52 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



ground at once, as full three-fourths of the whole number 

 eventually died. I satisfied myself that the ground had not 

 been stirred sufficiently deep in setting, and determined to avoid 

 this error. Accordingly, I had the holes dug at least two feet 

 deep and five to six feet in diameter. The surface soil was 

 placed in the bottom of the holes and about the roots and trunks 

 of the trees, care being taken to place the roots in their proper 

 position, and to fill all the openings about them with mellow 

 earth. The earth was allowed to settle without pressure, and 

 no water was used except to moisten dry roots previous to 

 setting, which I have found to be well ; and when trees have 

 been out of the ground some time, submerging in water twenty- 

 four hours has been attended with good results. Previous to 

 throwing in the subsoil, the earth which remained undisturbed, 

 like a partition, between the holes, was thoroughly worked ; and 

 a continuous trench thus formed the entire length of each row. 

 This was done for two reasons — to furnish a continuous bed for 

 the roots of those on the quince stock, and to secure more thor- 

 ough drainage. The holes, or trench, being filled up, the 

 ground about the trees was manured in the same manner and 

 to the same extent as the remainder of the space between the 

 rows, at the rate of from eight to ten cords to the acre. 



I am satisfied from the subsequent experience, that it would 

 have been far better to have mixed a few shovelfuls of well 

 rotted manure with the soil placed about the roots, or to have 

 thrown an equal quantity of almost any kind of generous stable 

 or compost manure upon the cone of earth about the tree, pre- 

 vious to throwing in the subsoil. A number of small trees 

 which had a mixture of one pint of ground bone to three pints 

 of coal ashes, thoroughly incorporated with the soil, coming in 

 contact with the roots, have done admirably, better than some 

 which had, instead of the bone and ashes, a quart of the bone 

 alone mixed in the same manner. Of course, on land that 

 has been heavily manured two or three years previously, 

 trees may be planted without additional fertilization ; but 

 observation has convinced me that the pear will not thrive 

 and give a return of full, well-grown fruit without generous 

 culture. 



I aimed to set the trees on the pear stock at as nearly the 

 level they were taken from the ground as possible ; those on the 



