ORCHARDS. 



feet, thirty-five trees; at forty feet, twenty-seven trees; and at 

 fifty feet,about eighteen to the acre: these are the usual distances, 

 which may be adopted according to the character and depth of 

 the soil. As far as can conveniently be done, trees of the 

 smallest growth may be planted on the lightest soil; and taking 

 every circumstance into consideration, it will probably be found 

 that forty feet is the most eligible distance for a farm orchard.. 

 It will admit sufficient sun and air, in our dry and warm cli- 

 mate; and until the trees shall be fully grown, will allow of a 

 profitable application of the ground to the cultivation of grain 

 and grasses. 



Manner and time of planting. Much trouble will be saved, 

 and much accuracy in planting insured, by marking the sites of 

 trees by stakes, previous to digging the holes. In shallow soils, 

 the holes may be made to the depth oftwo spits of earth, scat- 

 tering the lower spit at some distance, and supplying its place 

 by an equal quantity of the neighbouring surface earth. The 

 depth of the hole must depend on that of the subsoil. 



An eligible mode for the lighter soils, which has been prac- 

 tised with much success, is to supply the place of the stratum 

 of poor earth by one or two loads of meadow mud, ditch banks, 

 or good surface soil, laid round each tree after planting, and 

 ploughing the ground for a fallow crop the next spring, when 

 the mud has become completely pulverized by the frost. The 

 size of the hole should be sufficient to admit a spade handle 

 when laid horizontally in the bottom, affording ample room for 

 the expansion of the roots in loose rich earth. Well digested 

 compost is useful round newly planted trees, in stiff or cold 

 soils. Both lime and fresh stable manure have been found 

 prejudicial in the dry and hot weather of summer. The latter 

 substance is too frequently a cover for moles and field mice, 

 which are extremely injurious in winter to trees of even six or 

 eight years old, in light soils. Every kind of manure on the 

 surface, gradually mixing it with the soil by cultivation, has 

 been found beneficial, and the best security against drought in 

 summer and vermin in winter. 



The proper season for planting will be found to depend on 

 a variety of circumstances. In light soils, the winter settles 

 the earth round the roots, and best secures them against the 

 drought the following season. It is a time of leisure to the 

 farmer, and affords an early selection of trees from the nursery. 

 In stiff or wet soils, spring planting, other circumstances being 

 equal, is to be preferred. But where proper care and attention 

 is bestowed, success may follow in both cases. In whatever 

 season an orchard may be planted, too much attention cannot 

 be given to extend the roots in every direction; to cut off all 



