CHAPTER IV. 



SOIL, MANURES, SITUATION, AND ENCLOSURES. 



THE soil for fruit-trees, as well as for farm crops, should be 

 of good quality. Whatever will produce a vigorous growth 

 of corn and potatoes will in general be the best for fruit- 

 trees. Sterile soil is unfavorable for both ; but doubly so for 

 the latter; for while it only lessens in quantity the growth of 

 farm crops, it lessens the quantity and greatly injures the 

 quality of fruit. 



Good soils vary in many particulars ; but as a general rule, 

 one which is dry, firm, mellow, and fertile, is well suited to 

 this purpose. It should be deep, to allow the extension of the 

 roots; dry, or else well drained, to prevent injury from stag- 

 nant water below the surface ; firm, and not peaty or spongy, 

 to preclude injury or destruction from frost. 



Few soils exist in this country which would not be much 

 benefited, for all decidedly hardy fruits, as the apple and pear, 

 by enriching. Shallow soils should be loosened deeply by 

 heavy furrows; or if the whole surface cannot be thus treated, 

 a strip of ground eight feet wide, where the row of trees is to 

 stand, should be rendered in this way deep and fertile for 

 their growth. Manure, if applied, should be thoroughly in- 

 termixed with the soil by repeated harrowings. An admir- 

 able method of deepening soils for the free admission of the 

 fine fibrous roots is, first, to loosen it as deeply as practicable 

 with the subsoil-plough; and then to trench-plough this 

 deeply loosened bed for the intermixture of manure. The 

 previous subsoiling admits the trench-plough to a greater 

 depth than could be attained without its aid. The only trees 

 which will not bear high fertility are those brought originally 

 from warmer countries, and liable to suffer from the frost of 

 winter, as the peach, nectarine, and apricot; for they are 

 4 49 



