SELECTION OF FRUIT TREES ADAPTED FOR AN ORCHARD. 403 



manure. This must, however, be applied in a rotten state, as rank 

 manure is most injurious. It is better, when practicable, to select a 

 rich loamy soil on a dry firm clayey, loamy, or rocky subsoil, 

 and to give no manure. Sandy or gravelly subsoils should be kept 

 especially for apples and cherries ; but pears or quinces will thrive on 

 most dry and light soils, provided they be of good depth. Wherever 

 the common hawthorn grows luxuriantly with a clear healthy bark, 

 there orchard fruit trees will thrive. 



The plants may be dwarfs, if the plantation is to be exclusively 

 devoted to fruit trees, and the ground neither cropped nor laid down 

 in grass; but standards are preferable, as admitting more light and 

 air. A very convenient and economical mode is to plant rows of 

 standards and dwarfs alternately : the dwarfs, being on dwarfing- 

 stocks, come first into bearing, and may be removed as the branches 

 of the standards extend themselves. Gooseberries, currants, and rasp- 

 berries may be planted in the intervals, and retained there for two or 

 three years ; but they ought to be removed as soon as they are in the 

 slightest degree shaded by the trees. As this is very generally neg- 

 lected, we should prefer having no fruit shrubs at all, but leaving the 

 surface naked, to be occupied entirely by the roots of the dwarfs and 

 standards. All the plants ought to be set on little hills, more espe- 

 cially if the subsoil is such as to be readily penetrated by the roots, or 

 if the ground has been previously trenched ; the great object being to 

 preserve the roots near the surface. The distances at which the trees 

 may be planted are : For standards, apples, and pears, from thirty 

 feet to forty feet in a medium soil ; or in a thin soil and exposed 

 situation, from twenty-five feet to thirty feet ; and in a rich soil, from 

 forty feet to fifty feet. Cherries and plums, from twenty-five feet to 

 thirty-five feet, according to soil and situation. For dwarfs on free 

 stocks, one-half the above distances will suffice ; and where dwarfs on 

 dwarfing-stocks are to be planted among standards, three dwarfs may 

 be planted for every standard : that is, there may be a row of dwarfs 

 between every two rows of standards, and a dwarf alternating with 

 every standard in the row. The standards, if they have been two or 

 three years grafted, will probably require to be supported by stakes, 

 to which the stems a short distance below the head ought to be care- 

 fully tied with haybands. Sheathing the stems of standard trees, 

 especially when they have been planted late or have not abundance of 

 roots, should not be neglected, for reasons already given. The sheath- 

 ing, which may be of moss, fern, or straw, tied on with matting, or 

 simply of straw or hay ropes wound round, may be left on till it drops 

 off itself. Mulching is also of great use in keeping out the frost and 

 keeping in the moisture. 



Select list of standard fruit trees, adapted for an orchard or planta- 

 tion subsidiary to a kitchen garden : 



Apples. Early Red Margaret, Summer Golden Pippin, Oslin, 

 Duchess of Oldenburgh, White Astrachan, Kerry Pippin, Dutch 

 Codlin, Kilkenny Codlin, Manks Codlin, Keswick Codlin, Alexander, 

 lLi\vthornden, Hollandbury, Wormsley Pippin, King of the Pippins, 



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