270 SKETCHES OP RURAL AFFAIRS. 



to interfere with each other, every other tree, and per- 

 haps every other row of trees, will have to be trans- 

 planted to some other situation. When they are 

 planted out with an especial view to cider, all the trees 

 of the same sort or quality should be placed in distinct 

 rows, by which means the fruit ripens together, and can 

 be easily kept separate from such as may ripen later. 

 To transplant the trees successfully, the greater part of 

 the side branches must be taken off, and the roots care- 

 fully preserved from mutilation. The hole prepared for 

 the roots must not be deeper than that in which they 

 formerly grew ; but abundant space must be left for 

 spreading them out in a natural manner on all sides 

 before the soil and turf be covei-ed in upon them. Each 

 of the transplanted trees, during the first year, will 

 require a stake and a few bushes to protect it ; after 

 which, the washing of the trunk once a year with lime 

 and water, and cow-dung, will defend it from the teeth 

 of animals grazing in the orchard. 



Different names are applied to apple-trees according 

 to their different modes of training. Those we have 

 been speaking of are called standards, and are mostly 

 employed in orchards and cottage-gardens ; smaller 

 kinds being now used for kitchen-gardens in general. 

 Standards require little care beyond that of providing 

 them with a straight stem six feet high, and three or 

 four healthy shoots to form a head. These must be 

 afterwards pruned, so that they do not chafe against each 

 other in windy weather. The trees chiefly planted in 

 modern gardens are dwarfs, which are kept back, by 

 repeated and judicious pruning, to a very small compact 

 size. Their fruit is often finer than that of standards, 

 while it is much more convenient to gather, and less 

 liable to be blown down. Dwarfs have other advan- 

 tages in the small space they occupy, and in their not 

 overshadowing the soil. Espalier apple-trees, or those 

 trained on a frame, were formerly much used ; but have 

 now almost generally given way to dwarfs, which are 



