se CULTIVATION OF 



inches of earth over the upper tier of roots, which will 

 make it about two inches deeper than it stood in the 

 nursery ; that the tree, after being partially covered, 

 should be well shaken, to admit the liner particles of 

 the earth among the fibrous roots, and that it be well 

 settled, by treading the earth around it with these pre- 

 cautions, I have never found the necessity of stakes. 

 The tops of young trees should never be shortened, 

 lest it should produce a growth of suckers : I would 

 recommend in preference, that they be thinned, if 

 found too heavy : if the trees have been long out of 

 the ground, and the roots have become shrivelled at the 

 time of planting, the labour of pouring a pail full of 

 water round each tree, will be amply repaid in the 

 success it will ensure in their growth. 



The looser the ground is kept for the first, and in- 

 deed for several succeeding years, the more certain 

 and more vigorous will be the growth of the orchard 

 in the luxuriance and colour of the foliage of contig- 

 uous plantations, I have found every stage of cultiva- 

 tion strongly marked : those orchards which have 

 been two years under cultivation, exhibit a striking su- 

 periority over those which have been but one year un- 

 der the plough ; while these, in their turn, surpass the 

 fields in clover or in grain, both in the quantity and size 

 of the fruit: when clover is sown in young orchards, I 

 have been in the habit of digging the earth for about 



