FEUITS. 251 



such as has been long in pasture or meadow is most suitable. 

 The most efficient manures are swamp muck, decayed 

 leaves and vegetables, rotten wood, chip manure, lime, 

 ashes, gypsum and charcoal. Trees draw their food mostly 

 from the soil, and to supply the elements of their growth in 

 abundance, the earth must occasionally be renewed with 

 those materials which may have become partially or wholly 

 exhausted. When carefully plowed and cultivated in hoed 

 crops, orchards thrive most rapidly, if care be taken to pro- 

 tect the trees from damage either to the trunks or roots. 

 All tearing of the roots is objectionable. The ground should 

 be kept rich and open, so as to be pervious to the rains, the 

 sun, and the atmosphere. Under these conditions the trees 

 will thrive vigorously. 



When lands are in meadow, a space of three to six feet 

 in diameter around the trunk, according to the age and size 

 of the tree, ought always to be kept free from turf. Pastures 

 are so bared by the tread of animals, and the closeness of 

 their cropping, that the roots of the trees get their share of 

 benefit from the sun and rains. From this cause, pastures 

 are better suited to orchards than mowing lands ; for the 

 latter are so completely covered by the rank growth of 

 grass, that the tree suffers, and without the aid of manures, 

 and the annual loosening of the ground for a few feet around, 

 the tree in some cases dies from exhaustion. All kinds of 

 cereal grains are bad for orchards, except, perhaps, buck- 

 wheat. The preparation of the ground for this crop, by 

 early summer plowing, is highly conducive to the growth 

 of trees; and its nutriment being drawn largely from the air, 

 it robs the roots of a small amount only of the materials in 

 the soil. 



A neighboring farmer, whose management many years 

 since came under my notice, had a small mowing lot ad- 

 joining his barn and cattle sheds, which was surrounded 

 with a stone wall. The soil was a moist, gravelly loam, 

 every way fitted for the growth of the apple, as was shown 

 by there having been several flourishing orchards on similar 

 soils in the immediate vicinity. He filled this with apple 

 trees set in small holes at the proper distances, the rows 

 terminating close to the wall on each side, and also near his 

 barn and sheds. After setting out, the trees were staked, 

 and then left to grow as best they could without further 

 cultivation. Those remote from the wall and buildings^ re- 

 mained stationary for several years, while those under their 



