i88i.] FRUIT -CULTURE. 245 



the roots, and one soaking of manure-water during winter, will correct 

 this tendency. Still, if the trees grow too strongly in after-years, root- 

 lifting should be practised. Wholly lifting and transplanting is not 

 quite safe in the case of large trees, but it is quite safe to lift one side 

 one year and the other side the next year. In the case of trees on a 

 thin soil and a bad subsoil, it is well to practise this root-lifting, especi- 

 ally if the bottom is damp. Trees which have sent their strongest 

 roots straight down into cold wet soil seldom thrive, and the fruit is 

 generally of a poor quality. During summer, the soil, especially when 

 damp, is much colder than the air ; and so the sap which is drawn up 

 keeps the temperature of the tree lower than it might be, which is one 

 of the reasons why Apples on such subsoils are poor. The upper soil, 

 on the other hand, is in autumn of a higher temperature than the 

 atmosphere ; and hence, when the sap is wholly drawn from the surface- 

 soil, the temperature of the tree is kept up, which is one reason why 

 the fruit on trees whose roots have been brought to the surface is gen- 

 erally fine. Another great advantage which follows root-lifting is, that 

 the roots can be properly fed when necessary. 



A great many orchards are laid out in grass. On really good soil this 

 may be well enough, on inferior soil it is not. We think it far better 

 to keep the surface-soil free of all growth except some light vegetables. 

 The tree-roots should not be interfered with, but the interspaces may 

 and should be cropped. Between the rows Gooseberries, Currants, or 

 Rasps may be profitably grown for some years ; and it will be found 

 that on cultivated soil the trees will thin better than on grass land, 

 while the operations we have hinted at can be more easily and satis- 

 factorily performed. 



Medium Trees— Management of the i?oo^5.— Although orchard- trees, 

 at least when on a good, deep soil, and in a favourable locality, certainly 

 give the greatest amount of fruit for the least possible trouble, it is 

 not every cottager or villa-owner who can afford space for them, or has 

 patience enough to wait many years until full crops are produced. 

 Medium-sized trees— that is, trees grafted on the Crab Apple or English 

 Paradise — may be grown in less space than ordinary orchard-trees : they 

 come earlier into bearing, and, as they are planted very much closer 

 together, sooner attain their full growth and yield a full crop from off 

 a given piece of ground. As a set-off against this, such trees, to do 

 them justice, require to be systematically pruned both at root and top. 

 On peculiarly favourable soils and in favourable localities they may be 

 treated on the let-alone system to a very great extent, but on ordinary 

 soil and in ordinary situations systematic cultivation will be required 

 to produce satisfactory results. We have seen such trees on a moder- 

 ately deep soil, on a whinstone bottom, do first-rate without anything 

 being done to them at all, except the occasional removal of a crowding 

 branch, and a little cow-urine at the root in winter. We have seen the 

 same kind of trees on a thin soil, with a cold, damp, clayey bottom, 



