit The pear was rather an arsto-
cratic tree, and needed much more careful cul-
ture in England than the apple-tree. Here the
standards flourish quite as well as the apple
tree, and seems to have fewer enemies, and to
be quite as productive. Yet the market has
never been adequately supplied, and the finer
varieties of pears bring two and three times as
much as the best varieties of apples. A pear
orchard OF any considerable extent is still
novelty even in the Oldest parts of the country.
Apple orchards, though common, are still far
below the wants of the country. Hundreds of
farms where the apple is as hardy as the forest
oak, are still without a good orchard-t is
somewhat amusing to hear the reasons assigned
by thriving farmers, for the great mistake in
their husbandry, Of not planting an orchard
1t is never admitted that they do not love
fruit. There is hardly man or woman in a
thousand that is not fond of every variety of
fruit. Every boy sighs for his neighbours ap-
piles and pear trees, and not only breaks the
tenth, but the eight commandment, in the
eagerness of his desire. Watermelon patches
are proverbial plunder on moonlight nights.
With many the reason of this failure is their
unset tied condition. They do not own the soil
they cultivate, or they are expecting soon to
sell out and emigrate. The planting of an orch
ard is regarded as a work for another genera
ton.
Others do not believe that the raising Of fruit
pays as well as other departments of husbandry.
In the first place, one has to wait several years
before he can expect any returns whatever, for
his labor. In raising corn and potatoes there
is something to sell every Fall. Fruit has many
enemies not only in the shape of insects but Of
bipeds who seriously interfere with the profits
of the orchard. Some are remote from a good
market, and though the depot is within an
hours ride of the farm, they have never thought
of railroad conveyance to a market Others ad.
nit the advantage OF planting an orchard, and
have always been intending to do it, but they
have had so much work upon their hands that
they have never quite got ready. Money is
scarce, and the nurseryman wants cash. These
objections, however unsubstantial, are real to
many farmers, and possibly to some of our
readers.
We have been eating fruit for three years,
from apple trees planted only eight years ago,
and from pear trees planted much more recently.
They bear with increasing abundance every
year, and it seems to us so feasible and so profit
able, to stock an acre or two with fruit trees,
that we can not let the season of tree planting
pass without word of exhortaton.
A home surrounded with well grown fruit
trees and vines adapted to the soil and climate,
is one of the most beautiful objects we meet
with at this season of the year. Every one ad-
mires the dwelling however humble, that looks
out upon the street, through shaded walks,
through fruitful gardens and orchards. What
can be finer than well grown pear tree, hung
with its yellow fruit, an apple whose boughs are
bending to the ground with their ruddy burden
or vine loaded with its purple clusters. These
are cheap and substantial ornaments, that any
man may plant around his home. The green
upon his window, and the paint on the dwelling
will require frequent expensive renewal every
returning Spring will bring out the living orn
ments in new dress without money and without
price.
There is no greater misconception than tn,
popular notion that fruit growing does not pay
as well as other branches of husbandry 1t re
quires some capital, some skill and patience, tC
wait for returns. But capital and skill invested
here are certain to have their reward. 1t is nj
uncommon return for an acre in apple trees t
yield hundred dollars, while under favorable
circumstances and high cultivation, the yield il
two or three times greater. Farmers who hav
gone most largely into fruit culture. are gen
orally the best satisfied with it. 1t furnishe
something to sell from August until March
The early apples have to be marketed in thei
season, but the Winter varieties can wait TO
good prices from three to six months withou
damage to their quality. Pears though more
perishable than apples, and requiring more skill
in their handling and rpenng, are enougl
higher in price TO make them profitable.
Not the least advantage of an abundant sup
ply of fruits in the family, is their influence upol
health. At this season of the year they are
great safeguard against fevers and diseases o
the bowels, and were they freely eaten in all ou
families, the sick list would be greatly dimin
ished. The craving of children for fruit, amos
UNIVERSAL is not so much an evidence of tota
depravity, as the working of instinct. seeking
what it does not find in bread and meat.
: Then, as we have referred to the children, an
! mean to say good word for them, there is ne
tie to bind them to the old homestead, outsid
of the warm currents of domestic love, like tn
| fruit yard and orchard. Who does not recal
) among the happy memories of his childhood
| if we were so highly favored, the old tree
whose shade was his play ground and who's
J fruits were his daily food, the garden walk
lined with berries, and the vines upon the ar
Dor and houseside that grew purple in the DC
tober sun.
THE PHRASEOLOGY OF THE DAY.
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