The native Virginian. [volume] (Orange Court House, Va.) 1867-187?, 1869-05-14
8arut anS Gar6ttt
FAILURE OF FRUIT ORCHARDS.

From all quarters we hear OF the de-
cay OF fruit orchards. The fine apple
orchards that We're once pride and
profit to their owners are dying out
Of the choicest kind of apples there are
now but few left. The old red-streak,
the finest cider apple in the world, is
rarely now to be met with. The Ram
bo is sharing a similar fate. The gold
EN- pippin is becoming searcer year w
year, and so of all the older varieties in
| Maryland, and to the South of us, do
not succeed well, and perish early.
SO too OF pears. How few are there
now OF tins choice fruit to what there
used to be among us, and of those few,
how rare 1t is.to find them in perfection.
In the MOI thern and Western States
these fruits do better. In the North
ern, because the climate is more favora-
BILE to the growth f the appleand pear,
and because greater attention has been
given to their proper cultivation. In
the western, because the fruits are
seedlings, and grown to great extent
on virgin soil.
But the same fate, with us, has at
tended the plum, which falls almost
| certainly victim to the curculio, and
to the apricot which rarely natures its
fruit. But the most serious circum~
stance OF all is the gradual decline of
| the peach trees. In respect to climate
| and soil, Maryland, and the States to
the South OF us are both admirably
adapted to the growth of this delicious
fruit. Years ago, when the Cromwell
| and Somelville orchards were in their
prime, the quantity of peaches they
bore, the quality of the fruit, and the
number of years the trees were in bear
ing before they showed signs of deca-
dence, were all that could be desired.--
Even now, seeding peach trees may be
found growing i'll hedge rows and bye
places, which are four times the size of
the cultivated tree, and which are har-
dy, bear profusely, and live to great
age. We know ofone still living which
dates back full twenty-five years from
the seed. The fruit, Ofcourse, is not as
luscious and juicy as the cultivated
peach, but the longevity of such trees,
and their constant bearing qualities,
are proof that there are defects in she
mode of raising and cultivation of the
peach which require to be remedied.
'Onr opinion is, that the decadence
both of apple and peach trees, in orch
ards where they are cultivated for their
fruit, is not altogether owing to the eX-
haustion of the soil of those censtitu--
ents upon which it thrives; but is large
ly attributable to the fact that nearly
all our orchards are of grated or bud
ded fruit. This theory is largely sus-
tanned by the fact that when new or
chards are planted out, on good soils
that have never before grown either
the apple or the peach, the trees are
rarely long lived, and in the case of the
apple, the fruit, in many instances, ra-
pidly deteriorates. So faras the peach
is concerned we know of a seeding or
chard of remarkably fine fruit which
were planted in the vicinity. Ofcourse,
care and attention were annually given
to the orchard in question, buJ not more
than is generally given to orchards of
bGdded fruit by skillful cultivators. 1t
must be remembered that gratis and
buds are taken, but too frequently,
from trees that were either diseased at
the time, or were already in process of
decay, and that the vitality of the bud
or graft necessarily p9rtakes under such
of the condition of the
parent tree.
Again, it may appear fancifnl, and,
therefore, we throw it on. simply as Il
suggestion, but may not the same effect
be produced upon the hcalthness and
longevity of fruit trees which have con-
stantly been perpetuated by CRAFTS and
buds from parent trees, as is produced
on animals by breeding in and in ? In
The latter case we know that the strain
that hereditary diseases
are perpetuated, and that the vigor of
.he offspring is not so great as by cross
ng the breed. 1t is true that no fruit
grower can calculate upon obtaining
'ruit from seeding trees of the same
Iuality as the iruit from which the seed
vas obtained. But, on the other hand,
lie may, and often does, obtain at times,
still ehoicer kind. 1t is this element
If uncertainty which has led to the
practice of grating and budding, and
which seems to justify it. But would
t not be well for some of our enter
orising fruit growers to test the ques-
ion OF the great vigor and longevity of
seeding trees? By exercising the prin-
,iple OF selection they might still OBJ
ain very choice varieties of iruit,-Md.
Farmer.