THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDE JT GUIDE. 309 



growing, and require no manure when the trees are first planted. 

 To prepare the ground for planting the trees, it should be trenched 

 up two or three feet deep ; but it will be seldom the subsoil will 

 admit of the first-uamed depth being exceeded ; and it is no use to 

 burj the good soil, and bring a lot of gravel or ciay to the surface. 



After the trenching of the ground is completed, the trees can 

 be planted, and the earlier it is done this month the better. They 

 will then get nicely rooted before the winter, and be ready for 

 growing away in the spring, instead of having to make roots, as is 

 the case with spring-planted trees. Straight clean-looking trees, about 

 four feet in height, nicely furnished with branches to the bottom 

 should be selected. I would sooner myself pay sixpence more for a 

 clean healthy tree than for an old scrub, such as I have often seen 

 palmed off upon those who know little about buying trees, for a 

 trifle less than the regular price, with the assurance that they will soon 

 recover. When the trees are brought home, they should be laid in 

 by their heels, if it is not convenient to plant them at once ; for it 

 injures the trees to a frightful extent when the roots are left several 

 hours, much less days, exposed to the air. Six feet from row to 

 row, and six feet apart in the row, is a good distance if the trees 

 are planted in a quincunx manner, thus : — 



which will give as great an amount of room to each tree as they 

 possibly can have in the space. The holes should be made about 

 three feet in diameter, and nicely prepared by putting in the bottom 

 a little of the well-pulverized surface soil for the roots to rest upon. 

 Previous to doing this, place, at a depth of eighteen inches or two 

 feet below the point where the roots will be when the planting is 

 completed, a large stone, or several small ones, to prevent strong 

 tap roots from running down into the uncongenial subsoil beneath. 

 The roots must be spread out regularly on all sides, and then a 

 little more of the fine surface-soil over them, and the holes finally 

 filled in. The soil should be well trodden, to keep them in their 

 proper position. The trees never root freely into the soil when 

 it is filled in loosely, and get blown over in consequence of having 

 nothing to hold them up. 



Before going any farther, I had better say that the apples 

 should be on the Paradise stock, the pear on the quince, and a few 

 of the cherries, such as Morellos and May Dukes, on the Mahaleb. 

 The above-mentioned stocks have the advantage of dwarfing the 

 trees, and bringing them into a fruiting state much earlier than on 

 the stocks ordinarily employed. It would be impossible for us to 

 keep the pear stock, or apples on the crab, in lull bearing at the 

 size we want them ; for the more we pinched, the stronger would 

 the wood be, and the less fruitful. The whole of the trees should 

 be root-pruned or re-planted once a year, or at the most once in 

 every two years. This causes them to make short stubby growths, 

 with an abundance of fiower-buds, instead of thick, watery shoots, 



