224 



Cultivating Orchards. 



VOL-V. 



the surface, the tree-roots become stinted in 

 their supply of moisture, and in obedience to 

 that law that produces action in vegetables, 

 enabling them, in some degree, to repair in- 

 juries, fibres are thrown out from the roots 

 of the tree upwards, to seek support in the 

 soil proper, from which they had been cut 

 off' by the plough ; thus, for a time, the energy 

 and power of the tree is employed, not in 

 producing fruit, but in struggling for exist- 

 ence ; one or more years are thus spent, and 

 a state is attained similar to that described in 

 the first mode, contending with the grasses 

 on the surface, but not molested by the culti- 

 vator ; but in two or more years, when the 

 tree has in some measure accommodated its 

 growth to its circumstances, and has acquired 

 the power of sustaining itself by roots, or 

 rootlets, in the soil proper, the plough is again 

 introduced, and those supporting roots, one 

 and all, are cut away, and the tree is again 

 thrown upon its reserved rights, to find sup- 

 port in the subsoil by means of roots and 

 absorbents, that have been unaccustomed to 

 vigorous action for years. So violent are the 

 shocks thus given, that trees treated in this 

 way generally perish before they arrive at 

 half the age or size to which they would 

 attain under a judicious course of manage- 

 ment ; and the fruit that is protiuced is less 

 in quantity, and inferior in quality, to what 

 it would otherwise be, owing to the circum- 

 stance that the powers of the tree that are 

 ordinarily exerted in its growth, and the 

 perfection of the fruit, are diverted from 

 these natural purposes to the repairing of 

 injuries that it has received. 



Among the many provisions which Divine 

 Wisdom has made for the continuation of ve- 

 getable (and, I believe, animal) species, there 

 is one that is, in some measure, connected 

 with this question. It has been observed 

 that vegetables that have suffered great in- 

 juries, frequently produce fruit or seeds in 

 large quantities ; thus, fruit-trees that have 

 been blown down, and have had part of their 

 roots torn out of the ground, frequently bear 

 more fruit than before they suffered injury, 

 yet, it must be remembered that this fertility, 

 so evidently designed for the continuation of 

 the species, is commonly the last effort of the 

 vital energy of the plant, and the exhaustion 

 produced by the perfecting of the fruit, usu- 

 ally terminates in deatli. Now I believe 

 that when orchards are ploughed, after having 

 remained in sod many years, it frequently 

 happens that some of the trees, and some- 

 times many of them, afler being thus muti- 

 lated by the plough, produce large quantities 

 of fruit and then dwindle away, leading the 

 owners to the conclusion that the ploughing 

 was productive of the best effects to the or- 

 chard, but that afterward, some cause, with 



which they were not acquainted, destroyed 

 or injured it. The foregoing remarks apply 

 principally to clay soils, or those in which 

 the roots of trees penetrate downward with 

 difficulty, and which are, in general, not the 

 best situations for orchards ; there are loose 

 soils, of various kinds, in which, not only the 

 roots of trees pass down freely, to the utmost 

 limit of their natural growth, but, owing to 

 the openness of soil and subsoil, the water 

 that fails sinks, so as to leave the grass-roots 

 without sufficient moisture, but furnishes it 

 to the rools of trees during a long time, in 

 which it percolates slowly till it reaches the 

 remotest limit they have attained. These are 

 hungry and poor soils for farming, but valu- 

 able for growing timber ; and, in some of the 

 best varieties of these soils, orchards produce 

 fine fruits in great abundance. 



To close ; I believe the only crop that 

 should be taken from the orchard should be 

 the fruit, and that it should not be cultivated 

 with grain or grass, with a view to obtain 

 crops, and consequently not subjected to the 

 rotation system. The question then remains. 

 Should the orchard be ploughed, or not ? I 

 believe trees may live to the natural extent 

 of life, and produce well, under either mode 

 of treatment. If the non-ploughing system 

 is adopted, the grass that grows should not 

 be mown, or pastured, but be permitted to 

 fall upon the ground ; and it would thus re- 

 tain the moisture nearly in the same way 

 that fallen leaves retain it in forests, which 

 seems to be nature's method of storing and 

 furnishing moisture gradually to the roots of 

 trees. Hogs should be permitted to range 

 through the orchard, at times, during the 

 period that the unripe fruit falls, as they de- 

 stroy injurious insects, and prevent their in- 

 crease. If the method of ploughing every 

 year is adopted, I would prefer to do it in the 

 spring, as soon as the ground was in good 

 order, and then sow with oats and clover- 

 seed ; when the oats were about half-grown, 

 or rather less, pasture them close, with cat- 

 tle, and then take out the cattle, permitting 

 the hogs to range occasionally, as before. 

 The clover will cover the ground so as to 

 afford some protection from the summer's 

 sun and winter's cold, and, when ploughed 

 in the succeeding spring, will aid in enriching 

 the ground ; and this in some soils will (with 

 the lime that should occasionally be spread 

 upon the surface, after harvest) be sufficient 

 to keep it fertile. In other soils it will be 

 necessary to add manure periodically ; but 

 whether the ploughing or non-ploughing sys- 

 tem shall be adopted, the fertility of the soil 

 must be kept up by lime and manure, when 

 necessary. 



A. W. C. 



January, 1841. 



