F FRUIT TREES. 3 



li is not to be expected, that the systematick plan 

 and particular rules described in the foregoing pages, 

 will accord with the views and circumstances of every 

 agriculturalist. It may, in. some instances, interrupt 

 a course of field culture which the farmer has prescrib- 

 ed for himself, or his farm may not afford an eligible 

 situation for a regular plantation of fruit trees. In 

 such dilemma it may be convenient to .plant trees in 

 various parts of the farm, not otherwise occupied, as 

 on the borders and corners of fields contiguous to 

 roads, lanes, &c. In some instances, it is deemed a 

 preferable method to set trees on the sides of a square 

 field, the centre of which is left open for pasture or 

 tillage ; and such arrangement is not without its ad- 

 vantages. It has been observed, that apple trees pro- 

 duce a more abundant crop when the ground is trod- 

 den and manured by cattle in the winter ; but they 

 should by no means be suffered to browse on the 

 branches. We are not, indeed, without examples of 

 scattered trees, of spontaneous growth, occupying 

 land which has never been broken by the plough, 

 nor subjected to the hand of culture. From these, 

 tolerable crops of fruit are occasionally obtained, 

 which, although of inferiour quality, are nevertheless 

 capable of being converted to useful purposes. With 

 the view of showing the facility with which many 

 natural disadvantages may be overcome, and an or- 

 chard reared in the most unpromising situation, I shall 

 introduce here an extract from a valuable paper, pub- 

 lished in the Agricultural Repository, No. 1. vol. 6, 

 by the honourable John Wells, esquire, of Dorches- 

 ter, one of the Trustees of the Mass. Agricultural So- 

 ciety. Mr.JW. relates two instances of cultivating 

 apple trees successfully in unfavourable situations. 

 In the one, a low piece of strong stony land was tak- 

 en. "As it was rather flat, it was ploughed in strips 

 or dug in spaces about four feet square* As it was 



