APPLES. CULTIVATION. 101 



Land half covered with rocks, and incapable of being 

 cultivated with the plough, is in some respects admirably 

 suited to the apple tree. For, in such situations, they are 

 not liable to suffer from drought ; they receive nearly a 

 double portion of moisture from the rains that fall, and a 

 greater degree of heat by the reflected rays of the sun. 



They may even flourish on sandy plains, if, where the 

 tree is to be placed, an excavation is formed six or eight 

 feet in diameter, and three or four feet in depth, and if 

 half filled either with useless small stones intermixed with 

 rich loam, mud from the low grounds, clay, or gravelly 

 clay, or mixtures of any of these substances, with a por- 

 tion of manure, and the remainder of the excavation filled 

 to the surface with rich loam. 



MANAGEMENT OF THE LAND. 



If the ground intended for the orchard cannot con- 

 veniently be kept wholly in a state of cultivation during 

 the first years, a portion, at least, ought to be. 



A strip of land to each row, of eight or ten feet in 

 width, well manured, may be kept cultivated, and the 

 vegetables which may here be raised will amply repay the 

 expense and labor bestowed during the four or five first 

 years. After this, if the trees have grown well, as they 

 probably must have done, cultivation at a distance in the 

 intervals becomes even more important than within the lim- 

 ited distance of a very few feet from the trunk of the tree. 



For on examination it will be found that the small 

 fibres or spongelets, by which alone the tree derives all the 

 nourishment it receives from the earth, are now remote 

 from -the trunk of the tree ; they are now to be found 

 seeking pasture beyond the limits of its shade, and it be- 

 comes necessary that the whole ground should be kept in 

 a high state of cultivation for the four or five following 

 years; after this period, it may occasionally be laid to 

 grass, which, however, should be broken up at frequent 

 intervals, the land being always kept in good heart. 



PRUNING. 



I have given directions for pruning the trees while 

 young, under the general directions in the former part of 

 9* 



