24 AN AMERICAN FARMER IN ENGLAND. 



broad window, and having a brilliant display of polished 

 metal utensils upon and about a great chimney, all as neat 

 and nice as a parlour. 



&quot; The huge oak table s massy frame 

 Bestrode the kitchen floor ;&quot; 



a linen cloth was spread upon it, and coarse but excellent 

 wheat bread, butter, and cheese, brought from the pantry, 

 and cider and perry from the cellar. The cider was &quot;hard&quot; 

 enough ; the perry, (fermented juice of pears,) a beautiful, 

 bright, golden liquid, tasted much like weak vinegar and 

 water. We had entered the district of cider and apple-trees, 

 for these liquors were home-made, and the first extensive 

 orchard that we have seen adjoined the rear of the house : 

 during the rest of our day s walk the road was frequently 

 lined with them for long distances. 



The trees, in a considerable part of this orchard, were of 

 every age, and stood very irregularly at various distances 

 from each other. It appeared as if when an old tree was 

 blown down, or became worthless from age and decay, and 

 an unshaded space was thus left, or likely to be, two young 

 trees were planted at a little distance on each side of it, and 

 thus perhaps the orchard had been renovated and continued 

 on the same ground for several generations. Two hundred 

 years ago it was considered that &quot; the best way to plant an 

 orchard is to set some kernels of the best and soundest apples 

 and pears, a finger deep, and at a foot distance, and to leave 

 the likeliest plants only in the natural place, removing the 

 others only as time and occasion shall require.&quot; The orchards 

 of the Rhine, at the present day, in which apple, pear, cherry, 

 and nut-trees are intermingled, seem to have been planted 

 with as little regard to regularity of distance. The grafts 

 were commonly inserted at from six to eight feet from the 



