122 PLANTING APPLE ORCHARDS. 



are deep, rich and fertile, such as will give good crops of 

 Indian corn. Hard, shallow, and wet grounds are to be 

 avoided. Improvement by manuring, and deep cultivation, 

 is desirable, as a great difference in quality and productive- 

 ness results from a difference in fertility. The application 

 of lime, where not abundant in the soil, is of great impor- 

 tance. 



Distance. Where the quantity of ground is limited and 

 in rare cases, trees may for a time stand within fifteen or 

 twenty feet ; but for large and permanent orchards they 

 should not be nearer than thirty feet. There is however, 

 a material difference in the size of varieties, hence a varia- 

 tion may be allowed. But this variation in distance should 

 not break the rows which are to be preserved for con- 

 venience in cultivation. The rows may be kept entire, by 

 varying the distance in one way only, as in the annexed 

 figure. The middle portion is for trees of the largest size, 

 as the Spitzenburgh, Fall Pippin, and Rhode Island 

 Greening ; those of smallest size, as Bough, Yellow Har- 

 vest and Sine Qua Non, are on the left ; and those of middle 

 growth, as the Swaar, Black Gilliflower, and Tallman 

 Sweeting, are on the right. 



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This distinction in the size of the trees, is only necessary 

 in the most extensive orchards. 



Transplanting. Full directions have been given in a pre 

 ceding chapter, where the superior advantages of broad, 

 deep, and loose beds of earth, made by heavy subsoiling 

 and manuring, have been pointed out; or in the absence of 

 this excellent preparation, by digging large holes to be 

 filled with rich mould, or manured surface-soil. This care 

 is often thought unnecessary with so hardy a tree as the 

 apple. But a just comparison of the two modes would 

 exhibit its eminent advantages. Take, for instance, the 

 least efficient of the two modes, that of digging large holes. 

 A hundred holes, six feet in diameter, may be dug by a 



