The Agriculture of Worcestershire. 457 



have been reared in hop-yards ; the plants are set in rows so as 

 not to interfere with working the ground between the hops : when 

 they are nursed into trees the hop-yard is done away with ; the 

 land is then worked for a few years as tillage, and afcerwards laid 

 to grass. Trees in orchards that have been worked as arable 

 often do not bear as well if the land is laid to grass, but get 

 covered with moss, principally from want of vigour to throw 

 it off. 



When an orchard dies out it should not, as a rule, again be 

 planted with the same kind of trees. The reproduction of apple- 

 trees from the pip is hazardous, the produce being commonly a 

 compound of the parent tree and the original crab ; hence seed- 

 lings are mostly grafted with the kind required. 



Many people lay stress on the selection of those sorts which bear 

 sweet fruit or those with a high specific gravity of juice; this, 

 as far as my experience goes, is a great mistake. In the first 

 place sweet sorts produce a cider which it is generally difficult to 

 fine (this is especially the case with sweet pears), whilst those 

 which produce cider of a high specific gravity give such a small 

 quantity of it, and are generally such shy bearers, that they are not 

 to be much recommended, although a few may be desirable for a 

 mixture with other kinds. The system usually followed in planting 

 out an orchard is to take some good stocks, the stems of which 

 should be two inches in diameter : these are planted out in 

 November or December, the field being first drained. The stocks 

 should be planted in rows ten or twelve yards apart, so that which- 

 ever way you look you may see up the rows ; they should be after- 

 wards protected from cattle and sheep. They may then be grafted, 

 as much care being taken in the selection of grafts from healthy 

 trees as you would in the selection of a male animal for use in 

 your flock.* The young graft must be protected from the winds 

 and from stock, and should be trained to form a fine head. 

 The degree of pruning to which trees are to be subjected depends 

 on the quality of the fruit required. If you want size and maturity, 

 keep the trees open and thin ; if quantity, then leave the branches 

 thick. The planting and rearing of an orchard will cost from 6Z. 

 to 121. per acre before the trees get to full bearing. No tree 

 should be planted which is less than IJ inch in diameter, or of 

 less height than will allow of its being grafted at least 6 feet from 

 the ground ; if it is intended to graze cattle in the orchard the 

 trees should be 7 feet high. 



A practice is gaining ground of whitewashing the bodies of 



* Having seen the beautiful wood in some of the dwarf apple-trees supplied to 

 Anthony Bubb, Esq., of Witcombe Court, near Gloucester, by Mr, Rivers, of 

 Sawbridgeworth, which have been grafted on Paradise stocks, we would suggest 

 that it may be possible to get back many of the old sorts of fruit which are dying 

 out, by regrafting on some of these stocks. 



