142 WHAT I KNOW OF FARMING. 



and the mischiefs wrought by burrowing animals, 

 have become little better than a morass thirty years 

 hence ; but an orchard set on a tolerably steep hill- 

 side is reasonably secure against wet feet to the 

 close of its natural life. 



A gravelly or sandy loam is generally preferred for 

 orchards; yet I have known them to nourish and 

 bear generously on heavy clay. Whoever has a 

 gravelly field will wisely prefer this for Apples, not 

 merely to clay but to sand as well. 



And, while many young orchards have doubtless 

 been injured by immoderate applications of rank, 

 green manures, I doubt that any man has ever yet 

 bestowed too much care and expense on the prepa- 

 ration of his ground for fruit-trees. "Where ridges or 

 plateaus of fast stone do not forbid, I would say, 

 Turn over the soil to a depth of at least fifteen 

 inches with a large plow and a strong team ; then 

 lift and pulverize the subsoil to a depth of not less 

 than nine inches ; apply all the Wood-ashes you can 

 get, with one thousand bushels of Marl if you are in 

 a Marl region ; if not, use instead from thirty to fifty 

 bushels of quick Lime (oyster-shell if that is to be 

 had) with one hundred loads per acre of Swamp 

 Muck which has lain a year on dry upland, baking 

 in the sun and wind ; and now you may think of set- 

 ting your trees. If your soil was rich Western prairie 

 or Middle-State garden to begin with, you can 

 dispense with all these fertilizers ; yet I doubt that 

 there is an acre of Western prairie that would not be 



