226 AX AMERICAX FARMER IX EXGLAXD. 



secure or restore a vigorous growth to a tree. The first of these 

 is deepening and drying the soil, or deep draining and trenching. 

 The strongest and most fruitful orchards, it is well known, are 

 those which have been planted upon old hop-grounds, where the 

 soil has been deeply tilled and manured for a series of years 

 with substances that contain a considerable amount of phosphorus, 

 such as woolen rags and bones. The roots of the hop also de- 

 scend far below the deepest tillage that can be given it ; (in a 

 calcareous gravelly subsoil they have been traced ten feet from 

 the surface ;) a kind of subsoiling is thus prepared for the apple 

 by the decay of the hop roots. In some parts it is the custom to 

 introduce the hop culture upon the planting of a young orchard, 

 the hops occupying the intervals until the branches of the trees 

 interfere with them. Nothing is more likely than this to insure 

 a rapid and healthy growth of the trees. 



I recommend to those who intend planting an orchard, to have 

 the ground for it in a state of even, deep, fine tilth beforehand, 

 and to plant in the intervals between apple or pear-trees, some 

 crop which, like hops, will be likely to get for itself good feeding 

 and culture for several years. 



An impenetrable bottom of stone, at not more than three feet 

 from the surface, is frequently made use of by gardeners, as a 

 precaution against canker. I have been told that in the ancient 

 orchards attached to monasteries, such a flagging of brick or 

 stone is often found under the whole area of the orchard. This 

 would seem at first sight to be directly opposed to the other pre- 

 caution, of thorough-draining and deepening the surface soil ; but 

 it may be considered that the injury which stagnant water would 

 effect is in a degree counteracted when the roots do not descend 

 below the influence of the atmosphere and the heat of the sun. 

 It is not unlikely that these influences would extend to a depth 

 of three feet from the surface, in a soil that had been so thorough- 



