Karma Is Alike

By Meng Wu

Once the Lunar New Year drifts away,the blowing wind becomes far more gentle and soft.My backyard garden,nicknamed “Flower-Fruit Mountain,” will burst full of life,beauty,and color.Peach,pear,cherry,apple and plum trees will all parade their blossoms for people’s enjoyment.Red,pink,white,and green flowers will decorate each corner of the small place.It seems that all this sets a mood of romance and hungers for spring’s return.

It was a good season to fertilize and prune the fruit trees before they were in full bloom.One of my friends phoned me,“Is it the best time to prune the fruit trees now?” I replied yes and began busying myself with pruning the peach branches and grafting them on the cherry tree,the cherry branches on the plum tree,the Asian pears on the European pear trees,and the American persimmon branches on the Japanese Fuji persimmon trees.It is not an easy job to prune and graft the trees,which requires a high level of expertise.Only some fruit trees can be spliced.Peaches,apricots,plums,and cherries can be spliced because they belong to the same family of fruit trees.

My friends always regard me as an expert in regards to planting fruit trees.To be honest,I’ve just spent a little longer on it than they did.The longer you work in the fields,the more experience you’ll have naturally.Even though I have done many splicing experiments,so far I haven’t eaten my own products.Whenever I see those multicolored flowers on the fruit trees in spring time,I can’t help imagining what the harvest season will be.Will there be any magical and fragrant exotic fruits to surprise me?

If you spend enough time with fruit trees,you will get to know the joys and sorrows of the trees.I still remember a friend of mine who had told me that it was hard to tend an apple tree.She pruned it,fertilized it with expensive fertilizers,and tubewatered it frequently.However,it only yielded two or three sour and cracked fruits in autumn.

I didn’t believe what she said,for I knew that an apple tree was not so delicate.One day I went to her house and helped her find the crux.

There was a gigantic walnut tree sheltering half of her backyard,deep-rooted with a thick canopy.Walnut trees and apple trees are antagonistic to each other in nature.It was well recorded in ancient Chinese agriculture books and relevant online English materials that walnut trees and apple trees cannot be planted together.A particular smell from the walnut tree can easily infect an apple tree with a rust disease,which results in faded or white leaves,and deformed and withered fruits.A peach tree in her yard was also struggling to survive.She then asked me,“Which one is its enemy?” I answered,“Apples and peaches are not ambivalent with each other in nature,but slightly because their viruses are infectious to each other.” Anyway,the so-called “Flower-Fruit Mountain” was not easy to start,because at the beginning you have no idea which fruit trees are friends and which ones are enemies.

Sometimes,one may ponder,isn’t it the same as human society? Tragically,there are those marriages where two people have no feelings for each other,but have to be tied together through obligation,torturing each other and suffering through all their lives.

People believe in sheer coincidences in life and,so do trees.All creations of God some how have the same dispositions.You may love someone at first sight and you may hate someone when you meet them for the first time.All of this happens for no reason.In a world of trees,some trees including fruit trees (especially peaches and pears) should not grow near pine trees.To build a good orchard,we must shun pine trees because the smell of its branches can make fruit trees grow to be deformed,or even fruitless.However,blueberry bushes are fond of pine trees and enjoy living next to them because they are friends.A substance in pine roots promotes the growth of blueberries.For example,the blueberry tree I planted beside a pine tree grows healthy—its fruit is rich and full.

In our lives,we experience many up sand down s a n d encounter different types of people.Be it love or friendship,it is not conditioned merely by a good or bad coincidence.Man is the master of all things,with the wisdom to cultivate their bad lucks into good ones.

(FromAmerica,Another Life,China Coal Industry Publishing House.Translation: Qing Run)