ORCHARDS. 91 



apple trees. But let it also contain pear trees, cherry trees, 

 peach trees, pluin trees, and grape vines. Let them all he 

 seedlins^s, obtained from good seed; unless the quince and 

 the grape form exceptions. Let the nursery be planted in a 

 deep, rich soil, and be kept in a rapidly growing condition by 

 the free use ot manure and the hoe. Let trees which you 

 remove to the orchard or the garden, be replaced by other 

 trees, in order to meet your future wants. Let the trees in 

 the nursery be so far distant from each other as to leave full 

 space for the roots and for the sun, and for the removal of the 

 trees without injury to other trees. It may be best to purchase 

 some trees at first, which may come into bearing sooner than 

 those from your own nursery. But, for the most part, in the 

 course of your life, depend upon your own nursery. First, be- 

 cause it is more economical ; secondly, because it will make 

 you acquainted with the laws of vegetable life and with the 

 habitudes of trees, and thus better able to take care of them in 

 their advanced stages ; thirdly, it will serve to interest you in 

 trees, by keeping them before you from their infancy up to 

 maturity ; fourthly, it may be a source of revenue. 



2. Select the ground for your orchard or fruit garden, care- 

 fully. It is not every soil or every exposure, that is adapted 

 to your purpose, though judicious cultivation may do much in 

 removing the disability of a poor soil and unfavorable exposure. 

 What is the best soil and the best exposure your observation 

 of the experiments of others in the vici)iity, whether successful 

 or not, can teach you. As a general rule, a deep loam is better 

 than a stiff' clay, or a loose sand. Which is the best exposure — 

 a north or south, an east or west — will, in different localities, 

 depend on the season, on the proximity of the sea or a marsh, 

 of a mountain or a forest. As a general rule, when you have 

 your choice, you had better try both sides of a hill, and one or 

 the other will prove preferable. It has been found, on trial, 

 that peach trees bear best, sometimes on the sunny side and 

 sometimes on the shady side of a building, according to the 

 season; it is safe, therefore, to try both sides, and then you 

 have a double chance for success. The fruit buds, swollen by 

 the sun and then checked by the frost, on the south side, may 

 be safe on the north side ; or the fruits destroyed by severe 



