PREPARATION OF GROUND. 23 



amendment soil-texture may be improved, its powers of 

 holding water and supplying plant food increased, and 

 thus by manuring it may be brought into condition to 

 yield profitable returns for all that is done for it. 



The next question very naturally is, what ingredients 

 of plant food are most frequently deficient in our soils for 

 fruit growing? This, of course, can only be ascertained 

 by an analysis of the particular soil in question. Within 

 the last few years considerable advance has been made in 

 the knowledge of all that relates to the application and 

 action of manures; and it is, we fear, too often a subject 

 for regret, that cultivators of orchards suffer from dimi- 

 nished produce and depreciation of land, arising from a 

 want of a due appreciation and application of those 

 principles by the aid of which some other branches of 

 agriculture and horticulture have of late years so much 

 profited. 



CHAPTER III. . 

 PREPARATION OF GROUND. 



THE suitability or otherwise of land for immediate plant- 

 ing would depend largely upon the cultivation that it had 

 received, as well as to its natural quality; and the combi- 

 nation of the two would determine the kind of preparation 

 required to render it suitable for planting. Probably the 

 first consideration is that of drainage. Be sure that the 

 land is properly drained. Nothing could be worse for fruit 

 trees than to be planted in land the subsoil of which is 

 close and water-logged. There are, of course, many soils 

 that do not require draining. A test as to its nature 

 in this respect may be made in .the following way. If 



