58 



THE APPLE CULTURIST. 



Fig. 35. The ground was then 

 staked out, when 

 holes six feet in di- 

 ameter were dug 

 twenty inches deep- 

 er in the hard earth 

 than the plough had 

 been drawn. Mel- 

 low soil was then 

 carted from anoth- 

 er field, and shovel- 

 led into the holes. 

 About half a wag- 

 on-load was deposit- 

 ed in each hole. As 

 one man shovelled 

 from the wagon, an- 

 other returned the 

 hard earth that had 

 been removed from 

 the holes. Rich turf 



was also ploughed up along the highway and 

 carted into the holes. After they were filled, 

 the ridges were all ploughed down level, after 

 which the trees were set in their places. The 

 ground alluded to was so compact and hard that 

 in most places it was necessary to run the plough 

 three times in one place, with a man on the beam, before 

 we could work the implement down a foot below the sur- 

 face-soil. Then, when we came to deepen the places where 

 the trees were to be set, every inch of the earth had to be 

 dug up with the sharp point of a digger's pick. Two men, 

 by laboring faithfully, after the ground had been thoroughly 

 subsoiled, were able to prepare the places and set out only 



