600 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. 



don, and the walnut north of Newcastle. Both trees, however, may be planted for their 

 timber in moderately-sheltered situations, in most parts of the British isles. 



3790. The elder is not beneath notice as an orchard tree. It need seldom be planted 

 as standards ; but in unpruned hedges on a soft, deep, and rather rich soil, it yields great 

 quantities of fruit, which is readily manufactured into a sort of wine that is esteemed by 

 many persons when warmed, and forms a comfortable evening draught for the cottager. 

 No tree requires less care, it propagates readily by cuttings or seeds, and requires little 

 or no pruning ; but though it will grow in any soil whatever, it will produce no fruit 

 worth mentioning on any but one tolerably deep and rich, and must be cut down when 

 it begins to show indications of age. 



3791. The JUbert, currant, gooseberry , raspberry^ and some other fruits, are cultivated 

 extensively near large towns ; but the treatment they require renders them in our opinion 

 quite unfit for farm orchards. 



3792. In choosing trees for orchards, standards, sufficiently tall to admit of horses and 

 cattle grazing under them, should always be preferred. Maiden plants, or such as are 

 only two years for the bud or graft, are the most certain of success ; the apples being 

 worked on crab, the pears on wilding, and the cherries on gean stocks. The common 

 baking plums need not be grafted at all, but the better sorts should either be grafted or 

 budded on damson stems'. Where budded or grafted chestnuts and walnuts can be got, 

 they should always be preferred as coming much sooner into bearing. The former may 

 be had from the Devonshire nurseries, and some public gardeners about London are now 

 attempting to inarch and bud the walnut. 



3793. With respect to the distance at which orchard trees may be j^lanted, everything will 

 depend on the use which is intended to be made of the ground. Where the soil is to be 

 pastured or dug, they may be planted in quincunx and close; but where it is to be 

 ploughed, they should either be planted in rows with sufficient space between for one 

 broad, or two ordinary ridges; or they should be planted in squares to admit of ploughing 

 both east and west, and north and south. 



3794. The Herefordshire orchardists recommend that the rows should extend from north 

 to south, as in that direction each part of every tree will receive the most equal portions 

 of light and heat. The distance between each row, as well as the space between each 

 tree, should depend on the situation and soil. Where the former is high and exposed, the 

 trees should be closely planted to afford each other protection ; and when the latter is 

 poor and shallow, their growth will in course be less luxuriant, and they will conse- 

 quently require less room. But in low and sheltered situations, and in deep and rich 

 soils, widel" intervals should be allowed. In the former instances, twelve yards between 

 each row, and six between each tree, are sufficient ; in the latter, twenty-four yards 

 between each row, and eight between each tree, will not be too much. 



3795. As a general guide as to distance, Nicol states the ultimate space at which apple 

 and pear trees should stand, in a properly planted and close orchard, as from thirty to 

 forty feet, less or more, according to the quality of the soil ; taking, as the medium, thirty- 

 six feet. In a poor soil and a bleak exposure, where the trees may not be expected to 

 grow very freely, thirty feet is sufficient; whereas in good soil, and a sheltered situation, 

 forty may not be too much. Cherries and plums may be planted at from twenty-four to 

 thirty-six feet, according to soil and situation, as above, taking, as a medium, thirty feet 

 for the ultimate distance at which they are to stand clear of one another. But it would 

 be advisable, in the first instance, to plant four trees for one that is intended ultimately 

 to remain: planting the proper kinds at the above distances first, and then temporary 

 plants between them each way. These temporary plants should be of the free growing 

 sorts that begin to bear early; such as the nonsuch and hawthorndean apples, the 

 May-duke cherry, and the Crawford and yair pears ; or any others known to produce fruit 

 sooner after planting. These should be considered and be treated as temporary plants 

 from the beginning, and must give place to the principal trees as they advance in growth, 

 by being pruned away bit and bit, and at last stubbed up entirely. In bleak situations, 

 If forest and other hardy trees be planted amohg the fruit trees, it may not be necessary to 

 plant so many (if any) temporary fruit trees ; or these may chiefly consist of the hardier 

 sorts, such as the hawthorndean apple, the May-duke and morella cherries, and the Scotch 

 geans, which produce fruit the soonest. 



3796. In the operation of jilanting great care ought to be taken not to insert the plants 

 deeper in the soil than they were before removal. Tliis is a very common error in every 

 description of triee planting ; and in retentive soils is ruinous to the tree. Sir C. M. 

 Burrel recommends, as an useful practice, in wet soils, or where the substratum is not 

 suited to the apple or the pear, to plant the trees on hillocks of easy ascent, as for instance 

 one foot higher in the centre than the level of the field, and sloping gradually to that level, 

 for three or four feet every way from the centre. By that practice, the roots will naturally 

 follow the good svxrface earth; whereas, if they are planted in holes, the roots are apt to 

 shoot into the prejudicial subsoil, to the eventual injury of the plants, by canker and other 



