56 THE APPLE CULTURIST. 



CHAPTER II. 



PREPARATION OF THE SOIL FOR AN ORCHARD. 



Now, long before the planting dig the ground 



With furrows deep, that cast a rising mound ; 



And hoary frosts, after the painful toil 



Of delving hinds, will rot the mellow soil. DEYDEN'S Virgil. 



THE manner of preparing the ground for an apple-orchard 

 will depend very much on the character and condition of 

 both the soil and the subsoil. The whole ground for an 

 apple-orchard should be pulverized twenty inches deep, so 

 thoroughly that the roots of the young trees will spread 

 rapidly through the entire seed-bed. A person who is about 

 to plant an orchard must exercise his own judgment in re- 

 gard to deepening the soil, as the ground in many places is 

 so porous and mellow that roots of growing apple-trees will 

 strike down six or eight feet. Where a person can thrust 

 a spade or shovel down, without difficulty, through the sub- 

 soil, all the preparation requisite will be simply to plough, 

 manure, and scarify the surface-soil, as the ground is usually 

 prepared for a crop of carrots or onions. But where the 

 compact subsoil extends up to the second rail of the fence 

 as it is said to, along the slopes of some of our Northern 

 lakes and rivers a great deal of work must be done before 

 the ground will be in a suitable condition to receive the 

 trees or the seed. It will pay well to perform this job in 

 the most thorough manner, as it is a piece of work that is 

 <lone for life. If not performed thoroughly, before the seed 

 is planted or the trees are set, it must go undone. By a 

 proper pulverization of the subsoil twenty inches or two 

 feet deep, where the subsoil is compact, trees will grow 



