GENEEAL PRACTICE. 



each particular kind of fruit requires treatment peculiar to itself for pro- 

 ducing it in the highest state of excellence, there are what may be termed cardinal 

 or concrete conditions that are applicable to all. Soils and their preparation by drainage 

 and amelioration ; manures, their nature and application ; climate as affected by locality 

 and cultivation ; shelter and protection, natural or artificial ; essential routine operations 

 in the propagation, management and renovation of trees ; structural requisites for the 

 purposes of cultivation and the storage of fruit, with implements and appliances all 

 these matters are of great importance, and a knowledge of them is essential to a right 

 comprehension of the principles by which fruit cultivation is regulated. Therefore it 

 is proposed to refer to subjects of general interest and application before proceeding 

 with the special treatment required by the different kinds of fruit. We will now go to 

 the root of the whole matter of successful fruit production. 



SOILS AND SUBSOILS. 



The soils upon which the cultivator has to operate are usually classed as sandy, light 

 loams, loams, clayey loams, heavy clays, marls, calcareous loams, and peats. Loam 

 more or less is typical of all, as when coming under that category the soil consists 

 of fertile admixtures of sand, clay, and humus, or decayed vegetable matter, and is 

 light by a preponderance of sand, or heavy by an overbalancing amount of clay. Geologi- 

 cally soils are of two classes, viz., " soils of disintegration, arising from the waste and 

 decay of the immediately underlying rocks, together with a certain admixture of 

 vegetable and animal debris; and soils of transport, whose ingredients have been 

 brought from a distance, and have no geological connection with the rocks on which 

 they rest. Under the former are comprehended such as arise from the disintegration 

 of limestones, chalks, traps, granites, and the like, and which are directly influenced 

 in their composition, texture, and drainage by the nature of the subjacent rocks from 

 which they are derived. Under the latter are embraced all drift and alluvial materials, 

 such as sand, shingly de'bris, miscellaneous silt, and clay, which have been worn from 



E 2 



