310 PYRCJS MALUS. 
but it is much better to submit to two or even three years' delay, than for a hun- 
dred years to have bad fruit. The most proper time for planting out, is soon 
after the trees have shed their leaves. They should be taken up with their lat- 
eral roots at least two feet in length, and planted as soon as possible. In plant- 
in- orchards, the ground, for the space of at least six feet in diameter, should be 
trenched two spades deep, the lowermost of which should be cast away, and 
the other well broken with a spade or otherwise, and the place of the former 
supplied with turf, or a compost of stable-dung, a small portion of leaf-mould or 
peat, well mixed with newly-slacked lime, ashes, soda, or almost any other alka- 
line substance. It is of some importance that the tree, when planted, should 
stand in the same position with regard to the sun, as that in which it grew in the 
nursery; and, in order to insure this, the south or north side of each tree should 
be marked before it is removed, and this might be done at the time of selection. 
Care should be taken to surround the roots with the finest part of the mould, and 
to plant the trees at precisely the same depth as that at which they before grew. 
The ragged or lacerated ends of the roots should be taken off with the knife ; and 
the hole, after being duly prepared as above, opened wide enough to admit the 
longest of them. If the ground at the time of planting be dry, and water can be 
conveniently procured, two or three bucket fuls, applied to each of the trees, will 
be of essential service in securing its growth. The tree, being temporarily fixed 
in its proper position by a single stake, the hole should be nearly filled with 
mould, and the water poured upon it. After a few hours, the remaining mould 
may be added, and well trodden down. If, in the ensuing spring, a thick dress- 
ing of a well-mixed compost of lime and earth be laid over the space that has 
been opened round each tree, and afterwards dug in, it will be highly beneficial 
to it ; and digging or forking round the trees should be repeated for three or four 
years in succession. After this period, it is probable that the leaves falling from 
the trees, will be nearly or quite adequate to the supply of all the organic or gas- 
eous substances required for the perfection of their fruit ; therefore, it is in the 
mechanical state, and to the inorganic constitution of the soil that we are to look 
for those conditions which are either favourable or unfavourable to the growth and 
productiveness of such trees. It is not enough that the soil be neither too open 
nor too retentive for the supply of a due degree of moisture ; it must also contain 
those inorganic or mineral substances which the tree and its fruit require. When 
the defects are known, the remedies are obvious. By draining and trenching only, 
a stiff soil may probably be rendered favourable to the production of fruit; and, 
if this operation fail to produce the desired effect, it is evident that mineral ma- 
nures are wanting, which may be supplied by heavy dressings of lime, or peat 
ashes, or both. If the soil be too porous, a heavy dressing of marl is the best 
remedy ; and when this cannot be procured, clay, with lime, and peat or other 
ashes, will supply its place. 
When young trees have been carefully planted, and well fenced, they will 
require but little attention, except that of keeping up the fences, and to see that they 
are not shaken by the wind. The mode of fencing must be suited to the kind of 
stock kept in the orchard. If sheep only are depastured, each tree may be closely 
surrounded by strong thorns stuck in the ground, enclosed and sustained by thick 
stakes, firmly driven, and reaching nearly to the forks. These stakes should be 
strongly bound together by bands or withes ; and, as a further precaution against 
damage from the gnawing of sheep, at any exposed place, the tree should be 
washed or smeared with a mixture of creamy lime and green cow-dung, which 
should be renewed, from time to time, as occasion may require. If it be indis- 
pensable to stock the orchard occasionally with large cattle, each tree must be 
lenced by two or three strong rough posts, firmly fixed in the ground, and united 
