In preparing our Seasonable Hints it is interesting to note how much practical fruit culture advances. Practical men thought they knew something a quarter of a century ago, but no one would give the same directions for culture now that would have been given then. And we think we advance faster than they do in the Old World. Looking at some horticultural calendars, recently issued in England, not one word is said about potted strawberry plants, which have been found such a great time-saver here. And in fruit tree culture generally we find the same old-fashioned advice, not to give fruit trees much manure, for fear of giving a rank growth to them. In this country we have outgrown this weakness. Provided all other elements of good culture are cared for, it is almost impossible to give fruit trees too much manure. Indeed, much of the trouble with fruit trees comes from their being half-starved. A pear or apple tree may have a foot deep of well-rotten - say one year old manure, placed for yards wide around the trunk under the branches, and it would be all the better for it. Of course this would be too much of a good thing. Such a dressing of manure would never pay. But we are speaking of absolute health to the tree, and productiveness in splendid fruit.

It is when fruit orchards are deeply hoed, harrowed or plowed late in the autumn and the soil is rich, that the trees suffer. The young roots, nearly resting, are engaged in storing nutriment in the buds and branches for another year. When these roots are torn off the main roots proceed at once to make new fibres, and with this a new growth of foliage and length of branches. Then this growth does not mature before winter, and is more subject than healthy wood, to disease. If the soil is poor the new roots do not push much, nor is the growth much affected. This is the only way in which poor soil for fruit trees is ever an advantage. But it is a greater advantage to let the fall roots alone, and give all the food possible for the roots to work on.

No question is more frequently put to an editor than, what is the best soil to plant fruit trees in? There can be no specific answer to this question. In a general way the answer might be, that any soil that would grow good potatoes, corn, or any vegetable crop, would be a good soil to grow a fruit tree in. But even this does not wholly answer the question, for in Massachusetts or Connecticut one may plant apple trees quite successfully on hills covered with boulders and loose rocks where no one would think to get a vegetable crop; yet there are some soils better suited to some classes of trees than others. The peach, as a rule, does best in light soils; the pear in heavy ones; the apple in a soil that is a mixture of clay and sand; while the cherry, we think, prefers a soil that is made of broken stone. But it is not safe to say that even these soils are better for the trees named. We have seen, sometimes, excellent peach trees in heavy clay. The pear and apple do well in pure Jersey sand, and the cherry, usually delighting in high rocky ground, seems particularly favored by a piece of low flat ground.

So with culture. There are plenty of illustrations where clean culture is found admirable, and others where trees do much better in grass than when the ground is exposed to very hot sun. The experienced cultivator comes to learn that success in culture comes from a study of little things that tend to the health of the tree, and not so much from any general rule of soil or situation to fruit culture as a whole. These little things consist mainly in choosing soil that does not absorb heat freely, as cool soil in America is essential in most localities. The soil must not retain water long enough to "sog" it, nor must water run so rapidly away that it will soon dry out. There must be abundance of good food near the surface where the fibres or feeding roots are, and these must never suffer for the want of it. There is little else to be said of choosing soil. There is much more in choosing trees than in choosing soil. A cheap tree is generally dear at any price. A new venturer in peach growing recently showed the writer two thousand peach trees that he had planted. One thousand were trees about five feet high, rated by the nurseryman as No. I trees. The stock giving out, No. 2 trees were sent to make the balance.

After one year's growth under the same circumstances it was a remarkable sight in the difference. The No. 2 trees were still puny and poor looking in comparison with the No. 1. The owner thought he might be able to make them catch up by giving them liberal fertilizing, but it was a poor hope. The trees were smaller than the others in the first place, because they had poorer constitutions, or they would not have been small under equal circumstances. The constitution being poor, the tree can take no advantage of the best food that may be given it. At least to but a small extent.