42 THE HOME ACRE. 



must make the best of what he has bought, and 

 remedy unfavorable conditions, if they exist, by 

 skill. It should be remembered that peaty, cold, 

 damp, spongy soils are unfit for fruit-trees of any 

 kind. We can scarcely imagine, however, that one 

 would buy land for a home containing much soil 

 of this nature. A sandy loam, with a subsoil that 

 dries out so quickly that it can be worked after a 

 heavy rain, is the best for nearly all the fruit-trees, 

 especially for cherries and peaches. Therefore in 

 selecting the ground, be sure it is well drained. 



If the acre has been enriched and ploughed 

 twice deeply, as I have already suggested, little 

 more is necessary in planting than to excavate a 

 hole large enough to receive the roots spread out 

 in their natural positions. Should no such thor- 

 ough and general preparation have been made, or 

 if the ground is hard, poor, and stony, the owner 

 will find it to his advantage to dig a good-sized 

 hole three or four feet across and two deep, filling 

 in and around the tree with fine rich surface soil. 

 If he can obtain some thoroughly decomposed 

 compost or manure, for instance, as the scrapings 

 of a barn-yard, or rich black soil from an old pas- 

 ture, to mix with the earth beneath and around the 

 roots, the good effects will be seen speedily ; but in 

 no instance should raw manure from the stable, or 

 anything that must decay before becoming plant- 



