100 NEW AMERICAN ORCHARDIST. 



If, however, the soil is not very extraordinary by nature, or 

 so rendered by art, this distance would be too great ; for 

 the trees would become old, and their growth would be 

 finished, before the ground could be covered by their 

 shadow ; thirty feet, only, may therefore be allowed in 

 land usually denominated of good quality, and but twenty 

 to twenty-five feet in land of ordinary quality. But where 

 economy of time, of land, and of all things else, is con- 

 sulted, but one half this distance will answer for a series 

 of years. 



The quincunx mode is recommended for close arrange- 

 ment, and short-lived trees may be set in the intervals. 



The size to which an apple tree may attain, and the 

 ground which should be allotted to it, depend also, in some 

 measure, on the particular variety of apple ; some sorts 

 being well known to attain to a much greater size than 

 that of others. 



The period of growth, or the duration of the apple tree, 

 is comparatively limited ; this is sufficiently evident from 

 the perishable nature of its timber. Those species of trees 

 only will continue living and growing for numerous cen- 

 turies, whose timber may be preserved incorruptible during 

 the lapse of a long succession of ages. 



SOIL AND SITUATION. 



A rich soil, rather moist than dry, is that adapted to the 

 apple tree ; but what is usually termed a deep pan soil is 

 to be preferred. 



On such a soil, whether on the plains, or in the valley, 

 or on the sides and summits of our great hills, which al- 

 most always consist of good land, and even in situations 

 the most exposed, the apple tree will flourish. 



One of the most productive apple orchards in this im- 

 mediate vicinity, is situated on the north and north-west 

 sides of a hill, the most exposed to cold winds. The soil 

 of great hills is generally of far superior quality to that 

 o r the plains; and it is a very mistaken opinion, which 

 seems adopted by some, that the soil of all hills must 

 of necessity be dry and deficient in moisture. It is 

 the plains and the knolls that are but too generally thus 

 deficient, not the great hills, which almost always abound 

 in springs. 



