he development of young trees is a
pleasing and useful occupation for the man who thinks of them as living
things with an inheritance that cannot be ignored. That seeds in all
appearance exactly alike should send forth shoots so unlike, is a wonder
of Nature; and that young shoots in the same soil and with the same care
should show such dissimilarity in development, is a riddle whose answer
is to be found only in the binding laws of heredity. That a tiny bud
inserted under the bark of a well-grown tree can change a sour root to a
sweet bough, ought to make one careful of the buds which one grafts on
the living trunk of one's tree of life. The young orchard can teach many
lessons to him who is willing to be taught; in the hands of him who is
not, the schoolmaster has a very sorry time of it, no matter how he sets
his lessons.

The side pockets of my jacket are usually weighted down with
pruning-shears, a sharp knife, and a handled copper wire,--always,
indeed, in June, when I walk in my orchard. June is the month of all
months for the prudent orchardist to go thus armed, for the apple-tree
borer is abroad in the land. When the quick eye of the master sees a
little pile of sawdust at the base of a tree, he knows that it is time
for him to sit right down by that tree and kill its enemy. The sharp
knife enlarges the hole, which is the trail of the serpent, and the
sharp-pointed, flexible wire follows the route until it has reached and
transfixed the borer.

This is the only way. It is the nature of the borer to maim or kill the
tree; it is for the interest of the owner that the tree should live. The
conflict is irrepressible, and the weakest must go to the wall. The
borer evil can be reduced to a minimum by keeping the young trees banked
three or four inches high with firm dirt or ashes; but borers must be
followed with the wire, once they enter the bark.

The sharp knife and the pruning-shears have other uses in the June
orchard. Limbs and sprouts will come in irregular and improper places,
and they should be nipped out early and thus save labor and mutilation
later on. Sprouts that start from the eyes on the trunk can be removed
by a downward stroke of the gloved hand. All intersecting or crossing
boughs are removed by knife or scissors, and branches which are too
luxuriant in growth are cut or pinched back. Careful guidance of the
tree in June will avoid the necessity of severe correction later on.

A man ought to pl