CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE. 



here occurs several times, is from the French 

 word for butter ; and that and the other names 

 shew how much we are indebted to our con- 

 tinental neighbours for perfecting this delicious 

 fruit. The summer, autumn, and winter Berga- 

 mots are not excelled for rich muskiness of fla- 

 vour. The pear requires a warmer climate than 

 the apple ; hence some of the finer sorts, which 

 grow well as standards in the south of England, 

 will require a wall and shelter in northern or 

 more keen situations. Any sorts worth cultivat- 

 ing should have a rich aromatic flavour, and be 

 cither of the melting kind (beurrt\ or firm and 

 crisp, like the winter Bergamots. 



Orchards. 



An orchard is a piece of ground specially devoted 

 to the rearing of fruit-trees, principally apples and 

 pears, and is frequently an appendage to the 

 English farm and manor house. It should be a 

 well-fenced inclosure, and if there be room for 

 choice, its situation ought to be on the side of a 

 dry knoll sloping to the south ; the best soil is a 

 fresh sandy loam, of eighteen inches in depth or 

 upwards, reposing on a subsoil of dry gravel or 

 rock. If the ground be wet, it must be thoroughly 

 drained in the first place, as no fruit-tree can 

 answer its purpose if the soil be otherwise than dry. 



Shelter is necessary to orchards against the 

 north and easterly spring winds, as well as against 

 the autumnal south-west winds. This is best 

 obtained in the former by forest-trees, and in the 

 latter by high hedges, shrubbery, or dwarfish- 

 growing trees. Winds from any other quarter 

 need not be so much dreaded. Sheltering hills 

 at some distance are advantageous ; but it must 

 always be kept in view that a free exposure to 

 light and air is very necessary. Many orchards 

 are almost barren, and the trees covered with 

 lichen, from their being too much sheltered, and 

 deprived of a free current of air. 



If an orchard is a pasture for sheep, cows, or 

 other cattle, the trees to be planted in it must be 

 standards that is, trees trained with a clear stem 

 six or seven feet high, from the top of which the 

 branches diverge, out of the reach of cattle. 

 Sometimes the stocks are first planted, and when 

 fairly established, are worked that is, grafted or 

 budded at the desired height. 



If an orchard is to be formed out of an arable 

 field, the ground may be prepared by the plough, 

 laid into bands or ridges of eight yards wide, 

 lying south and north, the trees to occupy the 

 middle or crown of each ridge, in right lines, five, 

 six, or eight yards asunder ; and the whole area 

 surrounded by a hawthorn hedge. When the trees 

 are planted which may be at any time from the 

 end of October till April the ground may be 

 laid down in the spring with a crop of barley or 

 oats, grass and clover seeds, and so remain. 



If an orchard is to be formed in a grass-field, 

 the ground is drained, if necessaiy, and inclosed 

 with a hedge and ditch as above. The trees are 

 either planted in trenched pits or in trenched bor- 

 ders that is, borders six feet wide are traced south 

 and north, and regularly trenched fifteen inches 

 deep, the turf being turned to the bottom. Along 

 the middle of these borders the trees are put in at 

 the distances already mentioned. This done, the 

 broken ground is sown down with grass-seeds, and 

 the trees staked and protected against cattle, if 



582 



they are in any danger. The pits, six feet in 

 diameter, are trenched and planted in like manner. 

 In planting the trees, each should be set on a little 

 mound of the finest of the soil, on which the roots 

 should be regularly spread, and kept near the 

 surface ; the uppermost fringe of roots being just 

 under the turf, but no deeper ; and they should be 

 encouraged to take a horizontal rather than a 

 downward direction. Orchards planted in either 

 of these methods answer very well, if care is taken 

 of the trees till they are fairly established, and can 

 protect themselves. 



The fruits chosen for such orchards are apples, 

 pears, plums, and cherries, and of these, such 

 varieties as are known to thrive, and are most 

 fruitful in the neighbourhood ; for all fruits are 

 not equally adapted to the same locality, and this 

 is a point deserving the serious consideration of 

 the planter. Orchards of this kind are planted 

 chiefly with a view to the service of a family, any 

 redundance being sent to market or sold on the 

 trees to the fruitmonger ; but when fruit-trees are 

 planted as a special source of profit, a very 

 different plan requires to be followed. 



From two to twenty acres or more of suitable 

 land, with a proper exposure, are fixed on ; the 

 whole is trenched fifteen inches deep, and 

 thoroughly drained, if necessary. The surface is 

 levelled, and laid into beds 12 to 18 feet wide, 

 ranging south and north ; along the middle of 

 these the trees are planted, and the intervals are 

 occupied by two or three rows of small fruits, such 

 as gooseberries, currants, or raspberries. Some of 

 the intervals may have a row of filberts introduced, 

 which, when kept as low bushes, are as profitable 

 as any other kind of orchard-fruit. Such an orch- 

 ard is intended to be a perfect thicket of fruit-trees. 

 When the rows are 12 feet apart, only two inter- 

 mediate rows of bushes should be planted, and 

 the trees must be kept as dwarfs, trained in either 

 the bush or conical forms. Of course the sorts 

 which are naturally of a dwarfish habit are pre- 

 ferred ; and if not dwarfish by nature, they must be 

 made so by art that is, branch and root pruning. 

 The bush-form is obtained by encouraging the 

 lateral growth of the branches, and stopping those 

 which have a tendency to grow upright the 

 branches being so disposed that they may ag- 

 gregately form a rotund, compact, but not over- 

 crowded head, shading a circle twelve or fourteen 

 feet in diameter, more or less, according to the 

 fruitfulness or individual strength and habit of 

 the tree. In the conical form, the centre shoot 

 or stem should be as nearly upright as possible, 

 and the lateral or side branches arranged so that 

 the lowest extend farthest from the stem, the others 

 gradually decreasing in length upwards; so that 

 the outline of the tree forms a cone, having the 

 termination of the centre shoot as its apex. In 

 height, the cone may be from twice to thrice its 

 width of base. Both the dwarf-bush and conical 

 forms secure the fruit in a great measure from 

 being shaken off by autumnal gales ; and the latter 

 has the further advantage of admitting more light 

 and air to the under-growing fruit-bushes. In 

 extensive orchards, the trees are usually left pretty 

 much to their natural habits of growth ; they 

 should, however, be so far pruned when young 

 as to give them evenly balanced, conically headed 

 forms. The distances for such should be 18 feet 

 apart, which will give space for three intermediate 



