340 THE FRUIT GROWER'S GUIDE. 



not so hardy as the Crab they are hardier than Free stocks. Producing fibrous roots in 

 abundance near the surface, they have the best soil. Trees on these stocks may be had 

 thriving in damp soils where trees on the Crab canker, and those on the Free stocks 

 produce little beyond useless wood ; and they thrive on shallow soils where the 

 other kinds fail. If trees on Paradise stocks grow too freely, they submit to lifting 

 without fear of receiving a greater check than is necessary for insuring a crop of 

 fruit in place of a superabundance of barren shoots, but the Crab and Free stocks 

 would by such a radical process have their lives imperilled, and not recover in double 

 the time taken by the Paradise. Reciprocal in root and branch, trees on the Paradise 

 stocks make the most of their opportunities, benefiting by good fare and judicious manage- 

 ment, and return for all timely attention the most profitable, because the most certain 

 crops of fruit. The small French stocks are less useful than the stronger English, 

 including the Nonesuch and Broad-leaved Paradise. 



Situation and Shelter. After what has been advanced on these subjects, relative to 

 gardens, on pages 65 to 70, and on pages 82 to 90, as regards orchards, further remarks 

 are unnecessary, inasmuch as those referred to are applicable to apples. 



SOIL. 



The soils of the British Isles are extremely variable, and are made up of in- 

 organic ami organic ingredients. The inorganic are derived from rocks by weather- 

 ing ; organic trace their origin to plants or animals. Organic matter in a soil is the 

 standard of its fertility. The organic residues (humus) vary considerably in different 

 soils, ranging from 2 to 9 per cent. Sandy soils need its fertilising properties and 

 moisture-holding capacities ; water-holding clays benefit by its physical properties of 

 loosening, opening, and aerating the soil. A soil, however, may be overladen with 

 humus. Excessive application of stable or farmyard manure, and undue accumulation 

 of crop residues within the soil may render its cultivation disadvantageous. This 

 condition occurs when the soil is soured by injudicious manuring, and may often be seen 

 in gardens as well as naturally in peaty soils or moorlands. To increase in some cases, 

 and in others to regulate, the quantity of organic matter contained in the soil is one of 

 the most important objects of cultivation. Condition or fertility is the result of humus 

 assuming the form of nitric acid, which, combining with lime and other alkaline sub- 

 stances, form soluble compounds in water, and these either pass off by the drainage, or the 

 crop appropriates them, for nitrates enter into no combination with the soil, and cannot 



