74 ORCHARDS. 



against insects), to keep vigilant watch for the insidious borer ? 

 But that matter of insects must be taken hold of in great 

 earnest. The negligence of cultivators in this respect is cost- 

 ing the nation many millions."'*' 



In digging holes for the trees, the practice of the author is, 

 when the soil is slaty or shallow, to dig them 15 or 20 inches 

 deep, and wide enough for spreading out all the roots in their 

 natural position. Then subsoil the holes or ^:>Za<?es, viz : dig 

 up and pulverize the bottom with a pickaxe or long bladed 

 mattock, to the depth of six or eight inches.f This gives a 

 depth of pulverized earth, when the hole is well filled, of 

 about twenty four or twenty six inches. Where trees are 

 allowed the tap-root, this mode of preparation is far the best ; 

 and trees with no tap roots are benefitted by the additional 

 drainage and retention of moisture thus secured. (Something 

 more will be said in regard to tap roots in the course of this 

 work.) It does not matter how deep or how wide the holes 

 are dug, the wider and deeper the better, provided they are 

 well filled with good rich soil, mixed with a handful! or two 

 of bone dust or lime — pack a little, and place the soil close 

 around the roots, and fill up to a point that will allow the 

 tree to set, when the work is finished, 7io deejyer than it stood 

 in the nursery. 



* It is the practice in the West, where the soil is drained and naturally 

 deep and mellow, after the ground has been deeply ploughed and well 

 harrowed, to make the holes or places for setting trees with the plough, 

 by simply marking out the surface at the proper distances, and setting 

 the trees at the intersections. This is done by running in the same fnr- 

 row several times. 



t When the ground is elevated and the bottom of the holes slaty or 

 gravelly, fill in to the depth of 3 or 4 inches with clayey soil from the 

 ditch banks. 



PREPARATION OF THE TREES. 



As a general thing, trees are placed in the ground pre- 

 cisely as they are sent from the nursery. In removing a 

 tree, no matter how carefully it may be done, a portion of the 

 roots are broken and destroyed, and consequently the balance 



