72 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



able portion o" lime. On such soils we find the greatest 

 and most enduring vigor and fertility, the healthiest and 

 hardiest trees, and the fairest and best flavored fruits." It 

 has been observed that fruit grown on clayey soils keeps 

 better than that grown on light soil. 



SITE AND SHELTER. 



Next to soil, it is important to have a good situation for 

 successfully growing the pear. All very low situations should 

 be avoided, on account of the greater extremes of temperature 

 prevalent in valleys than in places of elevation. A sloping 

 hill-side facing south forms the choicest site for a pear-or- 

 chard. The necessity of shelter, or the efficacy of protec- 

 tion, is now generally understood. In bleak localities, the best 

 protection may be had by planting a belt of evergreen trees 

 in a hedge form around the orchard on the north, west and 

 east sides, to shelter it from the cold drying winds of win- 

 ter, so hard on the trees, or the force of the autumn gales, 

 so destructive to fruit. The best varieties of evergreens for 

 this purpose are the Norway spruce and our common white 

 pine ; they should be planted about four or live feet apart, 

 and in time, and with a little pruning, will form a dense 

 hedge. The shelter required is not so much to repel or 

 alleviate mere thermometric cold, as to arrest evaporation and 

 exhaustion of vitality by checking the rapid and penetrating 

 action of dry winds. 



PLANTING OF THE TREES. 



A very important point is the judicious planting of the trees ; 

 if the soil has been properly prepared by deep tillage, the 

 holes for the trees may not be any deeper than enough to 

 properly cover the roots, but wide, giving all the roots plenty 

 of room. Very deep planting, or quite shallow, are the in- 

 jurious extremes in sett ng trees. A safe rule would be to 

 set the tree a little deeper than it stood in the nursery-row. 



It is infinitely better to plant so that some future surface- 

 dressing may be required to cover the swelling, exposed roots, 

 than to have them buried in a cold, lean subsoil, beneath 

 the ready influence of atmospheric heat and air, as all trees 

 need the heat of the sun to perfect their fruits. The soil 



