The Portland daily press., 1869-05-28

Oxford. TIMOTHY WALKER.
Penobscot. ......,....SILAS G. HATCH.
Piscataquis .........A. q. LEBROkE.
Sagadahoc. .......- Jos. nj. HAYES.
Somerset t...........JAMES BELL.
Waldo ..............S. Il. MILLiKEN.
Washington. .......D. X. HOBART.
York. ...............J. L. BUTLER.
Republican State Committee.
DO the Different Varieties of Fruif De-
gcnerntes
The above question is an interesting one to
all fruit-growers and to farmers generally
And it is question, too, upon which all are
not agreed who have interested themselves in
the subject. At recent meeting of the
tion came up for discussion. The prevailing
opinion of this Club was that healthy varie-
ty will remain SO forever under the same con-
ditions that produced the first plant. One
gentleman contended that all varieties of
pears, apples, plums, peaches and other kinds
of fruit that have been under cultivation and
propagation for three hundred years are still
as healthy and productive as they ever were.
And even so small and delicate plant as the
strawberry shows no sign of running out if
once healthy.
| 1t is true that the first varieties known to
have been cultivated are still in existence
and now do well under judicious and wise
cultivation. And what fruit or vegetable will
flourish and retain its primitive good quail
ties under any other care and cultivation p
Even the potato will deteriorate under bad
management, and farmers in years past have
hic I11oh In fr,bo o,,I
strong and healthy that it would grow and
flourish in any soil and under any sort of cul-
tivation. But what are the facts? Expert
ence-and sad experience, too, for many
has shown that bad cultivation will run it
down. And what we mean by bad cultiva-
for seed and eating all the good ones. Many
farmers have done that, and then grumbled
because they didn't have SO good a crop as
their neighbors who managed more wisely
And they not only selected the poorest pota-
toes for seed, but didn't half plow their lands,
nor half hoe the plants, supposing they would
grow anywhere and under any conditions
Now the soil should be plowed deep, thor
oughly narrowed, and properly manured If
good crop can be reasonably hoped for. Dig
| ging deep holes in halfplowed lands and COW
erlng deep will not make these tubers grow
well. One of the Vermont farmers who new
er fails of raising an abundant crop, marks
out the places where the seed is to be depos-
tied by chain upon the surface of the
| ground and digs no holes. He plants his po-
tatoes in the same manner he does corn, but
then his land is first plowed deep and thor
oughly pulverized. He says potatoes will
stand drought on such prepared soil as well
as any other vegetable, and even better than
most of them.
But to return to our subject, the degenera-
| ton of varieties We know a virg ulun pear
tree in Vermont quite half century old from
which we gathered fruit for several years,
and splendid and luscious fruit it was. The
pears on this venerable tree which grew on
the topmost branches and on the south side
were as large, fair and fine as those that grew
on young trees in the same garden. But the
| fruit on the lower branches and ON the north
side was smaller and had no red cheeks as the
others had. The fruit on this tree gave no
signs of degeneration for much oithe fruit was
just as good as it was fifty years ago Again
we knew an apple tree in this county more
than fifty years ago, and when we first made
its acquaintance it had been growing nearly
half century. We shall never forget its
fruit. 1t was called the "graft apple" and
large finely favored, juicy striped apple it
was. 1t was grated fruit, and all the other
apple trees in that region bore common fruit,
but little of it fit for anything but for cider.
This "graft apple" tree had an excellent rep
utation and the old gentleman who owned it
had hard work to keep the boys away from
it. There were many large orchards in the
vicinity but none bore such luscious fruit as
this tree, and yet three quarters of century
| rolled away and nobody even thought OF
taking scions from this tree and grating
them into their orchards. How strange it
now seems that so little attention was paid
| to COED fruit. The land was new then and
| the orchards bore abundantly, and all the
owners seemed to be satisfied with the native
fruit, and large portion of it was so sour
that it would make the "hogs squeal" that at
tempted to eat it. Last September we ate
some fruit from this ancient grated tree, but
the apples were smaller, less fair and less
juicy and less richly favored than they were
a half century ago. But the old tree still
lives now nearly or quite century old, and
| yet no care has been taken of it. This
grated apple has degenerated; but would it
have degenerated if the tree had always been
properly cared for? That is the question.
We think it would not, and our wonder is,
not that the apple has degenerated but that
it has "held its own SO long under such ad-
verse circumstances.
One member of the Club before poken of
alluded to the olive trees about Rome and
Italy. The fruit on these trees which is
more than thousand years old is just as
| good as it was 5000 years ago In the more
ancient trees. The truth probably is, that
| fruits and vegetables have not degenerated,
but are injured and often destroyed by in
sects and by the carelessness and neglect of
men.
It is known that the peach trees in Michi.
gan have, in some good degree, srun OUT"
but that is owing in great measure to the
cutting away of the forest trees which ALWAYS
afford excellent protection to fruit trees of all
varieties. Many and most of our old or
chards all over the State have suffered greatly
from the same cause. The forest trees have
been cut down-and ruthessly cut down
and fruit trees are more exposed to northern
winds than they were in past years. 1t is
painful to think how our noble forests have
fallen before the woodman's axe! And nearly
all who thus handled the axe grow poor by it
and the country now suffers from such "
in many ways. Forests temper the atmos-
phere and prevent droughts. The ground
freezes deeper than 1t used to before our for
ests were cut away, and the North winds,
have full sweep over the land. The work OF
setting out trees ought to commence in good