24 PREPARATION OF TIIE SOIL. 



From some comparison of the amount of labor upon 

 other grounds, I am convinced that the above would 

 prove nearly an average cost, although the trenching 

 of heavier and more stony lands would cost as much 

 as $100 per acre. "Where the labor of preparing an 

 acre at once, appeared too formidable a task, a number 

 of amateurs have practiced the following plan at my 

 recommendation with good results. 



The ground intended for planting is divided into 

 four equal parts ; and if the whole plot contains an acre, 

 and is a square, each fourth will contain almost 11,000 

 superficial feet, and its four sides be each 105 feet in 

 length. A more convenient plot, for spacing the trees 

 accurately, would be, 100 by 110 feet. Extending these 

 lines to 220 feet by 200 feet would inclose but a trifle 

 more than an acre. 



One of these quarter-acre plots should be thoroughly 

 trenched and manured, to receive all tlie pear trees 

 intended for the entire acre. None of these trees need 

 ])e removed before the end of the second year, when 

 another plot has been prepared for the reception of 

 every alternate tree in each alternate row. At tlie 

 end of the third year, another square having been 

 trenclied, remove every alternate tree from the rows, 

 which at the last removal were untouched. Tlie origi- 

 nal square will now contain one Jialf of the whole 

 number of trees, or double its quota ; and the removal 

 of every alternate complete row to the fourth unoccu- 

 pied square, in the fourth year, will place the trees at 

 equal distances throughout the entire ground. Some- 

 Avhat more tlian tlie exact number of trees necessary 

 to complete the plan should l)e planted in the first 



