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descriptions of the earliest pears ripen about August 1st, and in a good year help 
the farmer very much with his labour bill, so heavy at that time of the year. The 
fruit is shaken down by boys who climb into the trees with long hooked poles, and 
is picked up by women underneath. Sacks and cider cloths are spread underneath 
to break the fall of the fruit. These are the pears that are so constantly seen in 
the early autumn hawked about the streets. 
**Hop and fruit cultivation often go hand in hand, the former demanding even 
more imperatively a deep soil. In the famous Teme Valley—one of the richest 
spots in England—the ground will grow hops for ever; where roots die there it is re- 
planted. On the uplands, however, it is found necessary to change the hop ground 
every twelve or fourteen years. The effect of hop growing on the soil, contrary to 
what one would suppose, is to render it almost as fertile for a renewal of general 
cropping as virgin soil. An old writer, indeed, drily remarks that ‘the greatest 
profit in hop-growing is the breaking up of the soil afterwards.’ Up to the present 
time, whenever hops are planted, an orchard is planted at the same time, as an 
economy of labour and ground. By the time the trees begin to be prejudicial to 
the hops, it is time to remove the latter altogether. Of course the field remained 
arable; but that used to be thought no hindrance to the orchard—or, rather, the 
orchard was thought no hindrance to the arable field. When it is considered how 
much finer the trees grow on an arable field, and that they are thus nearly always 
out of the way of cattle and horses, it will be seen that the disadvantages are com- 
pensated for. These are the spoiling of corn crops by the sun being kept from 
them (a trifling loss if the trees are not planted too closely), and the difficulty of 
cleaning the field when encumbered with trees. No difficulty exists as to plough- 
ing, though a slight extra expense is entailed by the necessity of having three men 
or boys attending to the horses when the tree-rows are being ploughed out, and 
also of having the ground just round the trunks dug with the spade. This is well 
done by any labourer for a penny a tree. 
‘*When orchards are planted in grass land it is much better to have the young 
tree dug round for several years. They require to be fenced in on grass land with 
great care and expense, and at the time of the ripe fruit everything must be kept 
out of the field. It is far better, when planting an orchard on the green, to stock 
it for the first few years with nothing but sheep and young cattle. Horses and 
full-grown cattle will knock over any fencing, unless made so strong as almost to 
interfere with the growth of the trees. 
““The best and cheapest fencing for young trees is of this description -——Plant 
firmly in the ground, in the shape of a triangle, three stout hop-poles (about as 
thick as a man’s arm), and cut them off to about 4ft. or 5ft. high. They should 
stand about 13ft. from the stock, and lean outwards. To these nail wire netting 
as high as a sheep can reach. You are then safe from sheep and game. If calves 
and young cattle are to be in the field, protect this wire netting again well with 
bushes fastened round with wire. If cattle and horses must come in, however, 
there is nothing for it but the old-fashioned heavy wooden cribs, which, besides 
being very cumbersome and expensive, are also very detrimental to the prosperity 
of the tree. Their great posts make holes for the wet to accumulate and lodge in 
