264 SKETCHES OF RURAL AFFAIRS. 



effects of the south side of a hedge as equivalent to one- 

 third of the effects of a south wall, we shall find no 

 situation in Britain or Ireland in which the cottager 

 may not grow apples, pears, plums, and cherries. The 

 principle is to form the hedge of a double row of wild- 

 ings ; and when it is grown five or six years, to cut 

 down the inner row, and graft it with the cultivated 

 varieties of the species ; apples on a crab hedge, on 

 hawthorns or quinces; pears on wild pears, on haw- 

 thorns, mountain- ash, or service ; plums on sloes, and 

 cherries on bird-cherries or geans." * 



Where there is space for a regular orchard, the soil 

 should be early and well prepared, in a spot where the 

 subsoil is dry ; and then about October or November, 

 as soon as the leaves are dead or discoloured, the proper 

 time has arrived for transplanting the young trees from 

 the nursery to the orchard. When this is carefully 

 done, the young trees will send out a few rootlets before 

 winter, and will be prepared for vigorous growth in 

 the spring. It must greatly depend on the size of the 

 orchard whether any other fruits than the most com- 

 mon sorts be planted therein. The general stock con- 

 sists of apple, pear, plum, and cherry-trees. To render 

 a large orchard very complete, however, it should con- 

 tain quinces, medlars, mulberries, service-trees, filberts, 

 Spanish nuts, and barberries, as well as walnuts and 

 chestnuts. The last two, being well adapted for shelter, 

 might help to form the boundaries of the orchard, being 

 set a little closer than ordinary for that purpose. But 

 whatever the size of the orchard, the larger proportion 

 of trees should always be of apple, on account of their 

 superior usefulness. 



This valuable fruit, which is now so common and so 

 completely naturalized in this country, is probably of 

 Eastern origin. The prophet Joel mentions it among 



* This plan of making the fence of fruit trees, can only be 

 adopted in gardens of tolerable size ; in small gardens it would too 

 much overshadow the soil. 



